South Africa’s smaller cities are growing rapidly while the population growth of the nine major cities is slowing down.
These trends were shown in the State of Cities Report 2006 released in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Over the last five years the entire urban population has increased faster than the national population.
According to the report, compiled by the South African Cities Network, the slow population growth rate in major cities can be ascribed to reduced fertility over the last decade, and the impact of HIV/Aid-related deaths.
”Although quantitative data exists to explain these shifts, the indicators are rudimentary, telling urban managers little about the precise breakdown of who is moving in and out of cities and why,” read the report.
”This means that urban managers have little understanding of how they can best respond to the needs of their residents.”
The report recommended that cities develop a more nuanced understanding of migration patterns.
”Cities need a clearer picture of who is moving and why, and an understanding of migrants’ long-term plans.”
It further recommended that cities target informal settlements where the majority of new residents lived on arrival.
The report is intended to give everybody involved in city management and development a thorough insight into the realities and trends of South Africa’s cities.
A successor to the 2004 report, it highlights the fact that there is an urgent need to consider how cities can cope better with increasing populations; improve the scope of governance issues; enhance public education on urban issues and challenges; cement a mutually beneficial framework for evaluation and continue to track trends of progress over the long term.
”Local government and cities have adopted an inward focus over the past five years,” said Sithole Mbanga, chief executive of the South African Cities Network.
But if this approach is not balanced with an ”outward mindset” towards the current legislative and policy environment, cities will be hampered in tackling economic and social challenges facing the majority of urban residents.
Further recommendations were that cities could reduce the cost of doing business by streamlining business applications and ensuring that municipal tax and service charges were affordable.
On transport, it read that the 2010 Soccer World Cup had accelerated city transport planning in prospective host cities.
”This event offer cities a unique opportunity to radically transform and significantly upgrade transport infrastructure.
”But cities will have to work hard to make sure that the exceptional investments to meet World Cup commitments will serve the city long after the event itself.”
It added that up to now, wasteful competition between cities and poorly coordinated planning between different spheres of government had inhibited the emergence of regional thinking and action.
However, the report stressed that its 10-point programme was not intended to be a prescriptive set of recommendations.
”South Africa’s cities are too diverse to imagine that a single set of answers will suit all cities … but the 10-point plan represents a variety of strategic responses that each city can finesse and tailor to suit its own unique circumstances.” — Sapa