Persistent Polarisation Post-Apartheid? Progress towards Urban Integration in Cape Town

Ivan Turok

Urban Studies, 2001, vol. 38, issue 13, 2349-2377

Abstract: The paper examines the progress made since 1994 to reduce the deep social and spatial divisions in South African cities, focusing on the impact of current development trends in Cape Town. Basic public services are gradually being extended to the historically neglected townships. However, the character of economic and social development differs markedly across the city. Private-sector investment and jobs continue to be concentrated in the affluent north and west, while low-income subsidised housing is focused on the poorer south-east. Institutional practices and market forces are tending to reinforce spatial divisions, with costly consequences for the poor majority of the population and for the wider urban economy and society. The broad statements from policy-makers about the need for urban integration are not being translated into consistent action, apparently because of a lack of political will and institutional capacity. The new Unicity authority provides scope in principle for a more coherent approach, based in part on a strategic framework to manage land development in the interests of the whole city, and a more proactive approach towards building a stronger employment base in the south-east.

Date: 2001
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980120094551 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:38:y:2001:i:13:p:2349-2377

DOI: 10.1080/00420980120094551

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().