Abstract:
Recent developments in South Africa in the field of planning, the domain of plans, and the
world of planners, would suggest that planning and plans are viewed in a positive light,
the local planning profession is in good shape, and these instruments and actors can play a
meaningful role in the development and transformation of the country. In this article, these
assumptions were explored through the lens of the attributes and convictions that gave birth
to and drove the early ‘town planning movement’ in the industrial cities of North America and
Western Europe. A key theme in this analysis was the role played in the early town planning
movement by compassion, passion and care for progressive change, and the conviction that it
was possible to do so through the application of reason, technical ability and ingenuity. Based
on this analysis, the argument was put forward that, while planning, plans and planners
in South Africa could potentially play a crucial part in the crafting of a different country, a
number of crucial changes would need to be made. The challenges associated with effecting
these changes were subsequently explored, and the article concluded with a proposal for
doing so by tapping into the metaphors as deployed, and the drive and passion as displayed
by those in the early town planning movement.
Description:
This article forms part of
the special collection on
‘Doing urban public theology
in South Africa: Visions,
approaches, themes and
practices towards a new
agenda’ in HTS Teologiese
Studies/Theological Studies
Volume 70, Issue 3, 2014.
