RESOURCE PRODUCED BY CSIR BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY & CSIR ROADS AND TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY
RESOURCE PRODUCED BY CSIR BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY & CSIR ROADS AND TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY |
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Office space planning and management toolkit Family Health/Skills Training Centres for Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality Project in Jamaica assists in creating safer living environments for the poor CSIR researcher presents paper on Africa's development future Sports stadia from the perspective of the FIFA World Cup World conference tackles sanitation issues Forensic fire investigation update E N Q U I R I E S |
The CoJ, as part of the Gauteng City Region, plays a key role, not only in the South African context, but also in the context of Africa. The City has successfully overcome the challenges of amalgamation and financial viability and runs a financial viable institution, to which its annual budget of R17 billion for 2005/2006 bears testimony. However, the City with its population of 3.22 million (in 2001) is also faced with serious development challenges, such as (1) the pressures of urbanisation and increasing household formation; (2) a staggering 650000 of its population being unemployed and 640000 not economically active (in 2001); (3) pressing operational and capital-investment issues, such as regular power outages, water-supply "dry-ups", road maintenance, inner city decay (despite significant renewal in parts), the enormous Soweto-upgrading programme, the Alexandria urban renewal challenges, the 2010 World Cup Soccer, integrated transportation planning, backlogs in water service provision, sanitation and refuge collection; (4) the apartheid legacy of unequal distribution of limited resources and access to opportunities; (5) the challenges of sustaining and even building out the huge contribution to the national and regional economy; (6) the need for appropriate and innovative technologies, instruments and processes to support integrated infrastructure investment, strategic, participative and responsive urban planning and development programmes, mixed use and higher density housing schemes, incorporating employment opportunities and housing which meet the needs of the urban poor; and finally (7) novel forms of consultative and empowering 'peoples planning' practices. Since its creation less than five years ago the CoJ has been at the forefront of engaging and finding innovative ways of addressing these [and other] challenges through the development of innovative instruments and technologies to guide municipal development and governance. With its double-barrelled approach of first preparing a long-term 2030-vision and then using (1) the legally prescribed IDP and (2) a set of annual business planning and performance management instruments to steer the City closer to this vision, it has broken new ground, and set an example for others to follow. Despite its success at shifting the boundaries of municipal development planning, it has not just been a plain-sailing experience. Challenges encountered include (1) the relationship between the IDP and longer-term strategy formulation and sector planning; (2) the coordination and integration of the various sector plans and activities and services in the city; (3) intergovernmental and cross-boundary planning, integration, coordination and alignment; (4) making more meaningful links between the IDP and the 2030-vision; (5) public participation in the process of IDP-preparation and review; and (6) the nature, focus and content of IDP-review. While the project was specifically aimed at addressing these concerns within the legal requirements, there was also an urgent call to move beyond IDP as [simply] a legally required plan and process for development planning and governance, towards exploring its role as one of the critical instruments and technologies to strategically direct investment and service delivery in the city over a medium term period in a very complex metro setting. In order to ensure a collaborative working and learning process, the team from the City and the project team developed a working style of joint conceptualisation and review. In addition to this (1) a reference group was set up consisting of DPLG, GTZ, the City of Cape Town, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, Buffalo City Municipality and representatives from a number of departments in the CoJ; (2) the CSIR initiated horizontal learning sessions between the CoJ and the metropolitan municipalities of Tshwane and eThekwini; and (3) lessons and good practices were recorded to be shared with other metropolitan and larger local municipalities and also inform the applicability of IDP related policy and legislation for these types of municipalities. After more than five months of intense and often heated work, a set of proposals were generated which highlight the strategic role that an IDP can play in assisting various role players (with different realities and agendas) to navigate resource allocation in a strategic way, and to do so within a range of highly complex, contentious and flexible systems and processes over different time horizons and in one of [South] Africa's most important city regions and metropolitan governments. Through the proposed more innovative use of the range of planning and budgeting instruments and technologies the City has at its disposal, it is believed that the City will continue to play a leading role in municipal planning and governance in South Africa. In contributing towards the project, the project team also made use of recent research done by the CSIR, such as: (1) a desktop review of similar and supporting instruments and technologies in the metropolitan governments Johannesburg, Tshwane and eThekwini (Elsona van Huyssteen, 2005); and (2) a study conducted by Maria Coetzee, Cathy Meiklejohn, Helga Goss and Orienda Maitin during 2004 on long-term City Development Strategies in the local and international arena. The project is nearing completion, with the proposals being workshopped and refined in joint working sessions with key stakeholders in the City. Some of the key areas of intervention and innovation contained in these proposals are:
The provisional outcomes of this project resonate strongly with the view of Andrew Borainne, former CEO of the South African Cities Network (SACN) that cities need bold and proactive interventions in which each stakeholder is prepared "...to think outside the box of their traditional powers and functions, and work collectively to accomplish agreed city strategies". They also illustrate the critical role of strategic planning instruments and capacity, strong leadership, trans-disciplinary approaches and the value of a commitment by a range of stakeholders to (1) not only recognise the pitfalls and challenges of current development directions, but also (2) be appreciative and inspired about what can be done, (3) rigorously engage each other, (4) be willing to make [often difficult] changes and (5) take committed action towards a shared vision. Download the following documents in pdf format: Related links: Meet the team:
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E M A I L
Within a year the first cycle of IDPs prepared in terms of the Municipal Systems Act, 2000, will come to an end and a new cycle will commence. With this in mind the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), as part of its desire to learn from the first cycle and continuously improve its performance, expressed the need to revisit its current development-planning model. On request of the City, a small team from the University of Pretoria (UP), Department Town and Regional Planning and CSIR, Boutek, was commissioned by GTZ and the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) to support the City's Corporate Planning Unit (CPU) to critically evaluate and re-engineer its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and associated processes. The project team consisted of Prof Mark Oranje (UP), Elsona van Huyssteen (CSIR) and Josiah Lodi (UP).
