South Africa, like many emerging economies, grapples with the challenges of rapid urbanisation, unequal access to resources, and historical spatial inequalities. Addressing these issues requires a multifaceted approach that reimagines urban real estate development as a catalyst for positive social change. This paper explores the imperative of inclusive urban real estate development in South Africa and presents innovative strategies to promote equity, accessibility, and sustainability in urban environments. Following a quantitative inquiry technique, primary data was gathered from 109 built environment professionals with experience in sustainable urban development. To support this, descriptive and inferential statistics, particularly exploratory factor analysis (EFA), were used. According to the descriptive analysis using the mean score (MS) ranking technique, the development of affordable housing was one of the higher up-front innovative strategies for reshaping real estate development. Ensuring objectivity in city planning, re-engineering the city streets and buildings to create a safer environment were among the highly ranked strategies. The EFA further demonstrated that “urban redevelopment”, “government regulations”, “spatial planning”, “urban policy” and “diversification” were the underlying groups of new approaches for inclusive development. Implementing these innovative strategies, South Africa can move towards a more inclusive and equitable urban landscape, where urban real estate development becomes a force for positive social change, fostering sustainable economic growth and improving the quality of life for all citizens. This research contributes to the ongoing dialogue on urban development in South Africa and offers actionable insights for policymakers, developers, and community stakeholders invested in shaping more inclusive cities.

This study investigated the relationship between telecommunications development, trade openness and economic growth in South Africa. It determined explicitly if telecommunications development and trade openness directly impact economic growth or whether telecommunications strengthen or weaken the link between trade openness and economic growth using the ARDL bounds test methodology. The findings reveal that both telecommunications development indicators and trade openness significantly and positively impact South Africa’s GDP in the short and long terms. The study also found that control variables like internet usage and gross fixed capital formation significantly and positively influence GDP. Conversely, inflation was found to consistently affect GDP negatively and significantly. The findings from the ARDL cointegration analysis affirm a long-run economic relationship between the independent variables and GDP. The study also established that telecommunications development slightly distorts trade in the foreign trade-GDP nexus in South Africa. Despite this, the negative interaction effect is not substantial enough to overshadow the positive impact of trade openness on economic growth. From a policy perspective, the study recommends that South African policymakers prioritise enhancing local goods’ competitiveness in global markets and reducing trade barriers. It also advocates for improving the accessibility and affordability of telecommunications technologies to foster economic development.

Community policing has emerged as a vital instrument for combatting crime and enhancing public safety in South Africa. As a result, it has the capacity to go beyond traditional law enforcement functions as a mediator in disputes, fostering improved relationships between the police and the communities where they work. This paper analyses the implementation of community policing strategies by the South African police with the purpose of resolving conflicts. This study aims to address social crime prevention-related concerns through community policing methods in the Galeshewe police area within the Francis Baard policing regions of the Sol Plaatje Municipality, South Africa. The paper examines the tactics that community police employ to enforce the law, avoid social issues, and manage conflict resolution in the communities. A qualitative method and descriptive design were employed. Comprehensive document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and observations were employed as data collection strategies. An inductive reasoning model was used to analysis data. The findings of the study demonstrated that community policing plays an important role in optimizing problem mapping and it increases public knowledge of the importance of upholding security and order in the different police operations that support the community policing program.

Growing urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa, with its attendant degradation of natural vegetation, is a real scourge. It takes the form of urban sprawl, with its corollary of native vegetation degradation. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of urban sprawl in Brazzaville and the related degradation of the vegetation covering on the urban site. The methodological approach was based on the collection of documentary and field data, as well as the analysis of Landsat satellite images from 2002, 2012 and 2022. The results show a regressive evolution of natural plant formations in favor of urbanization. The area of vegetation cover fell from 17,523 ha in 2002 to 8355.5 ha in 2022, representing a regression rate of 52.32% in 20 years. At the same time, the urban area has grown from 12,164 ha in 2002 to 29,892 ha in 2022, an increase of 145.74%. This deterioration in vegetation cover is reflected in water erosion, resulting in silting-up and flooding of homes and sanitation facilities.

One of the most frequently debated subjects in international forums is economic growth, which is regarded as a global priority. Consequently, researchers have turned their attention from conventional economic growth at a single average coefficient to divisible economic growth at levels of its value. Although the existing literature has discussed several determinants of economic growth, our article contributes to examining the sources of economic growth in African countries during the generations of reforms from 1990 to 2019 and in the context of economic vulnerability. The variables used in the analysis are gross domestic product, trade openness, financial development, and economic vulnerability. The study uses a quantile regression econometric model to examine these variables at different stages of reform. Quantile regression (QR) estimates for quantiles 0.05 to 0.95 showed mixed results: financial development is favorable to African economic growth at all quantile levels. However, economic vulnerability is a major impediment to economic growth at all quantile levels. In addition, it was found that a high degree of trade openness has a detrimental effect on African economic growth from quantile 0.5 of the dependent variable. Finally, another important result proves that financial development is a remedy for decision-makers against economic vulnerability.