A tale of no cities? The neglect of cities in South Africa’s post-apartheid national economic policies

Cities and the economic processes they host are widely seen to be central to the economic prospects of nations. This reality presents city and national actors with challenges of how to jointly conceive of urban economic development policies, with a view to contributing to local and national economic development. Whilst national urban policies often outline the need for cities to contribute to economic outcomes, the treatment of spatial dynamics in national economic development policies remains highly uneven across countries. This paper critically reviews South Africa’s national economic policies, specifically industrial policies, to analyse how they have reflected the changing dynamics of the economic geography of the country and, in particular, the contributions of large cities. The research demonstrates that despite some growing discursive recognition of the importance of spatial dimensions of growth, policies have said little on the economic role of cities and have not generally promoted multi-scalar policy making and implementation.