City issues third annual spatial trends report depicting land use changes in Cape Town
07 November 2025
The City’s latest Spatial Trends and Implementation Tracking Report, issued in celebration of World Town Planning Day tomorrow, gives an overview of development and land use patterns in Cape Town over the last decade. Documenting trends assists with evidence-based planning, and also provides the City with guidance on spatial policies and interventions that may be needed in managing population growth while protecting our finite natural resources and heritage assets.
Spatial Trends and Implementation Tracking Report: https://bit.ly/SpatialTrendsReport
The City’s third Spatial Trends and Implementation Tracking Report gives an overview of development and land use patterns in Cape Town from 2012 to 2025.
These include changes in densification and mixed use development, the extent of the city’s built footprint, the extent of our natural and agricultural assets, changes in the property market, uptake of new development and human settlement patterns.
The report also tracks public investment and projects aimed at restructuring and upgrading urban areas; and monitors public capital expenditure over time. This year’s report takes the form of a supplementary update as last year’s edition provided a major review.
‘Given Cape Town’s topography, we have limited land available for development, which means we have to make best use of this scarce resource and in a manner that is cost efficient, and also protective of our natural environment. 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, commuting distances, inclusivity, spatial justice, and the city’s collective resilience to climate change and unforeseen shocks.
‘As such, the City’s spatial planning policies call for high density and developments where residential and employment land uses are mixed. These developments should be located within Central Business Areas and along mobility corridors. We need higher densities in central locations to meet the demand for affordable housing of our growing population. Concurrently, the City will, over the next decade or so, spend R120 billion on expanding infrastructure to facilitate densification. This means improved services infrastructure to meet the growing demand for water, electricity, sanitation, roads, and transport. Densification done right not only brings new investment opportunities for landowners, but also improves the business outlook for small and medium businesses as the customer base is bigger in high density areas,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
• The Spatial Trends and Implementation Tracking Report is available here: https://bit.ly/SpatialTrendsReport
Residents and professionals in the urban planning and built environment, academics, and investors are encouraged to go online, and scrutinise this user-friendly report. The data and trends are depicted in graphics and maps, and key summaries are provided. It is easy to read, and gives an overview of changes in land use and development patterns over the past decade, and also serves as a monitoring record of the impact of our main spatial strategies.
‘By looking back and identifying the spatial trends over this period, we can look ahead and plan better. We use these trends to develop interventions to cater for a Cape Town that may very likely have double the population it has right now, by 2050,’ said Alderman Andrews.
The indicators in the report depict significant spatial trends within Cape Town
Urban expansion continues to reshape the city's landscape, while environmental impact assessments highlight the ongoing efforts to balance development with sustainability
Residential density in targeted areas shows a shift towards more inward growth, indicating progress towards policy objectives while noting that residential density varies across different communities
The data on government-subsidised housing and capital expenditure also underscores the City's commitment to inclusive growth and infrastructure development
For more information on the City’s Urban Planning and Design projects please visit https://bit.ly/UrbanPlanningandDesign .
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
