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ABSTRACT
The Spatial Development Initiatives (SDI) programme was launched in South Africa in 1995 and subsequently extended throughout Southern Africa by a series of regional SDIs. This article seeks to provide an introduction to the changing policy debates surrounding SDIs from the period of their birth to their current maturation and possible onset of decline. Three major sections are presented. First, an examination is undertaken of the origins, fundamental strategies and principles of the SDI programme. Against this background, the focus in the second section turns to an assessment of the progress and contemporary directions being taken by the SDI programme. Finally, the paper summarizes the findings of the research conducted by the New Industrial Spaces Project in relation both to the potential and actual impacts of SDI's on corridor communities and peoples, and to those marginal to the new space-economy.