Local economic development for urban resilience: The South African experiment

The severity of environmental problems, rapid urbanisation and the dynamics underlying local governance requires clear strategies for local economic development, which target specific growth areas and collectively aim to increase the resilience of urban communities. A resilient city is one that has developed capacities to absorb future shocks and stresses. Therefore, the collective aim of such a city’s systems, structures, processes and functions entails responding to challenges of sustainable development. Local economic development is generally regarded as an integrated strategy to address complex urban challenges by promoting economic development in local areas. The purpose of this article is twofold: to explore the critical interface between urban resilience and local economic development, and to uncover the successes and failures of local economic development applications in local, district and metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. This assessment and accompanying recommendations can provide valuable guidelines for local economic development best practice.