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Abstract

Cato Manor, located on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa, was the focus of massive development efforts led by the Cato Manor Development Association (CMDA)—an agency that partnered with community-based organizations in facilitating redevelopment of this poor, underserviced area—from 1993 to 2003. The aim of the project was to create an area spatially and functionally integrated with metropolitan Durban in ensuring that poor urban residents have access to employment as well as social and infrastructure services. Implementation of the project was beset with enormous difficulties, many of which related to the massive transformational changes that the country was experiencing during this time. Innovation was often contextually driven, but some argue that the nature of the CMDA, as an independent agency free of the institutional constraints of government, as well as the nature of the collaboration with local community organizations together with the vision and commitment of the development team, led to innovative practice. This article aims to understand the extent to which innovation was achieved and uncovers the dynamics underpinning this.

Keywords

innovation urban development developing countries integrated development planning agency transition

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The Cato Manor Development Project in Durban,South Africa

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