This research report is a contribution to the preparation of an Integrated Urban Development
Framework (IUDF) for South Africa. It focusses explicitly on spatial processes in South Africa’s towns
and cities, and should be read in the context of research papers dealing with other dimensions of
urban development.
The National Development Plan (NDP) is a key departure point in the preparation of the IUDF:
As part of implementing the National Development Plan: Vision
2030, all three spheres of government in partnership with
stakeholders need to manage the new wave of urbanisation in ways
that also contribute to rural development2
.
Chapter Eight of the NDP is the specific departure point for this research report as it deals with
“transforming human settlement and the national space economy”. The Chapter gives strong
emphasis to the importance of spatial transformation in addressing concerns with poverty and
inequality. It argues that “where people live and work matters” and that “despite reforms to the
planning system, colonial and apartheid legacies still structure space across different scales” (RSA,
2012, p.1).
The NDP provides an analysis of spatial development in rural and urban areas, and offers a strategy
to “respond systematically, and over time, to entrenched spatial patterns across all geographic
scales that exacerbate social inequality and spatial inefficiency” (p.1). This report does not repeat
the content of the NDP, and should be read together with Chapter Eight. The report does however
seek to deepen and extend the analysis in Chapter Eight by drawing on data that became available
subsequent to the writing of the Chapter; in particular, Census 2011.