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Abstract

PIONEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND URBAN TRANSFORMATION
Democracy has led to signi?cant changes in the urban environment of South Africa over the past ?fteen years (Donaldson & Van der Merwe1, 1999; Donaldson, Baehr & Juergens2, 2003). Changing conditions in inner city areas caused a chain reaction in cities that was not necessarily anticipated before (Geyer, Coetzee, Du Plessis, Donaldson & Nijkamp3, 2011). First, following the political transition, the informal sector expanded signi?cantly. This caused an in?ow of informal street traders to inner city areas which completely changed the character of the CBDs. City centres that previously more strongly resembled those of ?rst world cities now increasingly acquired a distinct African ?avour. In the process the informal street trading sector became culturally much more diverse. The latter change was partially due to whites entering the sector as well as the large in?ux of people from other parts of Africa and their entry into the sector, a situation that had led to a strong foreign presence in speci?c parts of cities since the early 1990s. Examples of inner city trading areas with a strong foreign character are Greenmarket Square in Cape Town and Little Addis in Johannesburg. Similar examples in suburban areas are Sunnyside in Pretoria, Delft in Cape Town and Hillbrow in Johannesburg.