Polycentric development in the Cape Town city-region: Empirical assessment and consideration of spatial policy implications

Abstract

The concept of the ‘polycentric urban region’ has been popularised both as a theoretical concept for understanding regional urban systems in an era of reduced transport and communication costs, and as a normative policy objective in its own right. This paper explores its relevance to the rapidly urbanising Cape Town city-region. First, empirical evidence for the emergence of polycentric regional development patterns was considered. Shifts in relative settlements sizes (morphological polycentrism) over the period 1991–2011 were examined using population data, and patterns of inter-settlement interactions (functional polycentrism) were explored by analysing commuting information. Contrary to expectations, trends toward polycentric development were found to be weak. Second, the paper considers the relevance and value of polycentric development thinking for regional economic and spatial planning policy, concluding that there are insufficient grounds for policy intervention aimed at encouraging polycentric regional development or countering the dominance of Cape Town in the region.

Keywords:

• polycentric urban region
• Cape Town
• city region
• spatial policy
• new regionalism

Acknowledgements

This work was undertaken through a partnership between the City of Cape Town and the University of Cape Town's African Centre for Cities and was supported by Mistra Urban Futures, a global research and knowledge centre in sustainable urban development, funded by the Swedish International Development Agency and the Mistra Foundation for Strategic Development. The author wishes to thank Owen Crankshaw for guidance and useful suggestions for the development of this paper. The author would also like to thank Ivan Turok for advice and comments on an earlier draft. The author is also grateful to colleagues at the City of Cape Town for assistance with data used in this analysis.

Notes

²A positive slope value is used for convenience. The slope is actually always negative.

³All values quoted are based on 15 settlements. For comparison, the slope value for the Cape Town region for 2011 using 15 settlements is 1.82.