A Micro-Economic Study of the Town of Velddrif?

Abstract

As an outcome of globalization, geographers and demographers have noted the significant demise of small towns. Economic rationalization and the related decline of services within small towns that once thrived a century ago have also seen the growth of large regional centers. Economies of agglomeration and telecommunications technology are leading to the centralization of business services into a relatively small number of world cities. This process has a cascade effect through the urban system: from the national level to the regional level and then to the local level. The result at the local level is the decline, and even the demise, of many small towns. Certainly, it also leads to a marked reduction in services that are no longer economically viable in a competitive business environment. Towns, by far, account for the vast majority of urban settlements worldwide and in South Africa. However, most people live in large and mega cities facilitated by urbanization. People leave (flee) towns, searching for opportunities and better living standards in large and megacities. This suggests that towns will continue to suffer population losses, further amplifying the urbanization process. This follows a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the main, the movement of people away from towns to large and mega cities suggests very few opportunities associated with towns. People express their lack of confidence in these towns through their migration away from them. Large and megacities are seen as the future, while towns are seen as the past. Does this mean that we should walk away from these towns and just let them fade away in history, or is there still value in these towns. The continued population loss leads to lower levels of investment and skills in the towns, leading to lower levels of productivity and competitiveness. Towns cannot viable compete against large and megacities. The consequences for the remaining population in these towns are, in many cases dire, leading to higher levels of poverty and lower living standards. On the other hand, we know very well that many large and megacities have become unsustainable, struggling to cope with the significant influx of people. Cities, for many, have become prisons with no alternative, i.e., they cannot go back to their hometown because they fled them in the first place.