When cities are growing, the national economy is growing.
The hope that we have for economic recovery is sitting in the cities.
Cities are very important and they are going to be even more important in the future.
In Africa where we are, we have about 40% of the population
that is in cities and that will grow to 60% by 2050.
We at the World Bank would like to help the city leaders to be able to plan for that,
support growth, support job creation,
but more importantly make sure that people live in livable cities.
Apartheid was very dramatic. It actually placed people and chose where people lived.
People could not work and live in the same space.
The economy has to grow. It has to grow in an inclusive way,
and the cities are the engine upon which this can happen,
to make them more resilient and more sustainable.
To drive the reform, you need to bring people on board.
What is really important when you work in urban development is to have this integrated mindset.
You can't do it alone.
All the different ministries and stakeholders need to come together.
If you don't have, for instance, the right planning in place,
the financial modeling, then you can't have these investments.
You can't have the infrastructure because there is no money for it.
The key issue is governance, which has to do with leadership.
To be able to drive any change of this magnitude,
you need not only capable leadership,
but you also need leadership that has good values.
Everything starts and ends with governance,
and the capability and the ability of that team in the municipality.
Senior leaders in local government have a five year opportunity to make a difference.
The focus we've had is trying to get cities to engage within their economic spaces.
So in an economic space, you have a whole lot of municipal functions interacting in that space.
I think those are where you find the real challenges and they're very visible.
It's really getting cities not just to look at, for example,
service provision in terms of households,
but also in terms of the services they offer to firms.
But if you can grow that pie, you can create more opportunities for people,
Then I think we've got real potential.
Most of the residential areas in South African cities,
were so far from urban centers, they actually spent close
to 40% of their salaries and wages towards transport.
That is a big, unique South African concept
that is actually quite difficult to transform.
Transport is obviously the lifeblood of cities.
Our cities are saddled with the legacy of apartheid, spatial planning.
People have to travel exceptionally long distances in our cities,
and so ensuring that people have access to good quality, affordable, reliable public transport,
is critical not only for social well-being, but also for the economic development of the cities.
Because of rapid urbanization, the demand for housing,
it far outstrips what we can be able to supply.
We're trying to ensure that the cities, they promote more transit-oriented development,
and also addressing the issue of more incremental informal settlements and city wide upgrading.
So in South African cities, the fact that so many poor people live in marginal spaces on the edge of cities,
they expose the poorest people to the risks and impacts of climate change,
and so how do you ensure your infrastructure networks are able to cope with the increased density of people?
And all of these factors need to go together
into the planning of and renewal of infrastructure networks.
The concept of resilience is effectively being able to absorb a shock
and then bounce back from it.
So there's, you know, various shocks that can affect the cities here in South Africa.
And what we want to do is understand how can cities better
prepare for those shocks, respond to those shocks and actually reduce the impact.
It's about a commitment with the citizens.
Sustainable service delivery, then your citizens start paying for your rates and taxes.
Then they understand that for every cent I pay as my rates and in taxes,
it gets reinvested into my own community.
We think the vision is good and it is worth actually pursuing it and fighting for it.