Mabin, Alan2015-03-272015-03-272013-07978-0-620-56079-5http://hdl.handle.net/10539/17350July 2013The mission of the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) is to help illuminate trends and dynamics shaping the region of towns and cities in and around Gauteng, and also enhance understanding of the idea of the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) as a project – a different way of thinking about and governing this space.While much of the data collection and analysis work of the GCRO is focused on the present, we also consider the city-region’s past and its possible futures. This Occasional Paper is one of two that GCRO has commissioned specifically to deepen our understanding of the past of the GCR. Both focus on aspects of the region’s spatial past, and ought to be read together. This paper by Prof Alan Mabin explores how the idea of a city-region found expression in various statutory planning frameworks over the course of the last century, and how embryonic city-region concepts influenced spatial decisions and developments. The companion paper by Brian Mubiwa and Harold Annegarn considers the different but related issue of the actual historical spatial evolution of the GCR.encity-region evolution concept plan; Gauteng map city-regionOther