Social inclusion through the urban lens: a comparative analysis of neighbourhoods of residential racial homogeneity and heterogeneity in Cape Town, South Africa.

This article proposes the development of a data driven framework for examining urban social inclusion through the profiling of neighbourhoods by combining spatial network measurements, transport, land use and socio-economic indicators in Cape Town, the oldest city in South Africa. Neighbourhoods are considered important spatial units within cities and have strong social and cultural connotations. The results show that neighbourhoods with increased residential racial heterogeneity have access to higher levels of mixed land use, transport, and global closeness centrality. Furthermore, neither extremely high nor low-income neighbourhoods are related to racial heterogeneity. The results enable the identification of structural barriers that perpetuate social exclusion. It is envisioned that this approach could support policy makers and urban planners within decision making processes