The South African Cities Network (SACN) EPWP Reference Group is a peer-based platform, comprising key city officials responsible for implementing the EPWP in their respective cities. This collective has continued to meet quarterly over the 2017/18 period, providing a forum in which experiences and knowledge are exchanged. The Reference Group continues to contribute to enhancing coordination between the cities and other role players towards the effective and synergistic implementation of the EPWP.

This document, written by Josette Cole of the Mandlovu Development Trust, explores the intended and unintended consequences of home ownership for poor citizens living in formal settlements in post-apartheid South Africa. It focuses on New Crossroads in Cape Town, a relatively small, urban community of 20 000 people.

Despite numerous studies on townships, research into township economies and related commercial real estate markets is limited. The majority of studies refer to the economy only as part of a broader discussion about other themes such as housing. And, while the information in these studies is useful, it is not captured and discussed within an overarching conceptual framework, which would allow the relationships and causal factors that shape and drive such economies to be understood. 

The papers in this volume take a city perspective and provide both a critical reflection of and a pragmatic response to what cities are able to do given their current mandate and powers. The first paper begins by considering what the TOD agenda means for the urban poor. It questions whether TOD can adequately address the existing land challenges in South African cities, given the politics of land inequality and the skewed property markets.

South African cities are under the national and international spotlight again. Community protests over service delivery, disputes about councillor selection, mismanagement and underspending of municipal budgets, and recurrent billing problems have attracted growing public concern. Yet cities have also been fêted for rekindling a spirit of national unity during 2010, delivering world-class transport schemes and leading the economy out of recession.

The last decade has seen a significant increase in the number of retail centres being developed in 'emerging economy' areas - townships and rural areas - in South Africa. In Soweto, for example, at least six shopping centres have opened their doors since 2005. Even in the townships of smaller South African cities, shopping centre developments have sprung up, changing the face of commercial transactions for many residing in these areas.

This case study draws on research that investigated the financial sustainability of cities in the Southern African region. The research was undertaken by the South African Cities Network (SACN). The project was jointly sponsored by the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility and the World Bank. The contribution by SACN of the material for this document is gratefully acknowledged. The learning material presents an outline of the many challenges of financial sustainability and effective service delivery facing Southern African cities.

Recognising that the Managed Land Settlement (MLS) approach is not new to the South African housing and service delivery environment, the purpose of this report is to explore the lessons that can be learnt from programmes and projects which have adopted an MLS-like approach to greenfields development. The report contains five case studies from across South Africa, focusing on programmes that have been successfully implemented over the past 15 years. With funding from Urban LandMark, the report was commissioned by

This publication provides an overview of the theory and practice of urban innovation together with perspectives, trends and international experiences in this area. The publication seeks to stimulate debate and creative thinking around different approaches to dealing with every day urban challenges by presenting a collection of potetnially replicable local and international case studies.

This report by Colin Marx and Margot Rubin explores how urban land is divided and re-divided within the context of the interaction between formal and informal land use management systems.

In March 2018, The South African Cities Network (SACN) hosted its second Urban Land Dialogues Series in the provinces of Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. The dialogues took place during a week when land was receiving widespread attention, as all eyes were on the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Illovo where the President had convened a Summit to discuss details of agrarian land expropriation without compensation policy,Under the overarching theme of inclusive urban land transformation, the aim of these dialogues was to build better shared understandings of the many issues that

This case study draws on research that investigated the perspectives and experiences of civil society organisations with regard to access to urban land by the poor. The research was conducted by Warren Smit, commissioned by Urban LandMark. An introduction to the case study is given below. On the back of this sheet some learning and reflection activities are provided. You can do these activities on your own or in groups, as appropriate for your learning session. Look carefully at these activities before you begin so you know what to look for while you are reading.