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It is well established that urban community gardens (UCGs) can either challenge or reinforce neoliberal urbanism. This duality is especially evident among UCGs that sell garden harvests for income generation. In this article I therefore examine UCGs in low‐income areas of Cape Town, South Africa, to understand how they might sell their harvests while countering the neoliberal food system in cities of the global South. I draw on qualitative fieldwork, including observations and semi‐structured interviews with UCG representatives and civil society actors. Most harvests are currently sold to high‐end venues through intermediary actors in civil society organizations (CSOs) and non‐governmental organizations (NGOs). However, this approach disregards the local community's socioeconomic conditions and undermines community gardens' nutritional objectives. Yet, under specific scenarios, the sale of garden harvests could mitigate the persistent food injustice in Cape Town's low‐income areas. In this article I introduce a model for harvest sales that advances sustainable urban agriculture and fosters food justice in neoliberal cities in the global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of urban systems and underscored the need to recalibrate regulatory and institutional frameworks for an anticipated crisis-prone future. This article explores the notion of 'adaptive law and governance' as a lens through which city authorities can test and modify legal and governance responses to future urban crises. It compares the experiences of managing Covid-19 in the two biggest cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Rotterdam) and in South Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town). This comparison, between two sets of urban municipal governments functioning under different constitutional systems and in different socio-economic contexts, provides insights pertaining to how adaptive urban governance during the pandemic was constrained or enabled by the interaction between the regulatory and institutional frameworks for and political realities of urban autonomy and intergovernmental relations. The article demonstrates that cities that govern within a flexible and decentralised legal and governance system are better positioned to develop and implement responsive measures to address crises or uncertainty. To enhance resilience, legal systems should promote transparent, riskresponsive, and reflective local governance tools to enable agile, context- specific and decisive crisis responses that can be employed as a matter of course rather than exception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful management of complex food systems inherently requires societal engagement. A major barrier is the misalignment between high-level generalized scientific representations of the urban food system and the varying practical perspectives of the actors embedded within it. To bridge this gap, participatory approaches can help in collecting and structuring knowledge from food system actors in a way that is understood by people with a diversity of experiences. Here, we showcase an approach to collect and synthesize diverse actor perspectives on the functioning of the urban food system in Worcester, a secondary city in South Africa. Together with six different groups of actors (N = 18) we built conceptual models of the urban food system and synthesized them into a full conceptual urban food system model. Our results show large differences in actor perspectives of the food system, including several (informal) subsystems that are often ignored in formal scientific food system models. Differences between actors in representation and in deemed importance of food system components can inform joint learning about the urban food system and enhance collaboration in finding food system solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research uses the concept of 'urban scenes' to explore and characterise the economy of the city of Makhanda (Grahamstown). It is argued that this framework can create a thorough situational analysis on which to plan for locally-appropriate Local Economic Development (LED). It does this through characterising a local economic context that situates economic activity within a framework that acknowledges the role and interactions of consumers, culture, clustered amenities and economic activities, and urban place. It thus adds to traditional situational analyses by focusing on the urbanisms, activities, and character of the city—making these factors indivisible from the local economy. The framework reveals that two prominent scenes exist within Makhanda: the Education and Tourism Scenes. Education institutions like top public and private schools and Rhodes University are located within the city, and a tourism product exists in the form of creativity and the arts, festivals, edutourism, heritage, and wildlife safaris and hunting. These scenes bring significant money into the local economy through tourism and temporary education-led migration. They are both, however, under significant threat from a dysfunctional local municipality that has consistently failed in its mandate to support the local economy, engage with local stakeholders, and create an enabling environment for business. Intermittent and unreliable water supply, sewerage spills, and the deterioration of existing infrastructure are just some of the issues faced within the city. Any successful LED programme needs to tackle this issue and others to succeed. In addition to creating an enabling economic environment, cooperation within and between stakeholders in the identified scenes needs fostering. The local municipality also needs to create employment and a more inclusive economy to tackle issues of high unemployment and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass urbanisation in cities of the global South, is causing cities to evolve, with informal settlements being central to this evolution. While local government is the official point of interaction for urban informal settlement dwellers, those interactions are often characterised by a lack of meaningful participation. Engaging with the co-production literature and two case studies of informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa, this paper examines how they shed light on the shifting and constantly evolving roles and practices of local government and community actors within a co-production engagement. Based on the findings from these cases, the paper argues that co-production as a practice of collaboration between the local state and citizens can allow for the forging of new relationships, built on trust, sharing of resources and a more equal distribution of power where communities can shape the outcomes of service delivery projects to respond to their needs and demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of urbanization in Africa is receiving global attention and is subject to comprehensive scientific research due to the wide socioeconomic influence of this continent. Adopting specific search terms and strategies, this paper conducts a statistical analysis of the research articles addressing African urbanization (n = 2046) from the Web of Science core collection. The results show that since 2006, research on African urbanization has entered a stage of rapid development. South Africa and the Global North are the main regions engaged in research on African urbanization. With the application of the bibliometric software HistCite, this paper tries to investigate the research streams and trends contributed by highly cited articles. The main research streams can be divided into 5 areas, with the relationship between disciplines becoming stronger. Population, economy and land-use are the core issues of African urbanization studies, with the largest volume of highly cited articles. Furthermore, the changes in research hotspots were explored based on keyword analysis by CiteSpace. The results indicate that the topics of research hot spots by African and Global North researchers are different, and the Global North has a stronger influence on African urbanization studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High urbanisation rates lead to increasing pressure on governments to provide sustainable living conditions. This article aims to explore the approaches that smart city projects around the world use to address some of these challenges. The evolution of cities is landmarked by technological innovation; and the successful use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology seems to be another landmark. In this article the focus falls first on the evolution of cities and the definition and future of smart cities. In part two the focus is on the challenges and opportunities that South Africa faces in its quest to build smart cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas provide breeding habitats for many species. However, animals raised in urban environments face challenges such as altered food availability and quality, pollution and pathogen assemblages. These challenges can affect physiological processes such as immune function and antioxidant defences which are important for fitness.Here, we explore how levels of urbanisation influence innate immune function, immune response to a mimicked bacterial infection and antioxidant capacity of nestling Black Sparrowhawks Accipiter melanoleucus in South Africa. We also explore the effect of timing of breeding and rainfall on physiology since both can influence the environmental condition under which nestlings are raised. Finally, because urbanisation can influence immune function indirectly, we use path analyses to explore direct and indirect associations between urbanisation, immune function and oxidative stress.We obtained measures of innate immunity (haptoglobin, lysis, agglutination, bactericidal capacity), indices of antioxidant capacity (total non‐enzymatic antioxidant capacity (tAOX) and total glutathione from nestlings from 2015 to 2019. In addition, in 2018 and 2019, we mimicked a bacterial infection by injecting nestlings with lipopolysaccharide and quantified their immune response.Increased urban cover was associated with an increase in lysis and a decrease in tAOX, but not with any of the other physiological parameters. Furthermore, except for agglutination, no physiological parameters were associated with the timing of breeding. Lysis and bactericidal capacity, however, varied consistently with the annual rainfall pattern. Immune response to a mimicked a bacterial infection decreased with urban cover but not with the timing of breeding nor rainfall. Our path analyses suggested indirect associations between urban cover and some immune indices via tAOX but not via the timing of breeding.Our results show that early‐life development in an urban environment is associated with variation in immune and antioxidant functions. The direct association between urbanisation and antioxidant capacity and their impact on immune function is likely an important factor mediating the impact of urbanisation on urban‐dwelling animals. Future studies should explore how these results are linked to fitness and whether the responses are adaptive for urban‐dwelling species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article interrogates the term "periphery" by examining the forms of urbanisation unfolding in the Gauteng City‐Region (GCR) of South Africa. Among the urbanisation processes identified, it focuses on two, situating them among debates on informality and defining new vocabularies of urbanisation. Aligned with discussions of peripherality as a social phenomenon, the article first depicts how some marginalised groups of people using transversal means carve out "toeholds" near urban centralities and opportunities. Second, it conveys how peripherality is also a geographical phenomenon, describing "aspirational" mass housing for the lower‐middle class on urban peripheries that can generate unexpected forms of precarity. The article concludes that toehold urbanisation and aspirational urbanisation drive peripheralisation in the GCR, and considers the implications of these concepts for critical geography and urban studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes two planned cities—Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Bloemfontein (South Africa)—to investigate connectivities across geographies and temporalities and reveal the role of urban planning in racial capitalism. Early works in urban sociology underscore the color line in producing differentiation in capitalist development. But color-blind analyses of capitalism have undermined the role of race in the urbanization process and formation of value—of places and people—and how the modern triad—colonial, racial, and capital—is deeply implicated in power modalities. Based on policy analysis, we historicize political choices discussing urban planning and national developmentalist schemes after redemocratization that produced racial-spatial inequalities. We argue that color-blind urban policies still neglect the role of race in the production of Brazilian and South African cities under the guise of "planning innocence." This discussion expands our understanding of urbanization and capital accumulation as a dialectical process of Black dispossession and the protection of White property in the postcolony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health and wellbeing of residents in South Africa's towns and cities are currently threatened by the burden of disease, high incidences of crime/violence, and increasing economic, social, and environmental inequality. The impact of past and present spatial exclusion has exacerbated high levels of poverty and ill health, and the rapid rise in urbanization has put further pressure on already strained urban systems. While significant progress has been made, poor levels of service delivery, neglected infrastructure, and a lack of social amenities continue to pose a challenge. A further concern has been the prioritization in policy and literature on the 'hard' traditional elements of health over 'softer' dimensions (wellbeing aspects). The field of medical geography in South Africa has also remained relatively peripheral, with most geographical and human settlement research on health being driven by public-health scholars. This special issue brings together the voices of researchers working on health and wellbeing in South Africa's urban spaces to address these and other concerns. Several key findings have emerged including the need for governance models that focus on overall wellbeing, the importance of interdisciplinary approaches, the role that wider socio-economic context and history play, and the importance of access to open space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization can challenge sustainable development if it produces unequal outcomes. Infrastructure is an important urbanization dimension, providing services to support diverse urban activities. However, it can lock in unequal outcomes due to its durable nature. This paper studies inequalities in infrastructure distributions to derive insights into the structure and characteristics of unequal outcomes associated with urbanization. We analyzed infrastructure inequalities in two emerging economies in the Global South: India and South Africa. We developed and applied an inequality measure to understand the structure of inequality in infrastructure provisioning (based on census data) and infrastructure availability (based on satellite nighttime lights [NTLs] data). Consistent with differences in economic inequality, results show greater inequalities in South Africa than in India and greater urban inequalities than rural inequalities. Nevertheless, inequalities in urban infrastructure provisioning and infrastructure availability increase from finer to coarser spatial scales. NTL-based inequality measurements additionally show that inequalities are more concentrated at coarse spatial scales in India than in South Africa. Finally, results show that urban inequalities in infrastructure provisioning covary with urbanization levels conceptualized as a multidimensional phenomenon, including demographic, economic, and infrastructural dimensions. Similarly, inequalities in urban infrastructure availability increase monotonically with infrastructure development levels and urban population size. Together, these findings underscore infrastructure inequalities as a feature of urbanization and suggest that understanding urban inequalities requires applying an inequality lens to urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We document the relationship between rural–urban migration and energy poverty in South Africa using a nationally representative panel dataset. Employing a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, we track changes in energy poverty for migrants and non-migrants over a ten-year period from 2008 to 2017. Our findings show that migrants to urban areas experience significant reductions in energy poverty, particularly in the use of traditional cooking fuels. Even when approximately 20% of new urban arrivals initially live in informal shack dwellings, where energy access gains are minimal, migration proves beneficial in the long run. Our study also explores energy poverty outcomes for both sending and receiving households, gender differences among migrants, and other amenities. • Rural to urban migrants experience large reductions in energy poverty. • Gains from migration occur for various measures of energy poverty. • Migrants into informal housing experience limited energy access gains initially but these grow over time. • Energy poverty in receiving households does not appear negatively affected by in-migrants. • Large gains in migration exist for other non-monetary amenities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Electric vehicles (EVs) play a pivotal role in enhancing environmental sustainability by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, combating air pollution, and diminishing reliance on fossil fuels. This study meticulously investigates the impact of EVs and renewable energy on ecological and carbon footprints in four emerging economies—Brazil, India, China, and South Africa—from 2010 to 2022. Employing both symmetric and asymmetric panel models, the research assesses the effects of EVs and renewable energy sources on environmental sustainability. The findings indicate a modest yet positive reduction in carbon footprints due to EV adoption in these nations. Similarly, renewable energy sources demonstrate a favorable impact on environmental sustainability. Crucially, the synergy between EVs and renewable energy exhibits a more substantial effect in diminishing ecological and carbon footprints. The study underscores the significance of integrating EVs with renewable energy for charging, emphasizing its pivotal role in achieving environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Few studies have highlighted perceptions of urban natural open space systems: land specifically excluded from development to protect ecosystem services. We used a local metropolitan city in South Africa to explore community perceptions of its natural open space system through individual qualitative interviews (n = 40). The objectives were: (1) to identify ecosystem services and disservices associated with the city's natural open space system, and the reasons thereof, by exploring the relational values of nature held by a diverse socioeconomic spectrum of urban residents; and (2) to identify priorities for protecting the natural open space system by enhancing the benefits and minimizing ecosystem disservices. Reference to ecosystem services and disservices were coded according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) categorization of nature's contribution to people. Non-material services (relational benefits) were impacted by exploitative material uses, access concerns and (mis)management. Challenges and opportunities identified relate to nature as a resource for supporting livelihoods and lifestyles; community outreach and employment opportunities; personal safety, health and aesthetic concerns; and lack of political accountability and municipal planning in terms of the management of natural open spaces. Innovative collaborative management and stewardship interventions with ecological and socioeconomic benefits should be prioritized to protect the natural open space system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African urban system is a significant testbed for the analysis of urban forms in emerging economies. On the one hand, the urbanization processes have similar characteristics to those found elsewhere in the world, while on the other they reflect the historical and political specificity of the country. This article analyzes the evolution of urban growth in South Africa, and includes an examination of the policies that have guided state intervention and of the impact of the historical and political legacy on the current situation of poverty and inequality. A particular focus is on housing, a key dimension through which the processes currently taking place in South African cities can be understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is the third most biologically diverse country in the world. Urban living places pressure on this biodiversity and the ecosystem services that flow from it. Local governments are now internationally recognized as the level of government that is key to securing long-term global sustainability. The cities of Cape Town and Durban in South Africa have each developed their own biodiversity and open space conservation strategies to protect the remaining biodiversity within their municipal boundaries. Our aim was to explore the local biodiversity and open space conservation strategies in these two cities, with a view to understanding the informants and emerging forms of urban conservation in these cities in light of their variable biophysical templates and settlement histories. The results reveal that both cities are facing biodiversity loss and that multiple interlinked factors play a role in the development and relative success of conservation plans. These factors include the local context, biophysical templates, city histories, social aspects that determine how these plans emerge and evolve, contemporary governance structures, and locally relevant pressures. Biodiversity conservation in South African cities will continue to face many challenges, and our study suggests that solutions will need to be city specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for a spatial turn to enhance citizens' 'right to the city' is gaining more momentum in this era than previously. This is particularly evident within the South African urban space context. This article examines the vendor and pedestrian (street users) experiences of their 'right to the city' in street design and management in small urban centres in the Vhembe District of South Africa. The article adopted a case-study survey design and a mixed methods research approach. Data was collected by means of both key informant interviews with eight key experts in street design and management and a street intercept questionnaire survey administered to a total of 100 vendors and 400 pedestrians in the selected case study towns. Data analysis was done quantitatively through average users' satisfaction scores with a spatial quality and qualitatively through thematic analysis. Lefèbvre's 'right to the city' theory was used to extract meaning from the research findings. The findings reveal that street users in all the towns of the study are dissatisfied with the spatial quality of safety, while accessibility was a challenge particularly in Thohoyandou Town. The findings reveal that economic, historical, and geographical differences affect street users' 'right to the city' experiences. Questions such as "Whose 'right to the city'?" and "Which 'right to the city'?" remain paradoxical. To create more spatially just streets, where vendors and pedestrians can enjoy their disparate 'right to the city' claims, users need to embrace the right to differences and municipalities in small urban centres need to continue to learn, experiment, and co-create urban space with the vendors and the pedestrians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultivated exotic plants are often introduced for their aesthetic value and today comprise a substantial fraction of the flora of urban domestic gardens. Yet, their relative contribution to the functional diversity of domestic gardens and how it changes across different climate zones is insufficiently understood. Here, we investigated whether the effects of cultivated exotics on functional diversity of three plant traits related to plant aesthetics (that is, plant showiness, plant height, and leaf area) varied in suburban domestic gardens in three regions (Minnesota, USA; Alt Empordà, Spain; and central South Africa) that differ in aridity. For each garden, we calculated the mean and variance of each plant trait considering all co-occurring species and also splitting them into co-occurring cultivated exotics and natives. Our results revealed that mean plant showiness increased linearly with the proportion of cultivated exotics both across and within studied regions. Moreover, co-occurring cultivated exotics were, on average, showier than natives in all regions, but differences in their trait variances were context-dependent. The interaction between cultivated exotics and aridity explained variation in mean plant height and leaf area better than either predictor alone, with the effect of cultivated exotics being stronger in more arid regions. Accordingly, co-occurring cultivated exotics were taller and had larger leaves than natives in warmer and drier regions, while the opposite was true in cooler and wetter regions. Our study highlights the need to consider the combined effects of exotic species and climate in future studies of urban ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is the largest emitter of CO2 and arguably the most developed and urbanised country in Africa. The country currently harbours an ecological deficit territory which could be the outcome of economic expansion, urban explosion, unsustainable resource exploration and a low level of human development. After all, environmental distortions are mainly the outcome of human activities. This study is a maiden attempt to examine the linkage between urbanisation, human capital, natural resources (NR) and the ecological footprint (EF) in South Africa. Unlike previous studies, this study employs positivist and relevant environmental indicators that accommodate built-up land, forest land, carbon footprint, ocean, grazing land and cropland. Findings from the long-run results suggest that urbanisation, economic growth and NR increase the EF, whereas human capital ensures environmental sustainability. The interaction between urbanisation and human capital mitigates environmental degradation by reducing the EF. The canonical cointegrating regression (CCR), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) results further confirm the nature of the relationships and linkages existing with respect to NR, urbanisation, economic growth and the EF. A bidirectional causality exists between human capital, economic growth and the EF. Policies related to NR and urban sustainability, the limitations of the study, as well as possible directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carpobrotus is a genus of succulent Aizoaceae originating from South Africa that has become invasive in the Mediterranean and represents a serious threat in coastal ecosystems. On the small island of San Pietro (Sardinia), Carpobrotus sp. pl. is invading also habitats far from the sea. We surveyed the distribution of Carpobrotus on the island using the transect method and defined two models of potential suitability for this taxon based on a set of variables predicting its occurrence at local scale. Our data corroborate previous evidence about the ecological synanthropy of Carpobrotus sp. pl. Using a representative sample of transects (70,720 m in total length), we obtained evidence of 39 sites of occurrence with a higher linear density along paved roads (with high traffic levels) when compared to unpaved dirt roads (with low traffic levels). When compared to other sites, in sites of occurrence we observed a higher density of urbanization and road infrastructure, both at 100-m and 500-m scales. However, after performing a logistic regression analysis using a set of selected non-autocorrelated variables as covariates, and the occurrence of Carpobrotus sp. pl. as the dependent variable, we observed that distance from the coastline was the main predictor. Suitability models suggest that the actual rate of invasion is likely to increase if disturbance (along particular roads) is not effectively managed and that this island can be at risk from a future wider invasion of this taxon, caused by progressive urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is rapidly urbanising and urban food systems are being transformed. Some have argued that this transformation is driven by a supermarket revolution akin to that in North America, Europe and Latin America. Others suggest that the supermarket revolution model oversimplifies complex African realities and that urban food systems are experiencing uneven supermarket penetration in the face of resilient informal food sectors. This paper focuses on Windhoek, Namibia, showing that the city's food system is dominated by South African and local supermarket chains. Since the end of apartheid, South African supermarket chains have expanded their operations into Namibia. Supermarket domination of Windhoek's urban food system is a function of proximity of South Africa and integration into South African supply chains. In other African countries, supermarket penetration has been much slower and is even being reversed. Explanations for uneven penetration in different countries require greater contextualisation and more case study research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eastern Cape Province harbors almost half of the indigenous forest in South Africa, but these forests are threatened by large-scale agricultural and urban development planned for the coming decade. Additional anthropogenic development is likely to cause further fragmentation and degradation of forests inhabited by the dusky pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus hesperidus). We used eight microsatellite markers to study the genetic diversity, population structure, and migration, of P. hesperidus (n = 120) across 14 sites in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa. We examined the effect of contemporary land cover types on genetic differentiation to assess whether current levels of urbanization and agricultural development affect gene flow. High gene flow and low population structure were evident across sampled sites, apart from genetic discontinuities at the northern (Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve) and southern (Alexandria Forest) ends of the seaboard. Genetic discontinuity at Oribi Gorge may relate to anthropogenic modification of two rivers surrounding the forest, while the Alexandria-linked barrier is a climatic break known as the Bedford gap. Migration rates generally were low between sites except for one Scarp forest, Manubi State Forest, from which individuals dispersed to other sites. The Amatole Mistbelt forests supported high genetic diversity, and likely served as a refugium for P. hesperidus during the Last Glacial Maximum. The composition of land cover classes between sites was a poor predictor of genetic differentiation, although it seems likely that P. hesperidus uses riparian habitats and wetlands for dispersal. Lastly, urban and agricultural development did not have a significant effect on genetic differentiation, which may reflect the wide niche breadth and intermediate distribution range of the species. This study provides insights into genetic diversity and gene flow of P. hesperidus across the study region prior to agricultural intensification and large-scale urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Practice of Everyday Life (de Certeau M (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press) has become a canonical text in urban studies, with de Certeau's idea of tactics having been widely deployed to understand and theorise the everyday. Tactics of resistance were contrasted with the strategies of the powerful, but the ways in which these strategies are operationalised were left ambiguous by de Certeau and have remained undertheorised since. We address this lacuna through an examination of the planning profession in South Africa as a lieu propre – a strategic territory with considerable power to shape urban environments. Based on a large interview data set examining practitioner attitudes toward the state of the profession in South Africa, this paper argues that the strategies of the powerful are themselves subject to negotiation. We trace connections with de Certeau's earlier work to critique the idea that strategies are univocal. We do this by examining how the interests of different powerful actors can come into conflict, using the planning profession as an exemplar of how opposing strategies must be mediated in order to secure changes in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use intensification and climate change are two prominent drivers of variation in biological communities. However, we know very little about how these two potential environmental stressors interact. Here we use a stable isotope approach to quantify how animal communities respond to urban and agriculture land use, and to latitudinal variation in climate (rainfall and temperature), in 29 streams across South Africa.Community structure was shaped by both land use and climatic factors. The taxonomic diversity of invertebrates was best explained by an independent negative effect of urbanization, while abundance declined in summer. However, we could not use our variables to predict fish diversity (suggesting that other factors may be more important).Both trophic functional diversity (quantifed using isotopic richness) and food chain length declined with increasing temperature. Functional redundancy (quantifed using isotopic uniqueness) in the invertebrate community was high in wet areas, and a synergistic interaction with urbanization caused the lowest values in dry urban regions. There was an additive effect of agriculture and rainfall on abundance‐weighted vertebrate functional diversity (quantified using isotopic dispersion), with the former causing a decline in dispersion, with this partially compensated for by high rainfall.In most cases, we found that a single dominant driver (either climate or land use) explained variation between streams. We only found two incidences of combined effects improving the model, one of which was amplified (i.e. the drivers combined to cause an effect larger than the sum of their independent effects), indicating that management should first focus on mitigating the dominant stressor in stream ecosystems for successful restoration efforts.Overall, our study indicates subtle food web responses to multiple drivers of change, only identified by using functional isotope metrics—these are a useful tool for a whole‐systems biology understanding of global change. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa's high level of food insecurity is exacerbated by rapid urbanisation, leading to the diversion of resources from food production in rural areas. Despite this, food insecurity policies continue to disproportionately focus on rural dwellers due to persistently high levels of rural poverty. We examine the association between housing type and urban food insecurity using the 2017 South Africa General Household Survey. Using the Household Food Security Access Scale and a dietary diversity indicator, we find that like other forms of deprivation in South Africa, food insecurity has significant racial and gender dimensions. Dwelling type is vital in influencing the food insecurity of households using both measures. Persons living in informal homes are more likely to experience food insecurity than those in semi-formal and formal dwellings. There is a need to create a synergy between new and already existing programmes so that they are appropriately leveraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, the informal sector, including food vending, is either criminalized or ignored. This is despite the fact that it plays an important role in the economy in terms of employment, income generation, food distribution and livelihoods for the urban poor. This paper assesses the nature, operations, strategies and challenges of the informal food sector in Cape Town. Data was collected through a survey of over 1000 informal food vendors in the city. Most of the enterprises were single-owner businesses, financed from personal savings and started by owners seeking employment, independence and improved financial security for their families. Most businesses had little or no access to finance from government agencies, banks and micro-finance lenders. Entrepreneurs faced various challenges ranging from insufficient sales, competition, changing consumer food needs and rising stock prices. To survive in a challenging economic environment, they adopt various innovative strategies including changing the types of foods they sell, increasing food stock variety, monitoring formal food retailing prices and negotiating with suppliers for favourable stock prices. Despite the various challenges being experienced, the informal food sector has become an integral and indispensable component of the food system of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tendency of capital to 'overaccumulate' has on occasion been severe in post-apartheid South Africa, but has taken different forms. The neoliberal era since the early 1990s has witnessed overaccumulation-crisis displacement in a manner that exacerbates inequality. Such displacement includes financialisation (i.e. higher relative debt and share-portfolio ratios, as well as illicit financial flows), worsening uneven spatial development (within cities and between rural and urban livelihoods), and an amplification of environmentally-damaging extraction systems. Public policy accommodated, accentuated and displaced the crisis, rather than ameliorated, reversed or resolved these symptoms of overaccumulation, to the detriment of the poorest South Africans. Although government has made efforts to address social distress through fiscal policy (e.g. social grants and education), most macro-economic policies – especially in the monetary, financial and international spheres – are amplifiers of inequality. But the most important constraint is a deeper problem than public policy typically admits: capital's tendency to overaccumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Luxury Effect hypothesizes a positive relationship between wealth and biodiversity within urban areas. Understanding how urban development, both in terms of socio‐economic status and the built environment, affects biodiversity can contribute to the sustainable development of cities, and may be especially important in the developing world where current growth in urban populations is most rapid. We tested the Luxury Effect by analysing bird species richness in relation to income levels, as well as human population density and urban cover, in landscapes along an urbanization gradient in South Africa. The Luxury Effect was supported in landscapes with lower urbanization levels in that species richness was positively correlated with income level where urban cover was relatively low. However, the effect was reversed in highly urbanized landscapes, where species richness was negatively associated with income level. Tree cover was also positively correlated with species richness, although it could not explain the Luxury Effect. Species richness was negatively related to urban cover, but there was no association with human population density. Our model suggests that maintaining green space in at least an equal proportion to the built environment is likely to provide a development strategy that will enhance urban biodiversity, and with it, the positive benefits that are manifest for urban dwellers. Our findings can form a key contribution to a wider strategy to expand urban settlements in a sustainable way to provide for the growing urban population in South Africa, including addressing imbalances in environmental justice across income levels and racial groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Eco-estates were well connected to one another and nearby natural landscapes. • Connectivity increased in areas with native forest and coastal thicket/dense bush. • Coastal thicket/dense bush was a fundamental contributor. • Rivers and their surrounding natural habitat were key contributors to connectivity. • Eco-estate developments can facilitate conservation of biodiversity. Population expansion and land transformation reduce biodiversity, potentially reducing environmental functionality. These effects are evident globally, and specifically in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, where land cover is being transformed for urbanisation. However, much of the urbanised areas incorporate differing levels of urban greening, which is improving local species and functional diversity. In recent years, a new form of urban greening in the form of eco-estate development has increased, which improves biodiversity and functional diversity. However, it has not yet been determined whether these eco-estates are connected to one another and the surrounding natural landscapes, allowing for natural species' colonisation, immigration and dispersal. In this study, we assessed whether eco-estates along the coast of KZN were ecologically connected to a) one another, and b) the surrounding natural landscape. Using a hybrid Least-cost Pathway/Ecological Circuit Theory approach, we modelled habitat suitability and dispersal requirements of a forest-specialised bird species in an effort to provide future development and management plans for eco-estates. Connectivity throughout coastal KZN was evident, with increased connectivity in areas of natural and urban indigenous forest and coastal thicket/dense bush and river systems (riparian zones), within which existing eco-estates were subsequently developed. Eco-estates were well connected to one another and surrounding natural landscapes, emphasising their importance as patches containing endangered indigenous forest and unprotected coastal thicket/dense bush and of increased species and functional diversity, improving local ecosystem functioning. We recommend that eco-estate development primarily focus on areas which have previously been transformed, to increase natural land cover. The intention to preserve, rehabilitate, and conserve natural land cover is fundamentally important if development is to take place within and surrounding areas of high connectivity to assist in increasing and conserving suitable habitats, improving functionality and connectivity in KZN, and assisting in offsetting the deleterious effects of future climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates that internal migration may be contributing to rising non-communicable disease risk in low- and middle-income countries in gendered and geographically differentiated ways. With 2018 baseline data from the Migrant Health Follow-Up Study, we investigate the relationship between internal migration and elevated blood pressure (BP) among 2163 rural-origin men and women in South Africa, testing for sex differences. To examine the influence of place, we test whether the migration-BP relationship differs by migrants' destination locations, controlling for household composition, social support, prior migration, and housing quality. We find that migration is associated with elevated BP only among women, and that this association is greatest for migrants living in Tembisa township. Our research underscores that gender and migration are important social determinants of noncommunicable disease risk in low-resource, rapidly-urbanizing settings. • Gender plays an important role in structuring the NCD burden in LMICs. • Migration is associated with elevated blood pressure among women. • Elevations in blood pressure vary by migrants' urban destination locations. • Household headship mediates but does not eliminate the health penalty among women. • Migrant women's health may be especially sensitive to social and contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In urban informal areas of South Africa, obesity and hunger represent two sides of food insecurity. Despite this, public health and clinical obesity interventions focus on nutrition education, implying dietary choice and thereby overlooking food insecurity. The objective of this paper is to explore peri-urban residents' perspectives of changing food environments, framed by the Food Aid Organization (FAO) definition of food security and demonstrating the interconnectedness of dimensions of food security. We conducted three-part in-depth interviews with 21 participants and nine focus group discussions with a total of 57 participants, consisting primarily of women aged 20-84, in a peri-urban township and informal settlement outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Participants' encounters in clinical settings framed choice as a driver of diet-related non-communicable disease (NCD). Yet participants lacked economic access to food, particularly at the end of the month. Diets consisted of fewer green leafy vegetables relative to their diets in rural areas, despite affirming a preference for these foods. They described consuming more meat, which was also perceived as unhealthy. Based on self-report, residents within this peri-urban area of South Africa were food insecure: they lacked access to food at specific times of the month, they were unable to consume foods they preferred, and they felt that their diets were neither nutritious nor enabled an active and healthy life. When viewed in terms of multiple facets of food security, participants' concurrent experiences of hunger and obesity were unsurprising. Health interventions related to diet should incorporate an understanding of food security as shaped by the interactions of access, availability, utilization and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: As the primary cause of disability worldwide, depression is a significant contributor to global morbidity and mortality and often disproportionately affects older adults. Several studies have demonstrated a link between urban residence and depression, but few studies have examined this association among older adult populations, and even fewer have studied it within an African context. Given that African societies are aging and urbanizing at rapid rates, this study aimed to assess the relationship between urbanicity and depression within older adult populations in two African countries. Method: Data were drawn from the Ghana and South Africa samples of the World Health Organization Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) wave 1 (2007–2008). Depression over the past 12 months was measured using self-reported treatment and depressive symptoms based on ICD-10 criteria in 4209 Ghanaian and 3148 South African adults aged 50 years and older residing in their current location for over one year. Results: The 12-month prevalence of depression was 7.5% and 4.0% in Ghana and South Africa, respectively; 41.1% and 65.6%, respectively, lived in urban areas. Comparing urban to rural residents, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for depression in multivariable analysis was 1.13 (95% CI: 0.71–1.79) in South Africa and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.55–1.31) in Ghana. Conclusion: Results do not support a significant urban-rural difference in 12-month depression among Ghanaian or South African SAGE participants. Mental health resources in rural areas should therefore be enhanced in these countries for more equitable distributions between the two settings given similar need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study examined the impact of disaggregate and aggregate energy, economic development, urbanization and political institutional quality on environmental pollution using a time series data spanning from 1971 to 2017. The study employed response surface regressions, structural break cumulative sum (CUSUM) test based on recursive residuals and ordinary least squares (OLS) residuals for parameter stability en route to estimating the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) regression. The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is valid in South Africa with an extreme point of ZAR 56,114 which occurred in 2011. Evidence from the study reveals that political institutional quality plays a huge role in the social, governance and economic readiness to mitigate climate change and its impact. Structural adjustment in disaggregate and aggregate energy consumption, economic growth, and political institutional quality play a critical role in environmental quality. Fossil-fuel rich countries require diversification of the energy portfolio by incorporating renewable energy sources which will promote environmental sustainability and improve air quality while reducing their economy's vulnerability to price volatility. A paradigm shift from energy and carbon-intensive industries to a service-oriented economy will cause a structural economic change thus, aiding in the mitigation of climate change and its impacts. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • The EKC hypothesis is valid in South Africa at a turning point of ZAR 56,114. • 1% increase in fossil fuel will increase CO 2 emissions by 10,436 kt in the long term. • 1% increase in renewable energy decreases CO 2 emissions by 2865 kt in the long-run. • Aggregate energy consumption and economic growth intensify environmental pollution. • Political institutional quality declines environmental pollution by 0.1% in the long-run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban development in contemporary South Africa generates opportunities for the reproduction of inequality, as well as chances to increase the social justice of the urban landscape. This article juxtaposes two current developments in greater Johannesburg to illustrate the contrast between 'insurgent' bottom-up planning approaches and top-down 'control' policies characteristic of development in Africa today. While top-down megaprojects often promoted by governments can marginally reduce poverty, they fail to address the complex networks of human interaction necessary for underprivileged populations to negotiate their everyday lives. The narrative of control and insurgency explored in Johannesburg therefore highlights the diversity of approaches the underprivileged employ to ensure claims to space and opportunity. It also emphasises the need for innovative approaches attuned to this urban majority rather than 'grand visions' that effectively exclude them from the processes of city-making. The article concludes with analysis of several current initiatives that attempt to address this urban majority from the top and the bottom, reinforcing the need to incorporate insurgent tactics in redressing inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are the frontline for addressing issues of global sustainability. This notion has been inducted into the development discourse of the Global North with varying degrees of success. However, urban environments in the Global South face unique challenges, and Western-derived perceptions of sustainability are inappropriate for these regions. This paper examines issues of sustainability within impoverished urban communities in South Africa. Survey interviews helped inform and examination of South Africa’s urban morphology to determine the specific obstacles to sustainable urban development of marginalised communities in South Africa. In response, the study proposes the application of the principles founded in facilities management (FM) at a macro/urban scale. Urban facilities management (UFM) is a new alignment of FM that advocates a holistic view of an urban precinct to facilitate systemic solutions with a variety of urban role-players. A conceptual framework for a UFM aligned development process for marginalised communities of the Global South is developed based on issues identified through the interviews. This framework seeks to enable a comprehensive integration of social, environmental, economic, and institutional dimensions of sustainability into an urban development model. In doing so, it holds the promise of unlocking the opportunities for developing/emerging countries to pioneer global sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization coupled with decreasing areas of natural habitat are causing baboon populations to become scattered and isolated, often resulting in increased levels of human-baboon conflict. To implement baboon-human conflict management strategies, it is essential to formulate realistic conservation policies that deal with all stakeholder concerns and ensure the conservation of viable baboon populations. A study was initiated in response to complaints of perceived excessive baboon numbers and associated lack of food resources on Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve in South Africa. Data obtained from GPS tracking collars fitted to one baboon from each of 10 identified troops were analyzed to determine home range size and utilization. The spatial representation of home ranges generated from this study will allow reserve management to identify areas of potential high and low human-baboon conflict and will contribute to the development of a formal baboon management plan to reduce human-baboon conflict on and around the reserve. Home ranges were unevenly distributed and had a mean size of 26.72 km2 ± 13.91 SD in the cold/dry season and 26.54 km2 ± 12.76 SD in the warm/wet season. Troop home ranges overlapped to some degree and five troops utilized areas outside the reserve. Although no significant relationship between troop size and home range was found, there was a positive relationship between troop size and daily distance travelled. All troops had significantly longer mean daily distances during the warm/wet season than during the cold/dry season (P ≤ 0.02). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing urbanisation in South Africa is reflected in burgeoning Working class and informal township settlements on the fringes of its major towns and cities. Paired with this is an increasing reliance on cash as the primary means of economic transaction, which has in turn stimulated the growth of micro-enterprise business activities within the township context. This article discusses the findings of an eight-township small-area census which occurred between 2010 and 2013 in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Durban townships representing 250 000 residents. The researchers were able to establish the scope and scale of informal food and drink retailing in these localities. Of the 10 049 micro-enterprises located in the study, some 3966 (or 39% of the total) trade in food. These include enterprises in primary production, fresh produce retailing, grocery retailing from house and spaza shops, and informal foodservice enterprises. Food is the basis for much township informal business and plays an important role in making food increasingly affordable and locally accessible, and in creating cash employment. The article builds on the knowledge base of the township informal economy role in bolstering food security needs for the marginalised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern South Africa has replaced the iron rule of the apartheid system with a constitutional democracy. This context of oppression and exploitation had a bearing on the kind of leaders produced by society. Conflict and exploitation formed part of the oppressive machinery in the country. At the end of the Second World War, South Africa experienced an unprecedented urbanisation which was followed by repressive laws. On the one hand, this led to the radicalisation of black politics in the country. The silencing of political voices after the Sharpeville massacre saw scores and scores of activists either in jail, under house arrest or in exile. Development in South Africa suffered a great blow with talented men and women who had to endure suffering in jail or exile. In other words, the cream of society was banished and South Africa as a society suffered materially and intellectually during this period. Nelson Mandela is one example of a leader from the oppressed section of society who was removed from society for over three decades. South African development would have reached a different level had the minority whites not reacted differently to urbanisation as a global phenomenon. The names of Luthuli, Tambo, Mandela and others continue to be invoked whenever the ruling party experiences challenges regarding leadership. Although these leaders cannot rule from their graves, it is their profound contribution to the development of the society that speaks about the legacy which is central to this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the negative impacts of urbanisation, some species adapt to pressures of habitat loss and fragmentation. Trumpeter HornbillsBycanistes bucinatorare a large avian forest frugivore that uses urban environments in South Africa. Consequently, we used GPS/UHF transmitters to study their home range size, movement and habitat use in an urban–forest mosaic in Eshowe, South Africa from March to October 2014. We estimated the home range size using three methods: minimum convex polygon (MCP), kernel density estimation (KDE) and local convex hull (LoCoH). Our results showed that overall monthly home range size was 5.1 ± 1.28 km2(mean ± SE; 95% MCP), 4.6 ± 1.14 km2(95% KDE) and 1.9 ± 0. 46 km2(95% LoCoH). However, individual home range sizes varied monthly and seasonally. We found that all individuals tagged used mostly the indigenous forest and frequently utilised urban residential areas (gardens) with little or no use of cultivated land. Observed individual variations in monthly and seasonal home ranges could be a response to variations in availability of key fruit resources in the urban residential and indigenous forest mosaic. This study supports the use of more than one method of home range estimation for insight regarding home range and habitat use in urban–forest mosaics for this large forest frugivore. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article investigates current socioeconomic disparities within rural and urban areas. The empirical analysis is grounded in an examination of urban and rural bias theories, which have often underpinned poverty analysis. This article suggests that poverty analysis can be improved by moving beyond the rural-urban binary and investigating differences across all geographical types (when data are available). Using 2012 household survey data on South Africa, the article sheds lights on substantial differences-in household composition and access to services and assets-that are likely to make households located in particular geotypes far more vulnerable to poverty. Finally, the article discusses how development policy can better address the specific income-generating constraints that disadvantaged areas face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, which is based on a keynote speech for an urban panel at the Journal of Southern African Studies' conference, 'Southern Africa beyond the West', compares urban experiences in the region of southern Africa with those in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Urban processes are complex and wide ranging, and comparative analysis necessarily must focus on specific aspects. The focus here is on cities as places where people live and work and on their welfare and livelihoods. The analysis emphasises the importance of accounting for different starting points and thus of historical factors, policy environments, changing modes of production and ideologies. A key argument is that the concept of path dependence -- including the timing of key developmental phases, such as the attainment of independence in relation to global shifts in economic ideology -- helps to explain some of the differences in development policies and their impacts on urban livelihoods. It is also argued that while contemporary comparative analysis has been facilitated by the increased hegemony of capitalism, a key influence on the welfare of urban populations in the different countries under consideration has been the very varied ways in which states have been able, and have chosen, to intervene in market-determined outcomes in cities in BRIC countries and in southern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electricity demand in South Africa has experienced vast changes both from a policy point of view and due to the country's great industrialisation and urbanisation. The literature dealing with the South African electricity case, to date, has not taken into account these changes and their effect to the symmetric behaviour of the residential and industrial electricity consumers. Hence, this paper aims at examining the asymmetric behaviour of the annual South African electricity demand (total, residential and non-residential) for the period 1960-2012. To do so, three different tests were used: the entropy test proposed by Racine and Maasoumi (2007. Journal of Econometrics 138, 2, 547; 2008. Econometric Reviews 28, 246), the conditional symmetry test proposed by Bai and Ng (2001. Journal of Econometrics 103, 225) and the Triples test proposed by Randles et al. (1980. Journal of the American Statistical Association 75, 168). The findings showed that there is weak evidence of asymmetry, given that the null hypothesis of symmetry can only be rejected at 10 per cent level of significance. Hence, econometric models examining the South African electricity demand during the same period are credible in their assumption of a linear data generating process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African hair braiding on Bree Street offers a glimpse into how immigration, black female sexuality and shifts in urban retail economies provide important economic and cultural resources to urban residents and users. As both ontology and epistemology, black hair braiding practices recalibrate local economies, spaces, and aesthetic codes, and thus co-constitute emergent urban identities and a way of knowing the city. The intimate, networked, and fractal nature of black hair braiding spaces disrupts the rigid colonial spatial orders of the city and its architecture. As an epistemology, braiding disrupts the grand narrative of Johannesburg in ‘crisis’, while also disrupting the colonizing and gendered structure of urban studies itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanisation throughout the world has resulted in numerous ecological and environmental problems. The release of contaminants into the aquatic environment and the subsequent accumulation in sediment is a specific area of concern due to the potential re-release of the contaminants into solution. The responses of two microbiotests designed to evaluate sediment toxicity (the Ostracodtoxkit F and Phytotoxkit test) were compared once exposed to three samples collected in the vicinity of a power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Sediment characterisation and chemical analyses were conducted in order to determine possible correlations with the expressed results. Where possible, the concentration of chemicals in the sediment was compared to available sediment guidelines. The study showed that whilst the Phytotoxkit test results did not indicate any acute toxicity (< 50% inhibition), the Ostracodtoxkit F test indicated 100% mortality at the upstream site, with increased growth inhibition at the remaining two sites. The concentration of chrome at all three sites exceeded the interim sediment quality guidelines (37 mg/kg), with the sample collected at the upstream site exceeding the probable effect level (90 mg/kg). The findings from this study indicated that the Phytotoxkit and Ostracodtoxkit F test kits are sensitive enough to evaluate sediment toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An earlier version of this paper was delivered as a keynote address at the outset of a conference on ‘The Golden Age of Apartheid’. That talk sought to set a tone for the conference by focusing on contradictions in the racial and cultural logic of Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, whose political interventions dominated events and reconfigured society during the period of apartheid's golden age. While ‘separate development’ presented an apparently moral (if anthropologically questionable) ‘separate cultures’ argument for ‘national development’, it was always fundamentally undercut by racist assumptions of apartheid. This seems to have been true of Verwoerd’s personal attitudes as well as his political initiatives at the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following on from earlier work dealing with the role of metropolitan municipalities in managing urbanisation, this article assesses the role played by secondary cities in this regard. Although secondary cities have largely provided adequate infrastructure in line with the demands of population growth, three differences between metropolitan municipalities and secondary cities should be noted. First, on most indicators, secondary cities have more outliers than do metropolitan municipalities. Second, household incomes in secondary cities remain lower than those in metropolitan municipalities. Third, the ability of secondary cities to provide basic infrastructure does not differ much from that of metropolitan municipalities. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that, in terms of certain indicators, secondary cities have managed to deliver these faster than their metropolitan counterparts. We argue that the progress made in secondary cities during the period under consideration cannot be separated from the fact that the economic growth in more than 50% of secondary cities has been linked either to mining or to another dominant economic driver. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an urbanizing world, the inequalities of infrastructure are increasingly politicized in ways that reconstitute the urban political. A key site here is the politicization of human waste. The centrality of sanitation to urban life means that its politicization is always more than just service delivery. It is vital to the production of the urban political itself. The ways in which sanitation is seen by different actors is a basis for understanding its relation to the political. We chart Cape Town's contemporary sanitation syndrome, its condition of crisis, and the remarkable politicization of toilets and human waste in the city's townships and informal settlements in recent years. We identify four tactics-poolitical tactics-that politicize not just sanitation but Cape Town itself: poo protests, auditing, sabotage, and blockages. We evaluate these tactics, consider what is at stake, and chart possibilities for a more just urban future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional authorities (TA) and democratically elected government structures have co-existed in South Africa since the democratic transition in 1994. This article compares growth and development trends and patterns of TA areas in relation to areas that do not fall within traditional authorities for two municipalities in South Africa. The comparative analysis deploys descriptive and multivariate techniques to compare three dimensions of growth and development: basic services and housing, socio-economic indicators and density measures. In 1996, statistically significant differences in the levels of development were evident in five of the 16 indicators considered, while this figure reduced to only four of the 16 indicators in 2001 and three in 2011. In addition, statistically significant differences in the rate of change were identified in only four of the 16 indicators. These four indicators are the growth in the proportion of households residing in formal housing (significantly higher in non-TA wards) and the three density indicators (all significantly higher in the non-TA wards). The results confirm a broadly convergent trend between the levels of development in TA and non-TA wards between 1996 and 2011. From an overall perspective, the findings of this research indicate that, based on a ward level analysis of a range of development indicators, traditional authorities in the two study areas did not impede growth and development between 1996 and 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]