The Turn to ‘New Regionalism’: South African Reflections

This article analyses critical policy implications for city-regional and national spatial frameworks in South Africa concerning the turn to new regionalism. International debates are reviewed concerning new regionalism, global city regions, the European Spatial Development Perspective and polycentric mega regions. In South Africa, there is a growing policy interest in the writings and implications of new regionalism as a base for rethinking urban and regional development policies. It is argued that the current depth of South African research and debate on issues raised by new regionalism is limited and that strategic planning for the building of Gauteng as a globally competitive city region is the most significant imprint of new regionalism on the South African policy landscape.