cities

Proactive leadership
Stabilising
innovation
Public transport renaissance
Faster, more convenient and more
efficient public transport system
integrating minibus taxis and other
modes supersedes private car
Brave new mobility
Flexible door-to-door multiple mode
mobility system emerges based on
vehicle sharing organised via smart
digital platforms displacing private
car and public transit
Mobility thrombosis
Perpetuation of current transport patterns slowly strangles mobility for private
and public modes in cities generating increased transport conflicts and costs
Disruptive
innovation
2
Reactive leadership
A phased incremental approach to reform would focus initially on creating stability and
putting in place a solid platform for improvement, including the following:
• Establishing sound and inclusive national and metropolitan processes for engagement
and consultation about public transport, including minibus taxi services.
• Sorting out regulations and ensuring a functioning licensing system and consistent
enforcement based on clear rules and procedures.
• Improving existing minibus taxi services through partnerships and using mobile phone
applications as an important enabler.
• Creating space for experimentation, including piloting transformative projects on key
routes, such as giving minibus taxis access to dedicated lanes and introducing ICT tools
to enhance tracking and accountability.
• Conducting research into optimal institutional and contracting models for public
transport going forward.
Source: SACN (2015c)
Transforming the Built Environment of Cities
The experience of urbanisation in South Africa since 1994 shows that truly transforming cities, in the
sense of providing disadvantaged black families with full rights to the city and its opportunities, requires
more than simply delivering shelter. Urban spatial policy should be “about opening and expanding access
to the benefits of living in towns and cities”, and access should be “the key objective of spatial transformation
as it most directly links spatial policy to key national objectives of eliminating poverty and reducing
inequality” (Harrison and Todes, 2014: 3). The state-subsidised housing programme has to be delinked
from urban access to land because the housing programme alone cannot tackle the extent of the housing
challenge (Charlton, 2008). Furthermore, the post-apartheid city is characterised by informality and
complexity, which cannot be dealt with through a spatial planning and land-use management system
based on notions of an orderly city (ibid). Therefore, the administrative and institutional arrangements
governing urban areas need to be transformed in order to be able to deal with the challenges in cities.
THE SPATIAL TRANSFORMATION OF SOUTH AFRICA’S CITIES 73