A Comparative Perspective on Metropolitan Areas as Laboratories for Community-oriented Local Government Reorganisation in South Africa

Abstract

One of the most striking features of the pattern of urbanisation around the world is the enormous growth of metropolitanisation — the increasing centring of the urban population in the small percentage of land area occupied by what is usually called ‘metropolitan areas’. Although the statistical criteria for the definition of metropolitan areas vary from country to country, the general concept of a metropolitan area is one of a large concentration of urban dwellers — in one city or several contiguous cities, together with surrounding or adjacent towns or suburbs — with a high degree of economic interdependence and social interaction.