Showing papers by "Christian M. Rogerson published in 2018"

Local economic development in the developing world : the experience of Southern Africa

Abstract: Over the last two decades the concept and practice of Local Economic Development (LED) has gained wide-spread acceptance around the world as a locally-based response to the challenges posed by globalization, devolution, local-level opportunities, and economic crises. Support for local economic development is now firmly on the agenda of many national governments and key international agencies. This volume examines the debates about Local Economic Develop and examines some of the unfolding experiences of LED in the developing world. The focus is upon the region of southern Africa, and more especially upon post-apartheid South Africa. LED emerged in South Africa as one of the more significant post-apart-heid development options being pursued by empowered localities with the overt encouragement of national government. Elsewhere in the developing world, much interest surrounds the experience of LED in post-apartheid South Africa, which is seen as a laboratory for experimentation, innovation, and learning. The seventeen chapters in this book examine the range of LED interventions that have been the basis for experimentation in the last decade, including both pro-growth or pro-market interventions as well as pro-poor interventions. Key themes include debates about the most appropriate policy directions for LED, its contribution towards sustainable development, the role of social capital, cluster support, public procurement, eco-development, good governance and tourism-led LED. The book also contains a series of detailed case studies on the implementation of LED in South Africa and the wider region of southern Africa, including analyses of LED undertaken at a variety of scales from the provincial, metropolitan, and small-town level. Until now, most research on local economic development has focused on the developed world. This volume breaks new ground in applying LED policy and practices to problems specific to the developing world. It will be of interest to scholars of development studies, urban and regional planning, human geography, and urban studies.

Suburban creativity: The geography of creative industriesin Johannesburg

Abstract: Creativity is an increasing scholarly focus for urban and economic geographers. The aim in this paper is to contribute to what is so far mainly a Northern literature around the locational characteristics of creative industries. The results are analysed from a comprehensive audit undertaken of creative industries in Johannesburg, South Africa's leading economic hub. In common with certain other investigations of creative industries the largest component of enterprises in Johannesburg is creative services involving the production of goods or services for functional purposes. An aggregate picture emerges of the geography of creative industries in Johannesburg as strongly focused in suburban areas rather than the inner-city and its fringe areas. Nevertheless, certain differences are observed across the eight categories of creative industries. The evidence concerning the spatial distribution of creative industries in Johannesburg provides a further case for re-positioning the suburbs in post-Fordist debates around creative city economies and for re-examining neo-liberal cultural policies that preference inner-city areas.

Urban tourism, aerotropolis and local economic development planning: Ekurhuleni and O.R. Tambo International Airport, South Africa

Abstract: One vibrant topic within the emerging scholarship around geographies of tourism development and planning concerns that of tourism and local economic development planning. Across many countries tourism is a core base for planning of place-based local economic development programmes. In post-apartheid South Africa the country’s leading cities have promoted tourism as part of economic development programming. This article examines planning for South Africa’s aerotropolis around the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Ekurhuleni, which is adjacent to Johannesburg. Under circumstances of economic distress and the need for new sources of local job creation Ekurhuleni is undertaking planning for tourism development through leveraging and alignment to aerotropolis planning. The nexus of aerotropolis and urban tourism planning is analysed. Arguably, the strengthening of tourism in Ekurhuleni offers the potential for contributing towards inclusive development goals.

Africa’s tourism economy : Uneven progress and challenges

Abstract: Conventionally, African debates about economic growth and development are dominated by issues around the potential of agriculture, mining resources and, to a lesser extent, the role of manufacturing. Less acknowledged is the seemingly hidden role and opportunities of Africa’s services sector for raising national incomes, employment creation and enhancing growth prospects. Within the service economy, the tourism and hospitality industry is acknowledged as an anchor for sustainable development, and identified also as one of the key sectors with a potential to evolve towards a green low-carbon economy (Scott et al., 2012; UNWTO, 2012; Gossling et al., 2013). At least for the past decade, the tourism sector has been viewed as vital for contributing to achieving several of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (Saarinen et al., 2013b). Arguably, it will likely remain in the forefront of activities surrounding the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the United Nations endorsement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals designed to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and address global climate change. Especially noteworthy, given the high levels of poverty across the African continent, is the importance attached to tourism as a lever for job creation, poverty reduction, improving livelihoods and catalysing local development prospects (Rogerson and Rogerson, 2010; Snyman, 2012; Spenceley and Meyer, 2012; Okello and Novelli, 2014; Saarinen and Rogerson, 2014; UNWTO, 2015a; de Boer and van Dijk, 2016).

Informality and migrant entrepreneurs in Cape Town’s inner city

Abstract: Informality is a defining characteristic of cities in the global South and most especially across the region of sub-Saharan Africa. Policy responses by governments towards the informal economy impact the livelihoods of informal entrepreneurs. In South Africa the informal economy is a critical source of livelihoods in urban areas. Many participants in the informal economy of South Africa's major urban centres are international migrants, mostly drawn to the country from other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The objective in this paper is to examine the challenges faced by international migrant entrepreneurs in relation to policy development for the informal economy of the City of Cape Town. The analysis uses qualitative interviews with key stakeholders, documentary sources and secondary surveys. It is revealed that in Cape Town despite a pro-development rhetoric in the inner city there is evidence of a subtle but systematic exclusion of street traders, including of migrant entrepreneurs. Little evidence exists of a coherent analysis by city policy makers to understand and foreground the contributions made by migrant entrepreneurs for the urban economy.

Unpacking the Changing Economic Geography of Gauteng’s Tertiary Sector

Abstract: The tertiary sector is the key driver of the Gauteng economy and, correspondingly, a major influence on spatial development. Notwithstanding its significance, the tertiary sector remains relatively neglected in existing scholarship about South Africa’s economic heartland. The aim in this chapter is to offer an analysis of aspects of the current state and spatial distribution of tertiary activities in Gauteng province. More specifically, the analysis begins by unpacking the overall patterns of tertiary sector activity across Gauteng and subsequently examines three critical aspects of the tertiary sector of Johannesburg, which is the core of the Gauteng City-Region. The discussion reveals the spatial polarization of the tertiary sector at the national scale and the geographical unevenness of the tertiary sector within the GCR, as Johannesburg is the overwhelming focus. Within Johannesburg, distinct geographical trajectories are observed for the city’s finance activities, tourism and creative industries.

Local economic development agencies and place-based development: Evidence from South Africa

Abstract: Local economic development agencies (LEDAs) are increasingly important actors in place-based local economic development particularly in the global South. In South Africa there has been an expanded role for LEDAs in terms of the policy significance of local economic development. Although considerable research has been undertaken concerning the merits, challenges and contributions of LED in South Africa only limited material is available concerning the institutional and organisational arrangements to support the implementation of LED. Using policy documents, close engagement with the key national policy-making government departments and a national survey of the activities, operational challenges, and institutional constraints facing LEDAs, the findings from this investigation provide new insight into their role in place-based development. From the unfolding South African experience the strategic establishment of LEDAs potentially can contribute to maximizing the efficiency of place-based strategies. Arguably, key findings confirm the important contribution that LEDAs can make to locality development in the global South albeit that contribution is influenced by context realities.

Safari lodges and local economic linkages in South Africa

Abstract: The potential contribution of tourism to the well-being of rural communities is impacted by the development of local economic linkages. For development practitioners and policy makers the importance of evolving linkages between tourism and agriculture demands attention. This article provides an examination of the state of linkages in South Africa's luxury safari lodge tourism sector. The results reveal the existence of only limited linkages between safari lodge accommodation providers and local agriculture. Current supply chains are mainly organised by intermediary supplier enterprises which source required food mainly from urban markets with only minimal local impacts. Linkages represent a vital potential mechanism through which to achieve the objectives of pro-poor tourism and a first step to maximise pro-poor impacts and avert polarization is to understand why such linkages rarely materialize and to identify the necessary conditions necessary for them to do so. South African policy frameworks for strengthening linkages must be informed by local evidence and draw from international experience.

Setting the Scene: Local Economic Development in Southern Africa

Abstract: In recent years the concept and development strategy of Local Economic Development (LED) has gained widespread acceptance around the world as a locality-based response to the challenges posed by globalization, devolution, and local-level opportunities and crises (Glasmeier, 2000). In addition to locality-based actions and initiatives, at a higher level, LED support is now firmly on the agenda of many national governments and key international agencies, such as the World Bank (2001,2002) and the OECD (2003) which have endorsed its role in urban development and business promotion. Internationally, LED currently finds expression in a variety of forms, including aggressive place promotion, endogenous development, urban entrepreneurialism and community-based interventions, all of which have become hallmarks of locality based economic strategies over the last twenty years around the world. LED tends to manifests itself either as direct, community-based, pro-poor interventions and/or as pro-market endeavours to participate in a neo-liberal, global market. The assertion of local initiative has helped create and reinforce the bi-polar logic of “localism and globalism” as being hallmarks of contemporary society, economy, and politics (Hambleton et al., 2002). Within this context, issues of local leadership, the emergence of local champions, social capital, and the importance of partnership formation emerge as critical elements in the promotion of the “local” as an emerging arena for development action, leadership, and intervention.