Development and morphological classification of service catchments to support social facility distribution in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa, as a developing country, is faced with a number of challenges, one of which is the provision of social facilities in an equitable and sustainable manner. The problem is compounded by uneven development arising from geographical variations in respect to resource availability and dualistic development arising from the apartheid era. This has resulted in a wide variety of development patterns and resultant settlement types ranging from well-developed neighbourhoods usually found within city limits to under-developed settlements in deep rural areas. Development patterns impact on the provision of social services as geographical dispersion and low density sprawl are major factors influencing the efficiency of service delivery. Thus, an understanding of morphology is crucial to promote equitable access of services within limited resources. Using service area analysis approach, a set of service catchments for social facilities provision were created around South African towns and settlements identified in the CSIR and SACN settlement typology. Using a range of datasets, these catchments were profiled and then classified according to their settlement morphology. This paper outlines the approach used arrive at the catchments and following this, it discusses the process used to analyse and classify these catchments according to their morphology. It highlights the nine main identified types and then provides some detail on the most common environments where these morphology types occur.