The tourist: A new theory of the leisure class.

Attention to global and world cities has directed the field of urban studies to the significance of international and transnational processes in shaping city economies. This article evaluates these approaches, from a position off their maps. I argue that the circulation of these approaches in academic and policy realms adversely impacts on cities which do not fall into these categories by setting up the idea of the global city as a ‘regulating fiction’, a standard towards which they aspire. It establishes a small sector of the global economy as most desirable in planning the future of cities. By contrast, mega–cities function as the dramatic ‘other’ of world and global cities, and highlight the developmentalist discourse through which most cities in poor countries are assessed as fundamentally lacking in qualities of city–ness. I argue that the long–standing categories of western/third–world cities have been translated into the apparently transnational accounts of global and world cities. Western cities continue to be the primary site of production of apparently unlocated urban theory; so–called third–world cities (and other cities off the map of the world cities cartography) are interpreted through a developmentalist lens and, where they are referred to at all, are framed in terms of ‘difference’ or irrelevance. This article draws attention to the emergence of an alternative set of theoretical approaches, which are more inclusive in their geographical reach and which are concerned with the diverse dynamics of ordinary cities. These approaches have not yet realized that they have the potential to broaden the base for theorizing about cities and, with this in mind, the article explores the potential for a more cosmopolitan urban theory. The policy stakes in this are high, and the article notes that there are important political reasons to promote the analysis of ordinary cities in the face of the persistence of ambitions in many cities to become ‘world cities‘.

L’attention accordee aux villes planetaires et mondiales a oriente le champ des etudes urbaines vers l’importance des processus internationaux et transnationaux dans la configuration economique des villes. Partant d’un point situe hors de leur cartographie, l’article evalue ces approches. La circulation de celles–ci dans les spheres politiques et intellectuelles a une incidence nefaste sur les villes qui n’appartiennent pas a ces categories, car elle instaure l’idee d’une ville planetaire en tant que ‘fiction regulatrice’, norme a laquelle aspirent les villes. Un secteur restreint de l’economie mondiale est ainsi etabli comme le plus recherche dans la planification urbaine. Par contraste, les megacities fonctionnent comme l’impressionnant ‘autre’ des villes mondiales et planetaires, valorisant le discours developpementaliste selon lequel l’evaluation des villes des pays pauvres indique le plus souvent des lacunes fondamentales dans les qualites propres a une ville. Les anciennes categories de villes (Occident/tiers–monde) ont ete converties en justifications apparemment transnationales des villes planetaires et mondiales. Les villes occidentales restent le site de production principal d’une theorie urbaine manifestement non–localisee; les villes dites du tiers monde (et autres villes ignorees de la cartographie des villes mondiales) sont interpretees a travers une optique developpementaliste et, si on en parle, sont depeintes en termes de ‘difference‘ ou d’inadequation. Cet article souligne l’emergence d’un autre ensemble d’approches theoriques, plus inclusives dans leur geographie et soucieuses des diverses dynamiques des villes ordinaires. Sachant que ces demarches ne sont pas encore conscientes de pouvoir etendre la base theorique sur les villes, l’article explore la possibilite d’une theorie urbaine plus cosmopolite. Les enjeux strategiques sont serieux et il existe des raisons politiques importantes d’encourager l’analyse des villes ordinaires face aux ambitions persistantes dans de nombreuses villes de devenir les ‘villes mondiales’.

Global and world cities: a view from off the map

The Creative City is now a classic and has been republished many times. It is an ambitious book and a clarion call for imaginative action in running urban life. It seeks to inspire people to think, plan and act imaginatively in the city and to get an ideas factory going that turns urban innovations into reality. Its aim is to make readers feel: ‘I can do that too’ and to spread confidence that creative and innovative solutions to urban problems are feasible however bad they may seem at first sight.

The creative city: A toolkit for urban innovators

Cities exist in a world of cities and thus routinely invite a comparative gesture in urban theorizing. However, for some decades urban studies have analytically divided the world of cities into, for example, wealthier and poorer, capitalist and socialist, or into different regional groupings of cities, with subsequently very little comparative research across these divides. Interest in drawing comparisons among different cities has escalated in an era of ‘globalization’, as economic and social activities as well as governance structures link cities together through spatially extensive flows of various kinds and intense networks of communication. Nonetheless, scholars of urban studies have been relatively reluctant to pursue the potential for international comparative research that stands at the heart of the field. Where an interest in globalization has drawn authors to explicit exercises in comparison, both the methodological resources and the prevalent intellectual and theoretical landscape have tended to limit and even undermine these initiatives. This article seeks, first, to understand why it is that in an intrinsically comparative field with an urgent contemporary need for thinking across different urban experiences, there has been relatively little comparative research, especially comparisons that stretch across the global North–South divide, or across contexts of wealthier and poorer cities. Secondly, through a review of existing strategies for comparing cities, the article considers the potential for comparative methodologies to overcome their limitations to meet growing demands for international and properly post-colonial urban studies. Finally, it proposes a new phase of comparative urban research that is experimental, but with theoretically rigorous foundations.

Resume
Les villes existent dans un monde de villes et invitent donc normalement a un mouvement comparatif au sein de la recherche urbaine. Toutefois, depuis quelques decennies, les demarches analytiques des etudes urbaines ont scinde le monde des villes en, par exemple, riches et pauvres, capitalistes et socialistes, ou en d’autres regroupements par regions, ce qui s’est traduit par de rares comparaisons entre ces grandes divisions. L’interet pour les travaux comparatifs entre villes s’est accentue au fil de la ‘mondialisation’, les activites economiques et sociales ainsi que les structures de gouvernance reliant les villes par des flux de plusieurs types et de grande envergure spatiale, et par d’actifs reseaux de communication. Pourtant, les auteurs d’etudes urbaines se sont montres peu enclins a approfondir le potentiel de recherches comparatives internationales qu’offre ce domaine. Lorsqu’un interet pour la mondialisation a pousse certains a des exercices comparatifs detailles, tant les ressources methodologiques que le contexte theorique et intellectuel dominant ont plutot limite, voire aneanti, ces initiatives. Dans un premier temps, cet article cherche a comprendre pourquoi, dans un domaine comparatif par nature ou un besoin urgent appelle a une reflexion associant differentes experiences urbaines, les etudes comparatives sont relativement rares, notamment les comparaisons qui depassent la division entre Nord et Sud, ou entre les villes les plus riches et les plus pauvres. Ensuite, faisant le bilan des strategies de comparaison existantes, il envisage les methodologies comparatives qui pourraient repousser leurs limites pour repondre aux demandes croissantes en etudes urbaines internationales et reellement postcoloniales. Pour finir, l’article propose une nouvelle phase experimentale d’etudes urbaines comparatives, egalement dotee de fondements rigoureux sur le plan theorique.

Cities in a World of Cities: The Comparative Gesture

We review and synthesize recent South African work that examines the role and importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the daily lives of rural people in South Africa. The most commonly used such products are wild spinaches, fuelwood, wooden utensils edible fruits, grass hand-brushes, and twig hand-brushes, used by 85% or more of households. More than half the households investi- gated also make use of edible insects, wood for construction, bushmeat, wild honey and reeds for weaving. Individual households may exploit dozens of animal and plant species. The range in annual, direct-use values is large, from less than R1000 per house- hold per year to over R12 000. The value to rural households is manifest through a daily net function which represents a cost saving to the families involved and to the state, as well as through an emergency net, which serves as an insurance in times of misfor- tune, such as drought, disease, and unexpected economic hard- ship. The emergency net function has hardly been quantified in South Africa and internationally. Ad hoc trade in NTFPs is a common emergency net, which in some instances evolves into a permanent way of life. Financial returns from trade are variable, depending on resource type and hours worked, but are typically low. Despite the small cash incomes from trade, they provide an important contribution that complement the diverse livelihood strategies within a household, especially for the poorer sectors of rural society. Moreover, there are non-financial benefits of NTFP trade that are commonly overlooked.

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The importance of non-timber forest products in rural livelihood security and as safety nets: a review of evidence from South Africa

This article critically reviews the impacts of the first ten years of the national government's small, medium and microenterprise (SMME) programmes. In particular, the evaluative focus is in terms of impacts in relation to a range of policy objectives, including poverty alleviation, job creation and the enhancement of national economic growth as part of post-apartheid reconstruction. Key findings relate, inter alia, to the weak state of official data for undertaking impact evaluation; the fact that the SMME economy exhibits only a weak contribution as regards employment creation because most SMMEs do not grow; and, the fact that existing government SMME programmes largely have been biased towards the groups of small and medium-sized enterprises and, to a large extent, have bypassed microenterprises and the informal economy. Professor of Human Geography, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Thanks are due to the comments fr...

The impact of the South African government's SMME programmes: a ten-year review (1994–2003)

This paper describes features of the emerging nexus in South Africa between tourism, poverty alleviation and local economic development (LED) interventions. The South African experience of evolving a strong pro-poor focus in LED planning is distinctive in the international context of writings on LED. Pro-poor LED is increasingly the outcome of the application of measures and programmes that are linked to the approach of pro-poor tourism in both rural and urban areas of South Africa. Two studies are presented of Alexandra township, Johannesburg and the Madikwe Game Reserve in North West Province as examples of pro-poor tourism as a form of pro-poor LED. It is argued that the growth of pro-poor tourism initiatives in South Africa suggests that the country is currently a laboratory for the testing and evolution of new approaches towards the planning of LED that potentially will have relevance for other countries in the developing world.

Pro-Poor local economic development in South Africa: The role of pro-poor tourism

Volunteer tourism as a subset of alternative tourism is the focus of analysis. This paper contributes to the limited writings on volunteer tourism by investigating the activities in South Africa of Habitat for Humanity, a grassroots ecumenical Christian organization that works in partnership with communities to eliminate poverty through the provision of shelter. A profile of the volunteer tourist and of their tourism experience in South Africa is presented which is based largely upon the return of 123 questionnaires from volunteer tourists in South Africa working with the local branch of Habitat for Humanity.

Volunteer tourism: The case of Habitat for Humanity South Africa

The significance of issues concerning finance, training and regulation has been a continuous thread in South African policy discussions about the development of the country’s small, medium and micro-enterprise (SMME) economy for more than a decade. Better access to finance, skills and leadership training and more flexible regulations are identified as key strategic elements in supporting the three national pillars of promoting entrepreneurship; strengthening the enabling environment for SMMEs; and enhanced competitiveness and capacity at the enterprise level. The monitoring of research on the SMME economy in South Africa is viewed as a critical issue of high policy relevance. Against this backcloth, the aim is to provide a synthesis of existing research in South Africa concerning the three important themes of: (1) finance; (2) training and skills acquisition; and (3) the regulatory environment for SMME development. Several research gaps are identified for further analysis.

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Christian M. Rogerson

Papers

The impact of the South African government's SMME programmes: a ten-year review (1994–2003)

Pro-Poor local economic development in South Africa: The role of pro-poor tourism

Volunteer tourism: The case of Habitat for Humanity South Africa

Tracking SMME Development in South Africa: Issues of Finance, Training and the Regulatory Environment

Tourism and development issues in contemporary South Africa