The impact of urban sprawl on the inhabitants of eThekwini municipality

Abstract

Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 12 - 15 July 2004 "Getting recognition for the importance of transport", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. Most of South African cities are expanding primarily through the development of new housing areas beyond the existing urban periphery in a relatively unplanned manner. The urban periphery thus consists of pockets of housing developments which are isolated and separated from each other by major roads or open spaces. Urban sprawl leads to an increase in the cost of providing for public infrastructure, more expensive residential and non residential development costs, reduces transportation effectiveness and choice of mode, higher energy consumption, reduction in community interaction, greater stress, destruction of the environment and inner city deterioration. The concept of one family per plot has also contributed towards the sprawling nature of our cities. Transportation and land use patterns are interdependent. Automobile orientated transport leads to higher demand for land for the construction of roads and parking than other forms of transportation and encourages low-density urban expansion. This increases per capita land development costs. Automotive transportation allowed and encouraged radical changes in the form of cities and the use of land. Cheaper land in the outer parts of cities and beyond became attractive to developers; much of it being converted from agricultural uses. Densification has to be assessed as a long term process with opportunities to restructure cities so that their ability to respond positively to challenges and proactively improve city performance. Cities are dynamic places and as issues and realities changes over time so must cities respond in order to satisfy the needs of all its inhabitants. An on-site investigation will be conducted within the study area in order to establish the impact of urban sprawl on the inhabitants. Once the information has been collated and analysed, policy guidelines and recommendations to manage urban sprawl and thereby densification of the study area will be suggested.