Like other national urban policy documents, the State of the Cities Report 2004 affirms a vision of an inclusive non-racial city in which democracy is stable and development flourishes. But the 2004 report is different from preceding urban policy statements in a number of critical respects, not least that it is not a formal statement of government. In part, the relative autonomy of the Report's sponsor, the South African Cities Network (a quango of state and non-state affiliates), explains its divergent analytical point of departure in the assessment of the state of the cities 10 years after democracy. The 2004 report is premised on the notion that changing the racial pattern of inequality hinges on systematic responses to the material forces, demographic, economic, environmental and institutional, that shaped the inherited apartheid city form. The 2004 report is also different from earlier government policy positions in that it argues that urban development is not just a site of national reconstruction and development, but that the urban question lies at the heart of achieving the national vision of a productive, democratic and non-racial society based on a vision of sustainable human settlements.

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A key factor in understanding a city-region is the daily flows of people between its constituent parts. Mapping of the commuter field may help delineate the functional extent of the region, clarify challenges of transport efficiency, access and affordability, and reveal the impact of key transport interventions over time. It may also elucidate social dimensions of life in the region, notably patterns of inequality between groups. Data from the Gauteng City-Region Observatory's (GCRO) 2013 Quality of Life Survey were used to map trips to work made by white and (separately) African respondents. The maps illustrate the functional extent of the city-region as well as ongoing racial disparities in geographic access-to-work opportunities in a region historically patterned by apartheid spatial forms. While there is significant continuity from the past, there are also some surprising new trends.