Social diversity and modal choice strategies in mixed land-use development in South Africa

ABSTRACT

The consensus of the literature is that mixing land uses enhances social diversity within neighbourhoods and increases the diversity of modal choices. South Africa is burdened by the historic legacies and inherited Euclidean (Single-Use) zoning practises, resulting in the unequal access to public services, unequal benefits of economic spillovers and reduced mobility. This compelled Cape Town authorities to promote the mixture of land uses to ensure a more integrated and socially cohesive city, in which the city has been relatively successful. The study examines the relationship between mixed land use development, ethnic diversity, income inequality and modal choice in Cape Town using parametric estimation techniques. The study determined that significant increases in mixed-use development result in increased ethnic diversity, increased income equality indicative of mixed tenure, increased diversity of modal choices, decreased private motorized transportation and increased non-motorized transportation. However, the extremely low R-squared values and large confidence interval ranges indicate that mixed-use development has very little influence on social behaviour or transportation choices.

KEYWORDS:

• Mixed use
• social diversity
• income inequality
• transportation choice
• public transportation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.