The History of Planning in South Africa

Planning is a field of study or technical process that focuses on the improvement of human settlement through the development and design of different land uses and the built environment using policy according to the diversity of needs. The practice of planning as a profession is fundamentally about forming agreements between people and communities, as well as crafting the interface between space and society, into seams that can knit urban areas together, in pursuit of Friedmann termed ‘the good city’ (2000). Planners in South Africa are tasked with puting the good of the community first, making it a people-centred profession is entrenched in social determinism. This nuanced view of the profession in South Africa has been shaped by unique historical, political and social realities prevalent most importantly, in the 20th century. Before we track these realities on a timeline, let us acquaint ourselves with the conditions of cities in the eras preceeding the era of interest to us that led to the emergence of planning in South Africa. There are at least two major sources of planning in South Africa, during the nineteenth century. These stimuli came in, in efforts to restrict the movement of black people in urban settlements (Mabin & Smit, 1997). The second stimuli were the regulation of private subdivision of land for urban uses in the late nineteenth century. In the 1880s and 1890s, the government was faced with uncoordinated urban growth and costly results of private development. Through the recognition of the townships law in 1894, the Free State was the first state to establish an apparatus to control urban form after the 1899-1902 war. After this, there was the establishment of new local authorities that were signed by the British regime to remake the urban environment. People with British experience were appointed to be the ones to drive the process of reconstruction, including Lionel Curtis who had experience and knowledge of restructuring from London. Now, moving into the 20th century, in 1905, the government took control over township establishment or subdivision of land for use. The newer boards were coming in planning Curtis started to face powerful opposition from those who wanted to capitalize from land development. Due to applicants requiring land for different uses developers started consulting with quantity surveyors. While the power to reconstruct was still limited, planning institutions were then created. During the whole process, planning was still focused on the technical side. After the 1914-1918 war town planning was used as a weapon to accomplish social improvements. In Johannesburg, an architects’ association proposed the formation of an organization that aimed to push for planning. Local authorities undertook planning in 1924. The municipalities were responsible for controlling the technical side of planning such as land use, density, building size, and position. Throughout the evolution of planning in South Africa, Britain was seen as the center of intellectual that guide the processes of planning. Despite the economic depressions of the 1920s and 1930s and the disruption of World War I, the economy had entered the early stages of industrialisation. Urban development became a more complex matter and, following the inclusion of town planning as a provincial function in 1925, the Transvaal in 1931 introduced the first provincial ordinance to add land use regulation to township establishment as the second element of urban planning. The 1931 Transvaal ordinance was followed by similar ordinances in the other three provinces. After the introduction of the 1931 Transvaal ordinance, municipalities somewhat slowly prepared town planning schemes during the 1930s but, with the intervention of World War II, the first town planning scheme only came into being in 1946. The relevance of this political structure under which town planning operated lies in the way in which the purpose of urban planning was understood at that time. The understanding

Planning Today

was shaped by social attitudes, economic circumstances and the legal framework in which urban development took place. After World War II and for the next 20 years, South African cities consisted of a single central business area – the CBD1, well-defined industrial areas, and surrounding residential suburbs. The conventional wisdom was that any growth in economic activity was already provided for in the town planning scheme which was seen as the plan for future land use. The only “planning” that was necessary was for the creation of new residential areas to accommodate population growth and for land use control. This was taken care of by the process of township establishment.

The present day planning landscape in South Africa is characterised by a mix of planning approaches that are guided by the principles of inclusive development, sustainable growth, and spatial transformation with the aim of addressing historical inequalities. Plans are articulated in national development plans (NDPs), spatial development frameworks (SDFs), integrated development plans (IDPs), development agendas, and other similar documents. Overall, integrated development planning, spatial rebalancing, public participation, and land-use management are central features of planning in South Africa. The spatial landscape is on the other has is still heavily influenced by Western concepts like Radburn planning and Howard’s Garden City (Brocket, 1996), because planners continue to be enamored with European planning tools which no longer work in South Africa’s reformed polity. This has contributed to the inadvertent reproduction of inequitable apartheid era spatial patterns. Post-apartheid people-led morphogenic processes such as Africanisation, assimilation and more importantly, appropriation are attempting to mediate this (Sihlongonyane, 2020).

1AD

South AfricA’S firSt inhAbitAntS

The Khoisan

Traditional hunter gatherer society arrived from Botwana and settled in south western South Africa . They were nomadic and lived in disposable dome-like structures and practised extensive pastoral agriculture

Approx. 401 BC - Approx. 1300 AC

Classical and Medieval Europe

• Focused on a fortress abbey

• Planned for military purposes

• With organic growth focused on walking around

Approx. 10 000BC - Approx. 3000 BCE

Neolithic Era

• Stone tools were created

• People started farming and producing food

• Permanent settlement around agriculture

Approx. 1000 BC - Approx. 500 AC

Pre-classical or Epic Age

• Examples of deliberately planned and managed cities

• Introduction of the grid pattern with hierarchy of streets

1650 - Approx. 1980

Enlightenment Europe/ Baroque Planning/ 19th Century Industrialisation

• Attempts at redesigning their capital cities as a showpiece

• Disasters were often a major catalyst for planned reconstruction

1900 - 1910

Approx. 1000 BC - Approx. 500 AC

Renaissance Europe

• Cities in fortified walls were still focused

• Cities no longer grew organically

1795

1886

1893 - 1910 City Beautiful Movement

• Aimed to build large structures to attract more tourists

• Lead by middle and upper classes

• Meant to deal with rising issues about sanitation, over population and crime

1913

Black Land Act

Prohibited blacks from owning or renting land outside of ‘reserves’

1945 - 2016

Greenbelt City Highways

• Called a post-world consumer world

• Families moved away from city centres in a political economic period.

• 20th century industrialisation made it possible for families to buy big houses

1950s

Rational Conprehensive Planning

• The approach emerged as a response to mpacts of industrialization such as pollution and congestion and produced masterplans

1923

Native Urban Areas Act

1st phase of racial segregation, seperate development and fragmented growth in SA

1945 - 1978

Post WWII Urban Reconstruction

• Industrialization grew its momentum and led to rapid urbanization and second wave of northward expansion in Johannesburg

1959

Incremental Planning

1970s

Radical Planning

TIt emerged to critique that planning was being centralized around decisions made by those in power.

• The approach emerged to fight the power structures

•

1976 - 1989

Widespread mobilisation and extended uprisings

1981

Communicative Planning

Emerged to promote communication and mutual understanding between disagreeing parties

1991

Group Areas Act Repealed Townships upgraded and integrated

2013

2007

1981

Promotive Planning

Johannesburg Expansion

Expansion of residential suburbs north of the ridge

1905 - 1940

Garden City Movement

• Aimed to divide cities into sections by zoning

• It was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the UK. Garden cities were intended self-contained communities

1910

Independence

Becomes a Union with 4 provinces

1935 - 1945

World War II

This increased work opportunities and further stimulates African migration into towns.

1940 - 1970

Radiant City Movement

• Aimed for efficiency

1948

Apartheid Begins

Rolls out laws that pull South African cities apart

1950 Group Areas Act

1965

Advocacy Planning

Emerged to advocate for the marginalized groups that are were not considered in planning processes.

1973

Transactive Planning

• This approach emerged as a critique to Rational approach

• Friedman stated that planning is political and should consider different actors in society

1975 - 2016

Post Modern, Globalisation and Sustainability

• It emerged to empower previously disadvantagedgroups, dismantle oppressive paternalistic structures

1994 -2004

Integrated Development Plans adopted by all municipalities

The first national planning law, Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA, 16 of 2013) is promulgated

• Aimed at decreasing sprawl by adopting more sustainable and integrated urban systems

Democratisation of South Africa

Nelson Mandela wins the first democratic election and the market opened up. Reformative laws were promulgated and new policies such as RDP, SDI, IDZ were implemented to construct a new spatial order and foster economic development Migration significantly increased and cities began to urbanise rapidly and there was also white flight. Municipal boundaries were redemarcated.