The changing spatial economy of cities: An exploratory analysis of Cape Town

Abstract

The spatial economy of South African cities is generally believed to be experiencing selective deconcentration, which may exacerbate social inequality because of the physical disconnection between jobs and population. This paper assesses whether the locational pattern of economic activity across Cape Town is following this trajectory, using data from the Regional Service Council levies between 2001 and 2005. One of the main findings is that the city centre and areas close to the centre have maintained their economic dominance, therefore Cape Town remains a monocentric city. Yet the pattern of recent growth is more dispersed than the prior distribution because suburban nodes have gained a disproportionate share of new activity. In addition, the pattern of recent growth is skewed towards the high-income suburbs and away from the Cape Flats where most of the city's poor live. This uneven growth trajectory may be a source of concern for economic, social and environmental reasons.

Keywords:

• spatial economy
• deconcentration and dispersal
• uneven growth
• monocentric city
• Cape Town

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank current and former City of Cape Town officials for assistance with accessing and understanding the RSC data, especially Amanda van Eeden, Winson Bothma and Carol Wright.

Notes

¹In this paper ‘Cape Town’ refers to the City of Cape Town administrative area, an area that stretches to Simonstown in the south, Atlantis in the north, Kraaifontein in the north-east and Somerset West in the east, but excluding Stellenbosch, Paarl, Malmesbury and Grabouw.

²The 10 largest companies in Cape Town according to RSC 2005 turnover data in alphabetical order are: ABSA Bank, BP Southern Africa, Chevron, Engen Petroleum, Old Mutual, Pick n Pay Retailers, Sanlam, Shoprite Checkers, Standard Bank and Woolworths.

³The 23 economic nodes were used in the analysis. Growth was based on turnover growth (2001–05) and 2001 turnover was used to adjust for size. The number of new houses was based on district spatial aggregation areas according to their 2006 value using the City of Cape Town general valuation.