Introduction
The growth in urbanization is largely the cause of city expansion and the creation of metros. More than half of the world’s population lives in big cities and so great control must be taken when governing metropolitan areas. This essay is going to look at how the South African metropolitan government has performed by analysing its successes and failures and determining whether or not the metropolitan system is in decline. I will start by giving a brief description of what is meant by metropolitan government and its two types of systems along with their advantages and disadvantages. I will go on to describing South African local government reform then evaluate the performance of the current system. Lastly I will look at the decline
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Some metropolitan areas have multiple local governments, which makes them different from metropolitan governments. This is known as political fragmentation where local governments have their own jurisdiction over single urban area. Usually people who work in metropolitan governments live there as well. One of the main reasons why metropolitan governments emerged was because of the failure of individual authorities to manage water supply, public transport and even municipal funds. With the growth of metros, individual authorities are no longer the ideal place for the provision of services. For instance with things like integrated land-use, there is need for coordination which is only effective in a metropolitan area. The growth in population led to municipalities running out of space, while at the same time economic growth was being resisted. Metropolitan governments provide services to areas that do not have them and in that way they redistribute resources from rich areas to poor areas of the metro (Cameron, 1999: …show more content…
Historically, South Africa had a very centralized government with provincial government in charge of determining the powers and functions of local government however, this changed under the Final Constitution. The constitution helped to elevate local government from its subordinate level, giving it powers to exercise on its own. Local government has the authority to perform specific functions listed in the Constitution, for example health services, water and electricity, along with any assigned duties. Because the three spheres are distinctive, interdependent and interrelated, none of them can jeopardize the other’s ability to govern (Cameron & Milne, 2011:
Municipal control or an alternative delivery method? This is the question that has intrigued all levels of local government and created intense debates between taxpayers across municipalities. The services that municipalities provide are often vital to the existence of a local area. The issues of accountability, cost savings, quality of service and democracy often arise when choosing the best options to deliver services to a municipal area. In recent years the concepts of privatization, alternative service delivery and public-private partnerships are often promoted as ways cut down on overburdened annual city budgets and promote a higher quality of service to citizens. Municipalities have historically always provided basic services such as fire protection, water purification/treatment and recreational facilities. However, would private companies or another municipality be able to better deliver the same services more efficiently or at a lower cost? The city or town often provides a political grass roots approach to most local problems. Municipalities are better positioned and have a wider scope to provide services to their constituents in order to ensure quality of service that does not erode accountability and transparency, or drive the municipality deeper into debt.
Similar to a well oiled machine, a political system is concerned with processing the demands of a society to then provide the goods and services demanded while ensuring its own establishment (Berg 1). However, considering that the idea of a political system is a social construct, its form is subject to a myriad of complex and conflicting forces. The most palpable force is that of a city’s financial needs. Any locale has the burden of satisfying the demands of its constituents with limited resources. In addition to having limited resources, urban cities are also usually comprised of many diverse ethnic backgrounds with different demands and needs. Equitable distribution of limited resources to different ethnic and social backgrounds could have
A metropolitan area and a megaregion both arch over many people and communities, but they are two very different entities. A Metropolitan area as defined by the federal government is an area that reaches across urban communities and a city, which also has 50,000 people or more living there. A Megaregion in contrast is an area that arches over multiple cities, urban communities, counties, and sometimes even states. A megaregion is essentially multiple metropolitan areas all bunched together. The difference between these two types of areas can be seen when examine the governments in each. In a Metropolitan areas coordinating policies ion things like transportation can be difficult because of the many layers of government in the region. A Megaregion experiences those same issues on an exponentially larger scale. Sometimes hundreds or thousands of jurisdictions overlap creating conflict and little to no organization and coordination. The mere difference in overlaps of governments makes a significant difference between a metropolitan area and a
Second, the next factor I would like to argue is about the politics during the progressivism era. Many cities began into urban problems political machines. The Progressives wanted a greater government. Wanting someone who was honest and someone who was liable. Then there was something published that talked about the bad government that was going on. The Progressives then organized many different things to get a greater government. Using all idea, they put together they then established new and trustworthy forms of municipal government. Then this idea comes along with another new model of city governance. It was basically to respond to the storms destruction where they take over city departments. The system was so great it evolved the city management system. The
For this paper, I will draw upon two key characteristics that present what I believe is needed to begin the construction of a just city. First, drawing upon scholarship from Leonie Sandercock, in order to produce a just city, it must be politically neutral (Sandercock). David Harvey details how elites who manage municipalities place their political interests over the greater good of the city and its citizens, which disrupts the needed access for some residents to ‘remake
The City today is viewed as a creature of the state. Under this view, the city is created by the state. The national sovereign state either grants the city, its police powers or it delegates their own police power to the city. The problem with this theory is that it ignores history.
Urban Consolidation Factors and Fallacies in Urban Consolidation: Introduction As proponents of urban consolidation and consolidated living continue to manifest in our society, we must ensure that our acknowledgment of its benefits, and the problems of its agitator (sprawl), do not hinder our caution over its continually changing objectives. Definition Like much urban policy, the potential benefits that urban consolidation and the urban village concept seek to offer are substantially undermined by ambiguous definition. This ambiguity, as expressed through a general lack of inter-governmental and inter-professional cohesion on this policy, can best be understood in terms of individual motives (AIUSH,1991). * State Government^s participatory role in the reduction of infrastructure spending.
The mayor administrative the government and make decision of the policy. The mayor is vital to improving residence’s quality of life and developing the urban infrastructure, such as increase urban construction of the homeless shelters, decrease low-income groups and provide more job in society (David, 2009, p.1). The study of the power of the mayor, playing a crucial role in the current and future development of the city. The mayor brings along the development of the city and attracting new investors. Whether to strengthen the mayor’s power directly reflects the extent of administrative power concentrated in the mayor’s office (Kate, 2017,p.5).
There are two kinds of municipalities (city/town). General- Law powers are defined by the states Government code. City government establishes municipal policy and enacts and implements local ordinances. City governments are responsible for providing services which directly affect the lives of their residents like police ...
Bring reason and democracy to bear on capitalist urbanization, 2) Guide state decision making with technical...
As the result of urbanization, cities have more problems to overcome such as pollution, overpopulation, drug abuse, congestion, crime, poverty, traffic jam, slum areas, and many more. There must be something to solve these problems. Government and citizens should be involved because taking care of city problems can’,t be done entirely by government. The community can be even more successful because it deals directly with problem areas.
Bureau of African Affairs. (2011). Background Note: South Africa. Retrieved March 28, 2011, from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2898.html
It is therefore an indispensable component of democracy (Tshabalala & Lombard, 2009:397). Local government should therefore be concerned with democratising development (Maserumule, 2008:439). The reason for the continuing dissatisfaction and protests by the communities because of poor service delivery eighteen years into democracy is an indication that the local government in South Africa has not been able to provide effectively for local participation (Mathekga & Buccus, 2006:11). In the South African context, community needs cannot be isolated from structural causes, so participation is incorporated into the social justice perspective (Patel,
There is no balance in movement from rural area to big cities and movement from rural area to mid city or small city. Comparatively big cities always attains inordinately large population size which takes toll on urban services. It also lead various other problems like housing/accommodation, slums, water, basic infrastructure, quality life. Economic reforms initiated by then Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has opened various opportunities to address negative effects of urbanisation. It ultimately lead to Globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. Policy makers should plan to redirect investments to make strong economic base for small & medium cities for migration flows to be redirected these
Regional integration is the process by which two or more states agree to cooperate closely together to achieve peace, stability and wealth. Usually, integration involves one or more written agreements that describe the area of cooperation in detail, as well as some coordinating bodies representing the countries involved.