Analyzing the temporal location of employment centers relative to residential areas in Cape Town: A spatial metrics approach

The marginalization of low-income earners, in regard to access to economic activities, is a topical issue in South Africa. The location of residential areas relative to locations of employment plays a large role in determining how accessible employment opportunities are to individuals. This has led...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hazvinei Tsitsi Tamuka Moyo, Mark Zuidgeest
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing 2018-07-01
Series:Journal of Transport and Land Use
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/1061
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The marginalization of low-income earners, in regard to access to economic activities, is a topical issue in South Africa. The location of residential areas relative to locations of employment plays a large role in determining how accessible employment opportunities are to individuals. This has led to several studies that look at the polarization of growth in places of economic activities in more affluent suburbs within the discourse of social exclusion and transformation. Since South African independence, several policies were drafted to address issues of segregation and social exclusion, among other issues. However, the question remains whether there has been progress in addressing these issues. This research applies landscape metrics to understand the growth trends in the spatial location of residential areas, relative to centers of economic activities, from 1995 (start of democracy) to 2013. The analyses reveal that high- and middle-income residential areas are typically located near commercial land uses. This explains the mixed land-use patterns that are found in middle-income residential areas. On the other hand, low-income residential areas were observed to be, dominantly, in large homogeneous and continuous patches.
ISSN:1938-7849