Distilling a 'new regionalist' planning agenda for South Africa: is the provincial growth and development strategy (PGDS) measuring up

Abstract

There is a renaissance of regions in the economic geography of globalisation. Sub-national regions and supra-national regions have become increasingly important and regions have become the critical foundations of development processes. National economic vitality depends to a large extent on maximising the growth potential of economic regions and their ability to compete nationally and internationally. Numerous authors highlight the region as the new economic space that can promote strategic planning and economic development in a post-modernist era (Deas and Ward, 2000; Vigar et al., 2000; Keating, 1998). The region becomes the nexus for ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ planning processes and strategic regional-scale planning is increasingly being seen as key in achieving sustainable growth and development. In South Africa too, there is now a growing recognition of the importance of this ‘new regionalist’ planning agenda and the value it can add to creating an effective inter-governmental planning system. It is particularly useful when focusing on the role of provincial planning, often considered to be the weak link within the inter-governmental planning system in South Africa. The aim of this paper is to: 1) Distil and explore salient features of regional planning from the literature on the new regionalist planning agenda. 2) Review recent development in the South African policy context around provincial planning and assess the extent to which it reflects the constructs of this planning agenda. This review will inter alia include the Constitutional precepts on provincial government, Provincial Growth and Development Strategy Guidelines, Harmonisation and Alignment proposals, Demarcation policies and processes, and Cabinet Declarations. 3) Reflect on recent assessments of Provincial Growth and Development Strategies conducted by the authors and highlight any evidence, or lack thereof, of new regionalist features or approaches. 4) Draw conclusions regarding the future role of regional planning in South Africa in view of the current policy review process on the system of provincial and local government being undertaken by the Department of Provincial and Local Government (dplg) and the implications for the notions of and discourses on a) areas of shared impact; b) functional regions; and c) the potential role of development planning agencies for regional planning in South Africa