Town and Regional Planning
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Town and Regional Planning is the accredited academic journal of the department of Town and Regional Planning of the University of the Free State.
Alternative title(s): Meralo ya Ditoropo le Mabatowa | Stads- en Streekbeplanning
ISSN 2415-0495 (Online), ISSN 1012-280X (Print)
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Item Open Access A home close to opportunities in South Africa: top down vision or bottom up demand?(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2010) Landman, KarinaEnglish: South African cities have changed tremendously over the past 50 years. Alongside growing urbanisation, people have moved further apart or closer to each other, influenced by the reigning ideologies and policies of the past and present. Cities were and are shaped by the leading corporations, institutions and to some extent by the planners who aim to implement their visions. Many of the contemporary international planning and urban design movements promote closer proximity of new housing developments to a larger variety of socio-economic opportunities. In response, international planning and development policies from many countries advocate the development of medium-density mixed housing developments to achieve increased densification and socio-economic integration and ultimately more sustainable cities. The new housing plan, Breaking New Ground (2004), also promotes this. Yet, how many people pause to consider the opinions of those for whom these developments are planned and designed? This discussion reconsiders the issue of housing location and, in particular, the importance of greater proximity of housing projects to a range of socio-economic opportunities from a resident’s point of view.Item Open Access Not another ‘night at the museum’: ‘moving on’ – from ‘developmental’ local government to ‘developmental local state’(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2010) Coetzee, JohnnyEnglish: Since the government transformation in 1994, various efforts have been made in South Africa to institute a developmental local government system to facilitate and enhance growth and development in all sectors of society and to (re)structure and (re)develop the fragmented urban regions in the country. This article argues that the local government system (including the municipal development planning system) in South Africa is not appropriate to effectively facilitate the type of development that is required in this country (and in this globalising space and time). In view of the above, this exploratory inquiry2 aims to unpack and explore the developmental status and characteristics of local government in South Africa. The article concludes with some challenges, questions and propositions in an attempt to stimulate interest, debate, further research and to determine a possible path towards a ‘new developmental local state’.Item Open Access National spatial development planning in South Africa 1930-2010: an introductory comparative analysis(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2010) Oranje, Mark; Merrifield, AndrewEnglish: This article reviews the various attempts at national spatial development planning that have been introduced in South Africa over the past eighty years. It demonstrates that, despite the ostensible support for national planning during this period, such plans and proposals rarely had a direct impact on the conduct of government business. Using both the authors’ personal experiences with the most recent such ‘plan’ – the National Spatial Development Perspective – they seek to explain why such planning initiatives are so difficult to introduce and implement. Key in this regard, they argue, is that while most national planning initiatives are formulated in a control paradigm common to more local planning contexts, the plans have to function within a complex and tightly interwoven national, provincial and local system that is essentially incompatible with such a paradigm. The historical overview, they argue, suggests that such a national spatial planning intervention would require a far harder-edged form of governance leaning more in the direction of intervention and control and less so in the direction of the current softer forms of dialogue, facilitation and guidance premised by the 1996 Constitution.Item Open Access Re-thinking the role of regional development funds in South Africa: reflections on international experience(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2010) Rogerson, ChristianEnglish: In 2010 the national government actively considered the introduction of a regional development fund to support the objectives of regional development in South Africa. Against this backdrop, this article critically reviews the historical application of regional incentives under apartheid and the recent international application of regional development funds. It is argued that a narrow focus on regional incentive funds represents an element of the 'old' paradigm of regional theory and regional development practices. In addressing the widening imbalances that exist in the space economy of contemporary South Africa it is prudent to link the application of 'regional development funds' to the modern paradigm of regional development planning. Within this framework, the regional development fund is no longer simply an enterprise-oriented fund centred on manufacturing. Instead, the regional fund is re-defined as a channel for supporting wider comprehensive interventions across multiple sectors and targeted to build regional competitiveness.Item Open Access The dilemma of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in South African higher education - the case of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Johannesburg(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2010) Lewis, Martin; Holtzhausen, Natasja; Taylor, SusanneEnglish: The South African Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF) gazetted in 2007 sets a revised qualifications framework that necessitates the re-evaluation and redesign of programmes to align with the new framework. For the first time the HEQF introduced the term 'Work-Integrated Learning' (WIL) into a Department of Education document with possible legal consequences for institutions of higher education, as the framework document provides that higher education institutions offering qualifications with a WIL component must place the students. This has led to a dilemma as placements are not always readily available. In addition, there is 'pressure' within institutions and from certain faculty members to eliminate the WIL component from curricula. This article aims to answer the following questions: - Is it worth retaining WIL in the Town and Regional Planning academic programme? - If it is found that WIL should remain part of the qualification, when should the students engage with this component? - If it is found that WIL should remain part of the qualification, for how long should this component be offered? This article presents the findings of the qualitative study aimed at finding a solution to the dilemma relating to WIL, with students from industry being surveyed for their input. It, therefore, forms part of what is an ongoing dialogue concerning all aspects relating to appropriate education.Item Open Access The methodological rigour of South African master’s and doctoral planning theses: 1963-2007(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2010) Du Toit, Jacques𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 Planning knowledge is increasingly contested while publication pressure on supervisors and their students is mounting. Given these challenges, to what extent has the methodological rigour of South African master’s and doctoral planning theses improved over time? This article examines improvements in methodological rigour of theses completed between 1963 and 2007 by describing how the structure of theses and the use of research designs changed. Data are based on a survey and methodological content analysis of 143 theses sampled by university and programme. Although the structure and ‘science’ of theses improved over time, theses still require better explication of designs, while designs are increasingly limited to case studies and qualitative approaches. It is concluded that a typology of designs for planning research is needed so that students may better choose and explicate their designs.Item Open Access Future, change and choices(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2010) Nel, VernaAbstract not availableItem Open Access The geography of informal arts and crafts traders in South Africa’s four main city centres(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Van Eeden, AmandaEnglish: The choice of location of street traders and the products they sell reflect specific geographies of flows of people. In this study the focus is on the spatial relationships between arts and crafts trading and the tourist market. This article presents the outcomes of research into the characteristics and geographies of informal trade in arts and crafts in South Africa’s four main metropolitan city centres. The results show that informal selling of arts and crafts is a relatively small component of street trading in all four centres. Intracity variations are reported and the geographical patterns of arts and crafts traders in the four centres analysed with GIS software. The purpose of this analysis is to identify concentrations of traders specialising in arts and crafts within the general distributions of informal traders in the four cities.Item Open Access The home as informal business location: Home-based business (HBB) dynamics in the medium-sized city of George(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Smit, Eunice; Donaldson, RonnieEnglish: Home-based businesses (HBBs) are often considered the most ‘formal’ of the informal business sector types, where a formal structure such as a house or shack provides some form of security for these businesses. Notwithstanding this structural ‘security’, HBBs are merely a reflection of broader urban economic and spatial processes taking place in South African cities, resulting in a dual-natured business space. The role, impact and contribution of home-based businesses to urban economies, urban growth and spatial relations with the formal economy have not received much attention from policymakers in South Africa. The study investigates the complexity of HBB dynamics in the mediumsized city of George, and focuses on three aspects: first, a conceptual link between house and business is provided; second is an overview of the spatial transformation of business space in the city between 1995 and 2005, and third is an analysis of a survey conducted among 98 HBBs in George, in which aspects related to the business start-up, location, history, problems experienced and policy context are examined. The article concludes with several policy and planning recommendations.Item Open Access ‘Picking up the pieces’: Reconstructing the informal economic sector in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Gumbo, Trynos; Geyer, ManieEnglish: Since the launch of Operation Restore Order in May 2005 in all urban centres by the Zimbabwean government, the informal economic sector in Bulawayo has undergone significant transformations and growth. In contravention of the legal and regulatory controls and against the backdrop of a severe economic crisis, the government embarked on a clean-up campaign that devastated the urban poor and reduced them to destitute people. The blitz destroyed informal business structures, evicting and detaining operators and confiscating their wares purporting to restore the lost glimmer and liveliness of the city. Even registered vendors that operated at designated sites with operating licences properly issued by the city authorities were not spared. This study’s preliminary findings reveal how the planning system has metamorphosed to keep up with changing circumstances and how it has helped to revolutionise the vendors’ struggles by organising and mobilising them to revive the indispensable informal economy. In conclusion the article argues that city authorities should work closely with the associations of the urban poor to achieve the objectives both of maintaining urban health and of ensuring the means of livelihood for the unemployed, in particular against the backdrop of a distressed formal sector that has reeled under economic structural adjustments that led to massive deindustrialisation and retrenchments since the 1990s.Item Open Access The economic importance of migrant entrepreneurship: An application of data envelopment analysis in The Netherlands(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Sahin, Madiha; Baycan, Tüzin; Nijkamp, PeterEnglish: In the Anglo-Saxon literature in the past decade, much attention has been paid to the economic importance of ethnic (migrant) entrepreneurship. This type of self-employment appears to provide a vital and creative contribution to the urban economy. The rising size and importance of ethnic entrepreneurship has recently prompted much policy and research interest regarding migrant business in Europe. Also in The Netherlands this new phenomenon is increasingly recognised and regarded as an interesting focus for the city’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) policy. Migrant entrepreneurs do not only have a substantial impact on the urban economy, but they also act as role models for socio-economic integration. They often operate in interesting market niches and provide a positive stimulus for creative business-making in modern cities. The present article offers first an overview of the literature on this issue and investigates next empirically the economic performance of Turkish migrant entrepreneurs in the highly skilled and hightech sector in the Netherlands through the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA).Item Open Access Who’s out there? A profile of informal traders in four South African city central business districts(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Horn, AneleEnglish: The informal sector has gained prominence in developing countries during the past two decades, mainly as a result of the formal sector’s inability to absorb growing populations and an increasing number of individuals hoping to secure an income through selfemployment in the informal sector. The situation in South African cities is no exception as the unemployment rate has remained between 24% and 30% since 2000. The emphasis on informal trading in cities necessitates a more in-depth understanding of the informal sector and street traders at city level, for which relevant data are scarce or too general. By using data gathered among street traders in four major metropolitan areas of South Africa, this article seeks to provide a current profile of individuals that are involved in street trading in South African cities.Item Open Access Land quality, urban development and urban agriculture within the Cape Town urban edge(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Geyer, Herman; Schloms, Bennie; Du Plessis, Danie; Van Eeden, AmandaEnglish: The article analyses the consumption of agricultural land within the Cape Town urban edge between 2002 and 2007. The agricultural potential of the developed land and the distribution of land uses are analysed to determine the impact of urban growth on urban agriculture. The research indicates that low-density residential development is still the major consumer of high-potential agricultural land within the Cape Town urban edge. Commercial, industrial and informal residential development has little impact on the loss of agricultural land. High-potential agricultural land is not sufficiently protected. Urban agriculture is limited by open competition with more profitable land uses such as residential development. Consequently, the paper argues for a flexible urban containment policy whereby high-potential agricultural land within the urban edge is reserved solely for agricultural production, while land with little agricultural potential outside the urban edge should be made available for future urban development.Item Open Access Nestling national ‘transformation’ imperatives in local ‘servicing’ space: critical reflections on an inter-governmental planning and implementation project(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Oranje, Mark; Van Huyssteen, ElsonaEnglish: In this article, it is argued that South Africa’s post-1994 dream is marked by a tension between servicing and transformation – mutually supporting, but potentially also divergent set of intentions, processes and outcomes. Towards the end of 2006 the national Presidency in South Africa embarked on an ambitious project of using the spatial logic and principles of the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP) to structure a process of high-level intergovernmental and civil society dialogue, strategising, plan-preparation, resource-allocation and implementation in all District Municipalities in the country over a three-year period. This project, in which both authors were intensively involved, is used to illustrate this tension and need for convergence and balance between servicing and transformation. The project context and key planning and governance challenges are described, the project outcomes highlighted, possible explanations for the findings probed, and the lessons learnt, documented.Item Open Access The informal sector in urban Nigeria: Reflections from almost four decades of research(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Onyebueke, Victor; Geyer, ManieEnglish: The rapid expansion of the informal sector or economy in both developed and developing countries has not only captured the attention of researchers, development analysts, government officials and international agencies but is also prompting a massive profusion of literature on the topic. In the face of the huge plethora of informal sector literature, some scholars advocate ‘country distinction’ as a scale-bound and context-specific template for gauging both the ‘national’ and ‘global’ accounts of the informality story. The Nigerian informal sector is metaphoric of old wine in a new wineskin since ‘informality’ research in the country predates the introduction of the concept there. It was the ILO city-study mission to Lagos in 1975 that pioneered the concept but the terminology tottered until the mid-1980s before it diffused the mainstream of academic and policy circles. Ever since the structural adjustment programme (SAP) of 1986, the ascribed informal workforce has grown in leaps and bounds both in real numbers and in activity diversification. The article explores the nearly two decades’ trajectory and substance of informal sector research in Nigeria. It is significant for two reasons: no previous elaborate attempt has been made to systematically document or review the motleys of informal sector literature in Nigeria, and this evaluation promises, among other things, to provide the feedbacks necessary to avert a slide of informality research into “ritual academic blind alleys” (Flyvbjerg, 2004a: 422). Based on the foregoing, the article synthesises the knowledge gains (as well as gaps) and concludes with recommendations for future research.Item Open Access Opportunities and constraints facing informal street traders: Evidence from four South African cities(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Willemse, LodeneEnglish: A small income and the limited ability of the government and the formal business sector to provide sufficient employment opportunities to people in the economically active age categories are two of the main reasons for informal trading in South African cities. As a result, the informal street trading sector plays an important role in providing a security net for millions of the unemployed in the South African economy. However, informal street trading is not without problems. The aim of this article is to report on some of the opportunities and constraints faced by informal street traders in the central business districts (CBDs) of the four main metropolitan areas of South Africa.Item Open Access Shared Services for enhancing municipal planning efficiency in KwaZulu-Natal(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Subban, Mogie; Theron, HenkEnglish: The past five years have seen a growing trend towards the notion of a Shared Services approach to enhancing municipal efficiency in the local government sector in South Africa. In KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), this approach is receiving more focused attention. In this regard, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) is playing a pivotal role in supporting municipalities in KZN with regards to capacity-building and financial resources. The thrust of municipal service delivery is premised on its Integrated Development Plan (IDP), and the concept of Shared Services is being used as a conduit for municipalities to work towards ensuring that their organizational and developmental objectives are achieved in the short-, medium- and long-term. The article therefore examines the efficacy of municipal planning within the context of Shared Services.Item Open Access Land-use management system as a tool towards achieving low-carbon cities in South Africa(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2011) Nel, VernaEnglish: The scientific community has to a large extent accepted that climate change is no longer a vague threat but a growing reality attributed to the build-up of greenhouse gas emissions. As urban areas are responsible for a substantial component, these emissions, reducing carbon emissions from cities, can make a significant difference in reducing global emissions. This article examines the nature and extent of greenhouse gas emissions in South Africa, and explores the contribution that spatial planning, land development and regulatory aspects of the land-use management system can make towards achieving lower carbon cities.Item Open Access Spatial development frameworks on a broader scale: an integrative approach(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2012) Dewar, David; Kiepiel, JulianEnglish: Recent exposure to a number of spatial development frameworks on a broader (district and regional) scale in South Africa indicates that there is considerable confusion as to what should be the content of these plans. In addition, many fail to pay any attention to some of the most pressing developmental issues which are emerging. This article argues that regional planning in South Africa has always been based on, inter alia, four central pillars (environment, economic development, settlement and service provision), which need to be informed by insights drawn from a number of disciplinary perspectives. It identifies some of the main developmental challenges in each of these disciplinary areas which these plans should be addressing, provides some disciplinaryspecific insights into them, and then demonstrates an integrative approach to link these divergent issues.Item Open Access The transformation of municipal development planning in South Africa (post-1994): impressions and impasse(Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State, 2012) Coetzee, JohnnyEnglish: In South Africa, the government’s transformation process, which effectively started in 1994, not only resulted in a new democracy, a new governmental dispensation or a ‘new South Africa’, but it also spearheaded a significant, rapid and radical transformation of local government in South Africa, as well as a radical transformation of municipal planning. During the mid- to late 1990s, significant strides were made in South Africa by government, planning institutions and planners to develop a new more appropriate, integrated, developmental, democratic, strategic and sustainable development planning system – in line with the international planning principles and the emerging focus of the new democratic South African government. Currently, almost two decades later, the South African municipal planning system, in spite of various efforts and policy developments, is still struggling to adapt to, and implement the new principles and is not addressing the development goals in all parts of the country effectively. In order to set a basis for assessing the challenges of, and gaps in the current planning system, this article discusses the characteristics of the (new) transforming planning system and examines some of the most important efforts being made on policy level and in practice to promote the new principles. This article presents an interrogation of the gaps in the planning system in an attempt to present some propositions to address these shortcomings.