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A look at urban design precinct plans
SPATIAL PLANNING A LOOK AT URBAN DESIGN PRECINCT PLANS
The City of Ekurhuleni recently approved a number of urban design precinct plans, which are intended to restructure the municipal area into a series of more efficient, inclusive and productive urban spaces.
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Urban design precinct plans are spatial planning tools used to guide the future development and capital investment in a precinct or region. They are developed by the City Planning Department and are made up of proposals and recommendations for developing precincts as well as addressing and rectifying the flaws and inefficiencies in our current urban structure, which are largely the result of apartheid’s social engineering policies.
The City of Ekurhuleni’s Metropolitan Spatial Planning Development Framework (MSPDF) recommends that the City should adopt an ‘urban design approach’ in all its efforts towards the restructuring of the urban environment.
The urban design precinct plan makes proposals and recommendations for the particular precinct, in line with the Metropolitan Spatial Planning Development Framework (MSDF), as well as other regulatory frameworks, such as: • projects and initiatives that facilitate new relationships between the public and private realms and serve as catalysts for various role players to participate in the implementation of the precinct plan.
• land-use framework, which reflects on land uses and activities supported in the precinct • development guidelines, in respect of built forms • public space guidelines • movement and circulation framework, which specifies, among others, different types of access and movement routes, non-motorised transport routes and facilities, etc. CITY-APPROVED PLANS During the 2020/21 financial year, 18 urban design precinct plans that were developed by the City Planning Department between the financial years of 2014/2015 and 2019/2020, were approved by the City Manager in terms of Section 18(2) of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Spatial Planning and Land Use Management By-law. These urban design precinct plans are as follows: • Actonville-Wattville Rail Reserve
Precinct Plan
• Aero-Blaaupan Precinct Plan • Benoni CBD Precinct Plan • Boksburg CBD Precinct Plan • Brakpan CBD Precinct Plan • Bredell Precinct Plan • Dries Niemandt Precinct Plan • Dunnottar Precinct Plan • Germiston Lake-Rand Airport
Precinct Plan • Kathoza Junction Precinct Plan • Kempton Park CBD Precinct Plan • Kwa-Thema CBD Precinct Plan • Primrose Precinct Plan • Springs CBD Precinct Plan • Terenure BRT Station Precinct Plan • Thiteng BRT Station Precinct Plan • Thelle Mogoerane
Hospital Precinct Plan • Wattville-Leeupan
Precinct Plan. towards the bottom of the pyramid, there are implementation components such as land-use policies, town-planning schemes, site development plans (SDPs) and building plans, where it is intended to directly influence these implementation components.
HOW DO URBAN DESIGN PRECINCT PLANS WORK? As stated previously, urban design precinct plans are intended to promote spatial transformation at the precinct level, with due regard for the local circumstances and context of the particular precinct, and they pursue the above objective in two main ways.
First, they are formulated to serve as a formal spatial planning tool that can guide future development and capital investment in the precinct, as part of the overall package of plans of the municipality.
Second, they serve to provide a focused framework that can function as a localised, precinct-specific implementation platform for the City of Ekurhuleni’s MSDF.
Figure 1 Package of plans that influence planning and development
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
HOW DO URBAN DESIGN PRECINCT PLANS FIT INTO LONG-TERM PLANNING? Figure 1 reflects the package of plans that influence planning and development in the City of Ekurhuleni and where the urban design precinct plans fit into this package of plans. The diagram indicates the following: national development policies, such as the
Millennium Goals (Sustainability Goals) and
National Development Plan (NDP) located at the top followed by provincial and municipal policies, such as the provincial and municipal
Growth and Development
Strategies, IDP, municipal and regional SDFs, and local SDFs, where the urban design precinct plans are also located
GROWTH MANAGEMENT STRATEGY CAPITAL INVESTMENT FRAMEWORK AEROTROPOLIS
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN, NATIONAL SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVE
GAUTENG GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, GAUTENG SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
EKURHULENI INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PLAN (IDP) METROPOLITAN SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
REGIONAL SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS (RSDF) – REGION A-F
LOCAL SFD, URBAN DESIGN PRECINCT PLANS LEGISLATION/PLANNING INFORMANTS E.G SPLUMA, MSA, ORDINANCES
PUBLIC SECTOR
URBAN DESIGN POLICY, LAND USE POLICIES, EKURHULENI TOWN PLANNING SCHEME 2014, SDP & BP
