Cities in the suburbs: An exploratory look at Pretoria East as an evolving edge city

Abstract

Contemporary urban development in Pretoria manifests in the transformation of the south-eastern sector, generally known as Pretoria East, through the emergence of a "city in the suburbs" (an oxymoronic term) on the one hand, and a fundamental adaptation / adjustment of the Central Business District (CBD) to changing(-ed) circumstances on the other. In the case of the former, the inhabitants have to all intents and purposes turned their backs on the CBD, except for work in the case of (still) a substantial number of them. The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that the area is in the process of turning into a distinctive city/gravitational node in itself, developing interdependencies with other areas undergoing similar changes in the fashion characteristic of the post- metropolitan phase of urban development. The latter includes amongst others the moving of jobs out to the suburbs. Pretoria East was analysed in an exploratory manner so as to determine to what extent it meets the definitional criteria of Edge Cities which is the sole functional framework existing in terms of which postmetropolitan urban development can be measured. It was concluded that notwithstanding the fact that Pretoria East does not meet all the definitional criteria outright, it could nonetheless claim the status as an evolving Edge City.