A tale of no cities: The neglected urban dimension in South Africa’s post-apartheid national economic policies

Abstract

Cities and the economic processes they host are widely seen to be central to the economic prospects of nations. This reality presents actors, in cities and at the national scale, with challenges on how to jointly conceive of urban and economic development policies, with a view to contributing to local and national economic development objectives. Whilst national urban policies might increasingly highlight the scope for cities to contribute to economic outcomes, the treatment of spatial dynamics in national economic development policies and programmes remains highly uneven across countries. This paper critically reviews South Africa’s national economic policies, specifically industrial policies, to analyse how they have reflected the changing dynamics of the economic geography of the country. The research demonstrates that despite some growing discursive recognition of the importance of the spatial dimension of growth, policies have failed to integrate urban features and neglected the scope for multi-scalar policy-making and implementation.