IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v4y2004i1p22-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘Catching the development train’: perspectives on ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ development in post-apartheid South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • David Bek

    (Department of Geography, University of Sussex, UK and University of Durham, UK, bek_dave@hotmail.com)

  • Tony Binns

    (Department of Geography, University of Sussex, UK)

  • Etienne Nel

    (Department of Geography, Rhodes University, South Africa)

Abstract

Government policy in post-1994 South Africa, whilst upholding the principles of community participation and development, has been firmly wedded to a neoliberal growth agenda. This paper critically examines whether one element of that new growth agenda, that of Spatial Development Initiatives, has catalysed both ‘bottom-up’ development and also meaningfully assisted micro-entrepreneurs through more ‘top-down’ interventions. The paper focuses on two specific projects, namely the Saldanha Steel Plant and the Paternoster Fish Market, which have been components of a Spatial Development Initiative in the Western Cape. The serious constraints faced by communities in engaging with opportunities for socio-economic upliftment is clearly a cause for concern, and it is suggested that a careful re-evaluation of South Africa’s development paradigm is urgently required.

Suggested Citation

  • David Bek & Tony Binns & Etienne Nel, 2004. "‘Catching the development train’: perspectives on ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ development in post-apartheid South Africa," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 4(1), pages 22-46, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:4:y:2004:i:1:p:22-46
    DOI: 10.1191/1464993404ps047oa
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1191/1464993404ps047oa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1191/1464993404ps047oa?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Jourdan, 1998. "Spatial development initiatives (SDIs) - the official view," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 717-725.
    2. David Lewis & Robin Bloch, 1998. "SDIs: Infrastructure, agglomeration and the region in industrial policy," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 727-755.
    3. Thembela Kepe, 2001. "Clearing the ground in the Spatial Development Initiatives (SDIs): Analysing 'process' on South Africa's Wild Coast," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 279-293.
    4. Etienne Nel & Tony Binns, 2001. "Initiating 'Developmental Local Government' in South Africa: Evolving Local Economic Development Policy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 355-362.
    5. Amanda Fitschen, 1998. "The impact of the Saldanha Steel Project on the West Coast economy," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 771-785.
    6. Tony Binns & Etienne Nel, 2002. "Devolving Development: Integrated Development Planning and Developmental Local Government in Post-apartheid South Africa," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(8), pages 921-932.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Waldo Krugell & W.a. Naudé & Stephanie Rossouw, 2000. "The Quality of Metropolitan City Life in South Africa," Regional and Urban Modeling 283600049, EcoMod.
    2. Heyns Anri, 2019. "Mining Community Development in South Africa: A Critical Consideration of How the Law and Development Approach the Concept “Community”," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 561-593, June.
    3. Andrea Pollio, 2020. "Architectures of millennial development: Entrepreneurship and spatial justice at the bottom of the pyramid in Cape Town," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(3), pages 573-592, May.
    4. Alain Dubresson, 2005. "Monopolisation institutionnelle et spatialités économiques au Cap (Afrique du Sud)," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 46(181), pages 21-44.
    5. Etienne Nel, 2009. "Misplaced Expectations? The Experience of Applied Local Economic Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 24(3), pages 224-237, May.
    6. Ncube, G. & Gómez, G.M., 2011. "Local economic development and migrant remittances in rural Zimbabwe," ISS Working Papers - General Series 23272, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    7. Cecile Gerwel Proches & Shamim Bodhanya & Stan Hardman, 2012. "The Challenges of Service Provision and Economic Development in South Africa," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(Special N), pages 580-599, November.
    8. Edgar Pieterse, 2006. "Building with Ruins and Dreams: Some Thoughts on Realising Integrated Urban Development in South Africa through Crisis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(2), pages 285-304, February.
    9. Enzama, W., 2008. "Quest for economic development in agrarian localities," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18742, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    10. Kanothi, R.N., 2009. "The dynamics of entrepreneurship in ICT: case of mobile phones downstream services in Kenya," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18727, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    11. Tony Binns & Etienne Nel, 2002. "Devolving Development: Integrated Development Planning and Developmental Local Government in Post-apartheid South Africa," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(8), pages 921-932.
    12. World Bank, 2014. "Building Integrated Markets within the East African Community : EAC Opportunities in Public-Private Partnership Approaches to the Region's Infrastructure Needs," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18552.
    13. Haggblade, Steven & Staaz, John & Boughton, Duncan & Diallo, Boubacar & Meyer, Ferdinand & Minde, Issac Joseph & Traub, Lulama Ndibongo & Tschirley, David, 2015. "Regional Dimensions of South Africa's CAADP Process: Lessons from West Africa," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, March.
    14. Kurt Sartorius & Benn Sartorius, 2016. "Service delivery inequality in South African municipal areas: A new way to account for inter-jurisdictional differences," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(15), pages 3336-3355, November.
    15. Jennifer Houghton, 2016. "(Regional and) local economic development themes in contemporary South African Cities," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 31(1-2), pages 42-56, February.
    16. Wan, Guanghua & Zhang, Yan, 2018. "The direct and indirect effects of infrastructure on firm productivity: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 143-153.
    17. P. V. Hall, 1999. "Regional Institutional Structure and Industrial Strategy: Richards Bay and the Spatial Development Initiatives," Working Papers 99028, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    18. Parker, Gail Denise & Costa, King, 2021. "Enhancing Capacity For Local Economic Development In Creating Vibrant, Productive And Sustainable Rural Communities," AfricArxiv q5wx4, Center for Open Science.
    19. Laila Smith & Susan Hanson, 2003. "Access to Water for the Urban Poor in Cape Town: Where Equity Meets Cost Recovery," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(8), pages 1517-1548, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:4:y:2004:i:1:p:22-46. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.