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Abstract
This paper offers a reflection on 15 years of policy change in the City of Cape Town aimed at fostering sustainability from the perspective of a City practitioner. The persistent continuation of unsustainable outcomes, despite ongoing policy reforms, is understood as a combination of the emergence of wicked problems, within a changing local government mandate, in the absence of a transformation of institutional structures, tools and approaches. While the approach to policy reform in Cape Town has focussed on reducing substantive uncertainty through its knowledge-based approach, we show that in the context of an expanding local government mandate, sustainability becomes an aspect of many departments’ directive resulting in strategic uncertainty. The untransformed traditional line-function-based structure of local government in turn works against integration between departments (fundamental for addressing non-linear wicked problems), thus promoting institutional uncertainty. In addressing this combination of strategic and institutional uncertainty, our findings indicate that integration has to happen in the policy stage in order for sustainability principles to be implemented in relevant departments; that implementation requires resourcing across the institution, and ought to be included in departments’ targets; and that competing and conflicting rationalities underpin the policy–practice gap. It is suggested that a first step in breaking down the strategic and institutional uncertainties would be to foster shared values through creating deliberative spaces within the City in which debate, discussion and learning can occur.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Marlene Laros, Pippin Anderson and Lucia Thesen, and the members of the Knowledge Transfer Programme's Project Advisory Committee: Anton Cartwright, Robert McGaffin, Saul Roux, Anna Taylor, Sarah Ward, Tim Hadingham and Gregg Oelofse for their support in producing this article. The comments from reviewers have assisted in sharpening the arguments presented. The views expressed in this paper are in the authors' personal capacity, and do not represent the views of their respective institutions. Any errors or omissions remain our own.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The term “CoCT” refers to the metropolitan municipality encompassing Cape Town and surrounds, and its institutional and governance structures, and is often referred to simply as the City. In this paper, we refer to the CoCT as “the City”, “the municipality” and “the organisation” interchangeably.
2. The definitions and understanding of sustainability (and sustainable development) are contested, and have been debated in the literature (Robinson Citation2004, Williams and Millington Citation2004, Connelly Citation2007). However, for the purposes of this paper, we have focused on the CoCT's own definition of sustainability (City of Cape Town Citation2009) in which it:
recognises that unless determined steps are taken to reverse the current environmental decline and resource consumption patterns, the social and economic cost and risk to the City and its citizens will increase dramatically [,] recommits itself to a respect and recognition of the value and importance of its natural and heritage assets [and aims to] enhance, manage, utilise and protect these assets so as to grow the economy, extend social opportunity, develop its communities and build a more equitable and resilient society.
3. Mistra Urban Futures is an international centre for sustainable urban development. The headquarters is located in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the centre operates in four cities around the world including Cape Town, Gothenburg, Greater Manchester and Kisumu. Mistra Urban Futures focuses on co-production of knowledge as well as creating Fair, Green and Dense cities for a sustainable urban future. A global arena provides for interaction between the five cities.
4. In this paper, we use both “transition” and “transformation” to describe Cape Town's shift towards becoming a more sustainable city. “Transition” in this context refers to shifts in policy content and approach. “Transformation” has a particularly institutional connotation within the South African context, and is used here to refer to shifts in organisational structures and processes, and may include more radical paradigm shifts within an organisation.
5. Cape Town, Greater Manchester, Gothenburg and Kisumu.
6. These four policy areas included climate adaptation, the green economy, energy governance and the spatial economy.
7. For an overview of the City's executive structure, see City of Cape Town (Citation2014b).
8. As of the latest assessment in 2014, targets related to biodiversity, air quality, climate change adaptation, housing, coastal protection, urbanisation, environmental education, outdoor advertising and cultural heritage were met or close to being met; targets related to invasive alien species, carbon emissions, energy efficiency, river and coastal water quality, water use, waste minimisation, environmental compliance and City administrative operations were not met or were not close to being met. As a broad categorisation, targets that were less organisationally complex and less ambitious were achieved, while more complex and ambitious targets were not. Full details of all the targets are contained within the Environmental Agenda 2009–2014 (City of Cape Town Citation2009).
9. A consultant was appointed partly for the additional level of objectivity that he/she would bring to the research process, as well as the additional capacity.
10. The establishment of the SPU is not well documented by the City of Cape Town. However, in a speech by the Executive Mayor, Patricia De Lille, at a Council meeting on 26 April 2012, the Strategic Policy Unity was introduced. According to the Mayor, the SPU “will have as its primary function strategic policy planning, performance monitoring and evaluation [and] … will act as a strategic coordinating point that ensures that the mandate that this government was elected on is implemented throughout the city”; she further stated that “I believe that there has been an organisational gap that requires the establishment of this kind of unit.” For a transcript of the speech, see De Lille (Citation2012).
11. See, for example, the State of the Environment reports, the Biodiversity and Climate Change Assessment, and the State of Energy and Energy Futures Report. For a full list of research and scientific studies commissioned by the CoCT's ERMD, refer City of Cape Town (Citation2014c).