As others have noted, the launch plans and policies of “geo” and “city” new TLDs vary quite a bit. Some will be heavily restricted and require “presence” in the region or city, while others are going to be fully “open”.
Neil Dundas, who is involved with the .joburg registry as well as that of .africa, posted this deck earlier today which explains their launch plans:
You might notice that they’re planning on using a special “local” marks validation system as well as the Trademark Clearing House. Several of the geo and city TLD applicants wanted to be able to give priority rights to local brands and businesses so this kind of approach makes sense. How it fits in with the ICANN system is another matter and I haven’t had a chance to review the documents yet.
