The New Cities New Economies thesis is our generation’s vision for the economic revolution, which will radically transform and advance South Africa and Africa’s economy. It is a proposition that is aimed at fuelling the long overdue economic growth and transformation of our society. It is indeed a Grand Plan, which will not only serve South Africa but has potential to reverberate across the entire African continent. This Grand Plan is the promise of the South Africa we yearn for, the Africa we want.
Essentially the vision advocates for massive urbanization in South Africa and Africa, which will be attained through the deliberate planning and building of new cities, ex nihilo, that is, in totally new spaces, in a manner that will drastically redefine apartheid’s spatial legacies, which are sustaining economic inequality, poverty and huge unemployment. New cities herald new economies, new economies yield jobs and empowerment and therefore destroy both poverty and apartheid economic legacies. The new cities should have a symbiotic relationship with the economy. As new cities herald new economies; new economies will anchor and sustain new cities.
The vision portends the creation of egalitarian cities. In a nutshell, egalitarian cities are justiciable cities, they will usher in spatial justice, racial justice, gender justice, class justice, social justice, economic justice, legal justice, educational justice, culture, heritage and spiritual justice, safety and security, youth empowerment, peace and harmony for all. Egalitarian cities will free poor people from the shackles of subjugation, abject poverty, underdevelopment and dependency.
These cities will embrace the features of cities as encapsulated in the Integrated Urban Development Framework, which is that they should be: “Livable, safe, resource-efficient…and socially integrated, economically inclusive and globally competitive, where residents actively participates in urban life” (IUDF, 2016:38).
