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After roughly 20 years since the emergence of urban scholarship in same-sex sexualities in South Africa, it is worthwhile considering how some of the concerns that originally animated that scholarship have evolved and also how such concerns are today reflected differently away from primary cities (where much earlier research was conducted). In this commentary, I explore the unique history of Stellenbosch, a university town/secondary city 50 km away from Cape Town. Stellenbosch's own unique history of—and recent developments with regard to—public (male) same-sex expression help set into relief earlier scholarship and also points towards some future research questions that may also be applicable elsewhere on the African continent. While, as made clear, Stellenbosch is in some key instances unique in terms of its sexualized and raced history both in South Africa and the wider continent, its position as what we might increasingly want to frame as a secondary city, its particular racial composition, and also its changing spaces of socio-sexual interaction since the COVID-19 pandemic gesture towards key areas of potentially generative wider research interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Stellenbosch University is the oldest geography department in South Africa and celebrates its centenary in 2020. This paper provides insight into a range of publications that emanated from the department during that time. The presentation is periodized in three sections of review and analysis: the genesis of the department from 1920 up to 1947; the apartheid period of 1948 to 1993; and the democratic era (1994–2019). Drawing on various sources it appears that published research in the department amounted to a meagre output in the early years by one staff member. Publication numbers grew in the 1960s and 1970s. This period was, however, characterized by publications mostly in South African journals and generally in Afrikaans. This period also consolidated a positivist epistemology that remains to the present. Research output increased in the 1990s. The past decade (2010s) saw publication output rise steeply to register more than half of all publications ever produced in the department. This was due to the establishment of research centres in the department, increased staff complements and the appointment of research fellows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism geography has developed into a dynamic sub-discipline of contemporary South African geographical scholarship. The investigation provides an overview of the development of South African tourism geography since the early 1970s, and traces its subsequent development. Since the first investigations, tourism geographers had an interest in the developmental potential which the tourism system presents for South Africa. It is shown that recent tourism research is generally framed by concerns for responsible tourism, pro-poor tourism impacts, tourism as a vehicle for local economic development, and the role of small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) development in the tourism sector. The main contribution of the paper is to propose a range of new investigatory avenues that can build on the current scholarship, and considers potential threats to the future development of South African tourism geography. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Studentification is a global phenomenon that has been prominent in urban geographical discourse since the large-scale expansion of higher education in the early 1990s. In many developed and developing world countries, expansion in student enrolment has outstripped the ability of institutions of higher learning to provide adequate accommodation. Similar trends have been recorded in South Africa. The task of this paper is to investigate studentification as experienced in one of South Africa's secondary cities. The paper draws attention to the economic, socio-cultural, and physical characteristics of this form of student housing on host locations. It is argued that studentification holds both positive and negative impacts for the host communities of Bloemfontein. Finally, it is suggested that studentification in South Africa requires greater research attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been 10 years since second home tourism emerged as a topic of investigation in South Africa. A number of book chapters, articles, masters and PhD theses have appeared, focusing on the economic, social and environmental impacts of second home tourism. From these core investigations, new themes have emerged such as methodological challenges, the consequences of second home tourism for town and regional planning and the place of second homes in the South African post-productivist countryside. Issues relating to personal mobility and (inter)national migration of different population groups across varied income levels have also been scrutinised. Despite a decade of dedicated inquiry, much research is still required to understand this phenomenon fully within the South African context. Furthermore, investigators need to acknowledge the role of second home tourism as a potential driver for many tourist regions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is set against the backdrop of criticism from certain quarters framing second homes as an elitist phenomenon that is part of the negative consequences of changing rural geographies. It is shown that South Africa has a long history and ever growing number of second home owners across the whole spectrum of class cohorts who form an integral part of the country's rural geographies. It is argued that accepting and framing second homes as a potential positive development agency might suggest strategies that could enhance rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing trends of fear and insecurity in cities have sparked the re-visitation of gating, posing significant problems for citizens and policy makers alike. Gated developments are a global phenomenon occurring in diverse countries in both the developed North and developing South. Metropolitan areas in South Africa have also witnessed a rapid increase in the number and spread of gated developments since the late 1980s. Development of enclosed neighbourhoods has become increasingly popular, gaining widespread support for their utopic lifestyle and safety features. On the whole, high levels of crime and fear of crime have led to the construction of defensible space, in the form of gated developments, resulting in elevated levels of segregation. This paper provides a spatial analysis on gated developments in the non-metropolitan setting of Bloemfontein. The pattern and timeframe of gating in this city is shown to be similar to those found elsewhere in South Africa and, indeed, globally. Overall, it is the contention that gating is a trend not only seen in large metropolitan areas, but across the entire urban hierarchy of South Africa, and, as a consequence, requires investigation far beyond its metropolitan regions to more fully understand gated developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation is set against the observation that analysis of South African neighbourhood development and evolution is very uneven, with limited reflection on historically white neighbourhoods in close proximity to former White CBDs. The study focuses on the intersection between neighbourhood change in this type of setting and urban tourism and sexuality. Consideration is given to the role of sexual identity, as well as urban tourism and leisure seeking, in contributing towards the changing geographies of De Waterkant. It is suggested that this nexus has been central to dramatically altering the physical character and symbolic meaning of De Waterkant. Questions are posed as to why De Waterkant developed in the manner it has and issues that arise from such neighbourhood change. A central conclusion is that this neighbourhood has undergone dramatic changes which exclude a broad spectrum of urban dwellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a theme issue of Urban Forum on the topic of urban tourism in Africa. A context is provided for the issue by an overview of key themes which have been represented in a decade of African urban tourism research. Although most extant research is on urban South Africa, there is an emerging literature on other African cities. The major themes of research have surrounded tourism and urban economic restructuring with the establishment of new products for leisure tourism; slum tourism and pro-poor tourism; the role of the accommodation sector; African cities as non-leisure destinations; and, informal sector tourism. It is argued that within the evolving international scholarship on urban tourism, aspects of African urban tourism research exhibit distinctive features and offer challenges to Northern conceptions of urban tourism and urban tourists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second homes have seen increased research interest over the last decade. On the whole, these investigations have mainly been understood in the spatial context of the developed North. Second homes have only recently been seen as a role player in the changing economic spatialities of small town geographies in South Africa. This growing scholarship on second homes has, however, been less concerned with the social impacts of the phenomenon. The investigation is set against the argument that second homes have social impacts on the immediate and surrounding areas in which they are situated. This investigation also demonstrates that second homes are phenomena with which not only the elite engage but a range of different socio-economic cohorts, including the poor. The social impacts of second homes in this investigation are shown to vary along race and class lines. Against the backdrop that second homes are relevant to very large parts of South African society, the social impacts associated with second homes need to be taken into account in future development planning in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects briefly on the evolution of Urban Forum as it reaches the milestone of a quarter-century of academic publishing. In chronicling the past 25 years, a range of observations are made in terms of the institutional organisation of the journal, the thematic and spatial focus of research published, the flow of submissions and authorship. It is argued that much in the form of a unique investigatory research voice concerning the changing spatialities of African cities has been presented and explored. Nevertheless, there are further issues that require attention, which it is hoped will form part of future debates to be profiled in the pages of Urban Forum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally there has been considerable discussion on the role that creative industries play as a strategy by which post-Fordist cities can revive stagnant urban economies. Among those sectors of the economy that form part of the creative industries, the filming sector counts as one. On the whole, these debates have been conducted with reference to the post-industrial cities of the north. Little attention has been placed on the role of the filming sector in the developing south generally, its spatial distribution, and its relationship to other economic and social geographies in those urban places. The paper provides a spatial analysis of the filming industry in urban South Africa and relates it to general economic and social geographies in two South African cities that have identified the filming industry as a key development strategy. In addition, an agenda for future research, in particular pertaining to urban South Africa is outlined. It is concluded that there is a broader urban planning and geography project at hand. Questions need to be asked about how the filming industry interacts with other government programmes and the ongoing transformation of physical and symbolic spaces in urban South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, South Africa has experienced a series of fundamental changes in its institutional structures and society generally. This article provides an exploration into how these changes have impacted on field-based tourism research. Drawing on experiences involving a range of research contexts and different researcher types, the article first considers the impact of researcher positionality, demonstrating the dynamic ways in which identities and attendant power relations are created and transformed in various multicultural settings. Second, the article considers the importance of political-temporal contingency in framing the research process, illuminating the impact of research focus vis-à-vis the political and temporal context of the research and informants. The article concludes by suggesting that we consider these observations on a broader canvas, reflecting on the challenges these factors present researchers focusing on second-home development in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the global profile of scholarship on tourism geographies, Africa is the least represented continent. With Africa's incorporation into the global tourism economy, considerable optimism has been raised by many national governments as well as external international development agencies as to the potential contribution of tourism for social and economic development across the continent. The number of geographical voices interrogating the nexus of tourism and development is small but expanding. This paper provides a review of the existing paths and new directions of tourism geographies of the region of Southern Africa as the context for this special dossier. It is argued that tourism research and debates in Southern Africa are growing in importance, including an expansion of geographical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation aims to make a contribution towards addressing the general lack of academic reflection on second homes in South Africa. In particular, it aims to provide insight into the economic impact of second home development on smaller settlements in remote rural towns in the country. While the empirical evidence demonstrates the unique development characteristics and impact of South African second home development, the investigation also highlights the stimulation of new capital inflow, employment creation and property price appreciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is increasingly regarded as a viable avenue for local economic development. Small towns on the urban fringe have benefitted from tourism development in South Africa, the town of Parys being one of them. Parys has experienced tourism development over the past few years which has resulted in local economic growth, as especially reflected in the trade industry, amidst the decline of sectors such as manufacturing and mining. The study focusses on the factors that gave rise to the development of tourism in this town, as well as on opportunities and barriers to further development. A profile of tourism, small, medium and micro enterprises, is provided along with other main findings regarding the nature of the tourism industry in the area which includes the unique selling points of the area, visitor characteristics, demand and target market segments. Strategic development initiatives, in the light of the findings, recommend for the future development of the tourism industry in the area to include tourism product development focussed on attractions; the identification of key market segments such as budget tourists and the family market; destination and product marketing; investment in tourism infrastructure and ensuring the responsible management of tourism development in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local economic development (LED) is receiving greater policy prominence in a range of southern African settings. Strategic interventions often draw on tourism development to attain LED objectives. This investigation contends that second home development can serve as an additional focus for tourism strategies aimed at LED, and demonstrates that important LED objectives, such as developing and maintaining enterprises, generating employment and attracting capital inflows, can be achieved through second home development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, particularly in post-industrial societies, the geographies of gay men’s and, to a lesser extent, gay women’s lives have received considerable research attention. A central research interest has been the mapping of gay geographies of leisure. There are, however, fewer studies in the academic record about gay leisure geographies in the developing world context, particularly in Africa. This investigation aims to address an aspect of this investigatory oversight by looking through the lens of white gay women in the city of Bloemfontein, South Africa. The study maps white gay women’s leisure-seeking and positions their (sexual) desire(s) relative to other homosexual and heterosexual leisure geographies. A highly complex and contradictory set of spatial and temporal patterns and practices emerge in which desire and repulsion are often in close proximity located in a number of leisure, retail, work, and private spaces. In addition, these spaces are inhabited by a range of different identity cohorts according to gender, gender performativity, class, and race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second-homes research is a growing area of academic interest in South African urban studies. A number of exploratory investigations have indicated the economic impacts of second-home development. However, little attention has been given to the methodological challenges associated with conducting such research. In particular the ability of current methodologies to cost effectively identify second homes has proven to be limited. The paper provides an outline of how second homes have been identified in South Africa to date and explores a new methodological refinement to such an endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural geographies have changed significantly over the past half century. These reconfigured geographies are increasingly denoted as evolving from a productivist to a post-productivist state and second home development has increasingly been implicated as contributing to such change. This paper considers this contention in the context of Rhodes, South Africa. It is argued that second home development is contributing towards an emerging post-productivist countryside. A broad analysis of the impact of second home ownership is given with reference to its economic influence. The paper concludes that coinciding with the post- productivist changes in the Rhodes countryside, second home ownership has contributed to employment creation and has had a varied tourism and regional impact which has added much needed support to the economy of the town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper revisits the city of Bloemfontein more than a decade and a half after the repeal of the Group Areas Act (GAA). The aim is to determine the extent to which apartheid residential property ownership segregation has changed. The scrapping of the GAA saw the movement of black property owners into the city’s former white neighbourhoods. Initially, the percentage in this regard was low, starting at 2.3% in 1995. Twelve years later desegregation levels in residential property ownership have increased to 11.4%. In contrast to 1995, desegregation has now taken place in all the former white group areas. The highest level of residential property ownership desegregation has occurred in neighbourhoods with relatively low municipal valuations and small stands in close proximity to former black township areas. It also transpired that single residential stands, as opposed to sectional title units in more densely developed residential complexes, are preferred by black residential property owners moving into former white group areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The function, form and outcomes of research assessment exercises have received considerable attention in the international journal press. However, as is generally the case with 'international' human geographical discourse, the foci of these debates are heavily tainted with the concerns of Anglo-American academics, with the UK's much-discussed Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), in particular, being under near-perpetual scrutiny. The idea of assessing research output is, however, not unique to the institutions of higher learning in the north. Systems and institutions of research assessment are also present in countries of the south. As an example, this paper outlines a rating scheme that has been functioning in South Africa for more than two decades. It is the contention of this investigation that this rating scheme has a range of consequences echoing 'the international experience'. Perhaps most disturbing is the potential crushing of a post-colonial 'South/South African' tourism geography intellectual voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gay leisure space development has of late been an important area of investigation in geography. Generally, these investigations have primarily concerned white gay men in Western countries. Most of these debates have not been considered in the developing world context, particularly in Africa. This investigation explores the leisure geography of black gay men in the city of Bloemfontein. It is shown that differences in race and class positions explain a gay leisure geography which stands totally separate from that of white gay men. The investigation argues that differences in class position, linked to race, explain these separate geographies. However, it is also revealed that the black gay men of this investigation do not see exclusively gay leisure spaces as desirable and would rather seek leisure spaces that are inclusive of different sexual orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this investigation is to assess the relevance and potential of current international trends in the study of gentrification in the contemporary South African urban context. Against the backdrop of 'new' gentrification experiences and debates it is argued that recent developments in the central-city districts of large South African cities present numerous opportunities for 'new' gentrification processes to emerge as a central part of urban regeneration. Moreover, it is contended that specific state policies and interventions focused on inner-city regeneration underpin new forms of gentrification in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban change has systematically been researched for more than a century. One of the key foci has been the Central Business Districts (CBDs) of cities. The past decades has seen an extensive literature develop on CBD decline focusing on why such decay sets in and which strategies, as well as policies, that might be deployed to stimulate the revitalisation of these areas. The debates are, however, in the main developed within the context of large cities, whilst the geographical focus tends to be on countries of the post-industrial north. In the South African context, a small, but nevertheless significant literature has developed chronicling both CBD decline and subsequent revitalisation strategies deployed to reverse such decline. Similar to the international experience, the focal point has been South Africa’s main metropolitan regions, whilst secondary cities have remained beyond the investigatory focus. The aim of this paper was to provide an outline of the prospects and obstacles that face CBD revitalisation in the secondary city of Bloemfontein. It is argued that whilst generic revitalisation programmes in cities such as Cape Town and Johannesburg have seemingly stemmed further CBD decline, other strategies might be required in secondary cities such as Bloemfontein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, there is a paucity of research focused on urban tourism. The small body of research focused on South Africa’s urban places as tourist destinations is mainly concerned with urban tourism in the country’s metropolitan areas. Secondary cities, such as Bloemfontein, have received scant research attention. In the context of such research neglect, the paper focuses on the urban tourism system of Bloemfontein. Drawing on both survey material and secondary data sources, the investigation provides an outline of the Bloemfontein tourism economy. Particular attention is given to different tourism types and their spatial distribution. Thereafter, an overview of obstacles to various tourism development as experienced by product providers is given and potential support mechanisms detailed. Finally, a tourism development strategy is set out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhoods have not received much research interest until comparatively recently. Internationally, the paucity of research has now been addressed through a steady flow of new contributions. In South Africa, however, neighbourhoods remain largely ignored in the academic press. The aim of this paper is to make a contribution towards gaining greater insight into the development of South African neighbourhoods. Drawing on a detailed analysis of the Bloemfontein neighbourhood of Westdene, the authors show that post-apartheid neighbourhoods are diverse and fragmented urban spaces that fulfil very many different functions. In the process, our conceptual understanding of neighbourhood has to be adjusted from one representing a relatively homogenous residential urban space to one that incorporates a diverse range of urban functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of research activity linked to the allocation of resources according to the results of those evaluations is now undertaken in a number of countries. Numerous debates in Human Geography have emerged to reflect upon how research assessment systems affect professional human geographers and whether or not anything truly positive has been achieved through these assessment systems. Within South African Human Geography similar debates have not to date been documented. Against this backdrop, the key objective of this investigation is to address the paucity of critical reflection upon South Africa's National Research Foundation's (NRF) rating system and to assess the position of human geographers in this research "surveillance system". It is argued that the NRF rating system perpetuates the imposition of the norms of distantly located rating schemes — principally the United Kingdom's Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) — upon the South African academic imagination. In the process South African human geography is entrapped; either serving the theoretical needs of the discipline's Anglo-American heartland, or serving local needs and becoming an irrelevance to "international" human geography. Human geographies that can "make a difference" to both audiences is, it is argued, unlikely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of leisure and tourism to re-image and redevelop cities has been interpreted as a mechanism for attracting capital and people. In a period of intense inter-place competition and urban entrepreneurialism, whole built environments become centerpieces of urban spectacle and display. Waterfront developments have become emblematic in this regard. Over the past two decades the redevelopment of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (V&AW) in Cape Town has been transformed from ‘port’ to ‘playground’ and is internationally acknowledged as one of the most successful of these developments. This redevelopment has, as has been the case with numerous other waterfront developments, not been uncontroversial. New tensions and conflicts have arisen over the use, meaning, and ownership of this space. The acquisition of the waterfront by a consortium of London- and Dubai-based property developers in 2006 has renewed concerns about the ‘plasticization’ of the waterfront and signals the symbolic start of a new phase in this waterfront’s development trajectory. The paper tracks the development of the V&AW since its inception in the late 1980s and argues that general critiques of waterfront developments sit uneasily in the Cape Town context. It is also suggested that these developments can fulfil a very significant and positive role for developing world cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research linking South Africa's tourism industry with development is generally reckoned to be a fairly recent phenomenon. In the mid-1930s, however, two seminal works were published in the United Kingdom which sought to highlight the economic potentialities of tourism and to differentiate it as a topic worthy of study in its own right. One of these studies was a doctoral thesis entitled The Tourist Industry: a national and international survey by a South African economics professor, Arthur Norval. Although it was published to critical acclaim it appears, with the passage of time, to have sunk into oblivion. Norval was schooled in the Free State and graduated as an attorney from the then Grey University College in Bloemfontein. Tourist Industry is a prescient work which anticipates a number of the themes which have come to inform contemporary tourism research. This article details many of these points of connection and contends that the history of tourism research stands to gain considerably from Norval's pioneering study being recovered from obscurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, tourism development has become a critical site for government interventions through a range of policy frameworks and supporting institutions. Increasingly, these interventions are reflected in provincial governments' development planning frameworks. As tourism development has gained prominence at the regional level, a growing body of research focused on major tourist destination areas such as Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape has developed. This has facilitated the development of a further round of informed policy frameworks and institutional support systems. However, regions such as the Free State lack even the most basic analyses of its tourism products and product providers to inform the development of appropriate policy frameworks and institutional support systems. The aim of this paper is to address the paucity of regional data concerning the Free State tourism system by providing baseline data of the main tourism products and product providers of this province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the new data on international tourism flows and urban tourism in South Africa, released by the Strategic Research Unit of South African Tourism in 2005. Tourism flows are presented in two main categories, international and domestic tourists. With this regard, travelers were subdivided into two key and distinctive sub streams of international tourist arrivals, the overseas or long-haul traveler and the regional or African tourist.

The article presents the empirical results of the fieldwork conducted in the case of poor whites in post-apartheid cities in Bloemfontein, South Africa. It provides a summary of the history of white poverty and draws attention to the difference between absolute and relative poverty, as well as on the difference between poverty and vulnerability. It then elaborates on the multidimensionality of these factors against a framework of five different types of capital.

Focuses on the national festival tourism in South Africa. Importance of festival as an aspect of urban development; Provision of a brief overview of the international literature focused on festival tourism in urban areas; Insight into the spatio-temporal occurrence of festivals in the country.

Focuses on the urban tourism in South Africa. Importance of cultural and heritage management for urban tourism promotion; Promotion of night markets for shopping tourism; Emphasis of tourism planning on domestic visitor.

This article focuses on South Africa's macro-development strategy through the lens of social justice theory. The two key post-apartheid development planning frameworks, t lie Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) and the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macro-economic development strategy are reviewed and their outcomes are assessed in terms of social justice theory. It is argued that while RDP was a strategy that had distinctive Rawlsian social justice characteristics, the implementation of the neoliberal GEAR strategy has led to certain outcomes, particularly the deepening of poverty and a rise in income inequality, which cannot be seen as consistent with mainstream social justice theorisation. However, the fact that, under GEAR, RDP objectives in terms of a broadly defined `social wage' have been maintained, makes it less feasible to reach the simplistic conclusion that South Africa under the GEAR policy framework is not making strides towards being a more socially just society. This view, however, holds implications for the way in which we interpret the social justice concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on second-home development in South Africa. Consideration of second homes as the result of a range of relationships between tourism and migration; Diffentiation between different forms of production- and consumption-led migration in respect of tourism; Claim that lifestyle choice is the key motivation behind consumption-led migration.

The advent of a post-apartheid dispensation triggered the large-scale expansion of the South African tourism system and promoted greater confidence in gay leisure space development. The general popularity of Cape Town as a tourist destination has also been echoed in the gay male tourism market, this city emerging as Africa's gay tourist capital. Writing from an unfamiliar setting regarding gay tourism research, the exploratory research reported in this paper provides a brief overview of the impact of overlapping tourism and leisure space development on Cape Town's emerging gay enclave — De Waterkant. The investigation suggests that the new urban space that has subsequently emerged excludes significant sectors of the Cape Town gay community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa has recorded the highest average tourist arrival growth in the world over the past decade, with South Africa being a key beneficiary. As a consequence, the tourism sector is now the fourth-largest industry in South Africa, supporting more than 1200 hotels, 2000 guesthouses and 8000 restaurants. This expansion far outstrips the annual growth rate of the economy. It is well known that tourist spending both directly and indirectly affects a range of sectors, including not only the hospitality and catering industries, but the retail trade, transport, entertainment, food processing, agriculture and aspects of education and training to name a few.

Whereas South Africa’s cities have generally been understood as a “unique” urban form, many theoretical perspectives and urban processes – such as gentrification – which are often reserved for consideration in cities of advanced capitalist societies, are also of relevance there. In fact, important contributions to these theoretical perspectives can be made by drawing upon the South African urban experiences, while also providing a basis whereby local scholarship can be integrated into international urban debates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Focuses on tourism research issues addressed at the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Society of South African Geographers (SSAG) in South Africa. Presentation of papers on rural tourism; Details of the theoretical aims in tourism research.

Focuses on the gay tourism in Cape Town, South Africa. Popularity of gay tourism in South Africa; Development of gay tourism infrastructure; Web sites for gay tourism.

The paper focuses on the intersection between South African urban reconstruction and the development of social justice debates in urban geography. Drawing on a case study located in the Cape Metropolitan Region of South Africa, this investigation illustrates how decision-makers have implemented a planning strategy referred to as integrated development planning (IDP) to aid post-apartheid urban reconstruction. In so doing, the paper shows how this mechanism draws upon the spatial imagination as a method of (re)directing the development of this city. Moreover, the case study demonstrates how an imagined urban space, expressed in the planning system of the IDP, functions as a device by which shared understandings of social justice are enabled. Finally, the paper reflects on how these findings might (re)direct the theoretical development of the social justice concept in geographical and urban planning debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Tourism Leisure and Global Change conference held in Stellenbosch, South Africa from September 5-9, 2010. The conference focused on the crisis in relation to different components in the contemporary tourism system. Michael Hall of the University of Canterbury discussed the impact of the financial crisis on the tourism sector.

The article presents a postscript concerning the collection of articles in the March 2006 issue of the South African Geographical Journal. The author concludes that South African Geographers are on one hand seeking to go "post-colonial" by developing their own voice and serving the community, and on the other hand trying to integrate themselves into the Anglo-American geographical tradition. It is his opinion that South African geographers should serve the communities in which they live.

A preface to the articles on regional geography published in this periodical is presented.