The Northern Suburbs is a major

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

and

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

region located in the

City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality The City of Cape Town (; ) is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of 4,772,846. History Cape Town first received local self-government in 1839, wit ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is the urban north-eastern part of the Greater Cape Town

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

(Cape Metropole) that is functionally merged with

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. The northern suburbs of Cape Town are experiencing

human traffic ''Human Traffic'' is a 1999 British independent coming of age comedy-drama film written and directed by Justin Kerrigan. A cult film of the Cool Cymru era of arts in Wales, it stars John Simm, Lorraine Pilkington, Shaun Parkes, Danny Dyer, an ...

king, as of October 2023 they have encountered 74 human trafficking victims, 42 labour trafficking victims, 9 victims of unspecified trafficking activities, 23 sex trafficking victims, and an estimated overall sum of 250 000 victims in South Africa.

Geography

The region extends from Goodwood in the west to

Kraaifontein Kraaifontein is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa and is located on the north-eastern outskirts of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name originated from the large number of crows (''Kraai'' in Afrikaans) that ...

Brackenfell Brackenfell is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, situated on the N1 about 30 km (17 mi) north-east of Cape Town and 35 km (22 mi) south-west of Paarl. Regarded as the “gateway” to the Cape Winelands, the town marks t ...

and

Kuilsrivier Kuils River (Afrikaans: Kuilsrivier) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa, 25 km (15 miles) east of Cape Town and 20 km (12 miles) west of Stellenbosch at the gateway of the Cape Winelands. It is also the name of the main tributary of t ...

in the east and north up to incorporate the rural village of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The principal town is Bellville to the south of the Tygerberg Hills, which as of 2011 has a population of 112,507. Along with Bellville, the population density of the Northern Suburbs is concentrated along the N1 corridor including the towns of Goodwood (pop. 50,285), Parow (pop. 119,462),

(44,842) and

(154,615). Bordering Bellville to the north among the Tygerberg Hills is the town of

Durbanville Durbanville, previously called Pampoenkraal, is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, part of the greater City of Cape Town, Cape Town metropolitan area. It is a semi-rural residential suburb on the north-eastern outskirts of the ...

(pop. 54,286) and along the

R300 The R300 GPU, introduced in August 2002 and developed by ATI Technologies, is its third generation of GPU used in ''Radeon'' graphics cards. This GPU features 3D acceleration based upon Direct3D 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0, a major improvement in featur ...

corridor bordering Bellville and Brackenfell is the town of

(pop. 46,685). Though separate, these aforementioned towns have virtually become one due to development and

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

and as a result have become known as the northern

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

s of Cape Town. The Northern Suburbs’ borders encompass the vibrant townships of Bloekombos, Wallacedene and Scottsdene in Kraaifontein and the smaller township of Fisantekraal (pop. 12,369) just outside Durbanville. Towards the extreme north of the Northern Suburbs about 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) from Durbanville are the rural settlements of Klipheuwel (pop. 2,294) and

(pop. 570) which are the most isolated and least integrated areas within the Greater Cape Town metropolitan area.

Transportation

Roads

The Northern Suburbs mainly lies along the N1 freeway which traverses through Goodwood, Parow, Bellville, Brackenfell and Kraaifontein, routing traffic north-east from

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

and

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

. The R300 freeway (Kuils River Freeway) connects the northern suburbs of Bellville, Brackenfell and Kuilsrivier with

Mitchells Plain Mitchells Plain is a large census designated sub-place located within the City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa and situated about from the Cape Town city centre. It is one of South Africa's largest residential areas and contains multi ...

to the south. The N7 freeway lies to the far west of the northern suburbs linking Goodwood with

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

to the north.

Rail

The

Metrorail Western Cape Metrorail Western Cape is a network of commuter and suburban rail services in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality (metropolitan area of Cape Town) and in the surrounding towns of Malmesbury, Western Cape, Malmesbury, Paarl, Stellenbo ...

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

system connects

to the northern suburbs of Goodwood, Parow, Bellville, Brackenfell and Kraaifontein via the

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

and also connects

Strand Strand or The Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * ...

and

Somerset West Somerset West () is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality Eastern Suburbs zone (formerly called ...

in the Helderberg region to the northern suburbs of Kuilsrivier and Bellville via the Strand Line.

References

{{Cape Town suburbs