Landscapes of peripheral and displaced urbanisms survey

The GCRO’s Landscapes of Peripheral and Displaced Urbanisms survey, which forms part of a broader multi-sited research project, was successfully concluded in late April 2019. Progressus Research and Development was appointed to conduct the survey. In total, 963 respondents were interviewed from February to April 2019.

Dr Ngaka Mosiane, senior researcher at the GCRO, advises that the survey complements the qualitative aspects of the larger Landscapes of Peripheral and Displaced Urbanisms research project, which focuses on the Gauteng City-Region’s northern, north-eastern and north-western peripheries, including so-called 'displaced' urban areas that are home to hundreds of thousands of people, yet have few discernible economic centres.

The study addresses the need to know how these areas have changed since 1994. Do long term commuting patterns still sustain them? Are they aging and depopulating over time? Are they benefiting from the investment of migrant worker wages? Are any new local economies emerging over time? What are government’s plans for them, and how do these articulate with the long-term strategies (spatial and otherwise) being generated by Gauteng?

As a key component of the wider research, the survey investigated people’s experiences in relation to the questions posed above, using areas chosen in Winterveld/Mabopane/Soshanguve; Rustenburg; and selected Moloto Road communities in the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, Mpumalanga. In order to allow for comparison across the Gauteng City-Region, the survey used the GCRO's Quality of Life survey questionnaire. The QoL survey provides deep insights into many aspects of the quality of life of residents, covering a broad range of topics including dwelling and services; satisfaction with services; migration; neighbourhood or community; transport; participation and government; opinions (headspace); crime and health.

Progressus Research and Development collected participant responses using SurveyToGosoftware on tablets. GCRO researchers had full access to incoming live data, which facilitated quality control. Says Dr Mosiane, “With the help of Dr Julia de Kadt, a senior researcher at the GCRO who supports the larger biennial GCRO Quality of Life Survey, and Kumbirai Madziwa, a Wits Health Demography post graduate student, we carefully monitored the implementation of the survey using a number of quality control mechanisms".

The spatial focus of the survey within and outside Gauteng was important because the wider trends and dynamics shaping this Province – the platinum belt in the west, the coal and energy economies of the east and south – are frequently highlighted in public conversations. There are arguably few major metropolitan regions in the world that have geographical edges with city-sized settlement forms, including those that are not-quite-urban and not-quite-rural.