Futures of the Gauteng City-Region

Over the years GCRO has undertaken some historical analysis, with one Occasional Paper on the way a city-region has been conceived in spatial and transportation planning for the Gauteng space over the last century, and another analysing urban land use change between 1990 and 2009. We have also done some work oriented towards understanding future scenarios, for example in support of the G2055 strategy, and through an Occasional Paper titled ‘Modelling urban spatial change: a review of international and South African modelling initiatives’.

However, there is a need to extend our analysis of where the city-region is ‘evolving to’, both through more careful reflection on our past, and more sophisticated projections of emerging trends likely to define our future.

This project aims to deepen debate on possible futures for the Gauteng City-Region. It involves commissioning a key expert to write an Occasional Paper on future trends – in particular African urban trends – are likely to shape long-term challenges and opportunities in the GCR, and how key actors in the region should respond to these.

Updates

Prof. Edgar Pieterse, Director of the African Centre for Cities (ACC) and South African Research Chair in Urban Policy at the University of Cape Town, has been commissioned to write the Occasional Paper.

Outputs

Presentations

Gotz, G. (September 2022). 'Environmental and economic outlook'. Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) strategic planning workshop. 26 September 2022.

Gotz, G. and Wray, C. (November 2012) ‘Demographic modelling and the implications of the results from census’ and ‘Modeling urban spatial change: a preliminary review of South African Initiatives’ respectively, presented to a joint workshop on Spatial and demographic modelling for G2055, arranged by GCRO and the Gauteng Planning Commission, 23 November 2012

Last updated: 3 March 2024