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. The indicators for each index were used to create a final index and then a map of core and peripherality in the Gauteng Province. The indicators were derived from GVA values for CSIR GAP mesozones, Lightstone DemProKey X (2010) for population estimates, Afrigis Bizcount (2010) for data on the number of businesses, and GeoTerraImage (GTI) 2.5M (2010) land cover data. CSIR mesozones were used to map the data. Core areas are expected to be urban with lower levels of primary sector economic GVA and peripheral areas to have higher levels of primary sector activity and lower levels of urban land use.

The maps show that although the core of the province includes at least parts of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane, some core areas lie in the periphery while some peripheral areas sit within the core. Having identified the core and periphery, further analysis is being undertaken of demographic and socio-economic dynamics in peripheral areas of the province and the influence of South Africa’s apartheid history on the location of core and peripheral areas.