Seaside Community Industrial Hubs

Abstract

While coastal zones are appreciated globally, not only for their ontological topographies but also for their innumerable resources beneath the water, they show the highest development dichotomies. South African coasts are a clear example of such economic fragmentations, largely as a result of the ubiquitous vestiges of apartheid era spatial planning. Previously, small formerly 'white' towns benefited through the doctrine of separate development, whereas rudimentary 'black' peripheral coastal towns remained underdeveloped thus contributing to low levels of industrialization and high degrees of poverty and unemployment. This paper analyses the socio-economic impact of ocean industrialization on five rural coastal municipalities in two South African provinces. In tone with the rapidly growing concept of Blue Economy, the study proposes the concept of Seaside Community Industrial Hubs. The goal is to catapult an entrepreneurial state capable of leading a blue-collar economy through bespoke market-creating innovations adept to trigger sustainable development across all coastal regions.