The identification of towns in the Free State for an urban upgrading and development programme: A proposed method for consideration

Abstract

This article describes how small towns in the Free State were assessed for a German‐South African urban upgrading and development programme. The assessment first determined where the programme would have a significant impact on the recipient community and, secondly, where it would have a high probability of success. Two criteria were used: quantitative (settlement types, demographic and economic trends, financial and management capacity and performance, and access to services and housing) and qualitative (level of community‐based participation in existing projects, the spirit of the place, economic potential and delivery record in terms of projects). These criteria reduced the number of appropriate towns to eight. A provincial steering committee (representing the political dimension) was appointed to incorporate the towns into the programme. They are representative of towns across the province, as well as a variety of settlement types. This method can be considered on a provincial or regional basis elsewhere for evaluating and ranking small towns for development support.

Notes

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Central Research Fund of the University of the Orange Free State.

Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of the Orange Free State; Research Consultant, Palmer Development Group, Randburg; Manager, GTZ Urban Upgrading and Development Programme, Hatfield, South Africa.