Volume II - The Northern Cape Provincial Spatial Development ...

these profiles the following overarching causes for retarded town growth may be
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deduced:
- Technological transformation, linked to faster motorcars on better roads,
railroad electrification and computer/internet networking that facilitate more
efficient and rapid interaction with a multitude of urban places at an increasing
global scale. Towns that do not adapt to these changes may suffer negative
consequences.
- Economic transformation includes a fundamental shift from primary economic
activities (e.g. fishing, mining and agriculture) to higher order service
industries (e.g. IT, financial and professional services), that eroded the original
reason for the existence of many towns.
- Human behavioural transformation amongst modern and post-modern urban
dwellers redefines inter alia recreation preferences, retirement patterns and
general lifestyle preferences. Residents continually develop new expectations
and demands to which town structures must respond in order to survive and to
continue occupying a niche function in the province’s urban system.
- Management capacity and leadership reflected in the quantity and quality of
local municipal and provincial staff contingents and other decision making role
players in the communities. In the absence of clear development visions and
concomitant management skills, local authorities are reluctant to launch robust
initiatives to counter negative growth tendencies and to capitalize on their
positive attributes.
- Many towns fail to capitalize optimally on their inherent development
potential. Certain settlements misinterpret their potential and embark on futile
initiatives that are not aligned with their resource base and development profile.
They do not, therefore, maximise their real economic and resource assets.
- Some towns simply lack sufficient resources to support inherent economic
sustainability of the settlement. According to their town profiles and associated
growth indicators, their future development prospects seem bleak and further
external infrastructural investment in these towns should be minimized.
• In some urban centres unrealistic expectations prevail regarding the role that tourism
might fulfil as an economic growth mechanism for the town. Governments of developing
countries often consider tourism a desirable route to accelerated economic development.
However, the development of tourism in any given location requires that several key