cities

Undesirable current spatial configurations in cities
South African cities are a perfect example of space reflecting and reinforcing inequality (Schensul and
Heller, 2010). The post-1994 intent was to transform the social alienation, injustice and inequality
inherited from the country’s apartheid past. The aim was to change the quality of life of people who were
the victims of apartheid dispossession and injustice, through interventions such as the housing programme
and adequate public transport, as well as investments in health, education and social services.
Although the lives of many have changed, especially through the delivery of more than three million
housing opportunities (The Presidency, 2014), the significant public sector investments have not
resulted in more equitable, inclusive and integrated cities. The spatial location of state-funded housing
projects continues to marginalise the urban poor, while public healthcare and education have not
translated into improved educational and health outcomes for the majority of citizens. Despite racial
integration in middle- to higher-income urban suburbs, the majority of poor black households continue
to live in peripheral, poorly located areas with insufficient access to opportunities and resources, and
long expensive commutes to areas of employment. Unemployment is unacceptably high, resulting in
widespread poverty and growing inequality.
Locational disadvantage, insufficient investment in public transport, especially in existing modes such
as the minibus taxi, which services the majority of commuters in urban areas (Schmidt, 2014),
continued vested interests and insufficient focus on ensuring that all urban residents enjoy full rights
and access to the city, has reinforced social exclusion, poor racial and cultural integration and unjust
and inequitable urban environments. The housing subsidy programme appears to have locked people
into undesirable locations and maintained their existence at the margins of urban life, 2 and many
urban residents continue to feel alienated from the city, as if they are not full urban residents.
What is clear is that South African cities are not yet working for all, and certain trends and dynamics
are preventing the post-apartheid spatial vision from being achieved. These are outlined in the
following sections.
Unaligned and uncoordinated development
• Lack of integrated planning and poor alignment, both vertical (across government spheres) and
horizontal (across sectors, i.e. housing, transport, energy, etc.), by all, including government
departments, state-owned entities and private developers (SACN and DHS, 2013).
• Slow progress in decentralising key built environment functions to city level, despite the
authority for local planning already devolved to all local governments.
• Municipal approval of developments that clash with local government’s own spatial
transformation agenda.
2 For more on this, see the work of the Finmark Trust on Housing Assets http://www.finmark.org.za/ and the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance
http://www.housingfinanceafrica.org/
50 State of South African Cities Report 2016