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An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses the events celebrated by the journal in 2017 and the articles and contents of its issues during the year, and the changes in the journal for 2018.

The growth of informal settlements can intensify the risks of social and ecological harm to their communities and to the wider urban area. The unplanned and poorly serviced character of these settlements raises the probability of disasters occurring. The public sector can increase these risks through indifference and poorly conceived actions or it can help to build resilience through a more constructive and integrated approach. This case study from Stellenbosch in South Africa illustrates how a resilience perspective can highlight the systemic challenges surrounding the growth and management of informal settlements. It emphasizes the interactions between such places and their urban context, and recognizes the negative feedback loops that can exacerbate poverty and vulnerability. It proposes adaptive governance as a framework for building resilience through strengthening local capabilities. This flexible and engaged approach goes beyond “just managing” informal settlements to integrating them in a more positive way into the wider city or town. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Institute of Town and Regional Planners addressed the need to recognise the new South Africa and its development and reconstruction at its biennial conference in Cape Town. The Institute also looked into expanding its membership to include a more representative group; and the possibility of changing its name to reflect the need for positive planning and development. Details of some of the issues addressed at the conference are included.

The World Development Report ‘Reshaping Economic Geography’ is a bold attempt to set the agenda for spatial economic policy throughout the world. It promises governments a way to tackle uneven development by combining the pursuit of socio-spatial equality with stronger economic growth. This involves increasing density, reducing distance and lowering divisions. The framework is neat and internally consistent, but reducing the complexity of spatial development to a few simple distinctions results in serious omissions and shortcomings. First, the social, environmental and political effects of rapid urbanisation are neglected. Second, the role of local and regional institutions is ignored because of the focus on national institutions. Third, there is undue faith in the ability of trade and market forces to reduce spatial inequalities and a lack of faith in the capabilities of the state to stimulate development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Public authorities in many countries around the world are seeking to raise urban densities. Residential densification is particularly important in South Africa because of the colonial and apartheid legacy of sprawling, fragmented, racially divided cities. This paper examines the case for densifying central Cape Town and provides a framework to help deconstruct the concept and explore some of the policy challenges faced. It focuses on the bold aim to treble the area’s population within 10years, and identifies issues where further consideration and public debate are required for how this can be achieved in a way that is desirable, affordable and fair. A key message is the need to understand both the composition of demand for central city living and the challenges involved in supplying suitable housing and amenities at higher densities. The level of social inequality in the city poses greater complications than elsewhere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper adds to a growing literature on the impacts of the growth in student numbers in the UK, by focusing explicitly on their spatial residential patterns and impacts on labour markets in cities. It shows that students are typically highly residentially concentrated and statistically the population of students shows a high degree of segregation from nonstudents, Turnover within student neighbourhoods is argued to be sufficiently high to cause significant neighbourhood and community disruption in many cities. Students are also shown to have very distinct labour-market characteristics, being highly concentrated within particular sectors and types of occupation. Here too they have the potential for wider impacts, including displacement effects in relation to other local young people from entry-level jobs and increasing the flexibilisation of working practices. Students are also distinctive in apparently being able to find work if they wish to, although the evidence suggests that this is probably marginally easier in more buoyant labour markets. There is much unexplained variation between cities, though, which suggests the need for more detailed local work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges of rapid urbanisation in large parts of Africa are beyond the capacity of local government to manage. The paper explores the arguments for a national urban policy to complement local strategies, reflecting the unique power of the central state and the special circumstances of cities. With appropriate support, urbanisation could become a more positive force for economic and human development. Recent experience in South Africa illustrates some of the difficulties and possibilities for agreeing a systematic approach to planning and managing urban growth and transformation. Key stakeholders in the policy process have focused on urban poverty as an immediate priority and broadened the traditional economic argument for nations targeting cities to spell out a long-term environmental and economic development agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of growing competitive pressures, cities in Britain and elsewhere have been exploring new ways of promoting their distinctiveness in order to increase local prosperity. I analyse the main approaches used for this purpose and consider their underlying rationale. I argue that there is some justification for developing more specialised activities and sources of differential advantage that other cities cannot reproduce. However, many cities appear to be pursuing the same policy formula comprising one or more of the following elements: nascent industries, high-level occupations, signature buildings, and consumer identities. I discuss the limitations of each of these. I conclude with some constructive suggestions for what cities might do to develop more original and distinctive advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have been viewed for several decades as the places within Europe typically facing the greatest problems associated with economic and population decline. A contrasting view has emerged recently that identifies cities as sites of economic dynamism and social vitality. The paper offers evidence on population change for 310 cities across the whole of Europe to assess how their fortunes have changed over the period from the 1960s through to 2005. It reveals considerable diversity of experience, with one in seven cities described as resurgent on a strict definition of decline followed by growth. They are outnumbered by cities that have experienced continuous growth and those that have had a recent downturn. Taking a long-term overview, the growth of European cities has generally slowed over the last few decades. A short-term perspective suggests something of a recovery within the last five years. Growth and revival are more common in Western Europe and decline is more widespread in the East. The position of larger cities also appears to have improved slightly relative to smaller cities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Urban regeneration policy in the UK has traditionally focused special time-limited initiatives on small areas experiencing severe social problems and physical decay. Current economic development strategies are oriented towards the much larger city-region scale. The paper considers some of the limitations of this separation and explores the case for city-region economic and spatial plans taking neighbourhood regeneration issues into account. It examines the economic and social benefits of doing so and the costs of neglecting to do so. It also discusses the broad policy fields and levers at the city-region level that can support regeneration, including employment, land and property, and connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the employment strategies best implemented for cities particularly of Glasgow, Scotland. Members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation an Development (OECD) increasingly recognize the need to associate economic development and employment policies at the level of the individual city to meet concerns on increasing competitiveness and lowering worklessness. One of the important issues is the proper balance between efforts to stimulate labour demand and create jobs and efforts to strengthen labour supply by improving people's skills, employability and motivation. In Glasgow, a common consensus is that full and fulfilling employment is a basic economic objective and is important for the wellbeing of all citizens.

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It has become common to say that social cohesion and economic competitiveness go together, indeed to claim that cohesion actually promotes prosperity. This is a reversal of the previous belief in economic determinism and individualism. The shift in perspective stems partly from concerns about a growing malaise in society with the potential for unrest. Social stability and trust are thought to encourage long-term investment decisions, while conflict and crime may deter productive activity and make growth less secure. The notion that a strong society supports and sustains a successful economy has begun to influence government policy. It also coincides with a more positive view of the economic potential of cities in the contemporary economy. Yet, the arguments linking cohesion and competitiveness are typically couched in very general terms. They conflate different kinds of phenomena in fuzzy concepts and can confuse the underlying causal relationships.This monograph examines the relationships between competitiveness and cohesion in two significant regional cities within the UK. Glasgow and Edinburgh have experienced relative economic success in recent years, despite striking contrasts in their historic performance and social conditions. Large-scale deindustrialisation has left Glasgow with some of the worst social problems in Britain. Yet the city has transformed its image and experienced an employment turnaround. Social stresses do not seem to have constrained its economic improvement. Edinburgh has experienced accelerated growth, inflated house prices and increasing congestion. Despite its obvious prosperity, sections of the population continue to have trouble gaining access to housing, jobs and other basic necessities.The monograph explores the main urban assets that help or hinder economic performance, including physical infrastructure and social institutions. The title Twin Track Cities? alludes to the multiple realities of both cities, in contrast to the popular images of all-round transformation or unremitting decline. Glasgow and Edinburgh face common pressures on infrastructure and constraints on public investment, but also major challenges of affluence and hardship existing side by side.The evidence suggests that city prosperity supports some forms of cohesion, but a high level of social cohesion at the city level is not a precondition for economic success in the short term. Cohesion and competitiveness do not just go together automatically. Both cities have improved their economic positions in recent years without including sections of the population, especially in Glasgow where there is a high level of worklessness. It is important both to spread prosperity more widely and to increase aspects of cohesion, but society has to choose to do so and take the necessary steps to achieve this. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper examines the progress made since 1994 to reduce the deep social and spatial divisions in South African cities, focusing on the impact of current development trends in Cape Town. Basic public services are gradually being extended to the historically neglected townships. However, the character of economic and social development differs markedly across the city. Private-sector investment and jobs continue to be concentrated in the affluent north and west, while low-income subsidised housing is focused on the poorer south-east. Institutional practices and market forces are tending to reinforce spatial divisions, with costly consequences for the poor majority of the population and for the wider urban economy and society. The broad statements from policy-makers about the need for urban integration are not being translated into consistent action, apparently because of a lack of political will and institutional capacity. The new Unicity authority provides scope in principle for a more coherent approach, based in part on a strategic framework to manage land development in the interests of the whole city, and a more proactive approach towards building a stronger employment base in the south-east. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Interest in the concept of the polycentric urban region (PUR) has been growing among planners and policy-makers in north-west Europe. PURs are believed to offer a means of promoting regional economic competitiveness while safeguarding environmental objectives. This paper interrogates the concept and examines its relevance to the central Scotland region. Central Scotland has a polycentric physical form, but the evidence that it is a single functional region in economic terms is much more mixed. The dominant pattern of interactions suggests two separate city-regions, although links between adjoining areas seem to be growing. Despite considerable rivalry between public organisations across the region, there appears to be increasing support for the development of some kind of strategic spatial framework to inform key investment decisions and to promote closer collaboration. This would not necessarily be based on the PUR concept, since it is too broadly specified at present to guide the kinds of decision that need to be made. Further work is needed to elaborate and refine the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines contemporary patterns of development in Greater Cape Town, South Africa. Role of spatial planning and socio-economic development policies; Costs of urban fragmentation; Assessment of strengths and limitations of contemporary city planning policies.