In understanding why Cities are the drivers of economic growth we must understand our place in the world and the nature of cities, our legal framework and how we leverage all of these factors to achieve social and economic change in our society. There is now a general consensus that trade, the force that generates economic activity, flows between cities and city-regions and in the economy of the 21st Century. Cities are the drivers of economic growth and this comprehension is changing the way businesses choose their investments. It can be argued that Cape Town is well-positioned as a city to take advantage of the tremendous economic forces that are shaping the world today, especially in Africa. But in understanding this context, we must also understand the vehicle by which we can take advantage of our position as a city in our national context.
We can address this question from a particular historical perspective. For instance, we may think of the municipalities that preceded the metro that was formed 13 years ago which were modelled on the strict basis of an area-based approach to government; one that was localised to the highest degree. In that model, we had local teams and local leaders making executive delivery decisions through an assembly of citizens.
After 1994, the idea for consolidation of local government was based on the idea of reform and the formation of the metros was based on marrying the different ideas of local government and the vastly different resources for a more democratic approach.
But this legal construct should not be the only definition of what a city means. Depending on who you ask the definition of a city could mean a collection of buildings, or a geographical place defined by certain boundaries or its size.
But I believe that a city is defined by a network of people: a critical mass of relationships. Those relationships, those people, are constantly interacting with each other, drawing on existing energies and creating new ones. Cities are vibrant, they are dynamic and they are fundamentally human.
Once we understand this human building block in conjunction with our legal and historical roots, we understand why cities are the drivers of economic and social change and why that change is driven and will be unlocked by people.
Our job as the city government lies in understanding how we create the conditions in which our people can thrive and to lift themselves out of desperate situations. Cape Town is a city where people come to search for opportunity because it offers a very real hope to them. Precisely because we view social development and economic development as two sides of the same coin, Council recently passed two organisational strategies: the Economic Growth Strategy and the Social Development Strategy.
Of the numerous actors who must contribute to creating a city of opportunity for every one it is only local government which has the mandate both to provide access to basic services and to drive social and economic development within our borders. Our strategic approach therefore seeks to marry these two imperatives and to bring them together.
They aim to help the city government understand that everything that we do contributes to social or economic development. For instance, the provision of electricity does not only mean that we have provided a basic service. Socially, it allows people to have access to certain facilities that improve their quality of life.
At the same time, electricity is the foundational building block of enterprise and economic activity. Our social development strategy is structured around what the City does and how it does it by mobilising resources for broad social development. While its twin, the Economic Growth Strategy identifies what the City needs to do in order to maximise benefits for the people of Cape Town while ensuring that growth is environmentally sustainable in the long-term.
It does so by proposing institutional and regulatory changes that allow for the building of a globally competitive city while utilising work and skills programmes to promote growth that is inclusive.
Furthermore, it identifies how we leverage our trade and sector development functions to maximum advantage with the right provision of infrastructure.
It is by using these strategies, along with our core Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and our alignment with National Government’s NDP that we will build the Cape Town of the future using our five pillars: the Opportunity City; the Safe City; the Caring City; the Inclusive City; and the Well-run City.
Read full extract from the speech Cities are the drivers of growth that Mayor De Lille delivered at the Kelvin Grove club last week.
daward57 