cities

While many national plans and policies address critical issues, such as potential energy and
water shortages, vulnerability of places, etc., there is an absence of integrated national
spatial development analyses, modelling of potential growth implications and strategic
guidance for the future development of highly diverse regions.
Within an environment dominated by sector targets, collaboratively developing and
implementing explicit spatial strategies is challenging and requires strong local, regional and
national leadership. However, such strategies will not result in high-impact service delivery,
transformation and long-term sustainability unless the reforms to improve spatial planning
and development address existing challenges such as parallel planning processes, the
plethora of planning instruments and mechanisms, and the formidable task of aligning a
myriad of projects on paper and in budgets.
2
Continued inefficient spatial development
• Public developments (RDP housing on the periphery) reinforce city sprawl, resulting in inefficient
and more costly infrastructure and services.
• Failure to invest in the townships means a lack of economic opportunities and growth close to
where people live.
• Lack of affordable accommodation close to economic opportunities, and the view that informal
dwellings/strategies are the only solution for the poor.
Private developments on the periphery
• Growth in higher-end peripheral developments, i.e. gated housing estates, cluster housing
complexes and eco estates claim to be sustainable, but take up vast tracts of open space and
encourage the use of private vehicles.
• Unconnected to the existing city fabric, these “new cities” entrench spatial and social exclusion,
segregation and inequality based on class/income in place of race, and those excluded are
predominantly poor and black (Landman and Schonteich, 2002; Lemanski, 2006; Landman and
Badenhorst, 2015). 3
• The heavy economic burden placed on city infrastructure and services far outweighs the
financial benefit from property tax (SACN, 2015b).
3 http://futurecapetown.com/2015/04/brief-gated-communities/#.VeQmVvmqqBY
THE SPATIAL TRANSFORMATION OF SOUTH AFRICA’S CITIES 53