Urban Africa 2050
Cape Town, South Africa

City Overview

Population
2018: 4,232,276 (City of Cape Town 2017 Socio-economic Profile, 2018, p. iii)
2050: Cape Town Mega-City Region will be projected to have “more than 6 million” according to ‘A 2050-National Spatial Development Vision’ (Draft National Spatial Development Framework, 2018, p. 58).

Host Institution
Cornerstone Institute

Overview of the City
Cape Town is an iconic South African city renowned for its beauty, yet it is a city characterized by pockets of great prosperity and disparity legacy of its 400-year colonial and apartheid rule. Noted for having one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world, apartheid spatial planning persists so that people still largely reside in areas along racial lines, perpetuating social and economic inequity. Cape Town is the legislative capital of the country with a large business and financial service sector, and the country’s second largest port. “Between 1996 and 2016, Cape Town’s population grew by 60% from 2.5 million to 4.0 million” (Turok and Scheba, 2018, p. 10). Much of the growth has been absorbed in informal settlements. It is anticipated that population growth will continue to be concentrated among people with low income levels (Department of Spatial Planning and Urban Design, 2016, p. 7).

Relevant Documents/ Information/ Resources

  • State of Cape Town Report 2016
    The State of Cape Town report is a biennial publication produced by the Development Information and GIS Department of the City of Cape Town. (Development Information, GIS Department of the City and of Cape Town, 2016)
    http://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/City%20research%20reports%20and%20review/16429%20COCT%20State%20of%20Cape%20Town%20Report%202016%20FINAL.pdf
    *This article includes a focus on Cape Town’s housing situation.
  • ‘Right to the city’ and the New Urban Agenda: learning from the right to housing
    By Ivan Turok & Andreas Scheba (Turok and Scheba, 2018), Published July 26, 2018
    http://www.hsrc.ac.za/uploads/pageNews/488/Turok%20and%20Scheba%202018%20Right%20to%20the%20city%20and%20the%20New%20Urban%20Agenda.pdf
    ABSTRACT: ‘The right to the city’ has influenced the New Urban Agenda and other global and national urban policies. In the process, the meaning has narrowed towards realizing human rights in cities. Pursuing the right to housing in South Africa has established an important duty on the state to ensure universal access to decent accommodation. This has enabled millions of the poorest households to obtain improved habitation, and others to gain protection against forced evictions. However, the single-minded focus on state delivery of mass housing has been unable to keep pace with the rising level of need. It has also neglected the economic requirements of households and is proving to be financially unsustainable. Consequently, the housing right has not lifted many people out of income poverty or created more inclusive cities. A rights-based approach needs to be complemented by collective action and strengthened capabilities to drive progress across a broader agenda than just housing, particularly at the local level where there are major obstacles to change. A purposeful approach to unlocking urban land and collective efforts to spur socioeconomic development are vital.
  • Cape Town: Densification as a Cure for a Segregated City (Provoost et al., 2016)
    https://issuu.com/futurecapetown/docs/publication_density_syndicate_final , Published on Aug 20, 2015
    *This is an e-book online
    Cape Town suffers from extensive urban sprawl, due to the legacy of the Apartheid spatial policy and the middle class ideal of single-family homes on individual plots of land. This sprawl is causing huge economical, environmental and social problems. Can we envisage a more compact and dense Cape Town, curing the many engrained patterns of unequal and unjust spatial divisions?

Own Writings

  1. Christian activism and the fallists: What about reconciliation?(Headley and Kobe, 2017)
    http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/article/view/4722
  2. A praxis-based approach to theological training in Cape Town (Headley, 2018)
    https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5064

Curricular Information

Cornerstone Accredited Qualifications:

  • Higher Certificate in Christian Ministry (HEQSF Aligned 120 Credits: Contact Mode)
  • Bachelor of Theology in Community Leadership (HEQSF Aligned 360 Credits: Contact Mode)
  • Bachelor of Theology in Community Leadership (HEQSF Aligned 376 Credits: Distance Mode)

Researcher(s) information

Name: Selena
Surname: Headley
Position at the institution: Lecturer
Email address: selenah@cornerstone.ac.za or Selenaheadley@gmail.com

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© Centre For Contextual Ministry 2016