Photography by:
  • Lesedi Mogale & Gareth Pon

Economic Geography of the GCR (2017)

  • Complete

Economic geography focuses on studies of economic activities that incorporate spatial components, such as the location of resources and the patterns of their use. Economic geography can be conceptualized as occurring at various levels. Within a country or region it focuses on questions of the spatial and locational foundations of economic life (Scott 2000), while at the international level it focuses on understanding patterns and consequences of international trade (Krugman 2000). Krugman (2000) christens the latter ‘new economic geography’, emphasizing the need to unite new trade theory and economic geography thinking.

This study focused on the economic geography of the GCR by addressing questions that tie together these levels of analysis. Following Krugman (2000) it encompassed an exploration of the city-region’s economy and how it links with the national as well as the global economy.

The research addressed:

  • theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and methodological issues about the space economy in Gauteng and its surroundings;
  • contributed to economic geography debates relating to economic regions/city-regions;
  • identified and empirically interrogated several internal and external drivers of change in the context of global-economic dynamics; and
  • presented necessary lessons regarding which economic drivers the GCR should focus on going forward.

The study built on research conducted under the Urban Space Economy project, and helps to inform the development of the GCR that is competitive, spatially integrated, environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive.

Outputs

Publications

Cheruiyot, Koech (Editor) (2018). The Changing Space Economy of City Regions: The Gauteng City-Region, South Africa (A 10-chapter book volume). Switzerland: Springer Publishers.

Chapters in the above book:
Chapter 1: City-Regions and Their Changing Space Economies (Koech Cheruiyot)
Chapter 2: The Economic Drivers of Urban Change in the Gauteng City-Region: Past, Present, and Future (Mfaniseni F. Sihlongonyane)
Chapter 3: Assessing the Gauteng City-Region’s Global Presence and Positioning through Current Global-City Measures (Koech Cheruiyot, Anisa Desai and Ezekiel Lengaram)
Chapter 4: Importance of Industrial Clusters and Inter-industry Linkages for Regional Policy in the Gauteng City-Region (Rainer vom Hofe and Koech Cheruiyot)
Chapter 5: The Evolution of Manufacturing in the Gauteng City-Region: From De-Industrialization to Re-Industrialization? (Sam Ashman and Susan Newman)
Chapter 6: Unpacking the Changing Economic Geography of Gauteng’s Tertiary Sector (Christian M. Rogerson)
Chapter 7: Locating the Informal Sector in the Gauteng City-Region and Beyond (Sally Peberdy)
Chapter 8: Testing Economic Growth Convergence and Its Policy Implications in the Gauteng City-Region (Koech Cheruiyot and Darlington Mushongera)
Chapter 9: Revitalizing Gauteng City-Region Township Economies through Value Chain Development (Phindile Ngwenya and Precious Zikhali)
Chapter 10: Dualisms in the Gauteng City-Region: Summary and Implications (Koech Cheruiyot)

Map of the month

Cheruiyot, K. & Hamann, C. (2017), ‘ Differentiating household income growth in Gauteng 2001-2011’, Map of the month October.

Presentations

Cheruiyot, Koech. (2016). ‘Testing Economic Growth Convergence and Its Policy Implications in the Gauteng City-Region’, South Africa. 2016 Regional Studies Association Annual Conference; Building bridges: Cities and Regions in a Transnational World, Karl-Franzen University, Austria 3-6 April 2016.

Last updated: 2 November 2017

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