Makinta, Vincent2022-07-182022-07-182021https://hdl.handle.net/10539/33021A thesis submitted to the School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Science, 2021The dawn of democracy in South Africa more than 25 years ago, brought a contrasting world of the poor (homelands) and rich (first world) together. Over this period, increased poverty among the poor continued to increase, with an inherent lack of economic advantage. The lingering poverty and therefore inequality can be expected to negatively increase the gap in opportunities, geographically. Past research not only highlights the importance of the geography of opportunity in metropolitan areas, but also points to the spatial distribution of such opportunities outside metro areas. This thesis provides a geography of opportunity perspective for the City of Cape Town, using the opportunity index calculated for 55 Main places. The study uses Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA)techniques to geographically map variations in deprivation across the City of Cape Town Metro, identify areas of high and low opportunities. The research found that there is a wide variation in the spread of opportunity between main places across the City, evident from a significantly high standard deviation. The results show that the opportunity index remains high in well off places. Poor areas, which are mainly township establishments, such as Gugulethu and Nyanga, remain in the same clusters in terms of the Morn’s I test quadrant. The study recommends a need to investigate a shift in opportunities due to the emergence of multi centres of economic development in space due to the recent polycentric spatial development of economic hubs within the city. Further that there be improved and timely data collection and sharing at a more granular spatial levelenThesis