Reinventing Planning: Critical Reflections

Abstract There is a growing acceptance in international development circles of the contribution a revitalised planning canmake to addressing key urban challenges. Current expectations that planning can play roles in managing the growth of cities in ways that promote their sustainability, inclusiveness and liveability, contrasts with past perceptions of planning as an irrelevant discipline obsessed with spatial ordering and control. This paper considers whether the new forms of planning can address the challenges facing cities, with particular reference to the South African context. It does so through providing an overview of the shift in thinking about planning, and reflecting on the new agendas for planning as well as on some of their silences. It argues that the new approaches need to be understood in terms of contemporary urban and planning theories which are rethinking the nature of planning and its relationship to power and institutions, andwhich viewcities as complex, dynamic places, embodying multiple interests and spatialities. These perspectives can help to enrich our understanding of the new approaches to planning, and to avoid ineffectiveness or a return to the negative elements of modernist planning of the past. The paper demonstrates the argument through focusing on some of the recent themes that have received attention in the contemporary international agendas for planning: the cross-cutting themes of sustainability and gender; the infrastructural turn in planning; and the ambiguities of the compact city. While these are quite particular concerns, they highlight the complexities of institutionalising the new approaches to planning, and ways of thinking about spatial planning

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Rethinking spatial planning

In South Africa, broad spatial frameworks have become a standard form of planning, but have been critiqued on various grounds. This paper focuses on three lines along which spatial planning may be reconsidered. First, it argues that it is important for planners to engage with the complexity of the socio-spatial dynamics of the city. Secondly, it suggests that planners need a deeper understanding of urban economic space and a more conscious consideration of the way in which planning relates to markets. Thirdly, spatial planning could be enhanced by a stronger link to infrastructure planning.&nbsp

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https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/1172/thumbnail.jp

Spatial inequalities and policies in South Africa: place-based or people-centred?

SA has shifted from spatial rebalancing policies to a mix of place based and space neutral approaches. There has been much experimentation without an overarching policy framework or vision. Both the space neutral and spatial re-balancing approaches are difficult to justify in SA. The structure and character of the economy are neglected in spatial policy debates. The social, political and institutional environment shapes prospects for spatial policies.There is a robust international debate about how best to tackle spatial inequalities within nations and regions. The paper discusses three contrasting approaches: spatial rebalancing, space-neutral and place-based. They vary in the scope and purpose of government policy, from redistributing economic activity, to facilitating aggregate growth, and realising the economic potential of less-developed regions. The paper applies this framework to analyse South Africa’s five decades of experience of spatial policies. The context is one of stark spatial inequalities, uneven institutional capabilities, and mounting political pressure for change. Under apartheid, spatial targeting was highly instrumental and played a role in reproducing social divisions at considerable financial cost. Since the end of apartheid there has been much experimentation with spatial initiatives, but without any overarching vision or policy framework. A cautionary conclusion is that there are risks of extravagant spending in marginal locations when political pressures are strong, public institutions are weak and economic disciplines are lacking. Another is that place-based policies have potential, but require stronger vertical and horizontal policy alignment to stand any chance of tackling entrenched spatial divides. Enhanced local institutions involving private sector and community stakeholders are also essential for spatial policies to respond to the specific challenges and opportunities encountered in each place.BM2017http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900616300897?via%3Dihu

Re-directing developers: New models of rental housing to re-shape the post-apartheid city?

The role of developers in shaping the built environment has attracted considerable critical attention, often focussing on the overbearing role of powerful, globalised actors in urban development. But there is also evidence that regulatory pathways shape outcomes. Through the case of a large-scale initiative in Johannesburg, South Africa, the “Corridors of Freedom”, we consider whether there is potential for developmental benefit to be gained from redirecting developer interest to create new kinds of built form. Linked to investment in a bus rapid transit system and agile bureaucracy, a model of closely managed low-income rental housing is emerging, although there is evidence of some displacement of the poorest from more informal housing. The study suggests the importance of reassessing the political complexion and potential of state–developer co-operation in urban development, and of looking more closely at the diversity of developers as well as the array of forms of finance mobilised for urban development beyond financialisation

Employer perceptions of planning education in South Africa

The changing nature of planning has raised questions about what skills, competencies, values and literacies should be the focus of planning education, both internationally and in South Africa. This article reports on a survey of planning employers which questioned their perceptions of the relevance of planning education and of the appropriateness of the Bloemfontein competencies, a list of competencies drawn up by South African planning schools in 2000. The study found that planning employers largely felt that planning education is relevant, and that the Bloemfontein competencies are appropriate. As is the case internationally, creativity, problem solving abilities and critical thinking are highly valued, and communicative and organizational capacities are increasingly seen as key issues. Concerns were raised however over the competence of graduates in these realms, raising questions again about the focus of planning education

Integrated Area Development Projects: Working Towards Innovation

There is growing interest in integrated area development projects as a way of responding to special problem areas, including ameliorating the geographic concentration of social and economic disadvantage. This is expressed through the move towards ‘joined up’ government and development ‘in the round’ at the local level; and new forms of area-based initiatives aimed at neighbourhood renewal and urban economic development. The growing influence of sustainability concepts and developmental approaches to housing and urban development is also leading to multi-faceted projects that incorporate economic, social and environmental dimensions. In the South African context, the interest in integrated area development manifests in the major urban renewal projects that are presently being mounted, and reflects a search for ways of achieving integrated development that are more grounded than the grand scale planning associated with Integrated Development Plans and Spatial Development Frameworks

Gender in Planning and Urban Development

Gender-sensitive urban planningThere is increasing evidence that women and men experience cities in different ways. Therefore gender-sensitive urban planning is needed. However, like other built environment occupations, the planning profession has traditionally been ‘gender blind’. The Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP) has been a strong advocate for ‘reinventing planning’ (Farmer et al. 2006). CAP argues for ‘planning as an inclusive process ... rooted in concerns for equity’ (CAP 2008). Gender equality is one dimension of this kind of inclusive planning. This position, which was endorsed by the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum in 2006, also reflects the Commonwealth’s strong commitment to gender equality. So why does gender matter in urban planning? And, what might ‘gendered planning practice’ hope to achieve?Commonwealth Secretaria

Spatial planning, infrastructure and implementation: Implications for planning school curricula

Infrastructure plays key roles in shaping the spatial form of the city at a macro- and a more local scale, and it influences the sustainability, efficiency and inclusiveness of cities and local areas. Linking infrastructure and spatial planning is therefore critical. Wide-ranging sets of knowledge and skills are required to enable planners to make these links, from technical knowledge of different types of infrastructure delivery systems, institutions and finance, to normative dimensions, such as sustainability, inclusion, liveability, efficiency, and their spatial implications, to socio-political, governance and institutional dimensions, such as the politics of decision-making, community participation, and negotiation. A matrix of knowledge and skills is produced, and the way these fields of study have been taken up in the undergraduate/honours planning programme at the University of the Witwatersrand is explored. The teaching methodologies and approaches which might be used to address these issues are discussed