Socio-Economic Dynamics Inhibiting Inclusive Urban Economic Development: Implications for Sustainable Urban Development in South African Cities
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1. Introduction
Globally, the aspiration for sustainable cities and communities is expressed in United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11, which focuses on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable [1]. These aspirations are important because the global urban population is growing speedily. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme [2] has estimated that 68% of the world’s population will be living in cities by the year 2050, while the United Nations’ 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Report (Special Edition) estimates the urban population at 70% in 2050 [3]. These statistics are a clear indication of urban growth, which demands holistic approaches to sustainable planning and development to achieve the set targets. Interestingly, the United Nations Habitat South Africa [4] reports that South Africa is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa, with an urban population estimated at 67% and a future projection of 80% by 2050. This is above the global average estimates of 68% and 70% in 2050 [2,3,4].
Therefore, urban planning and development are of paramount importance in South Africa to ensure social, economic, health, and environmental sustainability in the urban areas as well as rural towns. The need for deliberate transformative and sustainable urban planning and development in South Africa is informed by the ugly legacies of apartheid that still linger in the country, especially in the socio-economic and spatial development of rural and urban areas [5,6]. Consequently, there is growing fragmentation of rural and urban areas, causing a high rural–urban migration [4,7,8,9,10]. Urban areas across the globe continue to experience increasing pressure from the growing urban population and its spinoffs, such as poverty, inequality, informal settlements, crime, and unemployment, to mention but a few. These shocks and disruptive events underscore the urgent need to think about urban sustainability by tackling underlying systemic and structural problems [11]. Moreover, a report by the Cities Network acknowledges that the government alone cannot solve these problems, because they are complex and entrenched; hence, inclusive innovative approaches are needed to find long-term and sustainable solutions.
Previous studies show that the challenges of urbanization in South Africa reflect the fundamental weaknesses of the country’s economy, weaknesses which severely limit the capacity of the urban areas to accommodate and employ rural migrants [12,13,14]. Moreover, research on sustainable development and urban planning in Africa shows that countries are confronted with two critical challenges, which are rapid urbanization and the severe impact of climate change [15]. It further underscores that most African countries have not yet departed from the colonial urban planning systems in order to effectively respond to the needs of rapid urbanization and high population growth. The sluggish change or lack of change in urban planning systems has created and widened the gap between formal and informal settlements in many countries, such as South Africa [16,17,18]. The literature indicates that cities in Africa have doubled in number in the last three decades, from 3300 to 7600, accounting for a population of about 500 million people [19]. From these figures, it can be determined that Africa’s cities are rapidly growing, and the impact on the economic, social, environmental, and political landscape in the future is profound. For instance, urbanization presents immense opportunities to accelerate progress towards the 2030 and 2063 development agendas for Africa, and South Africa in particular [19]. However, the inverse risk is proportional, due to the various economic, structural, and governance gaps.
The UN-Habitat [2] World Cities Report stresses building resilience for the success of cities, towns, and urban areas, and emphasises policies that protect and sustain all, leaving no one behind. It calls for green investment encouraging sustainable patterns of consumption and production; responsive and inclusive urban planning; the prioritization of public health; and innovation and technology for all. These focus areas underscore the significance of economic, social, and environmental investment for sustainable cities. According to Totaforti [20], the issues of sustainable urban development should not be mere analysis of the consequences of urban development in African cities, but also the development of new paradigms or the assessment of the adequacy of traditional development paradigms to understand the consequences that new urban dynamics have on quality of life for the residents of urban areas. Therefore, policymakers and urban development practitioners have very important roles in managing the nuances associated with urbanization and its impact on sustainable development. The importance of debates on urban sustainability and the approaches to achieving it cannot be overemphasized. This paper aims to identify socio-economic nuances that impede sustainable urban development in South Africa and suggest strategies that can accelerate sustainable urban development in South Africa. Therefore, the following are the two main questions which the paper seeks to answer: What are the socio-economic impediments to sustainable and inclusive urban development in South Africa? What strategies can accelerate sustainable and inclusive urban development in South Africa? To address these questions, a literature review which is qualitative in approach will be used to analyse relevant empirical and theoretical studies as well as technological reports from government departments and international organizations such as the United Nations. This review is important because rapid urbanization in South Africa is a concern for the government and urban developers. On the other hand, the current literature, for instance [5,6,7,8,13,17,18,20], focuses primarily on economic and spatial urban development, as well as factors for rapid urbanization in Africa, with little focus on the impediments to sustainable and inclusive urbanization. Thus, this paper contributes to the growing literature on sustainable development by bringing in aspects of inclusivity, from planning to implementing urban development plans and projects. The findings of the paper are significant to urban developers and planners in understanding the socio-economic dimensions likely to undermine their efforts towards achieving sustainable urban development in South Africa. Highlighting the predominant impediments and new strategies can be useful in strategic resource allocation and determining policy directions towards sustainable and inclusive urban development.
2. Literature Review
An Overview of Economic and Urban Development in South Africa
The term sustainable urban development has been defined and conceptualized differently depending on the focus of the subject matter. For instance, according to Pisano, Lepuschitz, and Berger [21], urban sustainable development encompasses the practices and activities that relate to sustainable development within cities, such as the promotion of organic farmers, markets, access to sustainable mobility, reduction of power consumption, recycling, and waste prevention. It also encompasses processes of sustainable development such as being cognizant of the infrastructural needs of the cities, such as the provision of affordable housing for disadvantaged residents. Finally, it is about reflecting on the outcomes for cities given the use of a sustainable development perspective focusing on land management and consumption of water resources. Irrefutably, urban planning is key to sustainable development. Proper planning creates space to address critical infrastructure shortages, improve urban living, promote inclusive and resilient urban futures, and promote community involvement in planning decisions and actions [15].
According to UN-DESA [22], sustainable urban development should be premised on four pillars of sustainable development. The first pillar is social development, which comprises education and health, food and nutrition, green housing and buildings, water and sanitation, green public transportation, recreation areas, and community support. The second pillar is environmental protection, focusing on forests and soil management, waste and recycling management, energy efficiency, water management, air quality conservation, and adaptation and mitigation of climate change. The third pillar is economic development which focuses on green productive growth, creation of decent employment, production and distribution of renewable energy, and technology and innovation. The fourth pillar is effective urban governance, which entails decentralization and planning, reduction of inequalities, strengthening of civil and political rights, and support of local, national, regional, and global links. For cities to be considered sustainable, their input, throughput and output must be balanced within these pillars. Conceptually, inclusive urban development is an active engagement of all urban stakeholders in the inputs and outputs of all the pillars of sustainable development. The relationship between sustainable and inclusive development is based on the interconnectedness of economy and society, infrastructure and environment, leadership and strategy, and health and wellbeing [11]. Through this framework, the economy and the society foster socio-economic prosperity and promote social stability, safety, justice, and cohesiveness, which results in actively engaged communities. These infrastructure components facilitate the continuity of critical services and reliable access to amenities, while leadership provides for effective management and empowerment of urban stakeholders and the fostering of integrated planning. The health and well-being tenet focuses on meeting basic needs by supporting livelihoods through employment and health services [11]. Therefore, sustainable, and inclusive urban development is the practice of balancing all these components without disenfranchising any segment of the population in current and future development endeavours.
Since the end of the apartheid political era, South Africa has, through policy and development programmes, endeavoured to correct the past injustices believed to be detrimental to urban development. In 1997, for instance, the South African Department of Housing launched the Urban Development Framework, a policy which underscored the potential of urbanization in economic and social progress, and the improvement of quality of life for many South Africans [23]. The Framework ushered in a momentous period in urban development in the country because the policies of the colonial and apartheid eras denied most South Africans urban opportunities, and the associated policies and legislative Acts made urban planning dysfunctional and unsustainable [23]. South Africa further embarked on various transformative socio-economic plans, which included Reconstruction and Development (RDP); Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR); the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP); the Urban Renewal Programme (URP); the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA); the New Growth Path; the National Development Plan (NDP); the Nine Point Plan; the Fourteen Point Plan; the New Dawn; the Growth Renewal and Sustainability Plan; the Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Plan; the District Development Model and attendant master plans; and Just Energy Transition. Recently, the cabinet also adopted the Integrated Urban Development Framework and the National Spatial Development Framework [24]. The series of these programmes and policy frameworks over the years indicate the efforts made by the government to achieve socio-economic goals such as employment, the lessening of inequality, economic growth, and inclusive urban development. However, moving from one policy to another is indicative of a struggle to ‘get it right’ as a country as to economic and urban development. Perhaps this points to the failure of leadership and governance in the implementation of policies or indicates that the programmes being implemented are not sustainable.
Nonetheless, South Africa’s vision for sustainable urban development, as well as guidelines and programmes to achieve this vision, are outlined in the Integrated Urban Development Framework. The vision for the Integrated Urban Development Framework is to have liveable, safe, resource-efficient cities and towns that are socially integrated, economically inclusive, and globally competitive, where residents actively participate in urban life [25]. The Integrated Urban Development Framework seeks to transform and restructure South Africa’s urban spaces and foster a shared understanding across government and society. This shared understanding is important in facilitating best practices for managing urbanization and achieving the goals of economic development, job creation, and improved quality of living [25]. The Framework encompasses four strategic goals, which are inclusion and access, inclusive growth, effective governance, and spatial integration. This is also aligned with South Africa’s National Development Plan, which focuses on nine key areas, namely, creating jobs, expanding infrastructure, transitioning to a low-carbon economy, transforming urban and rural communities, improving education and training, ensuring quality healthcare, building a capable state, combating corruption, and improving accountability, and consolidating social cohesion [26]. Nonetheless, the question remains whether South Africa has attained sustainable urban planning and development. Far from it. The urban conditions in the country seem to be deteriorating with increasing housing challenges, informal settlements, and congestion in cities [4]. These compounding challenges negatively affect the quality of life and exert pressure on infrastructural facilities, as well as natural resources such as water, clean air, and land space [4].
However, recent studies in South Africa report goodwill endeavours from social investors and planners aiming to make South African urban life sustainable by promoting social inclusion, economic growth, and environmental sustainability by seeking new ways to solve the historical and underlying urban challenges [24,27]. This is brought about through collaborations and partnerships of professionals and practitioners in various sectors, such as health, the economy, safety and security, and human rights, to design, develop and implement urban models that make the cities and towns more liveable, equitable, and sustainable [11]. Well-planned urbanization plays a pivotal role in reducing rural poverty, improving food security, and creating opportunities for rural and urban transformation [28]. Therefore, the success of urban areas has direct and indirect positive impacts on both rural and urban areas.
Globally, despite the benefits associated with urbanization, there are myriad challenges; some are common across the board, while others are unique to specific contexts. Looking at the South African context, the South African Cities Network [11] reported that the global financial and economic crisis, water shortages due to climate change, and the health and socio-economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic are the current challenges facing urban development. The report also revealed public unrest, violence, and crime to be daunting challenges in South African cities. The unprecedented rate of crime results in looting and destruction of businesses and property, hence pushing away investors seeking to grow the economy. Perhaps, these social ills are attributable to what Cobbinah [15] notes as the widening inequalities within cities, unemployment, infrastructure deficits, concentration of vulnerable populations in vulnerable locations, and slum growth in South Africa. South Africa, like many other countries in Africa, suffers from the informality of activities in cities, such as informal economic activities and informal land occupation. Research shows that in some towns in South Africa, land ownership is brokered by traditional leadership and indigenous, or tribal, leaders [15]. Therefore, informality is a key feature of South Africa’s urban areas [15,20]. The interrelationships of these challenges seem to undermine the efforts made by urban planners and developers towards achieving sustainable and inclusive urban development.
Moreover, Adam and Postma [24] highlight challenges to urban development and sustainability in South Africa, such as a lack of implementation of planning policies; and a lack of collaboration between other urban professionals and urban planners, such as the South African Council for Planners (Sacplan), in the transformation of urban planning; and lack of good governance. With these challenges aboard, it is difficult to develop and implement a transformative urban policy premised on sustainability-inclined pillars of social justice, environmental stewardship, and economic inclusion. Consequently, this affects the well-being of individuals and communities, and, ultimately, urban planning and development [29].
Irrefutably, the rapid urbanization in South Africa has both positive and negative outcomes. As to the positive aspects, urbanization is a catalyst for economic growth, skills transfer and knowledge sharing, improved quality of life, and enhanced access to services. On the contrary, urbanization is bedevilled by inequality, congestion, insecurity, the tearing-down of social fabric, and poverty, to mention but a few. These aspects are arguably impediments to attaining sustainable urban development in South Africa, hence the need for innovative, sustainable, and inclusive approaches in planning and developing urban areas in the future.
3. Materials and Methods
To understand the multifaceted dimensions of sustainable urban development, different research approaches, such as quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, should be used [30,31,32]. This paper adopted a literature review, a sub-method of qualitative research, to enumerate the nuances that impede and accelerate sustainable and inclusive urban development in South Africa. The literature search did not yield publications on the impediments to sustainable urban development in South Africa; hence, this paper seeks to address this gap. However, there is a plethora of literature on sustainable development and urban planning and development, and this provides adequate information to conduct an analysis to inform discussions working towards a meaningful conclusion on the subject. This analysis is significant to urban development practitioners such as urban planners, policymakers, and urban law-enforcement authorities, as well as social service personnel.
To ensure credible, valid, and sufficient-quality findings, the researchers followed the six steps of conducting a review analysis which were proposed by Templier and Paré [33]. They proposed that a credible and reliable review must have clear research questions or objectives; correspondingly, the two questions in this paper ask the following: What are the impediments to sustainable and inclusive economic urban development in South Africa? What strategies can accelerate sustainable and inclusive economic urban development in South Africa? The second step entails searching for the extant literature from various credible sources. This paper utilized journal articles, United Nations reports on urbanization and sustainable development, and South African urban planning reports and policy briefs to answer the questions above. The search for the appropriate materials was conducted using a combination of words and statements, such as social investment, South Africa, sustainable urban development, challenges of urbanization, urban planning, urban development, and sustainable development. The third step entails screening the materials for inclusion in the analysis. The following databases were consulted: ProQuest, Science Direct, CABINET, EBSCOHOSTD, Scopus, and Google Scholar. However, due to its accessibility, Google Scholar was used to search for journal articles that were screened using the following criteria: studies not exceeding ten years since publication; having been published in the English language; focusing on sustainable urban development, inclusive economy, and urbanization; and focusing within the South African context. South Africa was chosen because of its higher rate of urbanization relative to the rest of the continent, with projections placing it above the global average by 2050 [3,4].
Moreover, articles that used quantitative, qualitative, and literature-review methods were included. The inclusion of multiple methods and materials provides confidence that the analysis is based on rich, verifiable, and reliable information. In addition to the peer-reviewed articles, credible organizations’ reports, such as those from the United Nations and South African government departments were used, as they provide the latest statistics and policy-based data on sustainable urban planning and development. This exercise culminated in the fourth step, namely, assessing the quality of the studies to be included in the review. From this assessment, a sample of 61 studies (n = 61) was selected, comprising n = 35 journal articles, n = 7 United Nations technical reports, and n = 19 Department and agency reports and working papers. The fifth and sixth steps include extracting and analysing data. Figure 1 illustrates the research design undertaken in executing this review. This being a narrative review, the analysis focused on the interpretation of prior findings, without seeking generalization [34]. The motivation for adopting this approach was the inspiration it gives to the researchers to gather information from various sources, hence adding to the identification of gaps and the suggestion of possible questions [33]. The information relating to the research questions in this paper was collated, summarised, and presented thematically for further discussion. The findings are presented in a two-fold manner. First, it addresses the issues that impede sustainable urban and economic development, and second, the strategies to accelerate sustainable urban development in South Africa.
Limitations
This paper focuses on issues that impede sustainable urban development, and the strategies to accelerate sustainable and inclusive economic urban development in South Africa. The findings of this study are limited to the South African context, and therefore they cannot be statistically generalized to the entire African region. However, the findings are indicative of the common impediments towards sustainable urban development in Africa and the world at large. The second limitation of the study is that the paper did not focus on testing the relationships between various factors to determine their impacts on sustainable and urban economic development. This provides an opportunity for larger-scale research on the interactions and relationships between these nuances.
5. Discussion
The imperative of urban transformation towards sustainability is not unique to South Africa. Globally, the importance of cities and urbanization in driving sustainable and equitable forms of development is acknowledged in multilateral conventions such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda, and the Paris Agreement [57]. These conventions, agendas, and agreements portray the global recognition of the kinds of innovation, investment, and management needed to realize the drivers of sustainable development at multiple scales [57]. Globally, the urban population is fast-growing, a phenomenon that prompts more efforts towards sustainable development than ever before. Therefore, the concept of sustainable urban development has gained momentum in the current arrangement in order to balance the social, economic, and environmental resources needed to support current and future generations. However, achieving sustainable urban development is not smooth sailing, as it is linked to the complexities of economic, social, and environmental needs [79]. For instance, research shows that the provision of affordable housing in South African cities does not match the rapid rate of urban growth, hence leading to informal settlements and squalor conditions that threaten urban sustainability. Moreover, the findings revealed that immigration, insecurity, apartheid legacies, and lack of good governance impede sustainable and inclusive urban development. These impediments are interlinked to the extent that one could affect the entire chain of sustainable development. For instance, unemployment leads to poverty, which might cause rural–urban migration. When people without sufficient finances to meet their needs move to cities, they are likely to establish informal settlements and involve themselves in illegal activities, hence causing insecurity in urban areas. Perhaps this is the reason why the literature recommends a regular critical assessment of urban development approaches to track whether urbanization is on a sustainable trajectory [80].
The strategies for sustainable urban development must focus on the economic, social, and ecological, as well as sustainable spatial development and cultural continuity. It is for these reasons that the World Bank Group supported South Africa in urban development, focusing on creating a more enabling intergovernmental environment for coordinated development in human settlements and urban public transport, and streamlining policy and regulatory systems [14]. These undertakings are significant in supporting South African cities’ transformations and strengthening the capacity of municipalities to lead, plan, finance, and execute elements of urban sustainable programmes. The United Nations Habitat for Africa notes that sustainable urban development in Africa can serve as an enabler in attaining the desired structural transformation, increased prosperity, and peaceful co-existence within the framework of Africa Agenda 2063 [4]. This implies that urbanization that is not inclusive is detrimental to the quality of life of the urban poor, and ultimately all city inhabitants. Therefore, getting urban planning and development right could lessen the impediments to decent jobs, economic growth, social inclusion, and protection of local and regional ecosystems, and ultimately reduce environmental pollution [44].
However, despite the benefits of urbanization, the global trend of rapid urbanization prompts local, national, regional, and global urgency for sustainable urban development. This is because emerging issues such as climate change and migration have local and international effects and require both homemade and collaborative solutions. For instance, the risks of environmental and land degradation are high in urban areas due to increased rural–urban migration, leading to informal settlements and eroding social cohesion, which affects the safety of cities due to inherent inequalities [67]. Therefore, there is a need for more strategic approaches and models of urban planning and development which deliberately balance the economic, social, and environmental inputs and outputs of development. One of the approaches identified in this paper for accelerating sustainable urban development in South Africa is social investment, focusing on housing, transport, and recreational facilities, among other social services. This is aligned with the United Nations Habitat’s [2] recommendations of mainstreaming social inclusion in all types of urban projects and throughout all project phases. This is important because social inclusion cannot be seen as a mere exercise in rhetoric, but rather as an integral approach to urban development in its entirety.
To achieve sustainable urban development in South Africa, urban developers and planners must ensure meaningful participation from all levels of society, including the disadvantaged groups, through local-level partnerships reaching to the most senior levels of governance and investors. This is important to harness and enhance the development and concrete implementation of inclusive urban development proposals. The consultations among stakeholders as a participatory process are necessary for knowledge and expertise sharing through the life cycle of urban development. Sustainable urban development approaches must consider both formal and informal types of labour markets and spatial arrangements through detailed assessments of job opportunities and distribution, accessibility to basic services, and cultural dynamics in ways that strategically support the progressive transition of informality to formality [2]. Thus, sustainable, and inclusive urban development has multidimensional components requiring multiple stakeholders and approaches to achieve the intended goals.
In summary, the literature on urbanization and urban development, especially the analysis described in this paper, has widely employed qualitative research approaches, with a few adopting quantitative approaches. These studies have focused on spatial dynamics such as space planning, infrastructural and structural development [20,51,53,57], social inequality and migration [6,9,13,28,66], violence and safety in urban areas [41,42,45,46,47], and economic growth and unemployment [44,48], to mention a few. These studies, among others, illustrate the factors affecting urban economic development in South Africa as it works towards achieving sustainable urban development. Moreover, research on solutions to rapid urbanization in South Africa has focused on curbing immigration, investing in rural areas [6,9,13,28], policy development and improved governance, and spatial inclusivity [57,62,67]. Recent studies have also focused on technology and innovation [58,77,79], and on social investment [65,70,73,74] as an alternative approach to various aspects of socio-economic and urban development. These studies highlight various factors which can be considered as impediments or accelerators to inclusive and sustainable urban development. Nonetheless, the literature lacks explicit studies focusing on inclusive and sustainable urban development in the context of South African rapid urbanization but provides insights and direction for future research and development interventions.
6. Conclusions
Understanding the dynamics around sustainable and inclusive urban development is important for South Africa’s rapidly growing cities and towns. South Africa is the most urbanizing country in Africa, with continued prospects of increased growth. Despite the benefits of urbanization, such as economic and infrastructure development, urbanization has an equal share of challenges, such as urban poverty, pollution, informal settlements, crime, and inequality, to mention but a few. This paper focused on nuances that impede sustainable urban development in South Africa as well as the strategies that can accelerate sustainable urban development. The study established the following as impediments to sustainable urban development in South Africa: informality of settlements and businesses, lack of active consultations and engagement with urban citizens, unresolved apartheid legacies, insecurity, and migrations. Moreover, the study found the following strategies to be ingredients for sustainable and inclusive urban development: working with and not against informality, promoting inclusivity and access to resources, accelerating policy reforms, investing in rural towns, and adopting and investing in superior technology and innovation. These findings contribute to the understanding of the complex dynamics of urban development in South Africa. The nature and scale of urban growth, and its impacts on socio-economic transformation, technological shift, climate change, and general insecurity provide an opportunity for urban developers and planners to embrace multisectoral investment frameworks and governance to make urban areas more inclusive, resilient, productive, and sustainable. However, these investments and development plans must be premised on models that are resource-sensitive and people-centric. Importantly, the study recommends increased investments in urban housing to accommodate the rapidly growing populations of South African cities. This would lessen the burden of informal settlements by increasing the accessibility and affordability of housing facilities in the country. Future research could focus on determining the relationships between these nuances and sustainable urban development in South Africa.
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