Rapid urbanisation to non-metropolitan urban South Africa: A call for Accrediting credible ‘informal’ life-enhancing responses and institutions

• Published in: Cities 2020-01, Vol.96, p.102487, Article 102487
• Main Authors: Oranje, Mark, van Huyssteen, Elsona, Maritz, Johan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Credibility; Credibility thesis; Governance; Housing; Institutions; Non-metropolitan urban growth; Rural areas; Rural communities; Spatial planning
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2019.102487

Despite the growth of, and movement of large numbers of people to rapidly expanding non-metropolitan urban centres in predominantly rural areas, this phenomenon and its accompanying vulnerabilities, multiple informalities and credible institution-formation have not received much research interest. In this paper, the focus is placed on such a town in what is regarded as ‘rural South Africa’. Based on credibility theory the paper explores (1) the disjuncture between the city-scale challenges on the ground and the official recognition of these challenges, and (2) the often overlooked, yet dense and multiple web of credible informal institutions that play a crucial role in enabling livelihoods and facilitating access to services within such spaces, as opposed to the largely ineffective formal planning and governance responses to these pressing realities.