Town and Regional Planning

Transit-oriented development, development corridors and economic access: The Louis Botha development corridor’s impact

Bradley van der Walt — 2023-12-06

Apartheid’s impact on South Africa’s urban spatial patterns persists, resulting in spatial fragmentation and inequality. Unsustainable urban sprawl exacerbates challenges related to economic access. To address said challenges, the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) implemented the Corridors of Freedom (CoF) initiative, emphasising economic inclusion. Amid substantial public sector investment, the initiative prioritised the Louis Botha Development Corridor (LBDC) to create a dense, mixed-use, walkable urban environment. However, limited research investigated the LBDC’s impact from an economic access perspective. This study investigates how the LBDC has improved economic access and provides policy insights for urban areas in South Africa, within the conceptual framework of transit-oriented development (TOD) and development corridors. A quantitative research approach using Network Analyst reveals that the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system increased economic access by 16% compared to other LBDC transport services. This study demonstrates the potential of the dual implementation of TOD and development corridors to foster economic access in the study area and concludes with policy recommendations centred on cross-departmental collaboration, feasibility studies and risk allocation, location-based criteria and transit accessibility targets, transit-oriented design guidelines, and integrated transport systems.

Capturing landscape identity in the context of urban renewal: The case of Kisumu City, Kenya

Edwin Koyoo — 2023-12-06

Urban renewal is undertaken to respond to the physical deterioration of built forms in postcolonial Africa, with renewal works affecting current cities’ identities. Globalisation trends have cities striving to be unique, with a growing awareness of the importance of identity. Landscape identity is adopted in this study as the overall term that includes other identities and is interpreted as residents’ perception of the special features that help them differentiate between places. This study postulates that a city’s uniqueness lies in its landscape identity and that this should not be neglected. The article investigates the concept of landscape identity in the context of a case study of the city of Kisumu, Kenya, which has recently undergone urban renewal. The aim of the study was to identify the main aspects that constitute the formation of landscape identity in Kisumu. A mixed-methods approach was used, which included field investigations, a survey with 384 participants, and four key informant interviews. The survey results revealed that the city’s location along Lake Victoria, which represented an element of the natural environment, gave it the highest rating. The proximity to Lake Victoria and views of the hills were regarded as the most outstanding features of the city, while the lake was the highest ranked element with symbolic meaning that evoked individual and collective memories. These findings suggest that the urban landscape identity in Kisumu is strongly connected to features of the natural environment.

Locational patterns of warehousing facilities in the City of Cape Town municipality

Masilonyane Mokhele — 2023-12-06

The proliferation of globalisation and e-commerce has led to an increasing number of warehousing facilities in cities and regions, which may contribute to the negative externalities of air pollution, noise pollution, and traffic congestion. Despite the close relationship between logistics and different sectors of the economy, there is a paucity of literature on the connection between warehousing and different land-use categories. Focusing on the City of Cape Town municipality in South Africa, the article aims to analyse the locational patterns of warehousing facilities relative to the transport infrastructure and the industrial, retail, and office land use. The study was based on a descriptive quantitative design wherein kernel density was employed in ArcGIS to analyse the locational patterns of warehousing facilities across the municipality. Data on the floor area of the industrial, retail, and office land use were classified into several ranges to ascertain the intensity of the land use relative to the concentration of the warehousing facilities. It was discovered that warehousing facilities cluster in the highly accessible areas within the municipality, namely the port’s environs, in the vicinity of the main junctions, and adjacent to arterial roads, which provide connections to the national roads. The areas with the highest concentration of warehousing facilities also accommodated the most significant percentage of industrial and retail land use. It is recommended that the existing warehousing clusters be prioritised in future warehousing development or consolidation, and that the future increase of the industrial and retail land use within the City of Cape Town municipality include a commensurate increase of space for warehousing facilities or vice versa.

Evaluating urban land-use demarcation and implementation for various urban functions using GIS and survey-based data: The case of Abuja City, Nigeria

Evidence Enoguanbhor — 2023-12-06

Urban planning implementation is a crucial process of urban planning to improve, attain, and maintain urban sustainability globally. However, the implementation process for land use demarcated for various urban functions is being confronted by various challenges in the Global South. This study aims to integrate questionnaire surveys of urban and regional planning experts and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in order to investigate the level of urban planning implementation of land use demarcated for various urban functions to support strategic actions for urban sustainability. Using Abuja, Nigeria, as a case study, an urban plan, urban impervious surface map, and questionnaire data were collected, and an integrated method analysis, including qualitative and quantitative (descriptive, Euclidean Distance Modelling, and Linear Regression Modelling) was deployed. Key findings show that the vast majority of experts in urban and regional planning perceive the implementation of all land use for various urban functions to be between moderate and very high levels, except that of industrial land use perceived to be between moderate and low levels. GIS findings show that, while land uses demarcated for transportation, commercial, educational, and institutional functions are positively and significantly associated with the urban impervious surface, industrial land use and urban green spaces are negatively associated. Findings show that abuse of official privileges by distorting master plans, political interference, compromise by public servants, and inadequate funding are key challenges for urban planning implementation on land use demarcated for various urban functions. The findings in this study are crucial for strategic decision makers in urban planning to improve the implementation process for various urban land-use functions and urban sustainability in the Global South, in general, and in sub-Saharan Africa, in particular.

Assessing economic vulnerability in South African municipalities: A focus on mining-dependent regions using the Economic Complexity Index

Riaan Rossouw — 2023-12-06

South Africa’s historical reliance on mineral resources has established thriving towns and settlements, sustaining households for decades. However, the decline in demand for these resources and mine closures pose significant threats to the future of these areas, creating vulnerabilities in towns and their dependent regions. This article addresses concerns about the vulnerability of certain South African municipalities, particularly those heavily dependent on mining. Employing an Economic Complexity Index (ECI), the study identifies and classifies vulnerable mining towns and regions. The methodology involves applying the concept of economic vulnerability, utilising sub-national economic and trade data to determine the complexity of municipal economies. In addition, geospatially linked data is employed to identify mining-dependent areas at risk. The results highlight municipalities with low economic complexity, signalling the need for targeted interventions and emphasising the importance of economic diversification in mitigating risks. The study not only serves as a warning for current planning, but also lays the groundwork for future research and evidence-based policymaking to ensure the sustainability and resilience of regional economies in South Africa.

From the editors

Abraham Matamanda — 2023-12-06

Our settlements are under constant threat, struggling to keep up with a changing world, a world with everchanging demands, both from our citizens and our ideals of what a successful settlement should be. Specifically, geo-political forces and factors including migration, war and civil unrest, pandemics and the throes of climate change have come to affect human settlements in multiple ways. Professor Greg Clark (Future Cities and New Industries, HSBC), explains, “In the recent past, we thought a successful city was a city with a major cluster of office jobs in the centre, suburban housing on the fringes, and an attractive set of amenities, facilities, services and public space” (Goodman, 2023). However, the priorities of citizens and town and regional planners are changing, we are setting a new standard for our settlements, expecting more from it, for this living organism to deliver more, be more...

Rethinking urban risk and resettlement in the Global South, edited by Cassidy Johnson, Garima Jain, and Allan Lavell

Gabriel Camară — 2023-12-06

Facing disproportionately many mankind-induced risks and natural hazards, low-income populations in the Global South are also exposed to another threat, namely resettlement and relocation processes, although they are meant to reduce the risk of disaster. On many occasions, national and local governments as well as international funding agencies regard these as good measures. The problem is: “While this may reduce people’s exposure to hazard, it can lead to numerous other problems, which can leave people more vulnerable or worse off than they were before [given the fact that it is a difficult task to] “reconstitute their livelihoods and their infrastructural, economic, social, cultural and psychological foundations”.

Enkele Suid-Afrikaanse beplanningsvraagstukke / Some South African planning issues by Das Steÿn

Kgosi Mocwagae — 2023-12-06

South African planning issues are always a point of discussion considering the colonial and apartheid history of the country. There are different viewpoints on such planning issues, about which Steÿn writes from the position of an Afrikaner. The book is bilingual and consists of eight chapters (including introduction and reflection) on issues such as the influence of values of thinking; sound planning: wealth and poverty; confronting power to stop corruption; mercantilism and colonialism that have a grip on state capture; lessons from Afrikaners’ urbanisation and acquisition of political power, and different values to alternative approaches to the land debate in South Africa.