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State
of Cape Town 2006
Development issues
in Cape Town
Author: City of Cape
Town
This report was compiled by Emille van Heyningen, with input and
assistance from Craig Haskins, Rasmus Levy and Phillip Romanovsky
(Strategic Development Information and GIS).
Publication date: November
2007
Abstract
The challenges facing Cape Town are enormous and broadranging;
given the scale of demands and the limited resources available,
it is inevitable that choices need to be made in terms of prioritising
and targeting investments and resources.
The State of Cape Town report 2006 provides an overview
of the key issues and challenges facing the city. It is intended
to serve as a base to inform discussions on the choices that the
city needs to make in relation to urban management issues.
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Cape Town has increased 40% in area since 1985 and this has been
mostly without coordinated direction, management or alignment
with infrastructure provision. The result is that natural resources
have been compromised and signs of environmental stress - air
pollution, flooding and fires - are widespread and increasing.
This growth has also lacked an integrated approach to transport
and land use resulting in inefficient and costly transport systems
and negative social and economic impacts.
Economic growth is not alleviating poverty, and economic development
strategies are not linked to appropriate spatial and infrastructure
development to contribute to shared economic growth. Spatially,
the poor have become more marginalised and removed from economic
opportunity.
Most of the urban growth in the past 20 years has also been ad
hoc, forcing reactive and uncoordinated public investment in infrastructure
resulting in ineffective and unsustainable urban development.
Fragmentation between communities has increased, with associated
social and economic dysfunction.
The challenges in the city must be addressed in a more integrated
way, by expanding the broader leadership of the city to include
a greater role for civil society and the private sector.
The City of Cape Town cannot resolve the problems on its own and
there is a need for the expertise and participation by business,
other spheres of government and civil society. Intergovernmental
and public-private relations are therefore important in addressing
these challenges as cities are intergovernmental entities and
many difficult issues can only be resolved beyond any one sphere
of government. The basis for the way forward in addressing the
city’s challenges lies in integrated leadership of the city driven
through partnerships between the major stakeholders in the city.
The formulation of this report draws on academic and strategic
literature relating to international, national and local issues;
an analysis of public attitudes about the state of the city relating
to the key challenges facing it, and interviews with a limited
number of key stakeholders in the city.
The key objective of the report is to provide an up-to-date snapshot
of the most pertinent issues influencing the state of Cape Town.
It highlights some of the opportunities and challenges the city
faces, contextualised within an international, national and local
context. The report attempts to provide practical suggestions
that need to be considered to address the challenges.
The report is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of
all the issues affecting Cape Town, or a performance scorecard
for the city, or a statistically valid public opinion survey and
certainly it is not intended to be the final argument on development
issues in Cape Town. The report attempts to provide a rational
basis for engagement by highlighting the most pertinent developmental
issues in Cape Town.
The State of Cape Town Report 2006 is intended to be slightly
provocative in order to encourage stakeholders to embrace, discuss
and debate a new development agenda for Cape Town. It is in fact
aimed at policy makers, senior managers and other stakeholders,
as well as researchers and Capetonians involved in and concerned
about the diverse set of developmental issues facing the city.
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For further information:
Emille van Heyningen
Principal: Urban Policy & Research
e-mail: emille.vanheyningen@capetown.gov.za
tel: 021 400-4534
fax: 021 400-2715
City of Cape Town
Strategic Development Information & GIS
www.capetown.gov.za
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