the gauteng spatial development framework - Gauteng Online

Similarly, in the United Kingdom, in 2006, London had a population of 7.5 million, theWest Midlands Urban Area a population of 2.3 million and the Greater Manchester UrbanArea 2.2 million. There tends to be a more balanced and evenly distributed growth patternbetween centres in developed countries.In a developing country like Brazil, however, major centres are more broadly and asymmetricallyspread. Sao Paulo's 18 million and Rio de Janeiro's 12 million stand vastly bigger than themany other fairly sparsely distributed major centres ranging between a population of 1 to4 million.This asymmetry is to be seen in other developing regions as well: Jakarta, Mumbai, Kolkata,Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok all tend to mega-city proportions relative to their regions andare less supported by second-ranking large cities nearby. In Africa, Cairo, Lagos and Nairobiare similar cases in point. In the African southern continent already by far the largestconurbation is that of Gauteng and it is set to more formally adopt the mantle of, andconsolidate and grow into a sub-continental mega-city.The • Accommodation of extreme population growth• Stimulation of economic activity and a focus on a trade-based economy• Increasing the region's global competitiveness• The attraction of increased levels of economic investment• An emphasis on pollution reduction and efficient patterns of energy consumption• The need for commuting to be minimised• Making public transport the primary basis of movement• Non-motorised movement (NMM) as the primary form of private mobility• Optimised re-investment into existing infrastructure and its management• Sustainable patterns of new infrastructural investment• The integration of marginalised areas into the urban mainstream• Responsiveness to existing settlement patterns(Extract from workshops leading to the GSDF)SECTION 2: THE GSDF AS A CONCEPTGauteng itself is the fourth most significant economy in Africa after South Africa, Egyptand Algeria and it is seen as an economic hub. It is thus likely that Gauteng will continueto serve as the epicentre of possibility for southern and central Africa. It is also seen hashaving a positive business environment and highly skilled workforce.The growth of cities as a result of the wider processes of urbanisation often tends to beviewed negatively, with an innate sense of limits to growth that are being exceeded. Theopposite, however, is true: cities are an efficient way of assembling population at scale,assisting in the conservation of land and scarce resources, and promoting sustainability.Relative to the number of people they encompass, their areas are extremely small andpatterns of production, distribution and consumption are greatly compacted. The UnitedKingdom in 2001, by example, was 80% urbanised yet still had 91% of its landmassofficially designated as rural. The USA is also roughly 80% urbanised yet is still in the orderof 90% rural from a land utilisation point of view. In addition, with urbanisation typicallycomes a reduction in population by virtue of lower birth rates; as the shift from being apredominantly agrarian society (with a 'bottom-up' economy where the basic factor ofproduction is unskilled human labour) to an urban society (where knowledge, skills andeducation become the dominant factors of production in a 'top-down' economy), fewerpeople are required to sustain the economy, and birth rates decline. Cities thus need tobe viewed in a positive light in their ability to conserve resources, promote sustainabilityand be efficient.In effect, far from urbanisation and cities being some 'global cancer' spreading to engulfand choke the world, they can be viewed as one of our primary reasons for optimism.Socially, too, provided they are assembled around the core principles of a spatial democracy,cities can be regarded positively in their ability to afford access to service, opportunityand markets at a far higher level than that possible in a rural context. Indeed cities arehumanity's greatest achievement in community.Essentially, then, cities have the ability to promote economies of scale and have competitiveand innovative advantage over rural economies. Therefore by putting in place the right21 GAUTENG SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK 2011 GAUTENG GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY