Abstract
Abstract. This paper presents the potentialities of spatio-temporal modelling in transforming South Africa’s previously marginalised townships. Using the Katlehong township in Ekurhuleni as a case study, the paper argues that the hitherto marginalised townships can benefit from a localised implementation of smart-city concepts as articulated in the Integrated Urban Development Framework. Instead of viewing townships as spaces of perpetual despair and hopelessness, the paper appreciates these areas as having the potential to benefit from new smart innovative planning approaches that form part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. So, the discussion identifies smart transportation modes such as bicycle-sharing, as well as Bus Rapid Transit Networks as critical in promoting mobility in and beyond townships, while contributing to spatial integration and transformation. Using geolocation data, the paper concludes that formerly marginalised townships such as Katlehong can and must form part of the emergent smart cities in South Africa.
Highlights
1.1 Setting the SceneThe long and complex history of South Africa’s racially bifurcated cities is known (Lemon, 1991; Parnell, 1993; Maylam, 1995; Dewar, 1995)
Nodes with high betweenness centrality allow the flow of commuters between every pair of bus/train stops, over the shortest paths between them
Currently nodes along the Bus Route have the highest betweenness centrality. This could be due to the service quality of the Bus rapid transit system, as most commuters utilise the bus to travel in-between the townships and utilise the Metro-rail for longer trips
Summary
1.1 Setting the SceneThe long and complex history of South Africa’s racially bifurcated cities is known (Lemon, 1991; Parnell, 1993; Maylam, 1995; Dewar, 1995). At the centre of the post-apartheid state since 1994, is radical spatial transformation. Underscoring this new urban agenda (Caprotti et al, 2017; Cohen, 2015) are various legislative and strategic spatial planning instruments all aimed at creating liveable and humane cities. Whereas much has been done with regard to spatial transformation, the colonial/apartheid city-form remains, in the main, relatively intact. This is evinced by the present and expansion of relatively poor black townships in all major cities’ peripheries. The black townships continue to symbolise – at least in part – the ‘dark-side’ of colonial/apartheid urban planning policies and practices (Flyvbjerg and Richardson, 2002: 44)
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