Contents
of August 2007
COMMENT
Are municipalities on a tight leash?
BOOK
REVIEW
Who pays for your holidays?
UPFRONT
We bring you the latest news and events.
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND DESIGN
Who wouldn’t want to live beside Lake
Michelle?
CITY
VISIT
Port Louis is the pulsating heart of
Mauritius.
WASTE AND POLLUTION MANAGEMENT
Mariannhill: a world-class ‘green’
landfill.
PLANNING PERSONALITY
Chris Mulder exudes infectious enthusiasm.
BATTLE OF THE ’BURBS
Capricorn Park in
Cape Town v Wynberg in Johannesburg
INSPIRATION
The bright side of city lights
INSULT
Still in the dark
TREE OF THE ISSUE
Halleria lucida
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COMMENT
On a tight leash
Municipalities face severe
delivery challenges. Are we responding appropriately?
The recent
spate of municipal protests is a concern to all. There are (again) calls to fire people
who are not performing.
In this
case, it is perceived to be the councillors. But, as we’ve come to realise, it is not
as simple as that. Well-known commentator Steven Friedman is of the opinion that, as long
as municipalities are viewed as implementing agents for national plans, we are going to
face similar problems. The democratic ideal is that councillors, as representatives of
their constituents, choose priorities for a municipality but, according to Friedman, they
are expected to do this within the ambit of national policies and programmes that actually
limit local government’s choices.
Co-operative
governance often results in blurred responsibilities and, at local government level, it
has often neutered the democratic process. Councillors are supposed to be the voices of
their voters but they often become mere implementing agents and assistants to national
government instead.
The
abolition of Regional Services Council levies has been a big blow to the metros. The
replacement grant has not maintained the growth trajectory of this revenue flow and
municipalities are now forced to jump through hoops to satisfy national government
objectives to access grants. A case in point is the Neighbourhood Development Partnership
Grant, which is administered by the National Treasury. This grant makes about R3,4-billion
available to municipalities over the next three years.
All is well
but Treasury is keeping tight control over this money.
Should it be
the national government department that makes decisions on how to assist “municipalities
with technical assistance to develop appropriate project proposals for property
development in townships and new residential areas”? Surely this should actually be
administered by either Provincial and Local Government or perhaps even Land Affairs?
It is
understandable that national government wants to help solve the problems at local level
but maybe it is going the wrong way about this. It is time to treat municipalities
differently.
And it is
time to treat different municipalities differently.
Development ad hoc
Port Louis, capital of the island state Mauritius, faces similar problems to
other developing cities. A visit by Urban Green File revealed that a few of the city’s
developments are on a fairly ad hoc basis – without a coherent plan to address the
city’s major issues. Turn to page 16 for an in-depth look at urban development in
this fascinating coastal city.
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BOOK REVIEW
Who pays for your holidays?
The impact of tourism has
become a headache for local authorities and residents the world over.
With 2010 on
its way and the recent buzz about global warming, the impact of tourism is a topical
issue. The Final Call by Leo Hickman – a 386-page book “in search of the true
cost of our holidays” – addresses this topic. Hickman, a newspaper columnist
writing for The Guardian in the UK, has already written several books about ethical
consumerism. For his latest, he travelled to a wide range of popular tourist destinations
to investigate the largest service industry in the world. He visits the Spanish coastline
(nicknamed ‘Costa del Golf’) where in 2005 alone 130 golf-course developments
were under way within the Valencia and Murcia regions. He also visits a skiing centre in
Dubai where 6 000 t of snow is kept frozen. But, although making snow in the desert sounds
ludicrous, Hickman discovers the same in the snowy Alps where, to please visitors, water
is pumped from reservoirs, frozen and sprayed onto the slopes to create even more snow.
Hickman also investigates ‘sex tourism’ in Thailand, partying in Ibiza and
package holidays on the Mexican peninsula, among others. It is an easy book to read as it
is actually a pleasant mix of travel writing and informed comment. In addition to
addressing the environmental impact of tourism, such as ‘green washing’ in the
ecotourism industry and a very informative chapter on the real costs of ‘cheap’
airfares, Hickman also interviews local politicians, urban managers and business people to
understand social and economic impacts. Of course, tourism has broader economic and social
implications, and issues that can only be addressed at national policy level but, in our
professional capacity as urban and environmental practitioners, it is essential to
consider valuable lessons to be learned worldwide.
Hickman
concludes with some proposals for local authorities, such as the possibility of capping
the number of tourists allowed to visit sensitive areas; the importance of very strict
development plans; and clustering tourism with other economic activities.
Published by
Random House and retailing at R208, The Final Call is certainly interesting although some
of the solutions seem a bit ‘pie-in-the-sky’. Perhaps the same criticism was
levelled at anti-smoking lobbyists just decades ago.
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UPFRONT
River mall
Construction
of the much-publicised, R400-million Mooi River Mall in Potchefstroom, North West
Province, is well under way. The Mooi River meanders through this 14 ha site.
Ray Shaw,
the architect with Stauch Vorster responsible for the project, tells Urban Green File that
the main challenge facing the developers and the architects is the river itself. “Environmental
issues required that the final development and the construction phase had a minimal impact
on the state of the river.”
Environmental
impact studies have been conducted and an environmental officer is stationed permanently
on site. No work is allowed to proceed until methods and schedules have been, approved by
the environmental officer. Each job is approved separately to ensure control on a
continuous basis, and all contractors and sub-contractors have to comply with stipulated
standards.
The area
around the Mooi River in Potchefstroom has been kept in a clean state despite building
activities on both sides.
Coastal
development
The
Blythedale Coastal Resort is being established about 45 minutes north of Durban on the
northern boundary of Umhlanga. Comprising forest, ocean and golf estates, the greater
‘coastal resort’ will house around 4 400 units – some sectional title and
others freehold ownership. Fringe developments include an equestrian estate, a retirement
lifestyle village, a hotel and water theme park, social housing and beach nodes.
Land used
for timber and sugar-cane farming, purchased by the eLan property group, will be
rehabilitated to standards prescribed by the environmental impact assessment. More than
50% of the land – largely indigenous forest – will remain undeveloped.
Protection of the environment is important to the developer.
Shayne
Isbister of eLan says “every measure has been taken to contain the impacts associated
with development in this delicate ecosystem”.
The 1 100 ha
patch of land to be developed between the N2 highway and the seashore in northern
KwaZulu-Natal is flanked by the villages of Blythedale and Prince’s Grant.
New CID
The Cape Town City Council has approved the formation of a 15th City Improvement District
(CID) within the city. The Athlone CID will include the area bounded by Jan Smuts Drive,
Aden Lane, Birdwood Street and Klipfontein Drive.
Collectively,
the 15 CIDs in Cape Town have an annual budget of more than R50-million, which is
collected by the city and paid to the respective CID management boards. This funds their
activities in accordance with their business plans.
Into Africa
After four years, the planning of the Lagoa Azul resort on the island of São Tomé, off
the west coast of Africa, has been completed.
Lagoa Azul
(Portuguese for ‘blue lagoon’) is a 310 ha residential, golf and leisure estate.
According to Jan Greyling of the Falcon Group (developer of the resort), the resort plans
to serve a large expat community working for oil companies and the like in the region.
Construction
will be a major logistical challenge as it is estimated that about 750 000 t of equipment
and material will have to be transported to the site. Southern Mapping Company has been
appointed to conduct lidar aerial surveys. These surveys are not restricted by the dense
jungle-like vegetation on the island and the design team could make an exact estimate of
the ground conditions.
A number of
South African consultants were involved with the planning and design. Located on a
pristine, unspoilt Greenfield site, Lagoa Azul has a 4 km beachfront.
Plant closure
The
loss-making Radnor compost plant in Parow Industria, Cape Town, has been closed to free up
council resources for better service delivery.
The Radnor
plant and a similar facility in Bellville South were assessed in terms of the city’s
core functions.
According to
Clive Justus, utilities portfolio chairman for the City of Cape Town, both sites are older
than 30 and have outlived their original function.
“They
need extensive repairs and replacements to enable them to deliver a quality product.”
The last costing exercise indicated that it would cost R482 to produce 1 t of compost at
the Radnor plant and the private-sector selling price ranges from R150/t to R200/t”.
The City of
Cape Town acknowledges that composting plays an important role in reducing waste but the
Radnor plant is not cost-effective as it is too old and in a state of disrepair.
Outstanding
reports
A group of
environmental NGOs, including the Endangered Wildlife Trust, BirdLife South Africa and the
Botanical Society of South Africa, has called on government to release certain strategic
national planning reports. In 2004 and 2005, the Department of Environmental Affairs &
Tourism (DEAT) began compiling the National Environmental Outlook (formerly the State of
Environment Report) and the National Framework for Sustainable Development (formerly
National Strategy for Sustainable Development). Nearly three years down the line, the
National Environmental
Outlook has
been released but the other report is not yet out. Lack of access to this information is
often a stumbling block for NGOs and, indeed DEAT officials, attempting to achieve
reasonable goals.
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ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND DESIGN
A lake for living
Careful environmental
design and management have turned the area around an old saline lake into a place for
quality living.
Located in
the Noordhoek Valley of the Western Cape, contiguous to the Table Mountain National Park,
Lake Michelle is a 30 ha saline lake. Previously a sand mine, the idea of a waterside
development took root about 20 years ago.
Development
rights have been obtained and the eastern banks of the lake, covering about 30 ha, have
been developed over the past two decades.
About four
years ago, developers Plan Trust Development went into joint venture with the owner of the
site to develop the remaining 30 ha of the residential estate. A professional team was
appointed, including CNdV Africa as landscape architect, planner and urban designer.
According to Tanya de Villiers of CNdV, the developer ‘inherited’ a
previously-approved subdivision. It was recognized that a one-of-a-kind,
environmentally-sensitive scheme could be achieved by reducing the density and increasing
the proportion of open space together with larger erven, particularly along the national
park boundary. The adapted layout provided for about 7 ha of reed beds and artificial
ponds, cleaning the lake water while offering more waterside properties alongside the new
wetlands.
One of the
positive aspects of the project was that it was entirely a team effort.
“Architects,
landscape architects, engineers – we were all involved in the layout.
Especially
for a landscape architect, this is great, because, usually by the time that we get
involved, most of the other work has been done and you have to work with what you get.
But, in this case, everything was discussed by everybody,” De Villiers says. The
experienced multi-disciplinary team included, among others, botanists, aquatic
specialists, geo-hydrologists, engineers, surveyors and landscape architects.
The design
team was sent to Florida in the United States as the development of ‘inland marina’-type
developments is very popular there. According to Colin Bird of Plan Trust Development, a
total of 224 plots were eventually developed. Architectural guidelines were drafted but,
as part of a conscious decision, these did not reflect a specific identifiable style.
The final
development will not only be guided by architectural guidelines but very specific planning
guidelines on entrances, building lines, garages, jetties and the like. As De Villiers
puts it, it is almost pre-designed at that level.
Detail design
Ecological links
An important part of the design was to maintain ecological links with the adjacent
national park and nearby wetlands. Palisade fences had to be permeable to allow movement
of, among others, small animals.
Traffic calming
Roads are designed with traffic-calming measures in place to maintain tranquillity in the
pedestrian-focused residential estate.
Pedestrian focus
Principles of ‘new urbanism’ were embraced and the design supports community
interaction through various aspects, such as pedestrian paths. CNdV was lauded for the
design of the wooden walkways with an award.
Quality principles
Finishes throughout, from the entrance buildings, roads, decks and paving to the
multi-functional boat house, were chosen specifically for aesthetic quality and to create
a tranquil and safe living environment.
Illuminated signage
Signage was carefully designed to ensure not only legibility but also aesthetic quality.
Lighting used to illuminate signage by night had to fit in with the overall approach of
restricted down lighting.
Bridge detail
The little bridges that cross the various canals were designed in detail with the cladding
fitting perfectly into the culverts.
Semi-permeable walkways
Units are clustered to maximise the green spaces. In order to minimise hard surfacing, the
numerous walkways have been constructed using semi-permeable materials.
Boat house
Besides numerous jetties and decks provided, a communal multi-functional boat
house ensures that the lake can be used for non-motorised boating and canoeing.
Environmental
management
From an
environmental perspective, this part of the Western Cape is very harsh – issues such
as water quality, alien vegetation and conservation of existing animal life posed
significant challenges to the design team. Nevertheless Lake Michelle was selected as the
country’s top estate in the annual awards for excellence in property development by
the South African Property Owners Association. As part of the overall environmental plan,
the developer has taken out an insurance policy and established a fund to cover unforeseen
environmental costs, as well as the maintenance of the water quality of the lake.
1 ‘Search and
rescue’ – saving indigenous vegetation
The site had
to be cleared of very dense alien vegetation but some of the lake edges and moist areas
contained plants that were identified for rescue prior to earthmoving. The plants were
removed from the site and taken to a local nursery where additional numbers were
propagated to use on site. The species list included Juncus sp, Chondropetalum sp,
Bulboschoenus maritimus, Schoenoplectus scirpoides, Carex clavata and Scirpusnodosus.
Islands in
the lake were also cleared of aliens, leaving only a few dead trees for birds to nest, and
were then re-vegetated with endemic species. Through the ‘search-and-rescue’
exercise, about 50 000 indigenous plants were rescued, according to De Villiers. In total,
300 000 plants were specifically propagated for the project.
The site has
an exposed coastal climate with high winds in summer and winter. In addition, the salt
content of the coastal sands meant that portions of the site had elevated sodium contents,
placing significant restrictions on the choice of plant material. The use of local
indigenous plants was seen as a way to ensure sustainability of the landscape, reduce the
environmental impact of the development and link it with surrounding natural areas.
De Villiers
believes it is not really a site for trees so the team had to experiment a bit to find the
most salt-tolerant and hardy plants.
Also water
consumption of the alien vegetation replaced as a result of the development probably
exceeds the projected consumption of the entire development upon completion.
2 Careful monitoring
– water-quality improvement
Environmental requirements demanded that water quality of the existing lake should be
improved during stagnant periods. The water is very high in nitrates.
As
mentioned, the new layout provided for about 7 ha of reed beds and artificial ponds that
serve to circulate and aerate the lake water. The improved bio-diversity wetland habitat
had the valuable effect of helping to reverse deteriorating water quality in the existing
water body.
An ongoing
water management plan has been drafted. Estate manager Joe Daniel tells Urban Green File
that water is monitored continuously and there must be no overflow into nearby wetlands.
All
stormwater run-off is led through reed beds before entering the ponds.
The design
implied that there was no need for a piped stormwater system.
The
development potentially contributes to the improvement of stormwater quality in the entire
Noordhoek Valley as stormwater from all of the surrounding areas flows into the lake
before going on to the national park.
Although it
has improved, the salt content of the water is too high to use for irrigation. “We
had plans to get treated effluent from the nearby municipal sewer works but, although the
municipality was keen, they are still at least two years away from making it available,”
Bird says. “We also looked at desalination as an option but it is quite expensive so
we installed two blending plants where we mix the salty water from the lake with municipal
potable water to use for irrigation. At the moment it is done at a ratio of about 50:50.
Eventually this will go down as the water quality of the lake improves.”
However only
small areas of grass were allowed as the development team did not want to use too much
water for irrigation purposes.
3 Promoting diversity
– urban-wildlife preservation
To enhance residents’ lifestyles and in line with the sound environmental principles
followed in the Lake Michelle development, the development team also had a look at the
existing ‘wildlife’ in the area in order to find ways to protect it and to
promote its diversity. The Cape Bird Society has already had two visits to the site. In
addition to the wading birds attracted to the lake, there is a surprising variety of
birdlife around the estate. A large number of Egyptian geese reside there and some
kingfishers have been spotted too. The plan is for the Cape Bird Society to conduct an
annual bird count in the area. Another interesting aspect of the development is the fish
population in the saline lake. The predominant species of fish in Lake Michelle is the
non-indigenous carp, which is a bottom-feeder and, by habit, increases the turbidity of
the water.
The result
of this behaviour is that the sun cannot penetrate so natural reeds are unable to grow.
The development team plans to cull the alien carp and to replace it with indigenous
species of fish. Colin Bird of Plan Trust Development says: “It is, however, not so
easy to get rid of them. We had experts in to do a fish census and they found that we
actually have a large population of indigenous fish. We had been experimenting with nets
to catch the carp but that was not very successful.
So we
launched, as part of our public relations, a fishing competition for the local schools. We
tagged three fish and the local children were allowed to come in and fish here in the
afternoons. One of the tagged fish has been caught and there is growing interest within
the community to continuously work towards reducing the carp in this way”.
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CITY VISIT
A city is not an island
Port
Louis, capital city of Mauritius, is at the heart of the island and its development cannot
be approached in isolation.
Port Louis
is eccentrically located in the Indian Ocean on the island’s north-west coastline of
Mauritius and nestles in an amphitheatre of mountains.
Today it is
faced with challenges common to many other city centres the world over, including
expansion, traffic congestion, changing land use and the loss of its local identity.
Port Louis
was established in 1735 by the French as a halt for their ships traveling around the Cape
of Good Hope.
A feeling of
uniqueness emanates from the co-existence of traditional Mauritian timber structures
alongside more modern concrete and glass edifices. Upon arrival, a visitor’s first
impression is the tropical quality of the city’s light and colours, the hustle and
bustle of busy vendors, and the serious congestion. This is epitomised by the motorway,
which effectively dissects the CBD from the port in a north-south direction.
The city is
easily legible – the CBD articulated by gleaming high rises, surrounded by
smaller-scale, mixed-use commercial, retail and residential areas, and the pavements
jam-packed with informal stalls. The large, predominantly residential, area to the north
is separated from the CBD by La Citadelle, a fortification built by the British in 1835.
“Port
Louis is the main and only port of the country with the whole area around the sea devoted
to port-related activities,” says Pang Kin Lan, the city’s head planner.
The most
popular mode of transport is by bus. At one point, a rapid rail transport system was being
considered but this is still in the pipeline. Many people also opt for motorcycles –
they are better for coping with congestion and can move about more easily. The waterfront
was done in phases about a decade ago to embellish the part of city that mainly comprised
warehouses at the time – to become more tourist-oriented, Ramooguv Yongvaj, the city’s
engineering assistant, points out. “Another project at the waterfront is now in its
second phase – mainly commercial and retail activities. We also have an underground
parking garage for 400 cars in the pipeline and a hawkers’ trading facility under
construction.” These comments on the status of the city’s planning and
development begin to hint at three main challenges: traffic congestion, residential
decentralisation of the inner city and the ad hoc nature of projects.
These, in
conjunction, are eroding the valuable environmental and historic fabric of the old town
– the very things that tourists find most attractive.
An opportunity lost?
In 2004, the Union Internationale Architectes (UIA), in conjunction with the
Municipality of Port Louis, launched an international ideas competition, approved by
UNESCO, for the design of a master plan “to obtain a coherent and harmonious urban
development plan” for the city. The first prize was ultimately awarded to ALD
Associates, formed by Jean-Francois Adam (Mauritius), and Piet Louw and Dave Dewar (both
from Cape Town in South Africa).
Unfortunately
the project has not been implemented as national elections and a change in power took
place shortly after the winning entry was announced.
In its
proposal, ALD first identified some key qualities and attractions of Port Louis.
The proposal
then went on to define two major challenges faced by the city:
*
The pressure from
ever-increasing vehicular volumes.
*
The lack of respect
for a number of potential heritage and natural assets.
Examination
of these issues would seem to indicate that addressing the city in isolation is not an
effective solution. A broader conceptual approach needs to be taken towards the planning
and policies of the island as a whole to reduce development pressure on Port Louis, and to
implement a set of guidelines for preserving and maintaining the cultural and
environmental assets of the country.
“What
applies to Port Louis also applies elsewhere,” notes Adam. “South of the city
are the towns of Beau Bassin, Rose Hill and Curepipe. These each had their own public
centre like beads on a string along the main road. With the recent economic boom, sprawl
has increased, putting pressure on the town centres.
The
individual boundaries are no longer there and they are losing their inherent qualities.
The major issues are, firstly, the eccentric location of Port Louis and then its
structure,” explains Louw. “It’s a through route and main transport route
between the north and south of the island, and this route effectively becomes a barrier
between the town and the sea because it is so intensely trafficked. So you have to look at
the island in its totality to achieve a better balance. Secondly, the CBD has a very
special character but there seems to be little awareness of the value of the townscape. So
a lot of historical buildings are being demolished – small buildings with a very
special Mauritian character that have withstood many cyclones.”
The proposal
for the International Ideas Competition looks at addressing the transport knot and
congestion in Port Louis at city, regional and island levels. Alternative inland transport
routes have been proposed to relieve the burden of congestion on the city and to allow the
CBD to connect back to the sea.
Trade port
The city of Port Louis opens out onto the sea in the form of a large port,
which has defined the growth of the urban fabric.
Waterfront development
The waterfront was completed about a decade ago to embellish the part of the
city that mainly comprised warehouses at the time and to create more tourist amenities.
Industrial area
The manufacturing district on the outskirts contributes to congestion on the
routes through the city centre. The competition proposal recommends a decentralization of
activities to help address this issue.
Traffic congestion
Many residents opt for motor cycles as they are better at coping with
congestion and can move about easier than a car.
Untying the knot
The competition proposal states: “At the island scale, it is necessary to
encourage steady, managed decentralization of economic activity in dynamic balance with
new residential activity, and to commit to public transportation, taking the pressure off
Port Louis.”
On a larger
scale, Adam says: “There is a movement towards the centre of the island, taking
lessons from Port Louis, to create more of a balance on the island. I think it will be
successful in the long term but decisions need to be taken in Port Louis to complement
this move.”
Louw agrees.
“At a city level, the balance between pedestrian and vehicular movement is getting
increasingly distorted in favour of vehicles. Because of the domination of cars, you have
increased specialisation of activities, with all the offices located in one place, and
this causes further congestion. At the moment there’s a knot of transport and we
believe that this knot can only be untied at the island scale”.
The proposal
argues that untying the transport knot should happen through two conceptual switches:
committing to prioritising pedestrians and conceiving road hierarchies as an integrated
movement system rather than in a conventional sense.
Downgrading
the existing section of freeway, which cuts between the CBD and the sea, to a landscaped
boulevard would take the pressure off the northern part of town and allow for greater
pedestrian permeability between the town and the waterfront.
A boulevard
would also take into appropriate consideration the façades of buildings, pavements,
landscaping, bicycles and dedicated public transport lanes.
“The
last major development that happened in Port Louis was the waterfront,” adds Adam.
“This has been a success because it is accessible to everyone and it could be further
exploited.”
Place-making in Port
Louis
1 Authentic race course
The Champ de Mars race course was inaugurated on June 25 1812. The Mauritius Turf Club is
the oldest horseracing club in the southern hemisphere and is a popular destination.
2 Fine grain
The fine grain and scale of the existing historic grid is also being eroded as
many streets become larger roads.
3Urban sprawl
While there is little major development in Port Louis, there is nevertheless a
slow but steady sprawl outwards from existing residential areas. This will probably
continue for as long as the geography allows.
4 Motorway
The existing motorway effectively dissects the CBD from the port. Proposals are
in place to redirect traffic flow around the mountain.
5 High-rise skyline
The city’s skyline has completely changed in the past 15 years due to the
construction of several high-rise buildings during construction booms in the past decade.
6 Waterfront initiative
The last major development that happened in Port Louis was the waterfront. The
Caudan Waterfront revitalised a section of the city previously dedicated to warehouses as
a commercial and retail complex for leisure and tourist activities.
7 Port influence
The old city opens out onto the sea in the form of a large port, which has defined the
growth of the urban fabric.
An integrated approach
It is apparent that the few developments happening in the city are on a fairly
ad hoc basis without a coherent plan in place to address the city’s major issues.
According to
Yongvaj, the services and infrastructure are also just being maintained and any large new
projects would have to happen with the backing of the Mauritian government.
“The
public sector has the administrative power while the private sector owns most of the land,”
says Adam. “There is a clear line between these two with very little interaction and
exchange of ideas. At the same time it is difficult for a poor country like Mauritius to
take courageous decisions.”
Port Louis
is such an important issue, believes Adam. “It is the real heart of the island and it
can’t only be the responsibility of a municipality – it’s a national issue.”
To implement
a project like the competition proposal, according to Adam, it must be structured properly
with coordination between the various parties involved. “For this to happen it would
need a main partner, a champion, to take the difficult political decisions that are
necessary,” he says.
Louw agrees.
“To succeed, a project like this needs an integrated, interdisciplinary approach
where there’s a common vision and everyone works in line with that vision.”
To retain
the distinct character and assets that attract so many tourists every year, and to avoid
falling into the trap of becoming just another commercial capital city, a holistic,
decisive approach is required for the future development of Port Louis – to conserve
the past and carefully structure the way forward.
Structural clarity
Geographically, Port Louis is reminiscent of Cape Town but on a smaller scale and with a
much more European colonial flavour.
Narrow roads
and lanes laid out on an orthogonal grid define an urban fabric of diverse building
languages interspersed with pockets of greenery.
Louw says:
“There is a wonderful structural clarity to the old town, which anchors the urban
layout and provides a hierarchy of systems that act as a backbone for the city layout.”
This structure centres on a major north-south axis and an east-west axis connecting the
Champs de Mars race course with the harbour, integrating the major public buildings, and
it includes a number of public spaces with distinctive planting.
Growth management
According to Lan, agricultural areas on the outskirts are being converted for
residential use and now fall under the jurisdiction of the city. This will probably
continue for as long as the geography allows.
“The
indigenous flora and fauna around the city is suffering,” explains Adam. “Mauritius’s
real attraction lies with its natural amenities,” adds Louw. “All four
coastlines differ in nature and character, and the first action should be to establish
which areas must be conserved and remain undeveloped.
I believe
that the authorities need to be firmer to protect these qualities and pass them on to
future generations.”
Urban form
Increasing congestion and the emphasis on commercial activities in the CBD is
causing an unfortunate erosion of Port Louis’s sense of place. This is happening on
several levels, primarily the demolition of buildings of traditional and historical
significance, and the reduction of pedestrian amenities.
The proposal
also recommends a revised approach to informal trading. Hawkers and shops display their
wares profusely along pavements. This tends to crowd pedestrian movement. New market
buildings are recommended with associated open-air squares to allow for additional
trading.
One such
project, commissioned by the municipality, was completed in 2006 while another is under
construction.
A cause for
serious concern in Port Louis is the demolition of culturally- and historically-valuable
buildings to make way for commercial developments. One of the extraordinary experiences as
a visitor to the city is coming across traditional timber homes – hundreds of years
old – that have miraculously withstood the devastating cyclones that frequently
batter the island. These structures have a very special, awe-inspiring quality.
Cyclone
season in Mauritius runs from December through to March and the storms have caused much
destruction on the island over the years.
The result
was a permanent shift in popular mindset towards concrete construction, which became the
most logical, if somewhat costly, choice for most of the country’s inhabitants.
Concrete-framed
structures predominate with cement-ash bricks used as infill. Unfortunately this has
resulted in not only the loss of valuable historical buildings but also the loss of
knowledge about traditional building methods.
Day-time use
“The centre is primarily commercial, accommodating local and multinational
businesses, with an industrial component on the outskirts,” says Lan.
“At the
moment, maybe because of the high cost of construction, there are just a few new
developments.”
The resident
population of Port Louis is located mostly on the outskirts of the city as an increasing
number of residential buildings in the city center are being converted to offices.
“The
inner city is not essentially residential so we have a population in the centre during the
day that is almost double the population at night,” Lan points out.
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WASTE AND POLLUTION MANAGEMENT
How green is your landfill?
The
Mariannhill landfill in the eThekwini metro has achieved conservancy status. Can this
‘green’ initiative be replicated elsewhere?
The
Mariannhill landfill is most certainly the ‘greenest’ landfill site in South
Africa. It opened 12 years ago, achieved conservancy status in 2003 and has gone on to be
one of the most environment-friendly landfill sites in this country – if not the
world. It is also the first landfill gas-to-electricity clean development mechanism (CDM)
project in Africa. The innovative approach and management of the landfill was recognised
by the Impumelelo Innovations Award Trust as an exceptional model of public service
delivery in February 2007.
The
Mariannhill Landfill Conservancy has a two-fold investment: it invests in environmental
protection by adopting a ‘closed-loop’ concept to safeguard its biodiversity
assets, and it manages landfill gas emissions as an asset; simultaneously reducing carbon
emissions.
Can all
these firsts for a landfill site – conservancy and CDM status, as well as awards for
innovative management – be replicated on the 2 000 other landfill sites throughout
South Africa?
A point of
clarity: a conservancy is a community-based conservation initiative.
The managers
and owners of the land can draw from a pool of resources to help manage land in a
sustainable manner while maintaining ordinary land use.
The National
Association of Conservancies of South Africa was established in 2003 and protects 750
conservancies.
Different aspects
Four main policies have been adopted to prevent environmental contamination and to restore
and conserve the spoiled environment at the Mariannhill landfill.
A barrier
system, not necessarily new to landfills, prevents landfill liquid waste, leachate and
gases from escaping through the ground.
Leachate
treatment at Mariannhill is innovative in that it is treated at 50 m³/day and aerated
using natural processes so that water can be released into the environment.
Leachate is
ordinarily fed into sewage water where its high nitrogen content may be corrosive and
dangerous.
Methane gas
is also being tapped. Instead of letting it flow into the atmosphere where it could
continue to contribute to the greenhouse effect, gas is transformed into electricity
through carbon finance.
Indigenous
plants and topsoil that have been rescued and then stored in a plant recovery unit
(PRUNIT) are introduced back to completed areas of the landfill and its borders.
4 interventions
1 Environmental protection – barrier system
Natural biodegradation processes within waste bodies give rise to landfill leachate –
produced as a result of rainfall passing through the waste body – and landfill gas.
The
protection of the receiving environment from these potentially-harmful landfill emissions
is addressed in the form of a barrier system (incorporating a number of engineered
layers). According to Lindsay Strachan of eThekwini’s solid waste department, two
types of barrier systems have been adopted at the Mariannhill landfill site, depending on
the grade of the natural ground. On valley slopes, the barrier system consists of a
stabilised sand layer with a geomembrane (of flexible polypropylene) liner and geogrid on
it. A stabilised sand protection layer is then constructed on the liner/geogrid. Crushed
dump rock aggregate is then placed on this protection layer to facilitate the collection
as well as the removal of leachate.
In the
valley basal areas, an additional component is added to the barrier system.
As the
inflow of leachate into the strata below the landfill is critical in the valley base, two
low-permeability clay layers, with a layer of 19 mm stone between each layer, are
constructed below the system. The ‘sandwiched’ stone layer serves as a leachate
leakage detection system and provides further environmental protection.
2 Irrigation use –
leachate treatment
The leachate was sent to the municipal sewer system prior to the construction of the
treatment plant – an approximate distance of 1 km away.
According to
John Parkin, manager of Durban Solid Waste (DSW), the disposal of leachate to sewer is not
a treatment method but rather one of dilution.
Raw
(untreated) leachate does pose a risk of corrosion and elevated methane gas levels to the
municipal sewer systems.
DSW, in
collaboration with Enviros UK (previously Enviros Aspinwall), began leachate treatability
trials in 1998, which enabled the design of a full-scale treatment plant.
The overall
treatment philosophy of the treatment plant is the use of natural, lowcost and robust
treatment processes, says Parkin. This plant, therefore, adopts biological primary
treatment processes (aligned to the activated sludge process) and secondary polishing
treatment by reed bed Parkin explains.
The
treatment plant comprises one sequencing batch reactor (SBR) unit, constructed of
reinforced-concrete 10 m in diameter and 6 m deep. This capacity enables the treatment of
up to 50 m³ of leachate daily.
The plant
also comprises a 280 m³, lined reed bed that provides ‘polishing treatment’ for
the removal of residual BOD, COD and solids.
All treated
effluent from the SBR is fed into a balance tank. The level of this tank is controlled to
supply a portion of the effluent to a standpoint for the site water tanker (dust
suppression) and a portion to the reed bed.
The effluent
from the reed bed is used for irrigation of the vegetated areas within the conservancy
area.
3 Liability turned asset
– methane gas conversion
Mariannhill landfill site is exemplary for the utilisation of its assets –
whether in the form of carbon emission reductions (CERs) or biodiversity. It is the first
landfill gas-toelectricity CDM project in Africa. Some 450 t of municipal waste is
transformed to generate 900 kWh of electricity every day and it is fed into the local
grid. John Parkin explains that the landfill gas extraction scheme consists of six gas
wells, linked to a 500 Nm³/h flare unit, which has been operational for about 31/2 years.
”The gas collection system for the flaring has proved to be an adequate starting
place as a pre-injection treatment system for the engine generators. As is typical of
several other projects worldwide, landfill gas is drawn from the wells through pipes by
extraction equipment and fed to an electricity generation unit and any surplus gas is
flared,” says Parkin. The eThekwini municipality’s CDM project, commissioned in
December 2006, will help combat the serious issue of global warming and find a financially
viable use for the amazing power potential of landfill gas.
The October
2006 edition of Urban Green File featured South African initiatives for gas-to-electricity
generation on landfill sites.
4 True rehabilitation
– vegetation recovery
The status of Mariannhill as a conservancy lies in a clear understanding of the
true meaning of rehabilitation – a rescue operation in safeguarding natural assets
rather than a mere front-entrance face lift.
According to
Richard Winn, businesses erroneously ‘face lift’ as rehabilitation and miss the
point by interpreting the ‘green’ part of business as garden maintenance.
“To
date, this process has produced plants of value in excess of R2,5-million but, more
importantly, they are plants that could not have been purchased anywhere else,” says
Parkin.
The DSW has
created a ‘holding nursery’ for indigenous plants and topsoil rescued from the
landfill – to all effects, a plant rescue unit (PRUNIT). The nursery began as a
‘tag on’ but burgeoned so that it now supplies other landfill sites, explains
Aiden Bowers, operations manager for DSW.
Landfill
plants have to be hardened off to handle the entire cycle of rehabilitation. A mobile
irrigation system is used but major investment in irrigation is actually unnecessary.
The
difference in this nursery also lies in the way the plants are transplanted.
Rather than
a plant per bag as in conventional nurseries, four to five species from ‘upper storey’
plants to shrub ground cover are propagated together – these are tough plants.
No ‘soft
luxuries’, such as compost and fertiliser, but local top soils and feed account for
the 95% success rate of the rescue operation.
The strength
of this environmental investment is zero maintenance and zero waste – now that’s
what municipal dreams are made of, believes Richard Winn. For him, the key lies in
recycling assets in the area. Instead of closing a landfill through a single ‘monstrous’
tender, an ongoing ‘closed-loop’ concept has significant cost saving
implications.
It is less
expensive and easier to invest in an ecosystem-restoration project in the initial phases
of a landfill – as in the case of the Mariannhill landfill site – than to come
back years later with a scientist to write doctorates on the recuperation of a depleted
environment or, even worse, to lose entire ecosystems.
Can this be replicated?
With more than 2 000 landfills across the country, Winn believes that there
needs to be serious transformation in the monitoring and management of these sites, based
on a clear knowledge of the natural assets to recycle in any given local area. Operators
often have little cognisance of the biodiversity contained in a particular ecosystem
– not only the flora but also the soil habitat, and animal life.
Gas-to-electricity
potential
Methane gas is significantly more lethal than carbon dioxide. There are more
than 2 000 landfill sites strewn across 250 municipalities emitting these lethal gases.
“For
every day that goes by without trapping methane gas, money is escaping into the
atmosphere,” despairs Busi Nxumalo, business and market analyst for the CEF.
Municipalities are sitting on CER assets, letting carbon finance ‘rot’ in their
backyards so to speak.
Where a lack
of funding is the hurdle to landfill gas extraction, Nxumalo points out that
municipalities can rely on the Central Energy Fund (CEF) for equity financing and
technological expertise. During August 2007, it will launch its carbon trading business,
making it the first South African institution to provide comprehensive assistance for
renewable energy projects. With less than five years to go before the Kyoto protocol
‘expires’, time is of the essence.
As a
Schedule 2 company, municipalities can transact with the CEF, a government agency getting
its mandate from the Department of Minerals & Energy, and avoid lengthy tender
processes, explains Manny Singh, a general manager for the CEF.
The
Municipal Finance Management Act is a stumbling block in this process as it is not
designed for commercial pursuit.
Although the
CEF was mandated to help ‘skirt’ this problem, Singh and Nxumalo believe that
the Act should be reviewed.
It is
destructive in terms of the value-enhancing asset of CERs for municipalities, they say.
Local connections
Most definitely the diamond in the crown of the DSW, the Mariannhill site is
certainly not just sitting pretty. DSW is replicating the Mariannhill closed-loop concept
for the new Buffelsdraai landfill. This forms part of its new management strategy –
no coincidence then that the monitoring committee and the conservancy committee are one
and the same. DSW manages all its landfills similarly even though, according to Winn,
older sites such as Bisasar are more difficult to rehabilitate – retrospective
rehabilitation is inherently more complex. Created before legislation had been
promulgated, Bisasar had no buffer zones. It now has a 4 ha buffer zone close to houses on
Clare Road; rehabilitated with plants from PRUNIT. The 50 wells at Bisasar Road will
collect methane gas for another 20 years after the site is closed in five years’
time.
Bisasar is
becoming a transfer station to Buffelsdraai and carries a far larger tonnage per day than
Mariannhill because of its central city position. A gas extraction system is also planned
for the Buffelsdraai landfill. At La Mercy, a closed landfill, gas is still being
extracted and a Phase 2 extraction system is planned to increase the electricity
generated.
The future for KZN
According to Bowers, a strategic planning meeting will be held in December 2008
to discuss how all landfill sites in eThekwini can be run as environmental assets –
where vegetation dominates the landfill so that biodiversity around the landfill is
enhanced.
In the case
of the Mariannhill landfill, the conservancy improved the biodiversity in the surrounding
area, Bowers points out. At other landfills, true rehabilitation is possible because of
low overhead costs. The sub-tropical heat endemic to the greater eThekwini area makes a
gasto-electricity project more feasible as landfill gases are generated more quickly and
thereby effect a quicker return on investment through the CDM process. However, even in
regions with milder climates, landfill operators are investigating this little used
resource.
Gauteng solutions
At the Chloorkop landfill in Gauteng, privately-run by Enviroserv, a
gas-extraction system has been installed and the landfill site achieved CDM status in May
2007.
Gas is
flared but feasibility studies include the financial viability of a gas-toelectricity
project.
Frans Dekker
of the City of Tshwane agrees with Winn that rehabilitation while a landfill is
operational reduces overall and closing-down costs.
In Gauteng,
leachate is less of a problem as the cover material on the landfill has a lower silica
content and a higher soil content than eThekwini. This results in less water penetration
but more run-off water to administer and this could augment erosion. This is cited as one
of the reasons to rehabilitate as the landfill operations progress.
The release
of landfill gas can be reduced by creating compost out of garden refuse, Dekker points
out. Compost is already sold from some landfill sites in Gauteng. Surveys are being done
in Tshwane to determine the feasibility of extracting gas based on the amount of gas
emissions on sites.
Western Cape joins in
Saliem Haider, manager of the solid waste department for the City of Cape Town,
explains that the city’s mayor, Helen Zille, has bought into the idea of creating a
similar landfill site to Mariannhill.
A team from
Cape Town visited the landfill and is putting systems in place to replicate certain
aspects of the Mariannhill landfill approach to design.
The challenge
Although the Mariannhill Landfill Conservancy may not be a feasible model in
all contexts, it has applied innovative and value-adding management. Its resources have
been harnessed to fullest potential.
This case
study could help South African landfill managers and municipalities stand up to the
challenge of ending irreparable and unnecessary damage to the South African and global
environment.
-----
PLANNING PERSONALITY
Chris
Mulder exudes infectious enthusiasm.
Leading by example
Chris
Mulder is certainly an impressive personality. He exudes conviction and efficiency in his
vision to help redefine development in South Africa.
Mulder’s
brainchild, Chris Mulder Associates Inc (CMAI) is becoming well-known for its work that
marries upmarket residential development with economically- and socially-sustainable
initiatives and community upliftment. “22 years ago, we sat down and set some goals
for CMAI,” says Mulder. “The most important of these goals was to become known
for sensitive coastal development in South Africa.”
A collaborative approach
At the time Mulder said: “It is important for us as planners, designers,
decisionmakers and developers to blend our creative, technical and management skills with
a professional ethic that shapes a sustainable future for people and the environment:
I guess it
all boils down to how societies can meet basic human needs and nurture economic growth
without undermining the natural resource base and environmental integrity”. Today
Mulder still believes in that ideal.
CMAI’s
mission statement is commitment to the environmentally-sensitive development of land,
property and natural resources, and the company’s aim is to optimise the commercial,
socio-economic and environmental value of all projects through multi-agency co-ordination.
This involves a holistic approach supported by the diverse skills of a multi-disciplinary
team, the unique creative contribution of individuals, and rewarding personal
relationships with clients.
“I
believe that there is no one skill or profession that can be involved in a project,”
Mulder explains. “All role players must be aware right from the start what is
involved. I insist on full consultant meetings all the time on every project, including
the specialist consultants. I believe in absolute interdisciplinary collaboration and,
over a quarter of a century, we have developed a unique process in this area.
Our projects
are large – up to 2 000 ha sometimes. The approval systems are complex, and the
design, planning and architecture have to respond to the region.
Often the
sites are in super-sensitive areas like Thesen Islands. It took us seven years to obtain
the approvals and seven years to construct, sell and build the 605 residential units on
this site. We built 11 km of canals, the entire infrastructure and 100 multi-million-rand
houses a year in five consecutive years. In this time, we also completed Thesen Harbour
Town: the project’s own commercial centre. During this time, the full consultant team
attended biweekly meetings and everyone was constantly aware of one another’s
problems and ready to respond proactively.”
New approaches
CMAI’s work is mostly based on the concepts of ‘new urbanism’
and ‘new ruralism’.
New urbanism
advocates liveable neighbourhoods built to reduce dependency on cars, provide easy access
to public and commercial amenities, increase community interactivity, increase
cost-effectiveness of services, and provide a simplified but higher quality of life. New
ruralism works to create bridges between sustainable agriculture and new urbanism.
“I know
and acknowledge that there is continuous debate on this topic, as well as people who
support it and others who totally disagree with it,” says Mulder. “But we
believe it addresses most of the housing and living conditions we face in South Africa. We
have demonstrated very successfully that it works – it sells; it creates jobs; it
contributes greatly to the local GDP and economy; it is sustainable; and people living in
these developments love the lifestyle.”
Mulder is of
the opinion that urban edge policies are restrictive, relatively undefined and
unimplemented. “We support the principle of densification within the urban areas and
an urban edge. However, there is nothing that can stimulate rural development in South
Africa. I believe we should identify farmland with high potential as well as potential to
accommodate residential development in either a scenic area or a place with natural
attributes. The agricultural land should be set aside for agriculture development and the
rest of the area should be developed in an economically-viable way. ”If we do not
create such a policy or a guideline, how will the people living in the rural areas ever
become participants in the economic boom we are experiencing now?” Mulder questions.
“The growth we see now is something we have never experienced before in our life
times and the rural people are totally excluded.”
Sustainable rural
planning
Instead of building a model golf course, Mulder proposes building a model farm
with everything required to be an economic and successful enterprise. This involves
incorporating enough housing units to discount the cost of developing the farm – as
in a golf estate. The fully-operational farm is thus debt free. A well-educated and
capable farm management team would be appointed to run the farm while the labour component
on the farm, as well as the managing team and the home owners’ association, would be
given a substantial equity ownership in the enterprise. In this way, rural areas could be
optimised while equity ownership in farmland could be provided to previously-disadvantaged
communities.
“We are
busy with six of these large-scale projects and, while the authorities still battle to
understand how to incorporate this concept in their policies, we simply cannot wait. I
think my long-term vision is shaped by my concern for finding solutions to sustainable
rural development, and finding a way to allow the poorer rural population a bite at the
economic growth that the country is experiencing. We need to find a way to regenerate the
agricultural potential of the land and support rural lifestyles. We need to define a rural
edge – an edge that forms a buffer between the natural areas that should be
protected, the semi-natural areas that can be developed very sensitively, and the
agricultural land that should be preserved and developed economically for agricultural
purposes.”
Integrating experience
and work
Mulder’s story is an unusual one and it is evident that his early working
life has strongly influenced his characteristic approach to planning.
He
originally studied soil science (chemistry) and horticulture at the University of Pretoria
and was awarded a BSc (agriculture) degree. After farming for 12 years, external
influences obliged him to reconsider his direction entirely.
“When I
started farming, I was a share cropper: a guy who had no land and worked someone else’s
land for 25% of everything he produced. I bought my first farm three years later and then
bought two subsequent undeveloped farms with huge potential in the following 10 years.
The planning
of these farms, the soil types and the vegetation interested me and I developed them
according to what the land indicated to me. Soon after that, the previous government
expropriated two of my farms for incorporation into the then Leboakgomo homeland. I was
left with the original farm and had to make a decision to either buy again or do something
else. I decided to go back to university, and obtained a masters degree in landscape
architecture.
During this
time, I drove the 180 km from the remaining farm to Pretoria and back twice a week. At
that time I was chairman of the South African Farmers’ Union and director of the
local co-op.
My wife,
Pat, and children stayed on at the farm with the farm manager and staff, and Pat managed
the farm. I arranged with the professors teaching professional practice and ethics, and
history of architecture, to tape certain lectures, hired a student to tape them for me,
and bought two tape recorders: one for the student who taped the lectures and one I kept
in my bakkie. I would then listen to the lectures in my bakkie driving back and forth from
the farm – the same lecture twice a week – coming and going. After three years,
I graduated and decided that, as I had made this career change, I might as well go full
out. I applied to three universities in the United States and was admitted to all three. I
decided to go to Texas A&M
University
as it had one of the largest architecture schools in the US, as well as an urban design
and land planning/environmental design programme. It was there that I obtained a PhD in
urban design and land planning.”
At the same
time, Pat Mulder began an interior design course. Together they spent three of the most
rewarding years of their lives, studying and working to support their four children.
During that time, Mulder also spent time at Harvard University – in the terrain
analyses programme and the aerial photo interpretation technology programme.
“The
money spent obtaining a degree in the US pales into insignificance if one thinks back to
what it meant to us and the kids.”
In May 1980,
both Mulders graduated – she summa cum laude and he cum laude.
In spite of
some good job offers, they decided to come back to South Africa immediately and start
their own firm, which they did in July 1980. Mulder & Mulder set up offices in
Pretoria. Three years later, the name was changed to Chris Mulder Associates Inc or CMAI,
and additional offices were opened in Durban, Cape Town and Mossel Bay.
Because of
the nature of their work and fields of specialisation, the Mulders ‘imported’ 16
American graduates (architects, urban designers and landscape architects) to work for them
for more than a decade. Three of Mulder’s professors at the Texas A&M University’s
college of architecture – Don Austin and Michael Murphy and John Motloch – later
became colleagues and also worked at CMAI on several occasions. “They introduced me
to the profession, the challenges and the opportunities,” Mulder acknowledges.
Murphy and
Motloch graduated with a PhD from the University of Pretoria’s school of architecture
with Mulder as their external examiner. CMAI also sponsored several South African
graduates reading for masters degrees at Texas A&M. “All of them completed their
degrees there, returned to work at CMAI, and then started their own successful
professional practises, contributing meaningfully to the industry and the country.”
A sustainable legacy
True to the goal of creating sustainable developments with liveable
neighbourhoods,
CMAI is busy
with a number of projects that incorporate and preserve sensitive ecological areas. These
include a small marina and agricultural village and estate on the Gourits River Mouth that
will hopefully include seawater aquaculture and game farming; a waterfront development on
the West Coast, which will also introduce large-scale seawater aquaculture and livestock
farming; a project in the Addo Elephant Park; and a very environmentally-challenging new
residential and commercial development in Knysna, opposite Thesen Islands, called George
Rex Place.
The latter
is situated on a severely-impacted wetland where large amounts of sawdust have been
dumped. The land has been left to invader species and suffered rampant stormwater problems
for more than four decades. With correct planning, design and mitigation measures, Mulder
hopes to make this land as successful as Thesen Islands, just smaller in scale, with
higher densities and more affordable price ranges.
On the
subject of success, Mulder has this to say: “I guess success, like beauty, is in the
eye of the beholder. I would call success achieving pre-set goals over a period of time;
completing projects as planned and leaving happy clients and users; having people living
in your developments telling you they got more than they ever hoped for or expected to
receive; seeing young professionals dumped into the deep end, mature and take on
responsibilities; and building up a potent team, with low staff turnover, working
sometimes under extreme pressure and rising to the occasion, time and again. To maintain
success calls for people not to rest on their laurels and the awards they receive but to
face up to the challenges and opportunities this country offers us, and find unique
solutions, implementing them and evaluating how you could have done better. The challenge
is to create even better places for people to live, to find practical solutions to our
problems, and to demonstrate to the world how we resolve them. That is why we call CMAI
‘the original thought factory’.”
-----
BATTLE OF THE ’BURBS
Capricorn
Park in Cape Town v Wynberg in Johannesburg
Industrial ’burbs: the past
and the future?
The
clean and neat Capricorn Park in Cape Town is the direct opposite of busy and somewhat
grimy Wynberg in Johannesburg but both cater for industrial development. What are the
differences?
Without the
intention to fulfil this purpose, industrial areas such as Wynberg in northern
Johannesburg are really mixed-use developments.
Although
these areas are zoned industrial with certain requirements and guidelines, it is pretty
much ’anything goes’. Walking through Wynberg, you will see high densities,
different setbacks from the street, all kinds of activities: big and small, formal and
informal. The lasting impression is that there is not much control.
Another type
of industrial development has grown in popularity in recent times.
The 68 ha
business-cum-industrial Capricorn Park in the southern suburbs of Cape Town does not
resemble the traditional hustle-and-bustle and dirty picture of industrial townships at
all. Driving into Capricorn Park, one gets the impression of space, cleanliness and
control.
Management style
Surprisingly, the one thing that these two suburbs have in common is an
alternative management structure. Capricorn Park is managed by means of a constituted
property owners’ association. Speaking to Wendy Hartshorne, the development manager
on site, one is impressed with the research that has gone into the development as well as
the control that the association and its management seems to have over the activities of
the park’s occupants. But, according to Hartshorne, this is the commitment promised
to investors and occupants, and incorporated in the township’s conditions of
establishment.
Increasingly,
consumers require manufacturers to be environmentally-responsible and to ensure the
highest quality in their manufacturing practices. At least one of the companies invested
in Capricorn Park is exporting to the notoriously fickle food industry of the United
States and it has to meet very stringent requirements. Capricorn Park was established in
1999/2000 as a technology and business oriented commercial estate and caters for mixed
use: research laboratories, offices, clean manufacturing, limited warehousing and retail.
To manage a
whole township is a totally different ball game. The management of the Wynberg industrial
area has been, for a few years, the responsibility of the Wynberg Improvement District. It
has been a voluntary city improvement district (CID) since 2001 and legislated in 2004.
According to Lindie la Grange, business manager for Kagiso Urban Management, the Wynberg
Improvement District approached Kagiso Urban Management to take over its management from
April 2006. The CID works closely with the municipality in the management of this complex
environment.
The main
issues, according to La Grange, are safety and security, informal trading and the high
pedestrian traffic through the area.
Capricorn
Park was specifically planned and designed to cater for industrial and business use while
Wynberg grew organically over a number of years, providing a livelihood for a broad
variety of business enterprises.
Land use
Wynberg 6/10
*
Mixed land use
*
Motor-related industry
Wynberg is
located in northern Johannesburg, wedged between the M1 and the high-density suburb of
Alexandra. Crossing the M1 at Grayston Drive secures easy access to the very upmarket
Sandton node. With industrial areas often located on the outskirts of the city, the
locality of Wynberg has resulted in an interesting mix of businesses. Located so close to
major residential areas, the industries are generally not major manufacturing or polluting
enterprises. Recent developments in this area take the form of entrepreneurial small,
medium and micro enterprises.
According to
La Grange, there are 300 properties in Wynberg forming part of the CID and used by 216
individual businesses.
Although
motor-related enterprises are probably dominant, a wide variety of land use is evident.
This includes a call center for the Gauteng provincial government as well as a number of
industries focused on interior decorating.
Being a
‘traditional’ industrial area, Wynberg also caters for land use supporting
existing factories, ranging from informal cell-phone stands to formal food kiosks.
Capricon Park 8/10
*
Mixed land use
*
Strict control
The
Capricorn site was undeveloped until 1999. Originally zoned for municipal purposes, it now
has a zoning of ‘Commercial 2’ in terms of the municipality’s town planning
scheme. All of the 82 industrial sites in the park have been sold and most of the existing
sites are owned and occupied by the same entities.
The original
idea was that Capricorn Park would cater specifically for small, technology and business
development-orientated uses so a number of laboratories were established. Print
technology-related uses are also found, as well as industry involved with technological
research into motor-vehicle parts. At the entrance to Capricorn Park, there is a 5 000 m²
retail node with a supermarket and other amenities.
The majority
of the 64 office sites have also been sold. However the development uptake on them has not
been as overwhelming as for the industrial stands.
Hartshorne
is, however, optimistic about this part of the development as well, acknowledging the
recent upturn in the commercial sectional title and letting market.
There are
also future plans for another 6 000 m² mixed-use development and, further into the
future, an upmarket residential and leisure-related land use to turn the estate into a
truly mixed-use zone.
Accessibility
Wynberg 7/10
*
Pedestrian traffic
*
Close to highways
Wynberg is
characterised by a high through-flow of pedestrians going towards and back from Alexandra
but it seems that sidewalks do not always cater for their needs. The area is extremely
accessible by motor vehicle with off-ramps from the M1 at the northern (Marlboro Road) and
southern (Grayston Drive) ends of the ‘burb.
The Pan
Africa Triangle – 12 ha between Alexandra and Wynberg – has been redeveloped as
a taxi facility with associated retail and commercial developments.
In future,
the nearby Gautrain station at Marlboro might also contribute to the accessibility of the
area.
Capricorn Park 7/10
*
Contra-cyclical to
peak hour traffic
Accessible for
workers
Capricorn
Park is also easily accessible, especially in terms of traffic congestion that troubles
the Cape Peninsula. Access is provided via the M5, the M3 and Baden Powell Drive. Traffic
flow towards Cape Town is beneficially contra-cyclical.
In terms of
the labour sources in the area, Capricorn is easily accessible from Mitchell’s Plain
and Khayelitsha. Just north of the site is Vrygrond, an area that is reportedly one of the
oldest former black townships in the Western Cape.
Workers from
Vrygrond travel by foot. Rail commuting is also accommodated with the nearby Muizenberg
and Retreat stations catering for Capricorn’s needs.
Sense of community
environment
Wynberg 6/10
*
Buzzing with activity
*
Security concerns
The high
densities prevalent in Wynberg, combined with large pedestrian traffic flows, give the
area a vibrant and welcoming feeling.
A lot of
things are happening simultaneously so a visitor gets a strong sense of community.
According to
La Grange, issues pertaining to ‘crime and grime’ in Wynberg have improved
tremendously since the CID appointed ’cleaning and safety ambassadors’.
These
ambassadors are responsible for, among other tasks, sweeping sidewalks, removing illegal
posters, graffiti and signage, as well as basic maintenance.
They also
deal with crime – petty crime is predominant in this area.
Capricorn Park 6/10
*
Lack of activity
*
Sparsely populated
Capricorn
Park still lacks a sense of community. This might be due to the fact that it is not yet
fully-developed but it might also be ascribed to the low coverage of 50% that is required.
It is,
however, a unique node that has the potential to grow and establish itself with a sense of
community. The developers and managers are very concerned about working conditions and all
of the individual property owners have to cater for their workers’ needs in terms of
providing canteens and the like. The idea is that the conference centre will also
increasingly serve as a community facility for the estate.
Environment
Wynberg 5/10
*
Litter
*
Possible pollution
Wynberg has
no real environmental assets left except for a few trees along some of the sidewalks. A
major concern is the amount of litter that is still found on sidewalks, open spaces and
even on streets.
As with any
industrial area, especially one so close to major residential suburbs, there is some
concern about industrial pollution. The CID provides an ideal forum for self-control as it
approaches the relevant property owners in the event of pollution. If no action is taken
by the property owners, the CID alerts the relevant authorities.
Capricorn Park 9/10
*
High environmental
standards
*
Harsh environment
Environmental
concerns have probably been one of the major reasons for the establishment of Capricorn
Park.
Increasingly,
end users require compliance at source in the sense that manufacturing has to be
environmentally-responsible.
Management
of the park is, therefore, very strict about pollution of all kinds.
Located in
an environmentally very harsh part of the Western Cape, special environmental care had to
be taken during development. Of the 68 ha developed as part of Phase 1, 9 ha was exposed
groundwater. The water bodies that form part of the attractive landscaping are
continuously monitored. The proposed phases 2 and 3 of Capricorn Park also have plans for
the development of a biodiversity corridor.
Development potential
Wynberg 6/10
*
Ideal locality
*
No clear vision
According to
the City of Johannesburg’s regional spatial development framework for the Wynberg
area (Region E), the area is ideally located to attract new business at various levels but
the lack of available land and buildings is problematic.
The City of
Johannesburg suggests that “efforts for enhancing the opportunities for industrial
expansion should be linked directly to business incubation and small
business/entrepreneurial development programming, and take cognizance of the proposed
Gautrain station to be located in nearby Marlboro”. It is, however, not clear what
the city has in mind for the future of the area.
Hopefully
the continuous improvement and development of the nearby Alexandra might have a positive
spin-off for Wynberg in future. According to La Grange, there are no vacant sites in the
area and nearly no land is up for sale. This bodes well for the future.
Capricorn Park 8/10
*
Extensive future
planning
*
Still under
construction
Extensive
plans are on the table for the future of Capricorn Park. Developers are in the process of
obtaining planning permission for the second phase of the development, which will take
place towards the south of the site, close to the sea.
Phase 1 is,
however, still under construction and the real picture will only become clear as soon as
construction has been completed.
A positive
aspect for future development is that the estate is self-regulating and can (within
limits) decide when to develop and where it would like to position itself.
Conclusion
Wynberg 30/50
Capricorn Park 38/50
Although
Wynberg and Capricorn Park differ significantly in purpose, development history and
general outlook, there are some points of similarity. Although there is space in the
market for the traditional industrial area and the more hi-tech industrial development,
these two ‘burbs could actually ‘learn’ some valuable lessons from each
other.
-----
INSPIRATION
Bright lights, big city
At
night, Jozi’s skyline portrays the image of a world-class city.
The city of
Johannesburg has an ambitious vision to become “a world-class city for all” that
will “look and feel different from the city of the early 21st century”. No more
dark corners and unsafe streets, Jozi’s vision is to be vibrant and home to an
energetic night-life society. And we applaud the signs of Jozi’s international status
– exemplary urbanisation.
The urban
fabric is made up of various visual elements. Lighting is an important aspect of urban
design and branding.
Whether
natural or artificial, light accentuates genius, masks mistakes, grabs attention and makes
a place feel sacred or safe. Or, as in downtown Jozi’s case, it can be inviting and
hint at a vibrant night life.
But, of
course, lighting is not only aesthetically pleasant. At street level, crime-ridden South
Africa could benefit from more efficient lighting, as well as an active and vibrant night
life.
On a global
scale, NASA created a method of mapping urbanisation by using satellite images of the
light generated by cities at night. With maps of city lights, NASA is now able to zero in
on the impacts of urban sprawl on the food we eat, the air we breathe and the ecosystem we
inhabit.
LED
billboards on inner-city buildings and at the Top Star drive-in, south of central
Johannesburg, hint at an active, investment-friendly and, above all, truly African and
world-class city .Of course, a few light bulbs are not going to change the future
character of a city, but lighting is a powerful design element and suggests a step in the
right direction.
Imagine the
possibilities!
-----
INSULT
Bring down the masts
High-mast
lighting is not the solution for sustainable settlements of the 21st century.
A walk
around Vosloorus in the early hours of a winter morning is an eye-opening experience.
High-mast lights shed an orange glow over the entire township.
Although it
discourages night-time criminal activity, this type of lighting is probably more
appropriate for industrial areas or major road intersections.
High-mast
lighting is a remnant of the apartheid era but, surprisingly, it is still installed in
present-day residential developments although government policy, like the ‘Breaking
New Ground’ strategy, and other national and local policy documents, encourage
environmental quality, human scale and neighbourhood character.
Bog-standard
lighting solutions certainly don’t beautify rows of mass-produced houses. Sustainable
human settlements require long-term vision. High-mast lighting is a shortsighted choice.
A well-known
large banking group actually runs an advert to boast about how it helped a BEE contractor
establish his own business installing high-mast lighting in townships. It is sad that the
‘new South Africa’ seems content with inhumane apartheid infrastructure while it
strives to build worldclass, ‘integrated’ cities.
-----
TREE OF THE ISSUE
Halleria
lucida
A tree for small gardens
Willem
de Frey, environmental manager and ecologist, discusses the Halleria lucida.
Halleria
lucida, commonly known as ‘notsung’ or ‘tree fuchsia’, is a shrub of
up to 3 m in height. It is an evergreen species, which occurs from Ethiopia in the north
to the Western Cape. Its natural habitat is close to water, outcrops on grassy mountains
slopes, wooded grassland and evergreen forests. It flowers from April to December and
bears fruit from June to February, thereby giving colour to pale winter gardens while
attracting birds in summer.
From
personal experience, it grows well on the southern side of walls in small gardens. It is
actually ideal for small areas and close to walls as its roots do not present a threat.
With the inclusion of a few other species, it could be used to recreate the atmosphere
found in forests – in your backyard!
According to
literature, it grows up to 1 m per year and will withstand light frost. It hardly needs
any nurturing and is not affected by common garden disease or pests. This species is
actually ideal for the ‘low-impact’ gardener. It will not invade your garden as
the flesh of the fruit contains a chemical that retards germination.
The species
layers naturally and can be removed from the parent plant and transplanted. Cuttings must
be made in early spring or summer.
Seedlings
and young plants transplant well and are usually fast-growing. As is the case with most
plants, it is better to get seedlings or young plants from plants that were grown at local
nurseries.
Its fruits
are edible. Flowers attract bees as well as sun birds while a variety of fruit-eating
birds are attracted by the berries.
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