Abstract
This paper highlights the importance of considering ecological sustainability issues in any city's infrastructure plans and investments. It reviews the South African government's current and planned investment in urban infrastructure, both to enhance economic growth and to contribute to poverty reduction, and what this implies for Cape Town. It highlights the lack of attention given to ecological issues and the dangers of assuming that the resources will be available to support it, and that prices for fresh water, fossil fuels and food will not rise. It also points to Cape Town's large ecological footprint (comparable to that of Canada, per person) and its heavy dependence on non-renewable resources, especially oil – which means that every oil price rise transfers money from the Cape Town economy to national and global financial circuits. Housing lower-income groups in conventional housing with no attention to a more compact, less automobile-dependent city form exposes them to high water and energy costs. The paper ends by pointing to the advantages for the city and for lower-income groups of including ecological issues, and outlines the possibilities for doing so.