The role of a spatial plan in integrated development planning

Abstract

Attempts to plan the development of small countries or re= gions, whose inhabitants are mostly poor and living in rural areas, requires emphasis on both spatial and sectoral aspects of development as well as on the processes of development. National and regional plans of the past three decades have often failed to include any spatial dimension, and where this has been included; it has seldom been integrated with sectoral and budget planning, thus rendering the document impotent. This paper contains some thoughts about the role of a spatial development plan and its relation to sectoral plans and regional development processes. It sets out an approach by means of which planners mignt tackle spatial planning in Southern Africa's rural areas, which include but are not confined to the Black Homelands.