Translating Ethekwini's vision of compact city into reality through integrated transportation and land use planning

Abstract

Paper presented at the 30th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 11-14 July 2011 "Africa on the Move", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

Municipalities across South Africa are challenged by the need to develop more sustainable cities and one of the means for doing this is to encourage, and plan for, the development of "compact cities" (i.e. higher density, diverse and public transport oriented and pedestrian oriented cities). All this is in the interests of achieving more efficient, more sustainable and more convenient living environments and more economically productive communities. The Ethekwini Municipality has recently explored an integrated approach to planning for the "compact city" through an urban development corridor project located in its northern metropolitan area called the Northern Urban Development Corridor (NUDC). The project was co-funded by the KwaZulu-Natal Corridor Development Programme and seeks to consolidate the infrastructure and other features of the emerging logistics platform of the City and the country which are located in this area, as well as, to redress the economic and social imbalances of historic settlement in this part of the municipal area. This paper outlines the project process that was followed, sketches the regional development context and highlights the integrated nature of the planning process. It describes the approach taken and strategies introduced by the project team to translate strategic level policy, aimed at achieving more sustainable settlement structure and form (i.e. "compact city"), into more realistic and achievable local level implementation plans. In so doing it outlines the various development and management strategies employed in the NUDC plan to achieve "compact city" objectives whilst focussing on the transportation planning techniques that were employed in the preparation of the plan.