Metropolitising as a deliberate process of creating a metropolitan space from a nonmetropolitan city, town or even peri-urban space is often viewed as politically driven. In the global south, metropolitan cities are recipients of significantly larger spending budgets and metropolitan councils can thus wield more political power in the form of monetary power. In South Africa, the development trajectory of cities stems from political ideologies and policies of the political party with an outright majority. In this regard, metropolitising or the mere development of any area within the jurisdiction of a municipality is a political process. Similarly, regionalism is a political process that seeks to wield the most financial power through the amalgamation of different economic powerhouses to form a single economic, spatial and political superpower.
In addition to the current politicising of metropolitan city development, historically, apartheid spatial planning was a political system of social engineering based on spatial segregation. The resultant space economy is that of heterogeneity and unequal benefaction from development processes. This spatial differentiation, including the complexities pertaining to economic and institutional systems, further complicates the process of metropolitising in South African cities.
In this regard, this essay will critique the efforts of Sedibeng District Municipality in its metropolitising bid through examining its proposed scalar economic rescaling plans for the Vaal River City, while proposing institutional reforms that could aid its ambitions. The second section of this paper will highlight the limitations that hinder smaller cities’ and towns’ efforts to becoming metropolitan cities. These limitations stem from an unequal space economy that reproduces itself through ineffective policies and neoliberalisation of urban governance structures and systems.
Table of Contents
1. The beginning: Metropolitising or logical urban progression?
2. The endowments of Sedibeng District Municipality
3. To be or not to be? Metropolitising and the associated economic rescaling
3.1 Economic diversification through agro-processing and tourism
4. Soft & Hard infrastructure development: The pillar of economic rescaling
5. Institutional reforms
6. Coproduction
7. Territorialism in South African metropolitan regions
8. The end
Objectives and Research Themes
This essay critically evaluates the metropolitan ambitions of the Sedibeng District Municipality, analyzing the effectiveness of its proposed economic rescaling plans while proposing institutional reforms to overcome significant systemic barriers to urban development.
- The political and economic complexities of the "metropolitising" process in South African municipalities.
- Development strategies centered on agro-processing, tourism, and infrastructure growth.
- Institutional capacity limitations and the potential for coproduction frameworks.
- The impact of historical spatial planning and neoliberalism on regional competitiveness.
Excerpt from the book
To be or not to be? Metropolitising and the associated economic rescaling
Sedibeng aspires to become a metropolitan river city that is also the ‘food basket’ of the Gauteng City Region. However, metropolitan cities often negate issues of large scale agricultural production to focus more on other economic activities that are in the third and fourth economy. Although the character of Sedibeng is more of a small town, these are equally important for regional development as metropolitan cities because they have direct links to the rural vicinities. This implies that the development of Sedibeng is a necessity for rural development as it possesses certain functions that link rural areas with metropolitan and other urban areas, it also absorbs the rural population that migrate into urban areas (McKibbin, et al., 2012).
Moreover, for Sedibeng to escape this role of the interface between rural areas and metropolitan regions and into being a metropolitan space itself it needs to diversify its economy. The district seeks to establish itself as an agropolis with the intensification of agriculture product processing (agro-processing). The Agro-processing industry is a division of the manufacturing sector and it serves to process raw and intermediate products from the agricultural sector as well as the fisheries and forestry (Speirs, 2015). It is an economic sector identified by various national economic growth policies including the Industrial Policy Action Plan that is anticipated to expand exponentially and create employment opportunities due to its strong link to the agricultural sector. It is seen that agro-processing plants need to locate close to the source of the raw materials as they use of large volumes of inputs with relatively low value and high cost of transportation (Urban-Econ, 2012).
Summary of Chapters
The beginning: Metropolitising or logical urban progression?: This chapter defines metropolitising as a political process and outlines the paper's critical focus on Sedibeng's bid for metropolitan status amidst historical and institutional challenges.
The endowments of Sedibeng District Municipality: This section details the geographic and developmental characteristics of the district, highlighting its modeled trajectory towards electronic parks, transportation hubs, and agricultural intensification.
To be or not to be? Metropolitising and the associated economic rescaling: This chapter examines the district's aspirations to integrate agro-processing and tourism into its development strategy to transition from a rural interface to a self-sustaining metropolitan space.
Soft & Hard infrastructure development: The pillar of economic rescaling: This chapter evaluates the necessity of integrating both physical and social infrastructure to enable economic competitiveness and bridge the gaps between existing nodes and underdeveloped areas.
Institutional reforms: This section critiques the lack of institutional capacity within the municipality, identifying deficits in human capital and the need for structural proactive planning.
Coproduction: This chapter proposes a coproduction framework involving citizens and stakeholders as a necessary strategy to enhance governance, resource management, and social inclusion.
Territorialism in South African metropolitan regions: This chapter analyzes how historical spatial segregation and neoliberal planning perpetuate uneven development and resource allocation among competing regions.
The end: The conclusion summarizes the district's struggle to transform, arguing that without significant institutional reform and spatial redress, Sedibeng's metropolitan ambitions remain precarious.
Keywords
Metropolitising, Sedibeng, Economic Rescaling, Agro-processing, Tourism, Infrastructure, Coproduction, Spatial Planning, Regionalism, Institutional Reform, South Africa, Urban Development, Governance, Socio-economic Development, Industrialization.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper examines the efforts of the Sedibeng District Municipality in South Africa to transition into a metropolitan space through economic rescaling and infrastructure development.
What are the primary themes discussed in the work?
The work focuses on urban governance, economic diversification through agro-processing and tourism, the necessity of infrastructure development, and the role of institutional reform in regional development.
What is the central research objective?
The objective is to critique Sedibeng's development plans and determine if they can effectively lead to metropolitan status, while proposing institutional reforms to mitigate current capacity failures.
Which methodology is employed in this study?
The study employs a critical policy and institutional analysis, drawing upon academic theories of spatial planning, regionalism, and urban governance to evaluate local government strategies.
What is covered in the main body of the text?
The main body addresses the economic endowments and challenges of Sedibeng, the integration of agro-processing and tourism, the role of infrastructure, and the necessity of shifting toward a coproduction governance model.
How would you characterize the work using keywords?
The work is best characterized by themes of metropolitising, economic rescaling, institutional reform, and the challenges of overcoming historical spatial inequality in South Africa.
How does Sedibeng plan to use the 'Vaal River City' project?
The municipality intends for the Vaal River City to serve as a catalyst for investment and to unleash economic and tourism potential in the region, thereby acting as a foundation for its metropolitan ambitions.
Why does the author advocate for 'coproduction' as a framework?
The author argues that coproduction—partnering with citizens and private businesses—is a cost-effective way to fill institutional gaps, build consensus, and improve the municipality's problem-solving and service delivery capacity.
What role do 'sleeping towns' play in the district's strategy?
These towns represent areas of sluggish development that the municipality hopes to revitalize by integrating them into a broader economic network based on technology, transport, and agricultural processing.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Inolofatseng Lekaba (Autor:in), 2016, Metropolitising in South Africa's peri-urban. The case of Sedibeng Municipality, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/511830
