What has the role of planning been in the economic development of Newcastle?
Master Thesis
2015
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University of Cape Town
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This Dissertation discusses the economic development of Newcastle, once a growth point that enjoyed the influx of manufacturing firms due to Regional Industrial Decentralisation Policy and initiatives by the Newcastle Municipality. During the apartheid era, planning was a top down approach and was the responsibility of the national government which meant that the local municipalities had to follow in their direction. The beginning of the 1990 has marked the end of policies that afforded incentives to industries in selected regions and this proved to be detrimental to growth points that had previously relied on those incentives to keep industries alive. Newcastle is a significant case as it is an example of a previous growth point that managed to continue experiencing growth. Not only did Newcastle experience growth but it was able to diversify its economy numerous times. This analysis shows the different contributors to the economic development and diversification of the economy and also investigates if planning from the Newcastle Municipality have a role to play in it or not. I did an investigation into regional development documents developed by national government as well as documents produced by the Newcastle Local Municipality in order to see what the impact of planning was on economic development. As a primary source of information, I interviewed 11 people that consisted of manufacturing firms, retail stores, Newcastle Municipality officials and a government agency. What I have discovered is that although the planning from the Newcastle municipality was not the reason for initial growth in the town it did have an impact in facilitating an environment that was conducive to sustaining, the growth that the economy and market conditions allowed for. The case of Newcastle has proved to be an important one that can be used to adopt generalizations to planning theory. The lessons learnt from the case has allowed me to produce recommendations that can be applied to towns that have experienced similar events with regards to reliance on a single industry and on incentives provided for through policy.
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Nkosi, L. 2015. What has the role of planning been in the economic development of Newcastle?. University of Cape Town.