Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the contradictions between urban policies and national industrial policies in South Africa since the early 1990s. The focus on nationally directed efforts and an uneven mix of spatial agendas has impacted the character of industrial policies and their impacts in cities.

Paper long abstract:

Cities and the economic processes that they host are widely seen to be central to the economic prospects of nations. This reality presents actors, both in cities and those at a national scale, with challenges on how to jointly conceive of both urban and economic development policies, with a view to contributing to local and national economic development objectives. Whilst national urban policies might have highlighted the scope for cities to contribute to economic outcomes at the local and national scales, the treatment of spatial dynamics in national economic development policies and programmes remains highly uneven across countries. This paper explores South Africa's national economic policies, specifically industrial policies, to see how they have reflected the changing dynamics of the economic geography of the country. The paper finds that despite some growing discursive recognition of the importance of the spatial dimension of growth, policies have failed to integrate the urban dimension.