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This article aims to provide a temporal and critical perspective on national spatialplanning since the 1970s until the most recent directive in 2012. From the first spatialpolicy initiative, the National Physical Development Plan (1975), radical changes haveoccurred in the various approaches to national planning. The most recent spatialplanning directive in South Africa is the National Development Plan (2012), whichhas a diversified approach with political, social and economic goals. In the past fourdecades, national planning policy and directives have moved through balanced andunbalanced regional growth approaches. The top-down approach of the 1970s withrigid area-specific directives transformed into a bottom-up more adaptable, sociallyoriented and interpretation-based approach in recent years. In the process, SouthAfrica's spatial policy has evolved from a policy dominated by political objectives in the1960s to a multi-sectoral policy which purports to be based only on economic principlesof a multi-sectoral free-market system; from one of strong government intervention toone of minor intervention. The general perception of this article is that only some of thesepolicies are substantially attributed to effective socio-economic development due tothe lack of spatially focused initiatives.

AbstractResilience in regional economic growth in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) can potentially be increased through the implementation of a regional policy which emphasizes regional integration. This will include the removal of tariff and non‐tariff based barriers to trade through trade liberalization and designing more efficient spatial linkages that facilitate increased intra‐regional trade. However, resilience in the region's economic growth is hindered by sluggish implementation of regional trade liberalization and spatial integration policies, as tariff and non‐tariff barriers to trade remain. The aim of the paper is to evaluate regional integration in fostering resilience in economic growth through its enhancement of economic interaction between member states, as well as facilitating increased spatial connectivity and the efficient movement of intra‐regional trade. In this paper, case studies of regional integration models as applied in eight developing country regional trading blocs, including the SADC, are used to determine the effect of intra‐regional trade on the resilience of economic growth in the face of an external economic crisis, namely the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and subsequent recession. Results of the above analysis indicate that intra‐regional trade through regional integration accelerates a region's recovery of its pre‐shock growth path. Despite considerable intra‐regional trade, the recovery of the SADC is hindered by the sluggish post‐shock growth of South Africa, its dominant economy. Based on the findings, it is recommended that intra‐regional trade be strengthened between SADC member states through increased economic integration, trade facilitation through development corridors, and capacitating dynamic regional institutions to oversee economic resilience strategies based on adjustment and adaptation.

Resilience in regional economic growth in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) can potentially be increased through the implementation of a regional policy which emphasizes regional integration. This will include the removal of tariff and non-tariff based barriers to trade through trade liberalization and designing more efficient spatial linkages that facilitate increased intra-regional trade. However, resilience in the region's economic growth is hindered by sluggish implementation of regional trade liberalization and spatial integration policies, as tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade remain. The aim of the paper is to evaluate regional integration in fostering resilience in economic growth through its enhancement of economic interaction between member states, as well as facilitating increased spatial connectivity and the efficient movement of intra-regional trade. In this paper, case studies of regional integration models as applied in eight developing country regional trading blocs, including the SADC, are used to determine the effect of intra-regional trade on the resilience of economic growth in the face of an external economic crisis, namely the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and subsequent recession. Results of the above analysis indicate that intra-regional trade through regional integration accelerates a region's recovery of its pre-shock growth path. Despite considerable intra-regional trade, the recovery of the SADC is hindered by the sluggish post-shock growth of South Africa, its dominant economy. Based on the findings, it is recommended that intra-regional trade be strengthened between SADC member states through increased economic integration, trade facilitation through development corridors, and capacitating dynamic regional institutions to oversee economic resilience strategies based on adjustment and adaptation

The role of regional policy mechanisms towards increased regional resilience is widely recognised, but limited consideration is given to the impact of these mechanisms in, specifically, the peripheral region. In reaction hereto, this article explores the role of three key mechanisms, i.e. economic sectoral composition, innovation and knowledge networks, as well as government institutions as policy tools towards increased regional resilience in a peripheral region in South Africa. The role of each of these mechanisms is quantified and measured by specified indices such as the GVA, the Tress Index and the ICT Access Index, and government indicators such as audit outcomes and service delivery data in five planning regions of the Northern Cape province. This article highlights that a state of dynamic stability and resilience is more feasible through policy intervention focused on these three mechanisms, coupled with detailed regional socio-economic analysis. It also emphasises that a knowledge-rich region will be less dependent on single sector development, pushing itself into a new development stage of secondary and tertiary sector focus through economic diversification, lessening its vulnerability to external shocks and disturbances, and impeding regional lock-in. In support hereto, collective institutional action by a responsive and accountable local and regional government, operating beyond their functional limits, will reinforce and amplify development in the peripheral region.