Cape Town is the most populous city in South Africa.

The city is famous for its harbor as well as its natural setting in the cape floral kingdom,including well known landmarks as table mountain and cape point. Cape Town is the most popular tourist destination. Cape Town is the legislative capital of the republic of South Africa. The southernmost city in Africa,it is situated in the northern tip of the Cape Penisula. Cape Town harbor is South Africas second busiest port. Citrus fruit, gold and diamonds are among its major exports. The harbor is an artificial one, built in Table Bay,and is a regular port of call for both freight and passenger ships. As part of its harbor, a waterfront development consisting of hotels, restaurants and shops has grown into popular area for both locals and tourists. The Cape Town economy was boosted by the war and employment of non-whites increased by 38 percent but the living conditions of the working classes were not thereby improved. This was especially due to soaring prices of consumer goods. By the end of 1940, production in the western Cape had increased substantially, followed by short cycles of upsurge and decline by the end of the war. Today it is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. As at 2007 the city had an estimated population of 3.5 million. Jan Van Riebeeck and other employees of Dutch East India Company were sent to the cape to establish a way station for ships traveling to to the DutchEast Indies, and Fort de Goede Hoop. The settlement

grew slowly this period, as it was had to find adequate labour. The labour shortage promted authorities to import slaves from Indonesia and Madagascar. Under Van Riebeek and his successors, an impressive range of useful plants were introduced like grapes, cereals, groundnuts, potatoes, apples and citrus had important and lasting influence on the society and economies of the region. The period since 1994 has witnessed significant changes in the development context of South African cities. Globally, continuing advances in communication and technology together with the liberalisation of trade barriers have further strengthened globalisation. While creating opportunities for some regions, the pattern of globalisation has disadvantaged others, contributing to a worldwide trend of increasing inequalities, both between and within cities. The continuing shift to the services sector has also entrenched the position of cities as central in the global economy, which has encouraged urbanisation with the resultant growth in the urbanisation of poverty at a global scale. Nationally, the institutions of apartheid were dismantled or transformed and new legislation and policies were introduced. Some of these legislative and policy initiatives have aimed at gearing the South African economy to compete in the global economy including the reduction of trade barriers and the privatisation or restructuring of state assets. Broad-ranging interventions have been introduced to achieve greater social equity these have comprised interventions in

housing delivery, access to basic services, the extension of welfare grants, reforms in health care and land restitution. Progressive labour legislation and the Employment Equity Act were introduced to achieve equity in the workplace and, more recently, various Black Economic Empowerment initiatives have focused on broadening economic opportunities. Locally, new democratic local government structures were created, creating the space for the redistribution of expenditure, service delivery and housing programmes and the introduction of new planning instruments (such as Integrated Development Planning) that are more attuned to the developmental context of South African cities. In terms of their impact on levels of development, these changes in the development context of South African cities have been uneven and conflicting. For example, efforts to improve the competitiveness of the South African economy through liberalisation may have had the effect, at least in the short-term, of increasing job losses and increasing inequalities. Progressive labour legislation may have had the unintended effect of decreasing the demand for less skilled labour. There have therefore been many different influences on the development of Cape Town.Therefore the effect of all these changes has been and the extent to which the various trends and initiatives have impacted on development and ultimately the quality of life of the citizens of Cape Town.. In terms of their impact on levels of

development, these changes in the development context of South African cities have been uneven and conflicting. There have therefore been many different influences on the development of Cape Town. Cape Town was ceded permanently to Britain in 1814 before it gain independence in 1994 with the struggles of prominent leaders like Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and many others. Under apartheid, the Cape was considered a coloured labour preference area to the exclusion of the Bantus i.e blacks. Cape Town is now the economic centre of the western cape province, South Africas second main economic centre and Africas third main economic hub city. It serves as the regional manufacturing centre in western cape. It also has primary harbor and airport in the province. The large government presence in the city has led to increased revenue and growth in Industries that serve the government. Cape town has four commercial nodes, most companies headquartered in the city are insurance companies, retail groups, publishers, design house, fashion designers, shiping companies, petro-chemical companies, architects and advertising agencies. The province is also a centre of energy development for the country with existing koeberg nuclear power station providing energy for the western Capes needs. With the highest number of successful information, technology companies in Africa, Cape Town is an important centre for the industry of the continent. Cape

Town is not only the most popular international tourist destination in South Africa but Africa as a whole. This is due to its good climate, natural setting and welldeveloped infrastructure. The city has several well known natural features that attract tourists, most notably table mountain, which forms a large part of the table mountain national park and is the back end of the city bowl. Cape Town international serves both domestic and international flights. It is the second largest airport in South Africa and serves as major gateway for travellers to the Cape region. Cape Town has direct flights to most cities in South Africa as well as a number of international destinations. Cape Town international Airport recently opened a brand new central terminal building that was developed to handle an expected increase in traffic as tourism numbers increase especially the 2010 fifa world cup that took place. The Cape Town international airport was among the winners of the world travel awards for being Africas leading airport. The period since 1994 has witness significant changes in the development context of South African cities. Globally, continuing advances in communication and technology together with the liberalization of trade barriers have further strengthened globalization. While creating opportunities for some regions, the pattern of globalization has disadvantaged others, contributing to a world wide trend of increasing inequalities, both between and within cities. The continuing shift to service sector has also entrenched the position of cities as central in the

global economy which has encouraged urbanization with the resultant growth in the urbanization of poverty at global scale. Nationally the institutions of apartheid were dismantled or transformed and new legislation and policies were introduced. Some of these legislative and policy initiatives have aimed at gearing the South Africa economy to compete with global economy including the reduction of trade barriers and the privatization or restructuring of state assets. Broad-ranging interventions have been introduced to achieve greater social equity. These have comprised intervention in house delivery,access to basic services, the extension of welfare grants, reforms in healthcare and land restitution. Progressive labour legislation and the employment equity act were introduced to achieve equity in workplace and more recently,various black economic empowerment initiatives have focused on broadening economic opportunities. The extent and nature of migration to Cape Town indicates that there are two drivers of migration, an increasingly mobile labour force and urbanization. These two drivers are reflected in two main streams of migration in Cape Town. The reasons for the more rapid growth of households relative to population growth are varied. Partly it reflects a global trend towards smaller households as a result of social trends, young people are leaving home earlier, more couples are separating or divorcing and older people are living longer. The faster growth of households in South Africa has also been attributed to the splitting of households as a result of

increased access to housing opportunities. The growth of informal settlements predominantly in the South-East of the city means increasing pressures on public transport. Advances in technology and increasingly low-cost manufacturing have led to an increased shift, at a global scale, towards the service sector. Reflecting this global trend, South African economy has also seen the growth of the service sector relative to the primary and secondary sectors in the economy. In relation to gross domestic product, the contribution of services sector increased from 55 per cent in 1990 to 65 per cent in 2004. Economic growth rates at national level, however has been increasing consistently over the recent years with Cape Town(South Africa) experiencing its longest period of sustained economic growth. These are the factors that contributed to the growth and development that took place in Cape Town.

REFERENCES
www.wikipedia.com Shamil Jeppie, The class, colour and gender of carnival: aspects of a cultural form in inner Cape Town,February 1990 Keith Smith,The status of Cape Town: Development overview,2005