development Archives

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s August 2018 address at the National Assembly suggested that future South African (SA) cities will aim to alleviate the burden of apartheid’s spatial design from the poor. This relates to the cost associated with travel to and from work, as well as the time spent in the commute between work and home.[1] Additionally, future SA cities need to be places of wealth generation and productivity. A productive city is one that can offer most of its citizens with the opportunities necessary to have decent livelihoods.

Urbanisation is defined as an “increase in the proportion of a population living in urban areas” and a “process by which a large number of people becomes permanently concentrated in relatively small areas, forming cities”.[2] The World Cities Report 2016[3] suggests that rapid urban growth is a global trend. However, this growth brings greater complexities to problems that already exist in cities; problems such as urban services, housing, rising inequality and exclusion, as well as issues of safety and security. Presently, 55% of the world’s population is living in urban areas.[4] Northern America has the largest share of persons living in urban areas (82%), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (81%), Europe (74%), Oceania (68%) and Asia which has an urban population of roughly 50%[5]. Africa on the other hand, still remains largely rural with an urban population of 43%.[6] Future trends suggest that since 90% of the world’s population is found in Africa and Asia, the growth in the global urban population will be mostly driven by Africa and Asia. However, delayed urbanisation, coupled with at a lower income rates than other developing countries has put African cities and policy makers under more pressure. While urbanisation in Africa has been delayed, it gives African countries the opportunity to learn from the mistakes and successes of other regions such as that of developing Asia and take full advantage of urbanisation as an engine for growth and development[7]. In addition to urbanisation acting as a catalyst for development, United Nations Habitat urges governments to use urbanisation as a tool to achieve transformation and sustainability[8]. This is of particular importance in the South African context due to distorted economic power and activity.

It is important to note that according to the State of Cities Report 2016[9], urbanisation does not only refer to metropolitans such as the City of Johannesburg, eThekwini and Cape Town, but also refers to places with urban characteristics. For instance, secondary cities such as Rustenburg, George and Polokwane, as well as small towns like Alice and Harrismith. The productivity of a city is heavily reliant on its spatial make up which also includes small towns and their linkages to bigger cities.

What then is the current state of our cities? SA cities account for almost two-thirds of the country’s economy and are responsible for more than half of its employment. The legacy of apartheid’s spatial division based on race, displacement of black people from urban areas and their controlled access into urban areas based on labour demands, and dispossession of ownership to land are fundamental issues that persist in cities[10]. While there has been significant investment made towards transforming cities, the result has been reinforced inequality, exclusion, and poor integration.

Ultimately, the nation’s goal to have ‘compact, coordinated and connected cities’ is both a social and an economic imperative. That is, to increase spatial efficiencies, to bring people closer to employment opportunities, to rebuild families, and to restore dignity by enabling people to have and build homes[11].

[1] The South African. (2018). President Ramaphosa addressed parliament on Wednesday: Five talking points. From: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/president-ramaphosa-parliament-22-august-2018/

[2] OECD. (2003). Glossary of Statistical Terms. From: https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=2819

[3] UN Habitat. (2016). Urbanization and Development: Emerging Futures. World Cities Report. From: http://wcr.unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WCR-2016-Full-Report.pdf

[4] United Nations. (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision. From: https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf

[5] United Nations. (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision. From: https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf

[6] United Nations. (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision. From: https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf

[7] Jones, P. (2015). Done right, urbanisation can boost living standards in Africa. From: http://theconversation.com/done-right-urbanisation-can-boost-living-standards-in-africa-41191

[8] UN Habitat. (2016). Urbanization and Development: Emerging Futures. World Cities Report. From: http://wcr.unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WCR-2016-Full-Report.pdf

[9] South African Cities Network. (2016). State of South African Cities Report. From: http://www.sacities.net/state-of-cities-reporting/socr-2016

[10] South African Cities Network. (2016). State of South African Cities Report. From: http://www.sacities.net/state-of-cities-reporting/socr-2016

[11] South African Government (2018). President Cyril Ramaphosa: Reply to questions in National Assembly. From: https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-ramaphosa-says-land-reform-key-stability-22-aug-2018-0000

Not incorporating strategic plans as deliverables across the organisation;
Not including relevant stakeholders in the development of the strategy;
Too much of a focus on infrastructure over soft issues;
Not getting buy-in from related government departments; and
Not being flexible enough in planning scenarios.

…are the five most frequent strategy errors made by ports across the globe, according to Port Economics associates, Peter de Langen and Jonas Mendes.

South Africa’s port strategy is the responsibility of state owned entity, Transnet, and its port division, the National Ports Authority (NPA). The National Development Strategy is conducted every five years and results in the Port Development Plan (PDP), which is completed annually and has a planning horizon of 30 years. From my experience working with the NPA on their strategy in 2012/13, the common mistakes identified by de Langen and Mendes resonate with me to varying degrees.

The two most important mistakes made by Transnet and the NPA is using the strategy purely as an infrastructure development tool and excluding vital stakeholders from the process. The NPA is in the business of building port infrastructure, therefore, while all outcomes of the strategy were not infrastructure related, only those that were infrastructure related were able to be reflected in the Port Development Plan. The Port Development Plan is a set of maps and an investment plan. All other suggestions around policy and the environment fall away, not through prioritisation, but by the nature of the planning outcome, which is an engineering outcome. I believe that there are effective tools and measures in place in Transnet’s head office to incorporate environmental outcomes into deliverables but the two processes never meet in the strategic phase, which brings me to the next failure – that of not including vital stakeholders in the process.

No external stakeholders were included in the strategic development of the PDP, until the plan was completed and a roadshow was conducted. There is little accountability with regard to how the comments received from roadshows are included in the plans. Perhaps worse, was the lack of internal engagement on the strategy. Final plans were presented to the executive committee of NPA and then Transnet without buy-in being created as the executive was not included in the development of those plans. This leads to lack of implementation and duplication of efforts. The same can be said for Transnet’s plans being made in isolation of the NPA. The entity is not good at consultation, internally or externally.

Despite these mistakes, South Africa can be proud that it does not always fall into the trap of inflexible planning. The demand forecasting techniques developed by Transnet do include an enormous amount of flexibility and do account for external factors. Transnet’s project factory also verifies demand on a project by project basis. Furthermore, Transnet and its port division, NPA, have been able to attract and retain excellent staff who are committed and experienced. With the correct engagement processes, better internal synergies and tools for creating non-engineering deliverables, the National Development Strategy could be substantially improved.

Read the full article from Port Economics here.

Defining urban cities in South Africa: What does urbanisation mean to us?

The Top 5 Strategy Errors Made By Ports