The urban system — demographics and economics
How urban systems in South Africa and across the continent are evolving — comparing mega-cities, growth corridors, smaller cities, towns and rural areas.
This theme aims to understand how the urban systems in South Africa and elsewhere across the continent are evolving and transforming over time. It compares the trajectories of mega-cities, regional growth corridors, smaller cities, towns and rural areas. Are the historic imbalances and disconnects between centres of population and economic activity in many of these countries getting better or worse? How do push and pull factors influence how city-regions are changing with rising household mobility and locational shifts induced by digitalisation? Are they becoming more or less open to talent and technology? How are intermediate cities and mining towns adapting to changing patterns of resource consumption and environmental degradation associated with climate change, including the just transition?
The research considers the contribution cities make to the development of surrounding territories and the economic connections and spillovers between cities themselves. Complex two-way patterns of domestic migration between settlement types are analysed to assess the contrasting fortunes of, and interdependence between, towns, small and larger cities. Changes in household composition, age profiles and fertility/mortality rates are also relevant. International migration flows, logistics corridors and supply chain linkages are important with other countries, especially in light of the strategic opportunity presented by the newly formed African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Which cities are best placed to function as gateways to increased intra-African trade and development?
Selected references
Key papers and reports for this theme to be linked.