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ideological levels of the mode of production. The space economy was the material fonn of
existence of the socio-economic relations which structure social fonnations', a fonnulation
which drew attention to the hypothesized detennination ofthe economy. The space economy
thus has had a matrix role within the social and cultural fonnation and transfonnation
[www.wpunj.edul-newpollissue24/fraser24.htm. (2008)].
The other definition, drawn more specifically from within economic theory, regarded the
space economy as 'the spatial expression ofthe dominant mode ofproduction' whose 'spatial
structure is detennined by the forces and relations of production' (Ogden, 1976), a
fonnulation which paid more attention to the dialectic between the forces and relations of
production within the mode of production. Both usages were closely connected, and have
been associated with studies of combined and uneven development through which space is
coming to be seen as 'a set ofconcrete relations that are continually produced and reproduced
according to the laws of capitalists development (Smith, 1979). In a bid to improve
employment outlook and general quality of life of the population in Ulundi, this research
acknowledges the unequal socio-economic relations between the various residential sections,
serving as spatial units in this investigation (www.archives.econ.utahlarchives/pen­
1/2006w29, 2008).
This sort of phrasing is an important advancement since it does not prise space away from
economy, as many ofthe first definitions of space economy evidently did (both neoclassical
and Marxian); instead, it recognises the dialectical implication of the one in the other which
the tenn itselfought to suggest.
2.4 THEORIES AND MODELS OF SPATIAL HUMAN SETTLEMENT
The role of space and land use has been a concern in the process of capital accumulation, and
in linking this to urban analysis, geographers have always been at the leading edge. The
presumption of such an approach is that the role of the urban system is to realise profits for
industrial capital (such profits would be created by the scale economies associated with
agglomeration, and by an associated stimulus to the service sector). As Scott (1986) shows,
in fulfilling this role, distinctively 'urban' space can be conceived ofas a phenomenon created