Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Blog 5 South Africa


Identify a particular planning issue needing to be addressed in South Africa. Briefly outline how you might go about addressing the issue.

14 comments:

  1. A main planning issue in South Africa is poverty and the inequality that exists in the South African society. Although South Africa may be a middle income country in terms of per capita, however the realities of poverty, intolerable living standards remain. To solve this issue there needs to be a top down intervention to create employment opportunities and establish basic infrastructural services such as water, electricity and adequate housing. This also needs to be coupled with human capital development such as providing basic literacy, health services and sanitation. The state government will also have to actively give funds to local governments to pursue these actions.

    Harry Choi
    5540137

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  2. Inequality is a planning issue that needs to be addressed in South Africa. Historic periods of political instability and segregation during the apartheid created huge gaps between Africa blacks and whites. Recognition of this has occurred, however there is major exclusion of other groups (e.g. poor whites) from efforts to improve poverty. This could be addressed by providing a system recognising wealth redistribution, housing and health services based on actual needs, rather than on colour to attempt to mitigate for the past. Stronger control by central government could provide the funding and guidance required by local governments to carry this out effectively.

    Cassandra Ng
    5444110

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  3. Apartheid has ended, but community segregation has not. Trust is a building block of a healthy society, addressing this will require concerted effort to draw the different pieces of South African society together.

    Social integration and trust can be improved by strong cultural planning, creating positive interaction and dismantling barriers between people, whether these are physical, or mental.
    Removing racial preferences and crafting policies that reflect equality and narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor will contribute to safer areas.

    It is important to have the different communities on board so that there is a conscious effort to improve the social conditions of South Africa.

    Jade Ansted
    SN:2696304

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  4. Kate Richardson 5473245August 30, 2014 at 2:35 PM

    South Africa has experienced spatial divide since the aparthide, which segregated the population by race. The result of this discrimination includes unequal access to employment, poor quality of life and social disjunction. A political transformation and Integrated-Development-Plans were introduced to resolve these issues: IDP's involve spatial planning, urban management and upgrading informal settlements. However, poor political cooperation meant they were not well implemented and issues remain. Much of this was I believe the issue could be addressed by having national direction integrated with local scale planning. Developing a shared vision would prevent corruption and promote equality.

    Kate Richardson 5473245

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  5. An important planning issue that raises concern in South Africa is to do with racial segregation, such as through apartheid, which the inhabitants were classified and put into their racial groups’ residential areas. As a result, they had separate regulations and planning that led to unequal access to basic needs, such as housing, water and power supply. One of the solutions is IDPs (Integrated Development Plans) dealing with spatial planning, urban management and human settlement tradition at the local scale which would allow more compact and efficient environment, resulting in removal of the colour divide and equal rights.

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  6. Sarah Adams 2573646August 31, 2014 at 7:40 PM

    A significant planning issue in South Africa is the lack of adequate education due to a lack of resources and properly trained teachers.

    To address this issue the following steps could be taken:
    1. Improve government departments in charge of education by allocating more government funds to educational resources and improving teacher training colleges.
    2. Provide incentives to motivate teachers to do their job properly, and to encourage farmers to establish farm schools in remote areas so that children living nearby have the opportunity to go to school.
    3. Establish systems to ensure that resources arrive at their destination (many are dumped instead).

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  7. Spatial inequality needs to be addressed in South Africa as current patterns of property development are unsustainable and unjust. This can be achieved by developing spatial plans that link infrastructure with growth management, eg. Johannesburg’s Growth Management Strategy.
    This GMS framework can be replicated throughout SA, however these key factors should be included
    1. strong mechanisms to link theoretical direction of development to practical implementation
    2. increased investment in basic infrastructure
    3. incentives for property industry to incorporate inclusive housing in well-located areas and invest in marginalised areas
    4. engagement with public and property industry to have coherent objectives and outcomes

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  8. Inequality is a significant planning issue in South Africa. The racial divide between the major and minor groups present in South Africa has led to some groups experiencing social exclusion. Local Government should develop a framework for bottom up approach to overcome inequality and enable social inclusion. Local Government should aim to achieve the following objectives;

    1. Provide all groups with social interaction opportunities
    2. Facilitate diverse participation in local planning
    3. Embrace cultural diversity

    Achieving these objectives will increase the tolerance levels between the existing groups and will allow appreciation of the diversity of races and cultures present in South Africa to overcome the challenges of inequality.

    Rishi Buggaveeti
    ID: 5679286

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  9. Spatial Planning is an issue for South Africa, due to the lack of sufficient urban development present. Quality spatial planning can promote factors including; health, housing, and infrastructure.

    To promote spatial planning, the following must be undertaken:
    (a) Participation: Engaging local institutions and people of grassroots level in joint decision-making processes.
    (b) Consultation: Providing advice between relevant people, institutions, and organisations to draw effective conclusions.
    (c) Integration: Working in sectors with people from different backgrounds linked to the issue, in relation to law.
    (d) Policy: National and regional decisions are binding on all levels with actors, and follow processes ensuring accountability.

    Sujol Chand
    ID:5846566

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  10. A significant planning issue in need of being addressed in South Africa is that of informal settlements (slum housing). Slum housing areas are often poorly serviced with infrastructure, and harbour poverty stricken and unsanitary living conditions. This issue could be addressed through the application of the idea of social justice, as opposed to ideals and desires of rigidity and control. South Africa needs to follow the political decentralisation approach of Brazil in their intervention against flavelas. In order to address informal settlements, consultation and networking needs to take place between the informal settlement communities and authorities. A detailed analysis of their situation, needs and demands, should be articulated and addressed in the policy-making process.
    Brendan Versluys, 5918945

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  11. Baolin Zhang 5595904 张宝林September 6, 2014 at 2:45 AM

    A key challenge to planners in South Africa is the health issue, which is one of the most basic issues to human being. The life expectancy at birth is approximately 49 years in South Africa. Particularly, people are suffering from AIDS. By 2009 an estimated 5.6 million South Africans were living with AIDS/HIV (the whole population is 52 million). The issue is due to the lack of basic healthcare service. Government will improve healthcare by:
    1.Improving the investment on medical faculty to train more doctors and nurse;
    2.Renovating and upgrading hospitals and clinics;
    3.continuing to implement programmes that promote various prevention measures;
    4.HIV and AIDS Counselling and Testing (HCT) Campaign.

    Baolin Zhang 5595904

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  12. Brittney Sutherland 4993177September 8, 2014 at 3:52 PM

    Political instability and racial segregation during the apartheid period has caused issues centred around inequality. Racial segregation between ‘african blacks’ and whites’ has impacted service provision, access to jobs, education, inadequate housing, employment and has contributed to poverty. This requires an integrated top down and bottoms up approach to bridge the divide and support social inclusion and equality. This could be achieved through developing a planning system which recognises wealth distribution, supports spatial planning and provides tools to provide basic literacy, health and sanitation services to all groups. This requires support for cultural diversity and enhanced democratic participation for all racial groups.

    ReplyDelete
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