Caption: GIBB’s technical executive for urban and rural planning, Nico Kriek

In the 1900’s only 10% of the world’s population resided in cities, this figure escalated to more than 50% in 2010 and in 2050, 75% of the world’s population will reside in cities.  Statistics show that almost 18 000 people move into cities each day. In developing countries 60 million people move to cities on a yearly basis, and this rate of movement will continue for the next 30 years. It is anticipated that in the next 15 to 20 years many cities in Africa and Asia will double in size.

The constant influx of people into cities brings about a constant change in city dynamics and highlights the need for housing, appropriate infrastructure, job opportunities and social amenities. Thus, town planning occurs within the context of the economic, social, physical (man-made and natural) and the institutional environment.

Consulting engineering company, GIBB’s technical executive for urban and rural planning, Nico Kriek says that taking the urbanisation figures into account it can be assumed that cities house all of a country’s problems and conflicts in a confined space, basically cities are politics made visible.”

Role of the town planner

Urbanisation and the constant change in city dynamics pose many opportunities and challenges for countries and cities. The approach taken by world-class countries and cities to maximise the opportunities and minimise the challenges of urbanisation is to place a high emphasis on town planning, says Kriek.

Against this backdrop Kriek says that the role of the town planner has become increasingly important as a leader in the urban development process and should be acknowledged as such at all levels of government.

“The role of the town planner is to create appropriate and sustainable living environments, maintain and manage living environments, as well as improve and renew living environments”.

At its core, town planning aims to provide a safe, organised, and enjoyable home, work and play environment for residents. This calls for an integrated approach to town planning to maximise potential of land and achieve economies of scale. In order to achieve this, the role of town planning is to provide strategic direction to municipalities for growth and development.

Some concerns in South Africa and Africa

For town planning to bring about positive change, policies and plans adopted by municipalities should be enforced. Referring back to the speed of urbanisation in Africa, Kriek is concerned about the lack of innovation and commitment to change. Currently, in South Africa policy documents support infill development to cope with and alleviate the pressure of urbanisation. However, Kriek asks the question, “Should we not consider to stop the indefinite growth of cities and explore the possibility of building new cities to keep abreast of the rising needs of our population?”

Kriek speaks out of firsthand experience as his team planned an entire new town in Port Harcourt, Nigeria where GIBB was commissioned to look into creating a new world-class city while incorporating the old city with the new one.

Furthermore, the lines between the various professionals involved in development have become blurred and the absence of clearly defined roles has brought about a lack in professional identity. This has spilled over to how government and municipalities structure themselves, as various departments are now responsible for what is generally known as “town planning”. This has resulted in fragmentation and no clear direction for the growth and development of our country and cities.