| dc.description.abstract | The study displays an analytical framework of urban sustainability in South Africa and applies the
principles to Clainvood, a suburb in the South Durban Basin in KwaZulu Natal. It is important that
urban areas are productive, inclusive, sustainable, and well-governed. In addition, the delnographic
status and trends are of major concern to urban areas.
An important strategic issue facing the South African city is city growth. South African cities have
grown much faster than the national population since the t970s, but this has slowed in the 1996 to
2001 period. The growth of the urban population and migration trends pose specific challenges that
may impact on the sustainability of the city. The analytical framework for urban sustainability
investigates whether residents have the opponuni~iesa id capacities to share equitably in the social
benefits of city life, how the city is impacting on the srore of natural resources that sustains the
settlement and makes it viable, how the local economy provides a majority of residents with a means
to earn a reasonable living and if the political and institutional context is stable, open and dynamic
enough to give a sense of security to accommodate a variety of interests.
The core features of rhe South African city is inequality. Large numbers of residenrs are separated
geographically, materially and psychologically from the opportunities and advantages of city life.
The study investigates progress in providing residents with access to key infrastn~cture based
service, divides in wealth, ability to build assets and secure against risk; spatial exclusion; human
developlnent and qtlelity of life and what is being done to address this in Clairwood.
Aparrlieid spatial planning left rhe South African cities with built environments thar were
dysfunctional and in rum resource inefficient. Reversing the impacts has unforrunately meant
reinforcing and exacerbating these inefficiencies, as an increasing number of residents claim highly
resource-intensive livelihoods from which they were previously excluded. The study investigates the
urban-environmental challcngc that apartheid built environment planning created; the trends in urban
form resulting from post-apartheid settlement policies, nleasurable impacts on natural resoilrces and
suggestions for constl-ucting a sustainability agenda in Clairwood.
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Aa asscssnrcat of urban snrm~nalrlitym So~rtbA /nm Tbo Clainrroad Precrnct
The sustainability challenge facing the local economy in South African cities is negligible public
and private sector investment in bases for i.ndustry efficiency otlier than cheap surplus labour. An
artificia.11~s mall middle- class and weak domestic demand; and the fact thar the productive capacity
of a large section of the population is under-valued and unharnessed, is also a major challenge.
The study investigates employmenr and remunerario~l trends arid especially the relati\:c
attractiveness of cities in terrns of their ability to provide residents with a means to earn a living.
factors illustrating and explaining the strength of the urban economy and how South A.frican cities
are responding to urban economy weaknesses in a globalising economy.
The transformation in South Africa has left municipalities facing challenges of bad relations
between con~munities and municipalities, poor public participation and increasing Icvels of crime.
Administrative and Financial challenges also play a role. The study investigates how well South
African cities are governed, including evidence of social discord and disintegration and institutional
stability assessing the institutional al-rangements within Clairwood. | |
