Land-Use Management to Support Sustainable Settlements in South Africa

This book provides a theoretical and practical foundation needed to change the practice of land use management.

Autorentext

Verna Nel is a Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She had extensive experience in local government, including as Chief Town Planner in the Centurion Town Council and the City of Tshwane's City Planning Function, before joining the university. She has published on spatial governance, urban resilience, secondary cities, and the impacts of mining on communities. She is a consultant on land use management.

Stuart Paul Denoon-Stevens has a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning and is Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University (UK). Initially working as a planner in development control, since 2015 he has been working as an academic, conducting research on topics such as development control, housing, spatial planning for mining towns, and planning practice and education. He has been involved in high-level policy and legislative work relating to planning legislation and spatial planning in South Africa and has previously co-led a major NRF-ESRC project focused on planning education and practice in South Africa.

Inhalt

1. Introduction

   Change required

Land use management

Argument for change

Changing values

Democracy in South Africa

Local government transition

Complexity and general resilience

Structure of the book

2. Evolution of land use management

   Early rules and generative codes

   Regulation based on zoning codes

   First zoning controls: France, 1810

   German approach

   Spread of zoning

Brief overview of the evolution of land use management in South Africa

Early beginnings

Influence of the discovery of diamonds and gold

First provincial planning legislation

Planning legislation 1900-1994

Situation prior to 1994

1994-2013: From development control to land use management

Development Facilitation Act, 1995

Draft Green Paper

2001 White Paper on Spatial Planning and Land Use Management

Land use management bills, draft provincial legislation and SPLUMA

Current land use management system

3. Planning theory and its applicability to the Global South

   Introduction

   Procedural Northern planning theories

   Modernism and planning

   Collaborative and communicative planning

   Critical Northern theories

   Marxism, power, and planning

   Diffusion of power

   Social justice and inclusion

Spatial theories: Smart growth, new urbanism, transit-oriented development, and liveability

Sustainability

Northern theories in an African context

Towards theories for planning in Africa

Sustainability

Tactical urbanism

Informality

Informal settlements

Informality and livelihoods

Complexity

Conclusion

4. Why the current system is inadequate for the South African context

   Introduction

Problems of African land use management

Inequality and exclusion

Overview of the inadequacies of the current system

Traditional areas

Lack of recognition of African cultures

Urban areas

Informal livelihoods

Informal settlements

Backyard dwellings

Sprawling, poor quality, and unsustainable urban form

Control-orientated

Causes

Power, politics, and corruption

Conflicting and competing rationalities

Customary land tenure and contested leadership

Capacity, bureaucracy, and the aspirations' mismatch

5. Principles and options for a land use management system to support sustainable and equitable settlements

   Introduction

   Principles

   Acknowledge and work with change

   Land use regulations can change

   Regenerative sustainability

   Social justice and inclusion

   Economic development and livelihoods

   Context matters

   Other land use management systems

   Restrictive conditions and covenants in title deeds

   Plan-based controls

   Site development plans

   Form-based codes

   Performance standards

   Nomocracy

Basket of rights

Discretionary system

Conclusion

6. A Southern approach to sustainable land use management

   Simplifying the system

   Current system

   Options to simplify the system

   Rural regions

   Natural areas

   Commercial farming areas

   Traditional rural areas

   Urban spaces

   Small towns

   Peri-urban regions

   Townships

   Informal settlements

   Suburbia

   Central areas

   Special areas

   Industrial

   Renewable energy

   Mining

7. Conclusion

Glossary