Reviewing the Evolving Categorisation of Metropolitan Municipalities: A South African Perspective

Jeeva, Zaakirah and Gumbo, Trynos and Cilliers, Juanee (2022) Reviewing the Evolving Categorisation of Metropolitan Municipalities: A South African Perspective. Mobility, Knowledge and Innovation Hubs in Urban and Regional Development. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2022, 27th International Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 629-639. ISSN 2521-3938

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Abstract

From a theoretical perspective there is limited understanding of how settlements develop, from villages to metropolitan regions. Research reveals that this limitation is due to settlements developing differently, ascribable to the variation in cultural, politics and topography amongst others, globally. As a result, the United Nations found that countries have categorised and delimited their settlements according to their own definitions. Consequently, there is limited comparable knowledge on how settlements develop or how they are categorised, from an empirical perspective. This paper seeks to unpack how administrative regions were delineated in South Africa (a member of the United Nations) and provides empirical insight into the criteria used in South Africa to categorised metropolitan region (post 1994). The research utilised both qualitative and quantitative data to unpack the Section 2 criteria as prescribed in the Municipal Structures Act, as employed by the Municipal Demarcation Act (MDB). The study found that although the Act has many theoretical sound concepts, the application of these concepts is not easy and this has resulted in many different forms of metropolitan regions in South Africa. This questions the ease with which the criteria could be manipulated and unmasks the challenges the country has experiences in the delimitation of administrative regions. Lessons learnt contribute to the broader understanding of how administrative regions can be re-categoris ed and policy mishaps be avoided.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Settlements, administrative regions, categorisation, classification criteria, metropolitan region
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HA Statistics
Depositing User:	The CORP Team
Date Deposited:	12 Nov 2022 17:40
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2022 13:58
URI:	http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/939

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