Gauteng commuters’ frequent travel times
The October 2024 map of the month uses QoL 7 (2023/24) data to analyse Gauteng residents’ travel times across the province, focusing on the shortest travel times of up to 15 minutes and the longest ones of more than 45 minutes. In addition to illustrating spatial differences across wards, the analysis disaggregates trip times by mode of transport and some demographic variables. It also shows how travel times were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes since QoL 6 (2020/21).
Date of publication:
October 2024
COVID-19 vaccination in Gauteng
The September 2024 map of the month summarises QoL 7 (2023/24) respondents' vaccination experiences, COVID-19 vaccination status, and their views on the COVID-19 vaccines and allows readers to explore these data at ward level in Gauteng.
Date of publication:
September 2024
Segregation and socio-economic sorting in Gauteng
The August Map of the Month uses a bivariate mapping technique to examine both the racial diversity and income level of each ward. The map highlights the small number of wards in Gauteng where racial diversity and household income are both very high the many wards in Gauteng where racial diversity and household income are both very low.
Date of publication:
August 2024
Author(s):
Linked to project(s):
Micro-scale segregation and socio-economic sorting in Gauteng (2024)
Unemployment in Gauteng
This map of the month uses the GCRO Quality of Life (QoL) 6 (2020/21) survey to analyse the socio-economic dynamics of the working age population (15 to 64 years) and spatial characteristics of unemployed workers in Gauteng.
Date of publication:
July 2024
Unpaid accounts for services in the GCR: spatial patterns and underlying causes
We analyse data from the GCRO Quality of Life (QoL) 6 Survey (2020/21) to understand the proportion of respondents reporting that their households had unpaid accounts for services like water and electricity, and the reasons for the unpaid accounts.
Date of publication:
June 2024
A method for mapping high resolution Gross Value Added and its changes between 2012 and 2021 in Gauteng
In the May 2024 map we experiment with quantifying economic activity at a ward level across the province using satellite imagery. The resulting map – built on satellite imagery of nighttime lights, population data and subregional Gross Value Added (GVA) – shows modelled distribution and change in GVA at a ward level between 2012 and 2021
Date of publication:
May 2024
Linked to project(s):
Understanding urban spaces using satellite imagery
Spatial changes in Gauteng’s formal manufacturing jobs: 2014 – 2022
This Map of the Month makes use of a new dataset to examine changes in manufacturing employment in Gauteng at a level of detail that has not been possible before. While the overall story is one of deindustrialisation and the loss of jobs in manufacturing, the mapping shows a nuanced picture of employment losses in some areas and gains in others.
Date of publication:
April 2024
The significance of cities for jobs
This map of the month – produced by researchers at the Human Sciences Research Council and the University of the Free State – explores methods for representing the significance of cities for jobs.
Date of publication:
March 2024
Renaturing Gauteng's mining wastescapes?
The location of mining wastescapes in Gauteng is atypical. This phenomenon arose due to the expansion of Johannesburg's urban landscape near the gold mines and the lax regulation of initial mining operations. Given the enormous volume of material produced by the deep mining of the area, a substantial part of Gauteng's core is marked by mine waste.
Date of publication:
February 2024
Author(s):
Patterns of voter participation in the 2019 elections
One of the key demands of the anti-apartheid struggle was that all South Africans should be able to choose their government. As we approach the 30th anniversary of the achievement of that goal, there has been much reflection on the fact that a large proportion of South Africans do not exercise their right to vote. This Map of the Month explores voter participation in the 2019 general elections.
Date of publication:
November 2023
Author(s):
Extended urbanisation of the GCR: gender, commuting, migration and belonging
During the first half of 2023, Masters students from Wits (Planning) and University College London (Urban Laboratory) participated in a joint course on ‘Extended Urbanisation’, as part of a collaboration between UCL Urban Lab and Wits PLanning to design and deliver a module for the UCL MASc Global Urbanism programme and Wits Planning. This Map of the Month three maps produced by the course participants.
Date of publication:
August 2023
Building volume per person in Gauteng
This map of the month explores the variation in the ratio of building volume to population in Gauteng. It illustrates the wide variation in the building space that people have to live in and relates this variation to household income.
Date of publication:
July 2023
Linked to project(s):
Advancing geospatial research and data science
Gender and race representation in street renaming in Pretoria/Tshwane
Place and street names (toponyms) tell powerful stories about identity, politico-cultural history, socio-political dominance, and changing power relations. This map of the month uses a partial database of 31 instances of street renaming in Pretoria/Tshwane in order to describe this in more detail.
Date of publication:
June 2023
The distribution of male-headed and female-headed households in Gauteng
Three out of every five households in Gauteng reported that they have a male head while two out of every five reported that they have a female head. When mapped, the ratio of male to female-headed households varies considerably from place to place.
Date of publication:
March 2023
Linked to project(s):
Quality of life studies: Insights and analysis
Water Interruptions in Gauteng
The November 2022 Map of the Month explores the issue of water supply reliability at a household level in Gauteng through the data from the Quality of Life survey. The analysis show that the percentage of residents across the province who reported frequent water interruptions increased between the 2017/18 and 2020/21 surveys. Frequent water interruptions are more likely to affect respondents with relatively lower incomes, and the challenge is particularly concentrated in low income communities.
Date of publication:
November 2022
Author(s):
Risk of depression and socio-economic status
In raising awareness about mental health and the socio-economic crisis in South Africa, this Map of the Month uses the GCRO Quality of Life (QoL) Survey dataset to analyse and map the spatial association between high risk of depression and socio-economic status in Gauteng.
Date of publication:
October 2022
Author(s):
Language diversity in Gauteng
In order to mark South Africa’s heritage month, this map represents the languages spoken in Gauteng. The main map represents the distribution of respondents reporting that they speak one of the four most prevalent languages (isiZulu, Sesotho, Sepedi, English) and illustrates Gauteng’s cosmopolitan society.
Date of publication:
September 2022
Author(s):
Distribution of Muslim prayer facilities across the City of Johannesburg
Muslims constitute just 4% of the population of Johannesburg but their spatial presence is accentuated by the presence of mosques across the city’s skyline. This map looks at the distribution of Muslim prayer facilities across the City of Johannesburg and the time periods in which they were built. In particular, it highlights the growth in the number of facilities in the post-apartheid landscape.
Date of publication:
August 2022
Author(s):
Linked to project(s):
The evolving socio-spatial impact of Islam in Johannesburg
Distribution of green carbon across the GCR
At present, cities generally exacerbate climate change because they emit more carbon than they capture and store. Given this, a number of cities around the world have committed themselves to achieving carbon neutrality over the coming decades (e.g. see Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance). In order to achieve this they will need to (1) reduce their carbon emissions, and (2) offset remaining emissions by ensuring that carbon is stored rather than released into the atmosphere. South African municipalities have also made commitments to achieving carbon neutrality (e.g. City of Ekurhuleni 2015, City of Johannesburg 2021, City of Tshwane 2021). In order to track progress towards this goal, it is necessary to measure the city-region’s stored carbon. In this Map of the Month we explore the way in which satellite imagery can be used to calculate the city region's 'green carbon', or the carbon stored in plants.
Date of publication:
July 2022
Linked to project(s):
A Carbon Atlas for the Gauteng City-Region
The geography of desegregation in Johannesburg
This month we showcase a series of maps that were published in a new book by the sociologist Owen Crankshaw entitled Urban Inequality: Theory Evidence and Method in Johannesburg. This book offers a long-term analysis of inequality in Johannesburg from the 1970s to the 2011 census. It argues that in order to understand urban transformation in Johannesburg, we need to appreciate the way in which both the late and the post-Apartheid periods intersected with long-term economic restructuring.
Date of publication:
June 2022
Electricity interruptions in the GCR
In order to mark National Energy Month, this GCRO map presents data from an electricity related question in the sixth Quality of Life survey conducted in Gauteng in 2020/21. The map shows the percentage of respondents in each geographical area who had an electricity connection and who reported experiencing electricity interruptions on a weekly basis.
Date of publication:
May 2022
Economic impacts of COVID-19 in the Gauteng City-Region
This Map of the Month marks two years since GCRO published its March 2020 map on risk factors that might exacerbate the spread and the socio-economics impact of COVID-19. Using the CSIR mesozone layer, it contrasts the percentage of QoL 6 (2020/21) respondents per mesozone that reported reduced salaries and working hours, or lost jobs, between March 2020 and May 2021.
Date of publication:
April 2022
Linked to project(s):
Gauteng's urban space economy (2023) Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng
Gauteng’s urban land cover growth: 1990-2020
This map of the month provides a visual representation of urban sprawl in Gauteng over a three decade period. The analysis shows that urban sprawl in Gauteng was more rapid in the 1990s than it was in the 2000s and 2010s.
Date of publication:
March 2022
Author(s):
Economic and commuting connections in the northern GCR
This Map of the Month illustrates some of the ways through which the core areas of the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) are interconnected with their peripheries, including those that are outside the Gauteng Province, but are within commuting distance. These flows signify disparate types of relationships between the city region peripheries and core areas, involving the transporting of mining supplies from Gauteng to Rustenburg mining operations. They also indicate relationships of dependency, including daily commutes from northern Tshwane and former KwaNdebele to the City of Tshwane.
Date of publication:
February 2022
Author(s):
Voting patterns in the 2021 local government elections
Following previous elections in 2014, 2016 and 2019, GCRO mapped the distribution of votes for the main political parties. Here we repeat this exercise for the November 2021 local elections, this time focusing mainly on the spatial dynamics of a dramatically lower turnout. We also once again plot the votes for the main political parties – the ANC, DA, EFF, and newcomer ActionSA – using the same dot density technique deployed in previous Maps of the Month.
Date of publication:
December 2021
Distribution of population vs economic activity across the GCR
This Map of the month highlights the relative location of concentrations of urban economy and concentrations of people across the extended Gauteng City-Region. It shows that in many core areas the share of total urban economic gross value add exceeds the share of the population, while in many peripheral areas share of population exceeds share of the urban economic gross value add.
Date of publication:
August 2021
Author(s):
Linked to project(s):
Landscapes of peripheral and displaced urbanisms
Mapping the geographies of travel using volunteered app data
The July 2021 Map of the Month draws on the 2016/17 myJoziMoves dataset, which collected detailed trip data for individual daily commuting across Gauteng, using an app on participants’ phones. The maps illustrate quite different mobility patterns of research participants from different income categories. They also display the location of places named by participants as their favourite and avoided places.
Date of publication:
July 2021
Gauteng’s property gradient three decades after the repeal of the Group Areas Act
To mark the three decade anniversary of this moment, this month’s map showcases remarkable analysis conducted by the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) on property values across the three metros in Gauteng. It shows in broad terms the way in which historically-white suburbs continue to be the most financially exclusive parts of the city region.
Date of publication:
June 2021
What are participants telling us as we collect data for the next Quality of Life survey?
Data collection for our forthcoming Quality of Life 2020/21 Survey (QoL 2020/21) is now over two thirds complete. As part of our regular scrutiny of incoming survey data, we spent some time reviewing comments shared by participants at the end of the survey interview. This map of the month is a compilation of some comments.
Date of publication:
February 2021
The impact of COVID-19 on long term care facilities
For those who live in long term care facilities the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been particularly devastating. For the September Map of the Month we explore the impacts on long term care facilities in Gauteng by mapping the known cases in retirement villages, rehabilitation centres and specialised facilities for people with mental and physical disabilities.
Date of publication:
September 2020
Linked to project(s):
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng
Women and COVID-19 in Gauteng
This story map draws on the infection data from the Gauteng Department of Health (6 March - 7 August 2020) and GCRO’s March 2020 COVID-19 vulnerability indices based on Quality of Life V (2017/18) survey data, to understand the ways in which women may be more vulnerable than men to COVID-19. We also explore some of the implications for this gender bias in the number of positive cases.
Date of publication:
August 2020
Linked to project(s):
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng
Gauteng going dark
The July 2020 Map of the month uses nighttime satellite data to see whether night light intensity across the Gauteng City-Region reflects the impact of lockdown. We looked at how light intensity changed from before lockdown (March 2020) to lockdown level 5 (April 2020) and then between level 5 nightlight brightness (April 2020) and level 4 brightness (May 2020).
Date of publication:
July 2020
De-densifying Gauteng: A thought experiment
As we come to grips with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, urban population density is being examined critically by urban scholars and policy makers. Building on the April 2020 Map of the Month, this month's map tackles the density debate with a 3D population density representation of Gauteng, as well as an interactive visualisation, to explore the feasibility of proposed de-densification in the context of COVID-19.
Date of publication:
May 2020
Linked to project(s):
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng
The most densely populated areas of Gauteng
April 2020 marks the 100th edition in the GCRO’s Map of the Month series. This month's map revisits population density, which has been a recurring theme in the series. It uses a simple technique to show how half of Gauteng's population lives on just 2% of the Province's land.
Date of publication:
April 2020
Linked to project(s):
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng
Mapping vulnerability to COVID-19 in Gauteng
The world is reeling as COVID-19 infections spread. This Map of the Month aids an understanding of the localised risk factors that might contribute to transmission of COVID-19, or amplify its health and socio-economic impacts in Gauteng communities. It explores two key themes: (1) the multiple risk factors to maintaining social distance and preventative hygiene; and (2) the multiple risk factors for health and socio-economic vulnerability during an outbreak or broader shutdown.
Date of publication:
March 2020
Linked to project(s):
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18)
Mapping three residential types: gated communities, informal dwellings and government projects
Previous maps of the month, such as that for October 2018, have shown how the number of residential buildings in Gauteng grew by 60% in the 15 years between 2001 and 2016. Here we map three residential types: gated communities, informal dwellings and government housing projects. The maps reveal that to understand ongoing spatial segregation in Gauteng we must not only look at the settlement patterns inherited from apartheid, but also what has been built where over the last three decades.
Date of publication:
February 2020
Linked to project(s):
Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18)
The changing municipal and provincial boundaries of Gauteng
The year 2020 marks 20 years since the final phase of local government restructuring which saw, among other things, the establishment of metropolitan government in South Africa. This map of the month outlines the evolution of municipalities in Gauteng since 2000 as well as future prospects. It is clear that although the consolidation of municipalities in 2000 was referred to as the final phase, contestation over the most appropriate shape of local government in Gauteng has continued, and is likely far from over.
Date of publication:
January 2020
Participation in Integrated Development Planning
In order to assess the level of community participation in municipal affairs, the GCRO’s Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18) asked a question on respondents’ participation in the Integrated Development Planning process. On average across the sample, 20% of respondents were aware of the IDP but have not participated in it. Only about 3% of the sample had heard of the IDP and had actually participated, while the majority (77%) had never heard of the IDP. This Map of the Month shows the percentage per ward in each of these categories, and also analyses IDP participation by race and income group.
Date of publication:
November 2019
Linked to project(s):
Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18)
Feeling depressed or hopeless in Gauteng
In recent years there has been growing global and national interest in mental health. In the Quality of Life V (2017/18) survey respondents were asked how often they felt depressed or hopeless in the two weeks preceding their participation in the survey. This map shows the percentage of respondents per Gauteng ward who said 'nearly every day' or 'more than half the days'.
Date of publication:
October 2019
Linked to project(s):
Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18)
Gauteng at night: light intensity at 2am
At 2 am most of us are home and asleep, and the city-region at its quietest. Yet not everyone is asleep, and many activities run 24 hours a day. And even where most people are asleep and there is little activity, it doesn't mean that the places we live in are dark. This Map of the Month uses freely available 1 km resolution light intensity data taken at 2 am to show where the brightest lights at night are in the Gauteng City Region and is visualised in an interactive 3D model. This data shows the extent to which humans have shaped urban form and where economic activity occurs.
Date of publication:
September 2019
Linked to project(s):
Understanding urban spaces using satellite imagery
Graffiti and urban art in Maboneng – a virtual tour
This Map of the Month is an interactive visualisation – an online story map – exploring the various facets of graffiti in Maboneng, Johannesburg. The story map examines the spatial relationships between graffiti and the surrounding urban environment, notably the distribution and density of graffiti, the visibility of graffiti, and the themes conveyed by the artworks themselves.
Date of publication:
August 2019
Linked to project(s):
Graffiti in the city
Industrial and commercial buildings
The total number of commercial and industrial buildings in Gauteng increased by 30% from 2001 to 2016. This series of maps shows the distribution of these buildings broken down by commercial buildings, industrial buildings and informal trading structures. They also show areas of growth and decline.
Date of publication:
July 2019
Author(s):
Measuring accessibility of government housing programmes
City regions like Gauteng provide a range of services that contribute to improving quality of life, such as schools, shops, hospitals and clinics, parks and public transport. However, in order to make a difference, these services need to be accessible to potential users. The June 2019 Map of the Month presents an Accessibility Index, derived from the Quality of Life V (2017/18) survey, that measures residents’ overall accessibility to a range of services and opportunities and focuses, in particular, on people living within government housing programmes.
2019 Gauteng provincial election results
In May 2014, we released a series of ‘dot-density’ maps that plotted the spatial distribution of votes in the 2014 provincial elections. Here we repeat this exercise, this time comparing the distribution of votes in the 2019 provincial elections against that in 2014 for the five top parties. The maps show fascinating patterns of change, in particular the growth of the Vryheidsfront Plus and the EFF in certain areas.
Date of publication:
May 2019
'Politics is a waste of time': an analysis of who agrees with this statement
As South Africa prepares for National and Provincial elections on 8 May, our April 2019 map of the month shows the percentage of respondents in each ward in Gauteng who agreed with the statement ‘politics is a waste of time’. The month shows that in many more affluent wards, respondents were less inclined to agree with the statement than other parts of the province. Meanwhile, in inner city wards, township wards and rural wards, higher percentages of respondents agreed with the statement ‘politics is a waste of time’. Further disaggregation of the results suggests that the spatial pattern i...
The use of public services in Gauteng
Our March Map of the Month explores the degree to which residents of Gauteng rely on public services. We make use of our Quality of Life V Survey (2017/18) to illustrate the proportion of respondents living in each ward who report using two key public services – health and education. Even though people are mobile and access services in different places, where a respondent lives can determine to a substantial extent whether they use public sector services. In broad terms the maps confirm what we might expect: that people living in historically disadvantaged areas rely to a far greater degree...
Date of publication:
March 2019
Linked to project(s):
Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18)
Gauteng’s ward level racial diversity: 2018
For this month, we provide a 2018 map of racial diversity per ward in order to update the map based on 2011 data published in September 2017. Overall, wards located in old township areas, and on the periphery of the province display low levels of racial integration, while wards located in the core are characterised by high levels of racial integration.
Date of publication:
February 2019
Population concentrations: night vs day
This month we show a series of maps on how concentrations of population in Gauteng differ between night and day. These maps allow us to better appreciate the continuities and shifts between day and night, and in particular the level of mobility required between dormitory spaces and spaces of employment across the city-region.
Date of publication:
January 2019
Mapping debt
The November 2018 Map of the Month shows a contrasting picture of indebtedness and the ability to pay back debt in Gauteng from the GCRO’s Quality of Life (QoL) V (2017/18) survey. We also consider how debt is distributed across race, income and age groups in order to shed light on the possible implications of having debt and related default rates on social mobility in the province.
Date of publication:
November 2018
Author(s):
Linked to project(s):
Quality of Life Survey V (2017/18)
Change in residential buildings
The October 2018 Map of the Month shows the number of residential buildings that were added or removed per square kilometre across Gauteng between 2001 and 2016. Over the period some 1,5 million dwellings were added to the province. The map shows the uneven distribution of this growth. In some parts, mostly in townships as a result of backyard shacks, growth was as high as 9 000 residential buildings per square kilometre. In a few places there was a decline in the number of dwellings due to redevelopment or the removal of informal settlements.
Date of publication:
October 2018
Author(s):
Shopping malls and centres in Gauteng
The number of malls in Gauteng has doubled in the first decade and a half of the century, and the number of shopping centres has also expanded considerably. This series of maps shows where new shopping malls and centres have appeared, the distribution of shopping malls and centres in relation to population densities, and the distribution of shopping malls and centres in relation to average household incomes.
Date of publication:
September 2018
Author(s):
Mapping unemployment
Where is unemployment a problem in Gauteng? This month we provide two different answers to this question. First we map areas where rates of unemployment are higher than the provincial median. Secondly we map where unemployed people are concentrated. Each of these can contribute to our understanding of where development is needed.
Commutes through Mabopane Station
This Map illustrates mobility in the GCR through the case of commutes to, through and from the Mabopane Station in Gauteng's northern periphery. It highlights the extremely long daily commutes that define life for many people in this periphery. Such journeys to reach work, to shop, to bank, to conduct businesses, and to return home, weigh heavily on commuters, especially in terms of travel costs and a significantly reduced quality of life. This map also points to node-formation far outside core metropolitan areas, with a large amount of economic activity clustering around the Mabopane Station.
Date of publication:
July 2018
Author(s):
Linked to project(s):
Landscapes of peripheral and displaced urbanisms
Multidimensional poverty in the GCR (2015/16 data)
While poverty is often measured in terms of income only, ‘multidimensional poverty’ is a method for assessing poverty in terms of multiple indicators. According to our calculations, 13.3% of households in Gauteng are multidimensionally poor, meaning that they are deprived in three or more of nine indictors of poverty, ranging from inadequate housing to lack of access to basic services, unemployment, food insecurity, and so on. The map gives an indication of the proportion of households in each ward that is multidimensionally poor. In our more detailed write-up, we provide further calculatio...
Date of publication:
June 2018
Author(s):
The long and short of school commutes
Access to high quality education is often seen as a gateway to social mobility, and school admissions policies are consequently very contested. Since 2012, the default feeder zone for schools in Gauteng has been defined as a 5 km radius around each public school. The NGO, Equal Education, has challenged this policy in the Constitutional Court as perpetuating apartheid’s legacy of racial inequality. GCRO’s May 2018 Map of the Month explores the distance learners travel to school in the context of this policy.
Date of publication:
May 2018
Linked to project(s):
Gauteng's geography of education (2021)
Support for bringing back influx-control
To test attitudes towards migration into the GCR, we asked respondents in the QoL IV (2015/16) whether they agreed with the statement 'there are too many people coming to Gauteng, we should bring back influx-control'. A remarkable 43% agreed. This Map of the Month shows that the proportion per ward who agreed rises to 83% in some parts of the province. We also map the proportion of migrants per ward to analyse the spatial relationship between concentrations of migrants and the percentage who think influx-control should be reinstated.
Date of publication:
April 2018
Author(s):
Mapping vulnerability in Gauteng
As some of South Africa's provinces battle arguably the worst drought in over a century, it is important to consider disaster risk in Gauteng. 'Vulnerability' is the human dimension of disasters, reflecting how susceptible people are to hazards like droughts or floods. In this Map of the Month, Quality of Life (QoL) IV (2015/16) survey data was used to construct a Vulnerability Index, and then a spatial interpolation model was applied to the Vulnerability Index scores of individual QoL respondents to show how vulnerability is distributed geographically across the province.
Date of publication:
March 2018
Backyard and informal dwellings (2001-2016)
This Map of the Month contributes to our understanding of the unique ways in which Gauteng settlements are transforming by analysing growth and decline in the number of backyard and informal dwellings between 2001 and 2016. It shows areas that have experienced increases in the number of backyard and informal dwellings over this period, and areas where there have been decreases. Detailed maps show the appearance or disappearance of some informal settlements and the dramatic growth of backyard structures.
Date of publication:
February 2018
The streets of Gauteng
GCRO’s January 2018 Map of the Month is part of a broader exploration into the streets of Gauteng, a research project titled Taking Streets Seriously. The map provides an artistic illustration of the range of different street patterns across the Gauteng City-Region. Based on 2.5m resolution satellite imagery it shows the footprints of built structures in dark grey. The blank spaces represent the ‘open space’ of parking lots, servitudes, parks and golf-courses, railways, water bodies and, mainly, streets.
Date of publication:
January 2018
Linked to project(s):
Taking streets seriously (2018)
The reach of GCRO research
The GCRO website has become the key portal for accessing all research outputs. While the focus is on the Gauteng City-Region, many issues examined are applicable in other contexts. This Map of the Month illustrates the global visitors to the GCRO website. Much of our research is based on data from the Quality of Life (QoL) survey that has become a benchmark for social surveying in South Africa. In our commitment to open access, this QoL survey data is freely available and the second map depicts the requests for the data from across each of the 4 surveys.
Date of publication:
December 2017
Spatial footprints of mothers in Johannesburg
Mothers, through multifaceted roles which include (but which also extend far beyond) the care of and provision for children, intersect with and use the city in a variety of intensive and demanding ways. This Map of the Month shows the different spatial footprints - some large, some small - of a number of mothers as they traverse Johannesburg to get to work, church, education, shops, recreation and medical care.
Differentiating household income growth in Gauteng 2001-2011
While there is much awareness of acute wealth inequality in South Africa, there is some contestation about whether the situation is improving. This map of the month looks at spatial inequality in Gauteng over time. The analysis shows that many low income areas, particularly townships, are not catching up with the rest of the province with respect to household income, and that spatial inequality is getting worse.
Date of publication:
October 2017
Author(s):
Dimensions of diversity in Gauteng
Are we seeing a move towards ‘desegregation’ in the post-apartheid period? Which areas in Gauteng are the most ‘mixed’? The answers to such questions depend on what we consider mixing to be. In this Map of the Month we use a statistical measure known as an entropy score – applied to Gauteng wards – to gauge levels of diversity on each of three dimensions: race, language and income. The higher the score, the higher the measure of diversity, and in turn the higher the level of co-presence or ‘mixing’ in the area of each Gauteng ward.
Date of publication:
September 2017
Author(s):
Watershed boundaries of the GCR
The August 2017 Map of the Month shows the rivers, dams and wetlands in Gauteng, with the watershed represented by the orange line. A key aspect of the Witwatersrand watershed is that it bisects the urban area as illustrated in the accompanying diagram. In addition, we have depicted the watershed (the blue ribbon) on a 3-dimensional model of Gauteng that shows the topography and building form of the city-region.
Date of publication:
August 2017
Linked to project(s):
What is the Gauteng City-Region? (2021)
Understanding Gauteng's core and periphery through income
The July 2017 Map of the Month depicts the percentage of the population in each ward that earn less than R 1 600 per month according to the 2011 census (roughly R 2 200 in today’s terms). This map comes from a soon to be published GCRO Research Report entitled Uneven spaces: Core and periphery in the Gauteng City-Region and is part of a wider exercise to understand dynamics in areas of Gauteng that can be defined as either ‘core’ or ‘periphery’.
Date of publication:
July 2017
Air pollution and health in Gauteng
The June 2017 Map of the Month shows two key potential sources of pollution, industrial and mining areas, and the prevalence of pollution-related diseases (asthma and emphysema/bronchitis). A second map looks at the spatial relationship between these diseases and the use of alternative fuels such coal, wood and paraffin in households. While it is difficult to link a pollution source to a direct effect on human health, the maps do show concentrations of asthma and emphysema/bronchitis in poorer areas where alternative fuel use occurs, and also along mining and industrial belts.
Date of publication:
June 2017
Green vegetation and impervious surfaces in the Gauteng Province
Vegetated spaces provide a range of services both within and beyond the urban extent. This Map of the Month extends GCRO’s green infrastructure mapping work by displaying the distribution of green vegetation across Gauteng. The maps have been generated by applying a technique known as a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)* to satellite imagery for the province.
Date of publication:
May 2017
Mapping homophobia
In the 2015 GCRO Quality of Life survey, 14% of respondents agreed with the statement it is acceptable to be violent to gay and lesbian people. In the April 2017 Map of the Month, we map this data.
Date of publication:
April 2017
Author(s):
Attitudes on the acceptability of violence towards foreigners
Late February 2017 saw a series of anti-immigrant marches and violent xenophobic attacks in certain Gauteng neighbourhoods, notably Rosettenville and Pretoria West. This Map of the Month shows the degree to which South African born residents of each ward in Gauteng believe it is acceptable to be violent towards foreigners in order to get them to leave.
Date of publication:
March 2017
Location of formal and informal businesses and their suppliers
How do informal and formal businesses in Gauteng compare to one another with respect to their spatial distribution, and the spatial distribution of their suppliers? The GCRO’s 2015 Quality of Life survey (QoL IV) is able to provide some answers based on a set of questions asked of all respondents who identified themselves as business owners.
Date of publication:
February 2017
Author(s):
2015 Quality of Life (QoL) index by ward
The GCRO’s Quality of Life (QoL) survey provides the opportunity to assess overarching development trends in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) through the combination of a range of variables into indices.
Date of publication:
January 2017
Author(s):
Voting patterns in the 2016 local government elections
2016 was a year of dramatic election results globally. South Africa’s August 2016 local government elections also saw some unanticipated and rather momentous results. In 2014, after the national and provincial elections, GCRO presented a unique set of dot density maps showing the distribution of votes for key political parties in Gauteng. In this Map of the Month we repeat and extend this spatial analysis looking at voting patterns in the 2016 municipal elections.
Date of publication:
December 2016
Concerns about drugs and other community problems
In August 2015, GCRO distributed a Map of the Month on responses to the question ‘What is the biggest problem facing your community?’ asked in the 2013 Quality of Life survey. In 2013, the most commonly given answers were ‘unemployment’, ‘crime’ and the ‘lack of basic services’.
Date of publication:
November 2016
Development of human settlements and mining areas: 1956-2013
The Witwatersrand gold mining belt traverses the middle of the Gauteng province from east to west. It was one of the first large-scale mining areas in South Africa and, with over a century of extraction of gold and other commodities, it has grown to be one of the biggest – although today large parts are mined out and abandoned.
Date of publication:
October 2016
Author(s):
Tertiary education qualifications and median household income in Gauteng
The April 2016 Map of the Month focuses on the spatial distributions of tertiary education qualifications and median household income in Gauteng (Map 1). Government in the province has a mandate to foster greater social cohesion, but progress on this is frustrated by high levels of inequality.
Date of publication:
April 2016
Author(s):
Perceptions of mines and mining waste across Gauteng
While scientific studies related to the environmental and social impacts of mine waste have been conducted from as early as the 1970s, knowledge about the perception of mines and the economy and the perceived threat of mine waste on society remains scarce.
Date of publication:
March 2016
The quality of education in Gauteng
The February 2016 map of the month shows the performance of Gauteng’s secondary schools during the 2015 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination. This should be read together with a GCRO vignette on the same issue, please view the link below.
Date of publication:
February 2016
Author(s):
Clusters of dissatisfaction with local government performance
Quality of Life (QoL) surveys, conducted by the GCRO biennially since 2009, reveal an increase in the levels of satisfaction with government-provided services. Specifically the surveys show rising satisfaction between 2011 and 2013 with government provided dwelling, water, sanitation, waste, energy, street lighting, roads, stormwater, municipal billing, cost of municipal services, libraries, public health services, education, and public safety and security.
Date of publication:
January 2016
Gauteng’s changing urban footprint 1990-2013
This map of the month series provides an image of Gauteng’s urban footprint and some indications of future growth using the most recently available data (see previous GCRO map of the month on urban spatial change here). Map 1 presents urban land cover across the wider Gauteng City-Region at two points in time. The parts of the map shaded black indicate urban land cover that existed in 1990.
Date of publication:
December 2015
Transforming transport in the Gauteng City-Region
For October 2015 Transport Month GCRO asks what is needed to change transport and human settlement planning to radically improve mobility patterns across the GCR. Through a series of maps, data and visualisations, this 'StoryMap' explores how regional mobility patterns reflect stark socio-economic divides, reviews government's current human settlement and transport plans, and concludes with some key considerations for transforming transport in the GCR.
Date of publication:
October 2015
Author(s):
Where informal sector cross border traders sell their goods
This map shows some of the many places where informal sector cross border traders take goods bought in the Gauteng City-Region, South Africa, to sell or use in their businesses back in their home countries.
Date of publication:
September 2015
Author(s):
What is the biggest problem facing your community?
This month’s map of the month depicts data collected from the 2013 Quality of Life (QoL) III survey question: ‘What is the biggest problem facing your community?’. The map is derived by calculating and plotting the most commonly identified response per ward.
Date of publication:
August 2015
Quality of Life survey and service delivery protests
South Africa in general, and the Gauteng City-Region in particular, are grappling with rising service delivery protests and increasing levels of dissatisfaction with government performance.
Date of publication:
July 2015
Application of the GPEMF for informing the location of proposed mega-housing projects in Gauteng
This month’s map of the month has been informed by GCRO’s previous map on the location of planned mega-housing projects published in May 2015. This is due to interest in the planned mega-housing projects and a call from the Gauteng Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (GDARD) to explore these developments in terms of the newly released Gauteng Provincial Environmental Management Framework (GPEMF).
Date of publication:
June 2015
The location of planned mega housing projects in context
In April 2015, the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) launched a new policy entitled ‘Mega Projects: Clusters and New Cities’ led by the Department of Human Settlements. This policy signals a shift away from the RDP housing model towards large scale integrated human settlements.
Date of publication:
May 2015
Satisfaction with local government performance
April’s map of the month illustrates the percentage of respondents per ward satisfied with the performance of local government. The mapping is derived from the 2013 Quality of Life (QoL) survey, which asked respondents: “How satisfied are you with the performance of the [respondent’s] local municipality?”
Date of publication:
April 2015
Best and worst performing public schools in relation to poverty
The March map of the month presents the distribution of the best and worst performing public schools (based on the 2014 matric results) across Gauteng. The best performing schools are split into the top 30 plus schools overall (44 schools that achieved 100% pass rate) and the top 30 schools in township areas.
Date of publication:
April 2015
Author(s):
A multidimensional poverty index for Gauteng (GMPI)
The need for a multidimensional approach to analysing poverty is widely shared. As Amartya Sen rightly observed, “...human lives are battered and diminished in all kinds of different ways, and the first task, seen in this perspective, is to acknowledge that deprivations of very different kinds have to be accommodated within a general overarching framework” (Sen, 2000, p. 19).
Date of publication:
February 2015
Author(s):
Socially isolated wards and gated communities in the Gauteng City-Region
The January map of the month depicts socially isolated wards and gated communities in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR). For more information about this study, please see the GCRO’s January 2015 vignette on Social Isolation in the GCR.
Date of publication:
January 2015
Look for work trips
A key issue in the literature on urban space economy is the extent to which geographic separation between places of residence and areas where economic activity concentrates impacts work-seekers’ ability to find jobs. Proponents of the so-called ‘spatial mismatch hypothesis’ point to evidence that being far from work opportunities increases unemployment.
Date of publication:
December 2014
Author(s):
Getting to work in the GCR - trips to work by race
This month’s map has been compiled for October transport month, and is one of three linked outputs on the to-work trips made by residents of the Gauteng City-Region. It should be read in combination with this interactive visualisation and this vignette.
Date of publication:
October 2014
Dissatisfaction with local government performance
This month’s map of the month illustrates dissatisfaction levels with local government performance across the Gauteng City Region (GCR). The mapping was produced from the 2013 Quality of Life (QoL) survey, which in section 6 asked respondents “How satisfied are you with the performance of: … 6.5 The National Government… 6.6 The Provincial Government… 6.7 The Local Municipality.”
Date of publication:
September 2014
Quality of Life (QoL) index per ward
This month’s map of the month indicating quality of life across Gauteng at a ward level, is the first in a series of maps depicting the results from GCRO’s recently released 2013 Quality of Life (QoL) survey.
Date of publication:
August 2014
Changing spatial inequality across the GCR
This month’s map of the month depicts mean income per ward as a percentage of the mean income for Gauteng, comparing 2001 and 2011. The average income per ward was derived from StatsSA Census data from 2001 and 2011, and then compared with the mean income for Gauteng as a whole
Date of publication:
July 2014
Provincial voting results in the cities and 20 priority townships
This month’s map provides further provincial election results across Gauteng. A map of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane (where 1 dot = 20 votes) and more detailed zoomed in maps for the Gauteng Provincial Government’s 20 priority townships (where 1 dot = 1 vote) are available below.
Date of publication:
June 2014
Provincial election results
This special map-of-the-month map series shows the spatial distribution of votes for the 2014 provincial election in Gauteng. The votes for four of the main parties — the ANC (in green), DA (blue), EFF (red) and IFP (orange) — are shown using a dot density mapping technique and Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) voting districts as the basis for organising the data.
Date of publication:
May 2014
Author(s):
Voter registration
As South Africa heads to the polls on 7 May for the 2014 national and provincial elections, this month’s map of the month highlights voter registration across South Africa and Gauteng. The registered voter percentages at a provincial and municipal-level (within Gauteng) were derived by comparing the number of registered voters in the 2014 Certified Voter’s roll: 5 March 2014 (available on the IEC website) against the Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) voting age population (VAP) estimates.
Date of publication:
May 2014
Gauteng’s Human Development Index, 1996-2012
South Africa celebrates 20 years of democracy this month. There is considerable reflection underway on how far we have come as a society since the ending of apartheid. This map of the month gives a picture of how the overall state of development has changed in different municipalities in Gauteng between 1996 and 2012.
Date of publication:
April 2014
Author(s):
Gauteng-sized populations in South Africa
Although Gauteng is South Africa’s smallest province by area, covering approximately 18 179km2, it is home to over 12 million people (Census, 2011). According to the StatsSA 2013 mid-year population estimates, the population stands at 12 728 438. In both 1996 and 2001 KwaZulu- Natal was the largest province, in terms of population size.
Date of publication:
March 2014
Proximity of RDP housing in relation to major economic centres
The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) included a post-apartheid housing initiative to provide decent housing for those it denied under apartheid, and who met appropriate criteria to measure eligibility. However, the post-apartheid governments across the country faced high expectations, shared a desire to move at speed, but also faced challenges in terms of accessing green-field sites where housing could be built.
Date of publication:
February 2014
Household internet access in the GCR
In order to understand from a spatial perspective the proportion of households in the GCR that mainly gain access to the internet at home or via their cellphone, the Stats SA Census 2011 data were used to map access per Small Area Layer (SAL).
Date of publication:
January 2014
Industrial and commercial growth
New industrial and commercial buildings in 2010 that were not present in 2001 in Gauteng make up the last map of the month for 2013. Industrial and commercial growth is shown using a point density map of new buildings per square kilometre.
Date of publication:
December 2013
Formal residential growth
The November map of the month shows new residential developments in Gauteng. The map was compiled using the latest GeoTerraImage (GTI) 2013 release (set1 and set2), with a point per building (and associated land use) captured for the years 2001 and 2010.
Date of publication:
November 2013
Quality of Transport index
In line with transport month, the map highlights the overall Quality of Transport (QoT) index for the priority townships in Gauteng. The index forms part of GCRO's commissioned transport research work by Prof Christo Venter from the University of Pretoria, and provides a single measure reflecting the lived experiences of residents in the Gauteng Provincial Government's priority townships, with respect to the quality of everyday travel opportunities and dimensions.
Date of publication:
October 2013
Backyard structures in Gauteng
The September map of the month shows the spatial location and density of backyard structures, using the GeoTerraImage 2010 (release 2012) land use per building dataset. Backyard structures (land use class 7.2.3) are defined by GeoTerraImage as “All backyard structures associated with formal housing that may be used for housing purposes (formal or informal)”.
Date of publication:
September 2013
Population dot density (Census 2011) 1
The distribution of people across the GCR are reflected in two different maps for August's map of the month. Population density is indicated in this dot density map using the StatsSA Census 2011 Small Area Layer (SAL) layer, where each dot represents 100 people.
Date of publication:
August 2013
Population dot density (Census 2011) 2
The distribution of people across the GCR are reflected in two different maps for August's map of the month. Population density is indicated in this dot density map using the StatsSA Census 2011 Small Area Layer (SAL) layer, where each dot represents 100 people. Gauteng has the highest population with 12.3 million people followed by Limpopo (5.4 million), Mpumalanga (4 million), North West (3.5 million) and Free State (2.7 million).
Date of publication:
August 2013
The spoken diversity of Gauteng
The July map of the month is a language map indicating the most dominant language spoken by individuals in households across Gauteng. The Census 2011 Small Area Layer (SAL) was used to map the language most spoken by individuals using the P-06 language question asked by the StatsSA 2011 Census.
Date of publication:
July 2013
Building our green networks
Both built infrastructure (roads, storm water infrastructure etc.) and green infrastructure networks (open spaces, parks, forests etc.) are important for a city-region such as the GCR and it is necessary to upgrade and expand these networks to support a growing population.
Date of publication:
June 2013
Defining the core and periphery in Gauteng
These maps show the process used to identify the core and peripheral areas of Gauteng for a study of peripheries in the province. The study used economic, demographic and land use indicators to create three indexes of core and periphery.
Date of publication:
May 2013
Historical spatial change in the GCR (1991-2009)
Urban land cover / land use change across Gauteng is beautifully portrayed in this month’s map of the month. The land cover/use layers are based on an interpretation of Landsat TM and ETM+ satellite imagery from 1991 and 2009, undertaken as part of Brian Mubiwa’s PhD research at the University of Johannesburg.
Date of publication:
April 2013
Census 2011 population by race
Population data from the Census 2011 (StatsSA) was mapped by race at ward boundary level across the GCR, where 1 dot on the map represents 100 people. Four areas are zoomed in, with a degree of racial integration evident in Johannesburg.
Date of publication:
March 2013
Census 2011 population cartograms of Gauteng and South Africa
Area cartograms depict non-absolute space where the extent of a feature area is proportional to a measured value. In this map, the ESRI ArcGIS Cartogram Geoprocessing Tool (version 2), available from http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=15638, was used to map Stats SA Census 2011 population data.
Date of publication:
February 2013
Visualising Gauteng’s green infrastructure network
Gauteng’s green infrastructure network is a living network of green spaces that contributes to the long-term sustainability and resilience of the Gauteng City-Region. The network provides various services, buffers the effects of climate change and improves the quality of life of the places in which we live.
Date of publication:
January 2013
Grey vs Green Infrastructure
Gauteng’s grey infrastructure is easily identifiable in built up urban areas where it commonly performs a single function in the landscape (e.g. storm water infrastructure that attenuates heavy rainfall events and floods).
Date of publication:
December 2012
A comparison of housing settlement typologies using 2.5m land cover
The various settlement typologies across Gauteng are reflected in this land cover map (2.5m) derived by GeoTerraImage (GTI) from 2010 aerial/satellite imagery. The Sandton area, with a concentration of residential cluster settlements, is contrasted with the adjacent Alexandra showing a high level of informal housing. The Pretoria CBD area is depicted with a regular grid of streets and buildings, whereas densification with backyard shacks is clearly evident to the east of Pretoria in Mamelodi. Finally, the historical layout of Soweto is compared to more recent RDP settlement layouts in the O...
Date of publication:
November 2012
Movement into and within Gauteng's Metros
To highlight October transport month 2012, movement into and within Gauteng’s metropolitan municipalities, as measured in the GCRO’s 2011 Quality of Life survey, are depicted in this map.
Date of publication:
October 2012
Fragmenting Space: The Development of privately Governed Space in Gauteng
The emergence of privately governed space in Gauteng has increased since the early 1990s and has fragmented the urban form through the transformation of space from open to controlled access. This month’s map depicts the development of privately governed space in Gauteng, which includes gated communities, office parks, boomed-off areas and estates.
Date of publication:
September 2012
2011 GCRO QoL Survey: Origins of South African migrants
The second map of a series of 2011 GCRO Quality of Life (QoL) survey maps, highlights the 26% of survey respondents that migrated to Gauteng from other provinces. The QoL survey asked all respondents who had migrated into Gauteng to identify the place that they came from, or the nearest large town, based on a list of place names provided to them.
Date of publication:
August 2012
2011 GCRO QoL Survey: Origins of International migrants
This map is the first of a series of 2011 GCRO Quality of Life (QoL) survey maps. The province of Gauteng attracts people from all over South Africa and other countries. Almost four out of ten respondents in the survey (38%) had migrated to Gauteng. The origin of the 6% of survey respondents that migrated into Gauteng from another country are highlighted in July’s QoL map.
Date of publication:
July 2012
Growth in new industrial and commercial buildings (2001-2009)
New economic activity in the central urban spine of Gauteng is reflected in this month’s map of the month. The growth in new industrial and commercial buildings was derived from the GeoTerraImage growth indicator dataset, which contains a point per building, with its associated land use.
Date of publication:
June 2012
Population density
The May map of the month depicts population density in Gauteng per 1 km2 square grid. Data was derived from the Lightstone 2010 DemProKey X dataset which has a 2010 population estimate of 11,1 million for Gauteng. The enumerator level population data was proportionally split and assigned to a randomly generated 1 sq km grid.
Date of publication:
May 2012
Agricultural activities in Gauteng
This GCRO map depicts the results of the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) Agricultural Census of 2009. GDARD commissioned the census for Gauteng in 2008 and it was completed in October 2009.
Date of publication:
April 2012
Urban land cover (2009)
The urban extent of Gauteng is reflected in this map that depicts urban land cover derived from 2009 satellite imagery supplied by GeoTerraImage (GTI). The urban land cover class is defined by GTI as: “All built-up areas, including all aspects of residential, commercial, industrial, mining and transportation infrastructure, in both urban and rural environments.
Date of publication:
March 2012
Hydrology of Gauteng indicating rivers, wetlands, dams, flood areas and flooding hotspots
Through a systematic data collection effort over several months in late 2011 and early 2012, GCRO has collected all the available digital spatial data on flood-plains and flood hotspots in Gauteng.
Date of publication:
February 2012
2011 Local municipal boundaries
A comparison of the 2006 and latest 2011 municipal boundaries within Gauteng. The amalgamation of Metsweding District Council (consisting of Nokeng tsa Taemane and Kungwini local municipalities) with City of Tshwane is clearly visible – Tshwane now covers a massive 35% of the province, with a population of 2 597 428, according to Lightstone DemprokeyX 2010 population estimates.
Date of publication:
January 2011
Dolomite intersection with adult population receiving social grants
This point (dot) density map depicts the numbers of adults that are receiving social grants (according to 2010 estimates as per the Lightstone (Pty) Ltd’s DemproKeyX database), spatially presented as one dot representing 100 persons receiving grants, per ward.
Date of publication:
November 2011
2010 Population in the City of Joburg
A point density map depicting 2010 population density, derived from the GeoTerraImage (GTI) growth indicator demographics data.
Date of publication:
October 2011
Economic activity across Gauteng
Economic activity across Gauteng using the AfriGIS/Matrix Marketing’s BizCount 2010 database of companies to generate a hotspot analysis of the total number of firms per square kilometre, using a 2km radius scale.
Date of publication:
April 2011
GCR Population by race - dot density map (Census 2001)
Population data from the Census 2001 (StatsSA) was mapped by race at ward boundary level (2009 ward boundaries) across the GCR using dot density symbology where 1 dot on the map represents 100 people.
Date of publication:
October 2010
The GCR: Gauteng and surrounding municipalities
Map showing the district/metropolitan boundaries and local municiapalities constituting Gauteng in 2009. The neighbouring district and local municipalities are also highlighted. Adminstrative boundary layers obtained from the Municipal Demarcation Board.
Date of publication:
July 2010
GCR with population radius - dot density map (Census 2001 SAL)
Population density across the GCR is mapped using the Census 2001 small area layer (SAL) from StatsSA using dot density symbology, where 1 dot represents 100 people. A 100km and 175 km radius is also displayed to indicate the Census 2001 population of approximately 10 million and 13 million, within 100km and 175 kms of the Joburg CBD respectively.
Date of publication:
April 2010
Gauteng’s topography
Map depicting the Gauteng province and Local/Metro Municipalities with topographical relief layer as a backdrop.
Date of publication:
November 2009
Gauteng: – provincial and local boundaries
Map depicting the Gauteng province and Local/Metro Municipalities with satellite imagery backdrop.
Date of publication:
October 2009
GCRO 2009 Quality of Life Field survey map
Map used by Fieldworkers for the Quality of Life survey 2009. The city and town place names were used for the respondents to identify where they work, shop and look for work. Each Local/Metropolitan Municipal area within Gauteng assigned a number, with areas neighbouring Gauteng grouped into regions.
Date of publication:
September 2009
