In a recent study by Turok and Visagie (2025) on the disparities in employment across South Africa, they state: “The metros have a more favourable and diverse economic structure than towns and rural areas. However, most have performed poorly over the last decade, thereby dragging down the national economy.”
While cities are often considered engines of economic growth and prosperity, their potential is often stifled by, amongst other things, a lack of accurate, granular, and timely data. The recent Role of Cities as Potential Drivers of Economic Growth and Prosperity Conference, hosted by ERSA in collaboration with the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Spatial Economic Activity Data – South Africa (SEAD-SA), and the University of the Free State (UFS), highlighted the critical role of place-based data in shaping effective urban economic policies. While the challenges are significant, the opportunities to enhance data-driven decision-making are equally compelling. This note argues that South Africa already possesses the tools and data sources to direct urban development—if we can overcome institutional barriers and foster a culture of collaboration and innovation.
When President Ramaphosa stated in the 2025 State of the Nation Address that, “We will therefore undertake extensive consultations to develop and update the White Paper on Local Government…”, he signalled a critical moment for rethinking how cities are governed and supported. We hope this call is heeded, as it presents a unique opportunity to prioritise data-driven strategies that can unlock the economic potential of South Africa’s urban centres.
The Data Imperative for Urban Development
Sound urban planning and economic policymaking depend on robust, disaggregated data. Municipalities need detailed insights into where people live and work, local income and consumption levels, firm dynamics, employment trends, and infrastructure connectivity. Such data enables planners to target service delivery, anticipate economic impacts, and design policies that foster inclusive growth. Yet, as conference participants noted, the absence of credible, spatially detailed data often allows untested opinions to dominate evidence-based decision-making.
National and municipal officials alike face challenges in countering anti-urban sentiment and parochial political interests without accurate data. For example, city-level surveys are often dismissed as irrelevant to national policy choices, while outdated census data undermines efforts to plan for current and future urban growth. The result is a disconnect between the realities of urban economies and the policies designed to support them.
The Data Landscape: What’s Available?
South Africa already has a wealth of data sources that, if leveraged effectively, could transform urban policymaking. These include:
- Organisational Insight Data: Information on water and electricity consumption, service delivery complaints, and other municipal interactions provides real-time insights into local needs and inefficiencies.
- Macro Data: National surveys, such as the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) and census data, offer broad economic indicators, though they often lack the granularity needed for local decision-making.
- Survey Data: Municipal-led research into local economies and transport systems can yield valuable insights, though such efforts are not always prioritised.
- Administrative and Proxy Data: Vehicle registrations, cell phone usage records, traffic camera data, and satellite imagery (e.g., nighttime luminosity as a proxy for urbanisation and income levels) provide rich, spatially detailed information.
The SEAD-SA project exemplifies the potential of administrative data. By integrating tax information from SARS with datasets from other government agencies, SEAD-SA is building a national integrated data lake (IDL) that can provide a comprehensive picture of spatial economic dynamics. Similarly, satellite data sources, such as LandScan’s population estimates, can help verify census data and ensure fair allocation of resources like the Local Government Equitable Share grant.
Challenges and Opportunities
While administrative data offers significant advantages—cost efficiency, timeliness, and reduced response burden—it also poses challenges. Issues of quality, consistency, and operational limitations can undermine its usefulness. For example, differences in data collection practices and local policies can lead to inconsistencies, while hacking and system vulnerabilities can compromise data integrity.
Despite these challenges, the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. Administrative data is increasingly the backbone of urban planning worldwide, with developed countries moving away from traditional censuses in favour of alternative data sources. South Africa should embrace this shift, recognising that imperfect data can still drive meaningful insights and policy improvements.
Leveraging Data for Inclusive Growth
Several initiatives demonstrate the transformative potential of spatialised data. For instance, the Cities Economic Outlook 2023 report, produced by the National Treasury and HSRC, uses SEAD-SA tax data to provide policy-relevant insights into the economic performance of South African cities. Similarly, studies presented at the ERSA conference used spatialised data to explore inter-urban migration dynamics, job creation trends, and the impact of commuting times on wages and employment.
Municipalities like Cape Town and eThekwini have already taken steps to harness data for urban development, launching open-data portals and developing data strategies. These efforts signal the importance of collaboration between local, national, and private sector stakeholders in building a robust evidence base for economic planning.
A Call to Action
To fully realise the potential of data-driven urban development, South Africa must address several key issues:
- Foster Collaboration and Data Sharing: Municipalities, national agencies, and private sector actors must collaborate to share data and build integrated datasets. An open-data ethos should be encouraged to break down institutional silos and expand the evidence base.
- Build Capacity: Municipal officials need data analysis, visualisation, and management training to effectively use administrative data. Professional development programs can help bridge the gap between data availability and practical application.
- Establish a Dedicated Data Body: A new external body, free from legacy systems and bureaucratic constraints, could oversee the integration and analysis of data from the proposed national IDL. This body would ensure data is used innovatively and effectively to inform urban policy.
- Promote Transparency and Accountability: Sharing administrative data, even when imperfect, can foster greater public trust in government and improve policy outcomes. Transparency should be seen as a strength, not a weakness.
The opportunity to enhance data-driven decision-making for urban development is within reach. South Africa already has the data sources. What is lacking is the institutional will, capacity, and collaboration to harness this potential. By fostering a culture of innovation, transparency, and shared responsibility, we can unlock the power of data to build more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable cities.
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