From the guest editor

Abstract

Nearly a decade after the University of Pretoria instituted a course in Town and Regional Planning in 1959, a study commissioned by the Human Sciences Research Council into ‘the Demand for and Supply of Town and Regional Planners’, found amongst other things the status of the ?edgling profession to be low, and its numbers small (180 in the country, versus approximately 9 500 Engineers, 1 000 Architects and 450 Land Surveyors)1. Today, ?fty-one years later, the situation is very different: ‘Planning’ and ‘Planners’ are crucial contributors to the national pursuit of a better life for all through (1) empowering people, (2) enabling places, (3) facilitating rapid, sustainable, shared, inclusive and equitable economic growth and (4) building robust, responsive and resilient institutions for service delivery and transformation, both in and outside the State. And, equally exciting, with humanity on the verge of its biggest transition in terms of place of settlement, social organisation and livelihood – i.e. the global transition from rural to urban livelihoods and living – ‘Planners’ stand to become even more important actors in the global pursuit of sustainable, enjoyable and meaningful human settlement.