Cape Town faces considerable challenges which will affect the good or bad outcomes of its urban undertaking. These challenges centre on (1) outside migration and its impact on the local economy, delivery needs and the spatial structure of the city; and (2) internal population movements, especially those associated with the informally housed population and the more settled poor. These trends have potential outcomes which are difficult to predict accurately, and carry the threat of upsetting the delicate planning models which are being introduced. Again, current delivery approaches for housing and infrastructure - which should represent the concretisation of planningapproaches - have not always been successful, and housing delivery for the disdvantaged sectors of the CMApopulation is falling further behind as informal occupation of land and informal housing continue to spread and proliferate (CMC, 1997a). Housing lists are not moving, and land invasions continue to take place. This study tries to address the uncertainty around inside and outside migration in relation to settlement, and to contribute to the refinement of the CMA's spatial planning and implementation initiative.