The City of Cape Town’s second iteration of its Spatial Trends and Implementation Tracking Report has depicted significant spatial trends between 2012 and 2024.

The report provides an overview of development and land use patterns including changes in densification and mixed-use development, the extent of the city’s-built footprint, the extent of natural and agricultural assets, changes in the property market, the uptake of new development and human settlement patterns while tracking public investment and projects aimed at restructuring and upgrading urban areas. It also monitors capex over time.

Cape Town’s urban footprint increased by 3 608 hectares between 2012 and 2023, equating to an area the size of seventeen times Century City developments.

Between 2012 and 2022, commercial land use increased by 13 million square meters, from 40 million square metres in 2012 to 53 million square meters in 2022, largely occurring in existing industrial and business areas.

The number of formal residential dwellings increased from 783 000 in 2018 to 850 000 in 2022, excluding the significant number of households living in informal dwellings such as ‘backyarders’ in informal settlements or recently unauthorised land occupation sites.

City-wise, gross formal residential density has increased by 24% since 2012 to 11.7 dwelling units per hectare in 2022. In 2023, the net density in informal settlements and unauthorised land occupation sites, ranged between 200 to 250 dwelling units per hectare in areas such as Dunoon, Khayelitsha, Wallacedene, and Nomzamo.

The largest increases in property value between 2012 and 2022 was generally concentrated along the Southern Corridor, Atlantic Seaboard and new development areas in Sunningdale, Kraaifontein and Somerset West.

While Cape Town’s population has shown grown, it has limited land available for development, says the municipality.

“Where and how we develop land determines how far people need to commute to get to work, and how much the City and its ratepayers need to spend on infrastructure for the provision of water, sanitation, and electricity, and a road network to support mobility. This means, we need to prevent urban sprawl which has a direct impact on economic growth, money and time spent on commuting, inclusivity, spatial justice, and Cape Town’s collective resilience to climate change and unforeseen shocks,” says the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.