Towards resilient cities: Reflections on the 2011 State of South African Cities report

The seminar will consider the progress made by democratic metropolitan government drawing on the 2011 State of SA Cities Report, of which Ivan Turok was the principal author. The concept of resilience lends coherence to the analysis and is examined from five perspectives: economic, spatial, environmental, governance and financial. Compared to a decade ago, socio-economic conditions are better in many respects, and SA cities are contributing to wider national dev­elopment.

However, the process of urban growth has not been planned or managed effectively, resulting in more households living in informal dwellings without essential services and situated on the outskirts of cities far from jobs and other opportunities. The report argues that the developmental vision of metro government needs to be refreshed, that public trust needs to be rebuilt, and more serious efforts need to be made to reshape the distorted built form of cities. The report can be downloaded here. ­
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