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All the major media and even some political parties in the country published the dire findings of Ratings Afrika’s latest Municipal Financial Sustainability Index covering the financial year ended June 2021. Over the past few years, it has become an annual ritual to bemoan the financial position of local government. This process repeats itself with

Data is an integral part of all planning and decision making. All planning starts with building a picture of what is and then assessing and analysing to get indications of the expected future outcomes. Spatial planning, specifically the drive toward more integrated planning, requires data on demographics, the environment, service delivery, and many more features

The Functional Area index combines the previous four indices. It considers all the above aspects and connects them to form a final index. Each of the indices mentioned above carries an assigned weight as part of the process. The weighting is derived from policy documents such as the IDP and SDF that guide the municipality’s

The index assesses people’s ability to reach areas of employment or specific commercial and industrial activities. An intense concentration of activities is evident within the CBD of Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark. It shows its economic dominance in the area. The impact of mining activities in the northern parts of the municipality is also evident. URL/Link: http://maps.mapable.co.za/link.asp?g=19178

The demographic index considers three aspects. It firstly assesses the spatial density and distribution of people. The second aspect is where and to what extent population change has occurred between 1996 and 2020. The third aspect is how accessible the population is. This accessibility to people is essential, especially for service delivery and general well-being.

The social facility index measures the distance factor from schools, hospitals, clinics, emergency services and SAPS stations. These elements consider the relevant distance factor from each of these facilities described in the CSIR guidelines for social facilities. An attraction reach analysis was also done to identify how each hexagon cell in the municipality is served

The urban morphology index considers some of the most significant physical and human-made structuring elements that impact development. Two main aspects are analysed. The first includes the accessibility, hierarchy and impact of existing towns and the second aspect consists of the effects of access and mobility features. The road network, its hierarchy and walkability are

In today’s post, we are doing something a bit more technical. Functional Area index modelling • The Functional Areas are based on existing data and information to ensure a link between current conditions and future development. This index should serve as an essential input into the decision-making process to guide development and direct the Capital

In a previous post, we referred to the importance of the 400mm rainfall line (isohyet ) as a fundamental dividing line in our economy and human settlement patterns. We have included the rainfall map to compare it with a map of the distribution of population majorities in South Africa. As an example of the impact

The previous post showed how employment (formal and informal) grew in South Africa between 1993 and 2020. This post highlights the growth in unemployment. According to the data, unemployment only delined in the remote areas of Middleburg and Cradock in the Eastern Cape. In the rest of the country, it snowballed. Over nearly three decades,

Employment and, consequently, unemployment is a focus point in the development of South Africa. Although South Africa has an average employment growth rate of 2.1% per annum between 1993 and 2020, the regional differences are evident. The map below shows the region focus of growth and the vast parts of the country with no employment

South Africa’s well-being cannot be separated from rainfall. Good rainfall gives good agricultural years which is good for our economy, and may we say our county’s mood. Today’s map shows two significant aspects of rainfall. Firstly, by all definitions, South Africa is an arid country with the more substantial portion getting less than 400mm per

It is often challenging to show all the required detail on maps in the report. To overcome this challenge, MapAble® (https://sdsafrica.net/mapable/) allows one to embed a URL in a document. The URL links the map, which will open the map in a browser. Then, one needs to click on the map or link (Ctrl +

Today’s first map shows the vacancies in finance and administration departments in local municipalities in FY1920 as reported by StatsSA in the Non-Financial Census for Municipalities. The financial well being of our municipalities is a concern. The lack of people or skills is often blamed. However, by comparing the first map with the second map

The extent to which urban planning has degenerated into a more or less meaningless self-centred humdrum with little or no impact on the future of our cities stands out like a sore thumb to all experienced and capable town and regional planners in South Africa. Any perceived impact could be considered negative and constraining development