Contents of August 2008

COMMENT
What role does planning play in climate change?

UPFRONT
What’s new and happening?

GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Star SA rating tool previewed

GREEN BUILDINGS BRIEFS

CITY VISIT
Khayelitsha: a wasteland?

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING & DESIGN
Is permaculture the way forward?

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING & DESIGN BRIEFS

WASTE & POLLUTION MANAGEMENT
Mine dumps need not disfigure the cityscape.

WASTE & POLLUTION MANAGEMENT BRIEFS

INSPIRATION
We find a “sweet spot” in Illovo.

INSULT
Is Sandton becoming a blot on the urbanscape?

VIEWPOINT
What do the experts say?

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COMMENT

A place for planning?
Is urban planning and development being handled responsibly in light of climate change, especially when it comes to planning permission?

Urban Green File recently attended a seminar hosted by Environmental Resources Management, better know as ERM. Two noteworthy speakers addressed the audience on climate change. Peter Lukey, chief director: air-quality management and climate change of the Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism (DEAT), unpacked the government’s brand-new strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change while Mandy Rambharos, corporate specialist: sustainable development for Eskom, in turn, pointed out how South Africa’s biggest generator of greenhouse-gas emissions plans to tackle this threat. The presentations were insightful and it was encouraging to see environmental issues so high on the agenda.

For South Africa to successfully mitigate the effects of climate change, a massive paradigm shift is required and the DEAT’s strategy to effect change through strategic interventions may just make the difference.

Noteworthy aspects include a “passenger modal shift” to public transport and industrial efficiency in energy consumption as some ways to reduce, emissions and carbon footprints.

But where do local government, property development and the many consultants involved in urban development fit in? Urban Green File is concerned that, as long as planning permission is granted based on criteria such as zoning only, climate change will never be tackled effectively.

It is time for town planning to change gear. In future, carbon footprints should be considered in each and every development project. Is it sustainable to approve a new housing development far from amenities where it encourages urban sprawl and emissions emanating from many vehicles driving to and fro?

Perhaps government’s climate-change policy should include new guidelines to be considered in planning applications?

At the same time, the planning professions should make a greater attempt to incorporate climate-change considerations into their work processes. Failing this, they may find themselves irrelevant in a world informed by a new paradigm.

Planning profession without a ‘home’

We have received an alarming letter from Ashraf Adam, president of the South African Planning Institute (see page 48). We need to point out that, subsequent to him circulating the letter via e-mail, the Minister of Land Affairs has extended the South African Council of Planners (SACPLAN)’s term of office until September 30 2008. Urban Green File believes the issue is more complex, though, than this serious oversight by the Department of Land Affairs only.We have always been perplexed that the town-planning profession and its council falls under the Department of Land Affairs when other built-environment professions, such as architecture and landscape architecture, fall under the Council for the Built Environment and, therefore, the Department of Public Works. Is this not where town planners also belong? Then again one could also argue that SACPLAN should fall under the Department of Provincial & Local Government. Or does it belong with the DEAT?

I, for one, believe it is a serious problem that South Africa is under the misapprehension the environment only comprises nature-conservation areas and game parks.

Isn’t it time the DEAT became more concerned with the quality of the urban environment in which most South Africans find themselves? If a better life for all is the goal, then the human habitat needs more attention. - Gerald Garner

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UPFRONT

Hermanus utilises groundwater
The Overstrand Municipality in the Western Cape has begun using one of the highest-yielding boreholes in South Africa, discovered near Hermanus, as a water source. There are plans to link it to a global satellitemonitoring system in order to manage it in a scientific manner.

Some 1,5-million m³/year of underground water has been added to the existing 2,8-million m³/year from the De Bos Dam, which was once the only water source for thenGreater Hermanus area, including the villages of Fisherhaven, Hawston, Onrus and Sandbaai, according to groundwater consulting firm, Umvoto.

Green building specialist acquired
Urban Green File has learned WSP Group Africa has acquired Green by Design – a firm that has become widely known for its work in the field of green buildings and sustainability in the built environment with its best-known project probably being BP South Africa’s head office at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. WSP Group Africa CEO, Andrew Mather, elaborates on the rationale behind the acquisition.

“It forms part of WSP’s global strategy of commitment to sustainability, which is one of our core values,” he says. “As a company, we are passionate about sustainable design and this is a further step towards becoming recognised as leaders in this field. Eric Noir is regarded as one of South Africa’s leading architects in the green building arena and we are pleased to welcome him to WSP.”

The Green by Design team will now be known as Green by Design powered by WSP and will form part of WSP Energy Africa.

Proper public transport at last
The City of Johannesburg is spending almost R10-billion on the implementation of its Rea Vaya bus rapid transit (BRT) system – R2,5-billion on the construction of infrastructure (dedicated bus lanes, stations on the medians or roads, and stations boasting sophisticated electronic communication and security equipment); R2-billion on the procurement of buses; R5-billion on the operation of the system over a 10-year period. The system will comprise more than 330 km of road network and more than 300 stations.

If successful, Rea Vaya will have a massive positive environmental impact on the city. Exhaust emissions should be reduced as more people opt for public transport and abandon private cars.

The system should also, indirectly, promote densification of the city. If it could help prevent further urban sprawl, even greater savings on emissions could be achieved.

The articulated buses will boast Euro Tier IV diesel engines with built-in particle filters to minimise emissions. Investigations into the efficiency of ethanol-based engines (applied in Stockholm where it is efficient but at low altitude) will also be completed for future phases and routes.

An international standard for BRT stations is being applied in line with a South African aesthetic referred to as the “porcupine” design.

The stations will be built on road median islands and have a raised floor level height of 900 mm (the same level as the bus floor). During operation, the doors of the bus and station will open at the same time.

The construction of a prototype at Joubert Park is out to tender with expected completion by September 2008. The remainder of the stations, of a modular nature, will be built off-site to allow rapid in-sit assembly.

Government responds to climate change
Climate change is now very much on the national agenda with Cabinet having adopted an official response to this pressing matter. According to Peter Luckey, chief director for air-quality management and climate change within the Environmental Quality & Protection Branch of the Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism (DEAT), government has accepted the scientific premise that the increase in world temperatures correlates to increased emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. Government, therefore, believes South Africa faces the stark future of increased droughts and potential negative impacts on biodiversity and economic growth.

The South African government has committed itself to a programme that will set out to limit the increase in temperatures to 2°C. While climate change will certainly impact the local economy, a serious attempt will be made to mitigate the impacts.

Government’s immediate response to climate change involves various “action packages”, including industrial efficiency, the promotion of renewable and nuclear energy, a passenger modal shift to public transport and improvement to vehicle efficiency. In the longer-term, more focus will be shifted to nuclear energy and electrical vehicles, which the DEAT claims will reduce carbon emissions even though they will rely on the national coal-fired power grid for charging.

The markets will also be used to effect change. This includes the escalation of CO2 tax, subsidies for renewables and biofuel, and new technologies. Much emphasis will be placed on effecting behavioural changes among consumers of energy.

A National Climate Change Response Policy Summit will be held from March 2 to 6 2009 and the green paper on climate change should be issued by April 2010 in order to call for public comment.

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GREEN BUILDINGS

Objective rating tool previewed
It will soon be possible to get South African buildings objectively rated in terms of their greenness. Green Star SA will be launched in November 2008 following a public comment period running until the end of August 2008.

It is generally accepted that 40% of the world’s energy is consumed by buildings through direct consumption during a building’s construction and operational phases, and via the embodied energy required to transport and produce building materials. The construction industry is, therefore, a major contributor to global climate change.

Nicola Douglas, CEO of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) – the organisation developing the Green Star SA tool – informs Urban Green File the intention of the tool is to address green buildings in a South African context by:
* reducing the environmental impact of development;
* establishing a common language and standard of measurement for  green buildings;
* promoting integrated, wholebuilding design;
* raising awareness of green building benefits; and
recognising environmental leadership.

Australian tool adapted for local context
The Green Star SA is based on the Australian Green Star tool, which has been adapted and modified to the South African context. Llewellyn van Wyk of the CSIR, who sits on the Green Star technical committee, says this was partly in response to a generous offer from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) to assist in the development and implementation of the South African tool, and partly in response to pressure from the local marketplace to have a green assessment system up and running as soon as possible.

The Australian Green Star was built on existing systems and tools in overseas markets, including the British Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method system and the North American Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system.

Anika Spears, sustainability manager for the Buildcorp Group, and design manager on workplace6, Australia’s first six-star Green Star-rated building, says: “Green Star rating tools use the best regulatory standards to encourage the property industry to improve the environmental impact of development. The rating tools embrace local standards and guidelines where applicable to benchmark this improvement. In assessing elements that should be rated, and to drive change in the market, GBCA has been diligent in focusing on areas of environmental impact that are a direct consequence of a building’s briefing, design, construction and maintenance – outcomes that can be directly influenced by stakeholders within the property industry”.

Spears adds, since the introduction of the Green Star-rating system five years ago, the property industry in Australia has experienced a massive shift towards more sustainable developments with significantly-reduced environmental impacts. “As there are now 70 certified projects and more than 600 registered for future certification is a demonstration of how many new and refurbished buildings are incorporating environmentally-sustainable design into their briefs.”

Jason Buch of the GBCSA says: “As has happened in other countries (Europe, the US and Australia), we expect green building practices and certification to be rapidly taken up by the commercial development markets in South Africa. Virtually all public development in the US is now required to be certified under the LEED system, and certification has become commonplace for commercial office development in Australia.

The goal of the rating tool is market transformation to healthier, more environment- friendly buildings. And, as the market transforms, the tool will become more rigorous in order to continue to push the market forward”.

Healthier, more productive workplaces
Through inherent design considerations, green buildings are healthier, more productive places for people to live and work.

“Green office buildings have better air quality, more natural light, access to views of the outside, and allow staff members more control of their work environment,” says Buch. “Energy and water savings also have a direct impact on the bottom line. However, when looking at a tenant’s costs, salaries are several times larger than utility costs so the increased efficiency of employees can have a dramatic economic impact. In addition, a Green Star SA rating will be a marketing benefit for the property owner. Green building is a worldwide movement; something international businesses and visitors are becoming more insistent about. In order to remain competitive, owners will need to embrace green.”

Van Wyk cites two arguments for the green business case. “Firstly, there are demonstrable results from LEED, for example, which has been running long enough to show operational cost savings of a substantial order (electricity and water use, waste management and so on). And, perhaps as an unexpected spin-off, employers are seeing benefits in terms of employee comfort and a reduction in absenteeism. There are real reductions in common ailments, such as sinusitis, colds and headaches so productivity goes up.

Non-green property portfolios will become obsolete
“Secondly, a perhaps more profound argument was highlighted in the Harvard Business Review. The authors argued the property portfolio value of those asset holders who had a substantial investment in immoveable assets would change in the foreseeable future in response to demand by tenants for green buildings. This is similar to what happened in the property market when high-rise and open-plan buildings came onto the market. What had, until then, been ‘Category A’ cellular offices dropped to ‘Category D’ stock very quickly, and the portfolio value of those buildings went through the floorboards. So, theoretically, as green buildings start coming into the marketplace, the demand for non-green buildings will drop. And, as tenants, facilities managers and workers start to demand green buildings, the rental will escalate accordingly. The argument is that non-green buildings will become obsolete and portfolio holders need to take a view now on dumping them or greening them.”

Impact on cities mitigated
Buch notes green buildings also have a wider impact. “For municipalities, green buildings encourage transportation methods other than individual cars, such as local public transportation initiatives or non-motorised transport. They also, generally, protect common resources by decreasing demand on energy and water supplies; decrease demand on waste treatment and stormwater systems; and decrease negative land and ecology impacts.

Eric Noir of Green by Design and another founding director of the GBCSA’s Green Star SA technical committee, says: “Infrastructure is costing local, provincial and national authorities more and more to maintain. By reducing demand, you reduce the cost. And, by using resources like electricity more efficiently, more development is possible.

Nationally, the ‘shortage’ of power has become an issue, and is slowing down development and the economy, which also has an impact on training and employment”.

Local examples: operating costs halved
According to an analysis of international and Australian data, The Dollars and Sense of Green Buildings 2006: Building the Business Case for Green Commercial Buildings in Australia report, green buildings deliver lower annual operating costs and more efficient asset management. Local case studies demonstrate a 60% reduction in water and energy consumption, which can halve annual operating costs.

Evidence also cites green buildings deliver increased occupant productivity (an increase of 1% to 25%); less staff churn; higher relative investment returns (minimum 14% return on investment); higher market value for the asset (10% increase); higher rentals (5% to 10% increase); and a marketing advantage (free promotion) through ethical investment.

The report also states: “Importantly, a growing body of international and local evidence shows, while buildings generally incur a small green premium above the costs of standard construction, the Australian property industry should not expect the cost to build green to exceed a 3% premium”.

Spears notes the workplace6 project provides significant energy and water savings; reducing outgoing costs for tenants.

“A standard premium-grade office building of this size would produce the equivalent emissions of 309 cars per year. Workplace6 has reduced this down to the equivalent of 138 cars per year. Water consumption has also been reduced from 15 Olympic-size swimming pools per year to just one.”

It starts with design
Under the Green Star SA tool, the following categories provide opportunities for assessment credits: management; indoor environmental quality; energy; transport; water; materials; land use and ecology; emissions; and innovation.

“Enforcing green building principles is the social and ethical responsibility of landlords and property owners,” comments Brent Wiltshire, development executive for Old Mutual Investment Group Property Investments, and a founding member of the GBCSA. “A green philosophy needs to be defined by the owner from the start and passed on to the professional team.

As far as I’m concerned, this is an industry-changing movement, and the opportunities for consultants are massive. This is because climate and sustainability issues have changed the priorities of major business.

Consultants need to get into the space of creating efficient buildings to avoid designing structures that will soon become functionally obsolete. In the US and Europe, corporate business has driven the green property market and forced the construction industry to change by demanding what it wants from the consultants.

I believe this will be the case here.” Spears notes: “It is essential on any project with high sustainability targets that Green Star goals are clearly understood by the entire project team. On the workplace6 project, Green Star requirements were incorporated from Day 1 of the design. The targeted credits were reviewed weekly to ensure there were no issues with compliance.

In the end, the project was awarded not 75 but 83 of the required points to achieve a six-star rating.”

Noir agrees. “It is important for a green building rating to be achieved through a design-led approach. One cannot merely tick of a list of criteria that has to be adhered to, green building design must form part of the overall design approach. It is of essence for the design to reach a level of quality that will result in a green design.

Better than best practice is required
“In the development of Green Star SA, we’ve been quite particular not to reward or accredit best practice,” adds Noir. “We’re assuming best practice as a starting point and the project must go beyond this in order to achieve a rating. This should promote an integrated approach to design and construction.”

Interestingly, Van Wyk comments: “Probably the most disappointing component of any of the green rating systems to date is the impact on design and construction. With a few notable exceptions, we are seeing modern buildings getting a degree of technological intervention but there is very little evidence of architects taking a different design approach to the building. For the most part, consultants design the way they would have, any way, with variations in lighting and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, for example, and the building flooded with sensors connected to a building management system. And, at this stage, the tool does not acknowledge responses to social or surrounding urban-planning issues. You can get the highest-rated green building and it can still be ‘uncouth’. So, for example, within the rating system, the extent to which the building destroys the street front or the fact that it calls for a vehicular crossing on a very busy sidewalk is of no concern”.

Not enough emphasis on context?
Van Wyk adds: “One of the challenges architects should be engaging in is how to get buildings to perform independently with the least degree of mechanical intervention. This leads to questions about solar radiation levels on site, the kind of vegetation and biodiversity, temperature variations daily and seasonally so you start responding to context rather than to style. The rewards are huge because you start to create a building that relates to and resolves a specific set of problems on that site and for that purpose”.

The tool does not incorporate an urban context/planning component at this stage as the effect of a building on its surrounds is difficult to quantify, Noir adds. However the LEED system does have a tool for this purpose and the Green Star SA may well evolve to incorporate something of this nature in future.

As far as management and landscaping of the site are concerned, Buch notes these are accommodated within the system. “One of the nine categories in the rating is entitled ‘management’, and includes construction waste management and an environmental management plan for the construction process.

Another of the nine categories is ‘land use and ecology’, which deals with, among others, the vegetation types protected and added to the site. Other aspects, like permeable paving, can also be used to achieve points for decreasing stormwater run-off from sites.”

Opportunity for green product producers
Green building presents an important economic opportunity for product manufacturers to market their existing green products and to create new innovative products for a rapidly-growing market.

And local manufacturers selling products abroad should be able to better position themselves in markets already demanding greener alternatives.

“The Green Building Council and the Green Star SA rating system do not certify materials as green and do not endorse specific materials,” says Buch. “However materials do contribute to points in the rating system based on their attributes, such as containing recycled content, being produced locally, and containing low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). There is also a credit in the rating system for sourcing materials manufactured within certain distances of the building site.

Actual manufacturing practice off-site is not considered.”

Van Wyk adds: “There are tremendous opportunities for suppliers and manufacturers of green building products. One of the advantages of Green Star SA is an emphasis on local materials so there’s a contribution to an enabling environment for the local material industry. This will drive support for the alternative material supply market by boosting demand for recycled materials and products like bamboo flooring and Hessian carpets.”

Noir notes, a year ago, there were only a few low-VOC paints in the Australian market but now product manufacturers would find it difficult to sell paint with a high-VOC content. “As manufacturers change, you inadvertently end up with better buildings,” he says. “In Australia, the industry is undergoing a process of ecolabelling.

Manufacturers are jumping on the green bandwagon and the stakes are quite high. This pressure on the manufacturer is good for the consumer as products are marketed more thoroughly and this offers some sort of assurance.”

Spears comments: “Building products and material manufacturers who have environmental management systems in place and can provide evidence of environmental performance, have a competitive edge over other suppliers on the market.

It’s a real point of difference in a market flooded with so many choices. As so many projects are registered for Green Star certification, suppliers cannot afford not to review, understand and consider the environmental impact of their products.”

Embodied energy and transport considered
According to Noir, how the greenness of a product is measured is an eco-labelling issue. This brings embodied energy into the equation, which is very difficult to quantify.

For example, what’s the point of specifying green materials if transportation contributes significantly to carbon emissions?

“Another factor to consider is the type of transport being used,” adds Noir. “For example, 1 t of goods transported between Melbourne and Sydney (about 800 km) by truck equates to 1 t of goods transported from Perth to Sydney (about 6 000 km) by rail, and 1 t of goods transported from China to Sydney by ship.”

Cradle-to-cradle approach needed
Measuring embodied energy is also an issue of boundaries. Is the process a cradle- to-gate approach (the extraction of raw materials, and their transportation and processing as far as the exit gate of the manufacturer) or cradle-to-site or cradle-to-cradle?

And does the process take into account supporting industries like management and insurance? Or is it simply the amount of energy coming into the factory related to the product being produced?

“So the product component catered for in the tool is really based more on trying to support local economy than actual embodied energy,” Noir says. “A broad range of criteria needs to be considered. South Africa does not have eco-labelling standards yet and the need for this will probably be picked up by the private sector first before it is regulated by government.”

Tool’s influence greater than realised
While LEED has been operational in the US for about a decade now, only about 7% of non-residential buildings are certified, according to Van Wyk. “Having said this, there is hardly a built-environment professional in the US who is not a registered LEED-accredited professional. So one could assume the thinking contained in the LEED rating process is, in fact, being substantially manifested in the design process but buildings are not going through for formal certification because the process is costly and time consuming.

So, even though the total number of certified buildings is small, perhaps the tool’s influence is great.”

Tools for different building types to follow

Noir believes Green Star SA definitely fits its intended purpose. “It was necessary to get the tool on the road and into market within a very tight timeframe. From here, we will start to develop tools for different building types and will take a critical look at improving the system in general.”

Wiltshire adds: “There have been no teething problems in the tool’s development to date. We have the full support of the Australian and New Zealand green building councils, and only about 30% of the tool has been changed for South African conditions. I expect the tool to become an industry benchmark for property development in this country. It provides an attainable goal within the market; starting with non-residential development and filtering down. We are now starting to see a synergy between social responsibility and economic benefits in big business. Global climate change is a major issue and we can make huge inroads in the property industry to address it”.

Long-awaited benchmark
Green Star SA has evolved from the leading green-assessment systems in the world with input from South Africa’s experts in the field. It is a long-awaited benchmark for the local construction industry, and its influence on South African architecture and urban planning is eagerly anticipated.

The public comment period for the Green Star SA office pilot will run from the last week of July to September 1 2008 – see www.gbcsa.org.za.

How to have your building Green Star SA rated
The relevant documentation (laid out by the GBCSA in the Green Star SA technical manuals) is available to the design and construction team during design and/or construction. Once completed, this documentation is submitted to the GBCSA.

The GBCSA then calls together a group of independent assessors, trained by the GBCSA, to review each project for certification. There are two rounds of review, to allow project teams to provide the correct documentation to prove the green building strategies were designed and/or implemented (depending on whether or not a design or as-built certification is being pursued).

All the documentation for each credit will be laid out in the technical manual that will be available with the launch of the final tool in November. Documentation involves components, such as building plans, specifications, manufacturer product-information sheets, calculations and energy modelling reports. Most of the documentation is normally created during the standard design and construction process although there will be some additional documentation required.

Costs for the rating process have not been set yet but interested parties can refer to the Australian (www.gbca.org.au)  and US (www.usgbc.org)  systems for an idea of costs.

6 green stars for Australia
With South Africa’s Green Star environmental rating tool for buildings due for launch in November 2008, Urban Green File takes a peek at a trend-setting green building in Australia.

The workplace6 is a new, six-storey, 18 000 m² commercial office building, located at Pyrmont in Sydney, Australia, and due for construction completion in October 2008. The building has been modelled as one of the most energy-efficient in the world with an Australian Building Greenhouse Rating of five stars, plus 40% improvement (equaling six stars). As the local rating tool has been based on its Australian counterpart, hopefully similarly innovative buildings will rise up all over South Africa in the near future.

The building uses alternative energy sources, including its own gas-fired tri-generation system to generate 25% of its base-load electricity, and a solar hotwater system. It is cooled using energy-efficient chilled beams that provide a more consistent, comfortable temperature within the building. Instead of cooling towers, the mechanical system uses harbour heat rejection.

The workplace6 boasts efficient lighting design: PE cells (intelligent lighting sensors) on the floor perimeter dim internal lights according to daylight levels outside.

Low-e glass is used to reduce heat loads on the building, and direct sunlight is prevented from entering the building through sun shading on the east and west façades.

A blackwater treatment plant with sewer mining capabilities is located on the site and will process all the building’s wastewater into clean greywater for flushing toilets and site irrigation.

As a first for Australia, it will also supply irrigation water to the two neighbouring parks. The system has the capacity to produce 40 000 l of fresh water every day. If the building is not producing enough wastewater, the system will draw on the public sewer and convert this waste into usable water.

The building uses only low-VOC paints, carpets, adhesives and sealants, and has a mould-prevention system in the ductwork to provide a healthy work environment from the day tenants move in.

The workplace6 is Australia’s first post-tensioned structure that employs concrete with 40% fly-ash replacement for cement and 20% slag-aggregate replacement; making it one of the highest recycled concrete structures in Australia today. As much as 60% of the steel in the structure has a minimum recycled content of 50% and the potential use of PVC is reduced by 60%. Only recycled or Forest Stewardship Council-rated timber has been used in the building.

A central staircase not only improves daylight levels and reduces energy required for lighting, it also encourages tenants to walk rather than use the lifts.

The project was awarded not 75 (as required to achieve a six-star rating) but 83 points – additional points were granted under the “innovation” category.

Information courtesy of Anika Spears, sustainability manager for the Buildcorp Group, and design and environmental manager on workplace6.

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GREEN BUILDINGS BRIEFS

Lifestyle sets a Benchmark
Lifestyle Garden Centre in Randpark Ridge, Johannesburg, is setting a benchmark in terms of what can be achieved with green buildings. Oscar Lockwood, director of Greenhouse Trading, tells Urban Green File the seed idea for this green project was one of growth. The company wanted to double the footprint of the existing centre from 38 000 m² to 76 000 m². But City Power could not provide additional capacity above the already allocated 600 kW. Through energy-efficient design, the renovation went ahead and the center now functions on 76 000 m² using no more than 600 kW!

Some 110 kW of power was saved by changing every globe in the property at a cost of R500 000. In addition R2,3-million of German-manufactured solar panels were installed to provide hot water while the number of geysers was reduced from 30 to six. The solar-heated water is also the source for underfloor heating.

Ensure you have subscribed to receive the October 2008 print edition of Urban Green File for an in-depth article on this green building.

Another green office for Sandton
Zenprop and Tiber is jointly developing the 18-storey Alice Lane Office Tower in Sandton at a cost of R600-million. The design is being handled by Anthony Orelowitz of Paragon. Architects. Law firm Deneys Reitz, through Broll Property Group, has signed up to take two thirds of the space in the building on completion in 2010.

During the design process, the building’s energy footprint is being carefully considered. The eastern and western façades will be thermally-insulated with punched windows to reduce glazed areas while the northern and southern façades will be double-glazed to cut energy costs.

“The design ensures the end wings of the northern and southern façades are shaded with blinds to reduce the heat load,” Orelowitz tells Urban Green File. The building’s green nature is highlighted by its location in an extensive greenscape surrounded by reflective ponds and water elements.

“Picture two sculpted towers linked by a vertical atrium,” Orelowitz points out. “Bridges spiral upwards in a fan-like fashion; creating a dramatic internal environment.”

Market yawns over green bricks
As everything is so environment-aware these days – with buzzwords like sustainable and green dropped everywhere like the summer rains – you’d think the only company in the country producing bricks from recycled materials would be continuously sold out but this is not the case.

Cape Brick sales director Jean Tresfon tells Urban Green File the response has been underwhelming: “We have been using recycled materials as the primary ingredient in the manufacture of our products for the past five years. As a company committed to environmental sustainability, we have found the market’s reaction very disappointing.

Certainly, during the past few years, there has been little interest in ‘green’ products although this is starting to change. Contractors, as a rule, are only interested in cost and product quality (as a very distant second).

We sell around 30-million bricks per year and the bulk of our customers do not even realise that they contain recycled materials; much less care. Generally, our products are sold based on cost, quality and excellent customer service rather than any green attributes.”

Heat recycled
Clever facilities management can result in significant energy savings, JFM, our sister publication, has confirmed. In the case of the Virgin Active group of gyms, its Bright Spark initiative achieved a close to 10% reduction in energy consumption at its clubs within a two-month period (March to April 2008).

One energy-saving initiative involves the reuse of heat as a by-product of the air-conditioning system. Energy, under normal circumstances lost to the atmosphere, is captured and recycled. Apparently, if Virgin Active chose to use typical heating systems, such as electric geysers, to heat the water for its showers and swimming pools in preference to the recycled heat, an additional 960 000 kWh of energy would be required each year for every one of the group’s 84 clubs.

Glazing helps save energy
An energy-efficient, reflective double-glazing system forms part of the new Radisson SAS Hotel under construction in Sandton. Werner Alberts of Tower Design Studio tells Urban Green File the glazing system was not significantly more expensive to install but the saving in terms of designing an energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system was quite substantial.

In addition, the walls between the rooms have been designed to ensure energy and heat transfer is limited: they comprise two double-skinned dry-wall partitions with insulation material between. The same insulation material has been used between the external walls and dry-wall interior skins.

Alberts says: “We consulted on the thermal properties of the pre-cast system and how it would behave together with the glass and insulation. This, together with double glazing, allowed us to design big windows to optimize the rooms’ natural lighting and views”.

Another innovative feature of this building is that water caught in the basement (there is no waterproofing) is stored in a sump system and reused for irrigation.

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CITY VISIT

Khayelitsha: better public space a pipe dream?
Improved housing and quality public space are the community’s wishes. But are planning initiatives delivering the goods? Or is Khayelitsha’s public environment doomed?

Driving from Cape Town International Airport to the city centre, one is struck by the familiar patchwork of Khayelitsha. This complex area houses a close-knit community and is imbued with a diverse set of environmental assets and developmental constraints.

Khayelitsha is South Africa’s third-largest township and forms part of Cape Town’s District F, along with Mitchell’s Plain and Philippi. According to the 2001 census, its population stands at 350 000. However, seven years down the line, city officials working in the area believe it to be closer to 1-million.

Eugene Schwella of the City of Cape Town shares the township’s background with Urban Green File. “Khayelitsha was formed in 1985 when in-fighting in Gugulethu led to a separation of groups and the establishment of a “temporal transit camp” in Site C. The city immediately started putting in services and constructing 5 033 core houses intended to house the people from Site C who were then living in tents and shacks.

“When the time for the move came, the people in Site C elected to stay where they were. So the city went back to Gugulethu and various other areas to motivate takers for the new properties. This temporal transit camp of 1985 is still largely temporal in 2008 and is only now being formalised.”

Introverted, isolated urban structure

The structure of Khayelitsha is governed by three major factors: transport, environment and politics. The area is bordered to the north by the N2 highway; to the east by the Kuils River floodplain and wetlands, as well as a military base; to the south by the False Bay coastline; and to the west by the Denel development and dune system.

“The area stretches from Site C in the north to Kuyasa and Ekanini, an informal settlement, in the south,” says Riaan van Eeden of the city’s District Spatial Planning department. “It’s quite far from job opportunities, and is dislocated from the city’s CBDs, so people generally have to travel long distances, using public transport, to get to their places of employment.

The urban structure is introverted and surrounded by large areas of open space – some are critically endangered in terms of biodiversity. An awareness of these endangered habitats is now being legislated.

So you have this area quite isolated from its urban surroundings and contained within a very sensitive natural environment on the Cape Flats.” Ielyaas Brink, also of the City of Cape Town, comments: “Khayelitsha was designed under apartheid with inwardlooking neighbourhoods and a limited number of entry and exit points so residents could be easily controlled. It was initially designed for about 250 000 people and its layout is very restricted.”

Van Eeden adds: “The areas between Pama Road and the N2 are more accessible in terms of public transport (taxi ranks and the railway line), and are intensely settled.

Every available piece of open space has been occupied with very little space available for recreation and parks. If you look at the profile in terms of socio-economic indicators, a lot of issues, like crime, are concentrated in the northern areas of the township. So initiatives have been started to de-densify the areas and improve living conditions”.

Roads a barrier to pedestrian movement
Many of the constituent areas of Khayelitsha were originally developed with a focus on mobility in order for people to access their places of employment. The major roads have clearly not been designed as people-friendly spaces and are significant barriers to pedestrian movement in the area. One of the city’s focuses at the moment is on improvement of the way these roads cater for non-motorised transport.

Machiel Erasmus of the city’s Urban Design Branch comments on the Non- Motorised Transport (NMT) project in draft format. “Spine Road, for example, is a very important east-west route through to Mitchell’s Plain but it almost has the character of a freeway. The road is far too wide and is bordered by services, and some large, undefined areas. The new proposal looks at cross-sections through Spine Road to address scale, density, vigilance and space management, as well as improved pedestrian and bicycle movement.

The idea is to densify and landscape the areas between the services and existing buildings; to make the street edges more user-friendly. New buildings might take the form of four- to five-storey residential walk-ups, for example, with workshop facilities on the ground floor.

Although this doesn’t actually form part of the NMT project, I believe we need to get a pilot project started along these lines. The new structures could also provide some protection against the wind, which howls through Khayelitsha.”

Another NMT project is proposed along the road linking the existing station in the township’s CBD with Spine Road by creating  a corridor for pedestrians and cyclists.

Alexander Forbes of the city’s Environmental Resource Management department says: “A general worry is that there are hardly any traffic lights at intersections to control traffic; making it quite dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.”

The new corridor would also link social amenities in the area to give people safe access to and from schools, for example. The corridor will include footpaths, safe crossings across major roads, and landscaping in the form of trees”.

Extensions to the existing railway line, which terminates in the CBD, are also planned; to the south of Khayelitsha with two new stations. However there are concerns the intention to improve access will actually have the opposite effect by cutting the township in half and restricting pedestrian and vehicle access between neighbourhoods to a “road-over-rail” scenario.

Quality public space and housing required

Thandeka Kabeni of District Spatial Planning comments: “The public-participation meetings held to date have been quite interesting.

The elderly focused on the need for housing while the youth wanted decent public places to play in. So quality open spaces and housing are both major issues”.

In terms of housing delivery, city officials do not believe this can be solved solely through new development in the area. Van Eeden says: “There is not a huge amount of vacant land available for new housing developments so a lot of the growth and de-densification of certain parts of Khayelitsha need to be accommodated elsewhere in the city.

Brink says: “There is almost no land available for development in Khayelitsha unless you extend into the nature reserves. This is because of the 1:50-year floodline to the east and the dune system to the west. And the neighbourhoods are inward-looking with small properties (usually 70 m² to 100 m²) so there is no room to extend dwelling units”.

Schwella says the large open tracts of land visible from the air are mostly zoned as school sites although only three schools have been built. “Some of the sites are set aside strategically for relocation of people but several have been occupied informally.”

Densification not widely accepted

Brink points out: “Densification is a reality but, because of the cultural and traditional beliefs of some of the communities, you have to negotiate with the community when it comes to densification. One’s density proposal is not always an acceptable solution for the affected community, necessitating the consideration of other options. We’ve  tried semi-detached and double-storey units in a number of projects but they were not accepted”.

One opportunity is the land to the west of the township, adjacent to Mitchell’s Plain. The occupant, a large weapons manufacturer, may relocate in the near future; leaving the site available for development. “The site is incredibly valuable in terms of biodiversity, with a wetland on the eastern edge, and the intention is that part of it will be developed as a metropolitan-scale park facility,” says van Eeden. “But, certainly, there are opportunities on the site for urban development, and possibly some sort of integration between Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain.”

One housing project under way in the southern Kuyasa area gives an idea of the scale of the problem. Occupied informally by 12 000 families over a period of two months, from December 2004 to January 2005, the area is being replanned to accommodate 5 500 families over the next five years. “The erven are 80 m² to 90 m² with narrow roads and even so, we’re only able to house less than half the settlement.”

Another new development is the private- sector, triple-storey “show village” just outside the CBD. Geared towards young, upcoming professionals, it remains to be seen whether or not this type of project will take hold in the area.

CBD requires vertical mix of use
According to Van Eeden, the Khayelitsha CBD has been identified as an area of potential public investment since 1999. “A lot of national and provincial government departments invested in the CBD with a new Magistrates’ Court, Home Affairs building, multi-purpose centre and swimming pool. Urban-design guidelines were developed; maintaining a pedestrian link to the station. The province also plans to set up a new district hospital.”

But, to date, the only significant private investment in the area is a relatively new retail centre. “The CBD is very accessible; ideal for clustering facilities but I think there are some missing components,” van Eeden adds. “There needs to be a bigger focus on trying to get more commercial development and higher-density housing into the area to improve vibrancy. And I feel there needs to be more height on some of the buildings; perhaps a vertical mix of uses instead of pure retail next to the station.”

Erasmus agrees. “The CBD doesn’t yet hang together with the same coherence as the Mitchell’s Plain CBD. I think some of the developments, to date, have not really paid due heed to the urban-planning work done in 1999/2000. There are still large undeveloped areas of land around the CBD and the different elements are still separated by substantial distances. And the fact that the shopping centre is quite simplistic and introverted is unfortunate.”

Van Eeden adds: “The private sector seems to have been somewhat conservative in terms of exploring other development forms. Architecturally, some of the buildings don’t add a huge amount of value to the public space. But I think the lessons are being learned and there needs to be a review of the urban-design approach. It’s a process that will establish itself over time”.

A safer community through improved public spaces
The Cape Flats is a particularly harsh environment in terms of exposure to wind and rain, and development is made difficult by a very high water table. The environmental quality in Khayelitsha is worsened by dense settlement in some areas and a lot of under-utilised open space in others – spaces that often become hot spots for crime.

Erasmus says the municipality has been involved in a number of initiatives to improve the quality of the large public spaces. Three projects, previously known as Uluntu Plazas, completed through the city’s Dignified Places Programme are Civic Square (designed by Urbanscapes Landscape Architects), Remembrance Square (also by Urbanscapes) and Macassar Square (designed by Robyn Schoeman Landscape Architects).

Two more projects are the Khayelitsha Stadium in Pama Road and an innovative initiative in a suburb called Harare. The latter is being handled by Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrades (VPUU).

This initiative recognises a quality environment and the functioning of spaces are preconditions for the safety of the community. These projects involve the creation of entrances, landscaping, paving, street furniture and dealing with organised informal trading.

At Harare Peace Park, the VPUU has also erected an “active box”. Designed by Jonker & Barnes Architects, as part of the AHT Khayelitsha Consortium consulting team, the box is a small community center that provides resident groups with access to meeting rooms and allows for better passive surveillance of the area via civic patrols. The rationale is to improve the quality of the environment and give people a sense of dignity through “eyeson-the-street” surveillance.

The municipality and the VPUU are also involved in the area around one of the new stations being built along the railwaytrack extension. This will include paving to form a small town square, a new taxi rank, upgrading of an existing dilapidated community facility and, possibly, plans to realign a main route, Walter Sisulu Street, that passes through the proposed square.

However the smaller areas of open land are posing serious issues. “We are doing a project at the moment to quantify public facility under provision,” says van Eeden.

“Although there are several large sports complexes in the area, such as Mandela Park and Khayelitsha Stadium, these are generally used on a formal basis by clubs.

They are walled in and the community isn’t able to use them as recreational spaces. So leftover spaces are used. You often find people living along the N2 in the road reserve and this open space is not landscaped, and doesn’t have a particular value to the community. And many of the open spaces in Khayelitsha are actually stormwater-retention ponds that are not properly maintained. While it’s not possible to develop these, certainly some of the edge conditions need to be addressed to turn these places into much more valuable assets for communities.”

Open-space maintenance a challenge
Brink notes: “In my opinion, it always seems to be the wasted, undevelopable land that is allocated as parkland; areas where the water table is a problem. These spaces are not critically analysed with regard to viability and design. And the city doesn’t have the manpower to maintain and manage the parks so they become dumping or grazing areas. They are never developed properly so the community can identify with the spaces and take ownership of them”.

Forbes notes: “In Mitchell’s Plain, we have compelled private developers to develop and maintain parks and landscaping as part of their projects for 12 months at which point the municipality takes over. In Khayelitsha, we are now asking developers to submit a landscaping plan to council.”

Urban agriculture a viable option

An important initiative under way is urban agriculture through food gardens in conjunction with schools and local community organisations. Given rising food prices and health issues in the community, particularly HIV/Aids, this food gardening initiative has a lot of value.

Brink says: “We went through extensive consultation to look at the open land issue and earmarked the areas near retention ponds as places where food gardens can be planted. The bulk of these areas has already been allocated to community groups. The gardens are often run by the older people – it is part of their cultural upbringing to produce their own goods so they work there on a daily basis”.

Cultural concerns also need to be factored into the design of public open areas. “A lot of people traditionally have cows and goats, and hold onto them in an urban context as part of their wealth,” says van Eeden. “The whole area is part of the Kuils River system and this practice doesn’t add to the water quality. One also has to look at how planning responds to initiation rites, for example, which require certain levels of seclusion. So one has to be sensitive and try to accommodate these issues.”

Another serious matter is the extension of the existing cemetery. Because of the biodiversity requirements of the area, only a third of the land originally allocated to the project can actually be used for graves. According to Forbes, this means people have to accept two family members will be buried in the same grave – a practice previously taboo.

In terms of ecology, Forbes notes: “The main environmental focus is the wetlands and the biodiversity corridor that meets up with Wolfgat Nature Reserve. There is talk of turning the wetlands into a large regional park although there are issues around stormwater pollution. The wetlands naturally help to filter and clean some of the water but they can’t deal with solid waste. In 2006, there was a city initiative to incorporate a school site next to the wetlands, which was not developable because it fell within the 1:50-year floodline. This has now been developed, with community involvement, as Phase 1 of the wetlands clean-up operation”.

Evolving solutions
Khayelitsha is a multi-faceted place evolving solutions to its diverse set of environmental and social issues through the cooperation and input of the private and public sectors.

Not daunted by the problem – the city’s response

With stimulating a balanced and fair debate in mind, Urban Green File asked the City of Cape Town’s Department of Spatial Planning & Urban Design to read and comment on the Khayelitsha article prior to publication.

Cedric Daniels, manager of the Urban Design Branch and I did discuss the content of the article, particularly the rather damning reflection on the Dignified Spaces Programme. We do, however, remain steadfast in our belief that our efforts around public-space development and upgrading are a valuable and worthwhile intervention.

Public space is central to the quality of life for most people. It is no accident that the great cities of the world are typified by quality public environments and great public institutions. Public space serves as the variable platform on which the common activities of public life are played out. Indeed our identity as a nation finds its character through the enactment of demonstrations, celebrations, commemorations, activities of exchange, conflict and recreation that take place in public spaces, such as squares, streets and the like. Without public space, civic life is not possible. Key moments in our history, such as the release of Nelson Mandela, are typically associated with public space, such as the Grand Parade. Cape Town is recognised as having a great need for quality public spaces, specifically in areas of urban blight characterised by monotonous mono-functional dormitory townships produced instantaneously through mass-production methods.

Dignified public space now on national agenda
The belief it is not enough just to provide housing underpins the pursuit in the past decade by planners, urban designers and landscape architects in the city to create a constellation of quality spaces in poor communities, such as Khayelitsha. It has been a monumental struggle to get this issue on the agenda but we have succeeded on many fronts. Through our work, “dignified public space” is now part of the national policy agenda. The programme has also won international recognition, including the Ralph Erskine Award for socially-responsible architecture and design, and the Union of International Architects design award. Internationally, the work has been published widely and many academics and students worldwide draw on this work for inspiration. Local organisations, such as the Cape Town Partnership and many City Improvement Districts (CIDs), support the initiative.

Maintenance tender contemplated

It is common knowledge the management and maintenance of these places remain elusive problems and this is the case worldwide but it is no reason not to continue with its delivery. The city has been grappling with this issue for a number of years with limited success to date given our recent unification and historical segmentation into silo-like work streams. We need to act responsibly to ensure that we arrive at a mechanism to ensure the sustainability of these spaces – part of which might involve an exploration of community or CID management initiatives. In view of this, a tender will be advertised shortly to procure the services of suitably-qualified professionals to undertake a review and audit of the Dignified Public Space Programme, and to compile a strategy for the continuous management and maintenance of public spaces in the city.

In light of the above, we fundamentally believe, over a significant development timescale, our efforts towards transformation and urban renewal will improve the quality of the urban environment in Khayelitsha and elsewhere. We are not daunted by the scale of the problem and the absence of an institutional vehicle for maintenance. Your article, regrettably, lacks a balanced perspective and, therefore, arrives at a rather simplistic position that seeks to apportion blame for public money that has been wasted – this is rather sad. The call for “prosecution” of the responsible planners and urban designers is, in the context of the level of initiative displayed, progress made and challenges faced by the department and officials, rather unfair.

We do, however, accept criticism where it is due and will continue to seek mechanisms to address some of what we believe are surmountable challenges the programme faces.

Riaan van Eeden, acting manager: District Spatial Planning & Urban Design, City of Cape Town.

Public space wasted?
Comment by Gerald Garner
In February 2006, Urban Green File published “Gluing a city together” – an extensive article that unpacked the City of Cape Town’s initiative to develop public spaces in traditionally black townships.

At the time, Urban Green File asked: “Will these spaces really improve the quality of the urban environment over the long term? Will they help prompt surrounding urban development other than monotonous rows of houses for which South African townships are known?” The article then made a statement that now seems prophetic: “Perhaps the answer to this question lies less in the creative ability of the designers but in the city’s ability to maintain these spaces”.

Two years after the publication of the original article, Urban Green File commissioned feature writer, Karen Eicker to visit Khayelitsha with a “city visit” article in mind. The purpose was to unpack the planning and management challenges faced by the authorities (and their consultants) responsible for this section of Cape Town. The resultant article, published in this edition, detailed the innovative attempts of the city to deliver a better environment for Khayelitsha.

However Urban Green File was shocked by some of the photographic evidence Eicker captured. Clearly, a vast sum of public money was wasted in unsuccessful attempts to rejuvenate Khayelitsha’s public spaces.

The photographs published on this page show Khayelitsha Civic Square – the first taken in October 2005 and the more recent taken in April 2008 – almost two-and-a-half years apart. What was a well-designed space with proper paving materials, trees, protective enclosures for each tree and even irrigation, if we remember correctly, has since become a wasteland. Not a cent of the original money spent helped improve the urban environment. Rather the space was left to go to waste with no maintenance or care. It is rather ironic the square was developed as part of the city’s Dignified Spaces Programme.

Blame needs to be apportioned
Who is to blame? One is tempted to prosecute those who made the decision to spend the money in the first place: the planners, urban designers and landscape architects within the municipality. And Urban Green File believes they should, at least, share the blame as we are dumbfounded that anyone could approve capital spending without ensuring money was available for upkeep and maintenance or without a specific entity tasked with the responsibility of maintenance.

But the real blame should be allotted to upper management of the municipality as well as the local community. The designers, planners and architects did their jobs.

They specialise in rolling out projects and they handled it well. But surely this department of the municipality feeds into a bigger division where there is overall control on the quality of the public environment?

Why has city management not ensured their investment is safeguarded through proper maintenance?

In addition, the question needs to be asked: Does no-one work in the adjacent government buildings and private shopping centres? Does nobody make use of the nearby taxi rank? Or does no-one live in vicinity of this public space? Why has the community done nothing to take care of their environment? Has someone at least phoned the municipality to question why this square is being left to go to waste?

Perhaps the real problem lies in the fact that these public spaces seem to have been rolled out where planners wanted them in theory but without integrating them with the urban fabric.

Urban Green File wrote in 2006 that public spaces are only successful if they are flanked by buildings on their edges. Such buildings bring life and interaction to the space and, at the time, we asked whether or not the project would be successful in attracting development to the edges of squares. With the benefit of hindsight, the answer is clearly “No”. So perhaps the blame must go back to the planners and designers, especially those who approve building plans, and also to government itself who spearheaded the development of new buildings in the Khayelitsha CBD. Why were buildings, such as the Magistrates Court, allowed to be developed on standalone fenced-in plots with no integration into the urban fabric? Why were such buildings not positioned to flank the civic square?

In Urban Green File’s opinion, the practice of planning and design in Khayelitsha is in a shambles. In spite of numerous capital-investment projects in addition to the public spaces programme, the quality of the environment remains poor. A radically new approach is needed. And soon!

What follows is the article by Karen Eicker that details the municipality’s attempts to improve the urban environment.

Although the intentions are good, Urban Green File needs to ask whether or not the effort is wasted by haphazard attempts that do not include the very necessary aspect of adequate urban management and maintenance procedures.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING & DESIGN

A place for permaculture?
Does permaculture have a role to play in helping to sustain urban communities? And should urban planners and managers promote the concept of permaculture?

Permaculture can be viewed as the truest and most logical form of development in South Africa as it educates individuals and communities to live in a sustainable way. This is according to Annunzietta Moutembo, general manager of Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA). But there is a great misconception about permaculture.

“It is not just about gardening,” Alex Kruger of Permaculture Education Africa tells Urban Green File.

“Permaculture pulls the individual back into the situation of taking responsibility for him/herself by promoting personal empowerment and liberation through selfsufficiency and creativity.”

Whatever the scale of development, successful integration of permaculture principles from the beginning is essential.

Paul Barker, who is permaculture designer and facilitator at the Jewish National Fund Walter Sisulu Environmental Centre in Mamelodi and involved in the Afristar Foundation, emphasises the importance of proper planning to integrate all the design aspects of a development scheme, and to create responsive architectural and landscape architectural design, as well as engineering practices.

Model for community-based sustainable development
Permaculture can be successfully incorporated into the planning of urban and rural areas, especially in many places across South Africa where communities live in densities resembling urban settings even though these areas are regarded as rural.

An example can be found in Ward 5 of Mogalakwena, Limpopo. Here Afristar Foundation is researching and promoting the implementation of a Marginalised Community Action Plan (MCAP) entailing a detailed capital audit, portrayed in a GIS model, to gain knowledge about the availability of resources in the area. With this information in hand, a model is created to understand the natural wealth the community has previously taken for granted due to poor land-use practices, such as overgrazing and resultant erosion.

MCAP, according to Nicholas Heinemann of the Afristar Foundation, is an attempt to create a model for community-based sustainable development in the context of the Waterberg Biosphere Park, which can act as a catalyst and precedent for future development in the Waterberg region. MCAP is essentially about the integration, rather than segregation, of agriculture, community development and conservation in a holistic approach through the application of ecological principles throughout the design process.

In line with MCAP, an arrangement of concentric zones is created around the central homestead or village with the land-use systems graduating outwards in lessening degrees of farming intensity and ultimately phasing into a wilderness area. Heinemann reiterates that zone planning involves the placement of plants, animals and structures according to harvest and utilisation frequencies. Areas that need daily harvesting and maintenance, such as annual vegetable gardens, nurseries, chickens and recycling, are placed near the homestead to facilitate accessibility and ease of observation and maintenance. Areas that require less attention and that are harvested less frequently, such as orchards, staple food systems, woodlots and large animal systems, are placed further from the main centre of activity. Heinemann says: “The gardens are thus divided into zones of intensive activity radiating outwards from the center of activity”.

The zone plan for Ward 5 is defined by the watersheds in the area and is composed of seven farms with a total area of 15 000 ha. The Zone 5 system forms the backbone of the design with the other four zones radiating outward from the focal node.

Disaster management improved
Kruger advocates the positive aspects of the implementation of permaculture principles in rural applications, such as the Bergen-Dal Eco Village in the foothills of the Swartberg near Ladismith. As per the MCAP system, dry-land farming is supported by the collection and efficient distribution of water on the site. This Klein Karoo farm was founded in 1999 and is being developed into a permaculture center for training with much focus on broadscale permaculture design, eco-village design, food gardening, sustainable energy and green building techniques. A major attribute of rural permaculture application is that it is designed to improve disaster management. While surrounding commercial farms were damaged due to heavy rains (130 mm in 24 hours), Berg en-Dal’s landscape and infrastructure were protected by landscape design in the form of macro and micro swales. Vegetated areas stabilise soil and the swales build groundwater – all of this increases the landscape capacity to deal with disaster while improving the productive potential of the farm.

The Indali Agricultural Project is a rural scheme sponsored by the National Development Agency (NDA), co-ordinated by FTFA and initiated in late 2005. Permaculture principles have been applied to empower local community members to become self-sufficient through the production and sale of vegetables, fruit, herbs, oils and ointments, and compost.

Some 25 farm workers are involved in the operation of the farm. The surrounding three township schools (parents and teachers), which submit weekly vegetable orders and virtually clear out the week’s production, comprise the major economic target market. Furthermore, staff members are trained to produce herbal ointments and massage oils by Khola Africa.

These products are very popular among community members. Phahlane proudly states the Indali Agricultural Communal Property Association successfully harvested 80 ha of sunflowers in 2003 with an income of R350 000. The profit invested in future projects and infrastructure development was split among staff, and used to buy seed.

Success in urban applications
Permaculture facilities are being implemented successfully in urban townships, such as Soweto, Alexandra and Mamelodi, and involve the training of community members; empowering them to produce and sell food, feed their families and sustain a healthy lifestyle through improved nutrition, and to recycle. The centres are primarily placed at schools, clinics, rehabilitation centres, churches and open community spaces. The Walter Sisulu Environmental Centre hosts a communitydevelopment permaculture garden. This 1,4 ha garden is cultivated by 32 gardeners with 22 (mostly elderly people) from the surrounding community implementing permaculture principles with varying degrees of success but each with their own identity and traditional approach. The basic principles, such as companion planting, greater diversity, double-dug raised systems, mulching, composting, water retention, drip-irrigation systems, and cutand-drop systems are taught through example by people such as Heinemann and Barker.

Moving out of the former township areas, Moutembo says development in the more affluent areas and city centres applies simple permaculture principles, such as waste separation and recycling. She states designs should be informed by recycling industries with regard to the specifications for clean and accessible recycling facilities at each development. Furthermore, she is adamant government needs to develop policies and initiatives, as well as improve involvement, for more sustainable design and ecological responsiveness, with permaculture offering a good and valid basis.

Barker suggests an area of development where permaculture is gaining popularity is ‘eco-architecture’ with architecture and landscaping effectively designed alongside each other. Green corridors can be viewed as the optimal method of achieving permaculture in urban environments whereby municipalities enforce the creation of linear spaces through the urban environment and act as “green fingers” reaching in and out of the hard spaces, and allowing for animal migration. According to Kruger, the practical application of the same water retention principles is also applicable to district planning.

It is essential, she says, to create as many green spaces as possible in order to retain stormwater on the site and to plant useful indigenous trees in parking lots and along boulevards.

Permaculture in practice
In Zone 5 of Mogalakwena, Limpopo, permaculture is being applied as the heart of a Marginalised Community Action Plan.

Close to home

Zones 1 and 2 are made up of community-member homesteads and unutilised space, such as road verges and vacant land, within the villages.

According to Heinemann, year-round intensive production is possible because water is available for irrigation in these areas, and stormwater-collection potential is high due to large areas of hard surfaces, such as roads, roofs, floodwater channels and dongas, which yield substantial quantities of water. All household food and natural medicine requirements can be grown and produced in these zones. The ecological production systems are so intensive that a surplus of fruits, vegetables, herbs, poultry and medicinal plants can be produced and, in turn, reinvested back into the system.

Agroforestry
Heinemann says Zone 3 incorporates the existing community staple and cash crop-based production systems whereby model field allotments are developed in coordination with key community members into agroforestry systems.

These models cater for the potential production of a range of useful materials and foods, such as fuel, indigenous fruit, staple grains and medicinal plants on alarge scale.

Grazing management
Zone 4 promotes the use of existing land care-designated grazing camps while managing them via holistic range land management grazing strategies.

This system entails intense community cooperation as collective management and herding of all communities’ animals are required. A prerequisite is that stocking rates and numbers should not exceed the carrying capacity of the indigenous veld while increases in stock numbers can be managed through fodder rotation yards in the allotments.

The wilderness
Zone 5 will be wild, unmanaged and rehabilitated with the reintroduction of game and recharge planting of beneficial plants into the area. Ward 5’s wilderness area consists of hills that form the core of the area and, due to its catchment status, it requires protection from the grazing patterns and habits of livestock. This area should become the attraction node for eco-tourism, including hiking, camping and the exploration of the links between the wilderness, conservation and the permaculture- production systems.

Permaculture a planning issue
Permaculture should be treated as an essential part of development planning whether rural or urban. Open spaces should be utilised for the production of food crops in order to sustain surrounding communities rather than for recreational and aesthetic purposes only.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING & DESIGN BRIEFS

Mozambican harbour city planned
WSP Africa Civil & Structural Engineers, supported by WSP Group Africa, has been appointed by Ayr Development Group as lead consultant to formulate a development framework for the harbour city of Nacala along Africa’s eastern coastline in northern Mozambique. Nacala is the only deep-water natural harbour on the east coast of Africa and, as such, forms a gateway into southeastern Africa.

Ayr Development Group believes it is necessary to establish the master plan before further development in the area. The company has obtained development rights on the western side of Nacala Bay opposite the harbour development. The anchor project is the development of an oil refinery for which a building contract has already been concluded between Ayr Development Group and Group Five International. Other projects under consideration include an aluminium smelter, an industrial township, a residential township, including amenities like shops, schools, renovation of the airport and hotels.

WSP’s development framework will consider land use; traffic engineering; road layouts; water desalination and reticulation; sewer reticulation and sewer-treatment plants; gas distribution and stormwater management and treatment; railway engineering to link into the existing railway system; electrical engineering; telecommunication engineering for land lines and cellular; and coastal engineering for the harbour itself.

The professional team on the project includes GAPP Architects & Urban Designers, architectural firm MFA and Inroads Consulting appointed for the geotechnical engineering.

The environmental impact assessment for the oil refinery and scoping exercise for the development framework is being carried out by California Environmental Consulting Associates in conjunction with a Mozambican company, Impacto. WSP will liaise closely with the environmental team during the environmental process to ensure the development framework remains sensitive to environmental requirements.

Lack of skills hampers project planning
A lack of experience in line with South Africa’s well-documented skills problem is a challenge, especially when it comes to specialist aspects of projects.

This is according to James Morris, a director of SRK Consulting at the company’s KwaZulu-Natal office. He tells Urban Green File, in SRK Consulting’s experience in specialist areas, such as waste management and environmental impact assessment (EIA), it is obvious the shortage of skills, felt by the client and the consultant, has affected the planning and the delivery of projects.

“Our involvement with the EIA aspects of some development-related projects in the province has highlighted this challenge. In some cases, issues such as waste management, contamination, and finding suitable sites and flood impacts are delaying project progress.

The management of surface water is an area where I have direct experience.

This is an aspect that is usually complex because there are a number of different Acts governing the use and management of water and not all local authorities have the same approach.

Our advice to developers has always been to get in touch with the relevant local authorities and to ensure their requirements are understood and met.”

Water efficiency informs golf-course design
Water conservation was top of mind in the design of a stormwater- drainage system for Gardener Ross Golf & Country Estate north of Johannesburg. Designed by Africon and built by WBHO, the system conforms to rules set by the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry (DWAF). Deon Winterbach, representing property developer Devco Africa, tells Edith Webster of Urban Green File, when the estate is running at full capacity and has been completed in terms of building all homes, the watering needs of the course will be covered in full and the average cost of around 2-million l of water per day will be saved. “The total cost of installing the system was around R2,7-million, which, if compared to the saving in terms of water use in the long term, seems a small price to pay,” he states.

How is it able to do this? Winterbach elaborates: “All streets, bunkers, fairways and greens drain into a central drainage system, which feeds most of the dams on the course. This water is pumped into the storage dam and used to irrigate the golf course. The sewer network for the total number of 1 131 erven/plots is also connected to the packaged sewage-treatment plant, supplied by Siyageza, where the water is purified to set water quality”. The treated sewage is retained out of sight (near the sewerage plant) in concrete retaining reservoirs and only pumped into the irrigation water reservoir when needed.

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WASTE & POLLUTION MANAGEMENT

Mines’ impact mitigated
Ironically mines are generators of urban development in that they are a blight on the cityscape – an effective solution to mine pollution is required.

Mines affect the environment, the cities that surround them and the people who make a living there. Although the full environmental impact of mining is, perhaps, not always comprehensively understood by industry, government and the general public, according to Malcolm Sutton, environmental manager at AngloGold Ashanti, there has been a shift in the mining industry towards developing sustainable solutions to mitigate the long-term effect of mining on various components of society.

Research is a key aspect of developing these solutions. Mining companies, as a whole, are working with research bodies, academic institutions and environmentalists to arrive at a better understanding of the delicate balance needed between industry and the ecosystem in order to utilise resources in a sustainable manner.

A global green trend and tighter national legislation – as stipulated in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA), the Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 and the National Water Act 36 of 1998 – have also spurred increased focus on the environment. Mines no longer have an attitude of denial when it comes to their social and environmental role in society. Instead, they are acknowledging the risks and working together with other stakeholders to solve the problems.

6-billion t of mine residue
Mining does not occur in isolation of people and urban development. In fact, mining often causes urban development to be clustered around these activities. When gold was discovered in the Witwatersrand in 1886, it led to the development of Johannesburg and numerous other towns to the east and west of the city.

The problem environmental managers and state officials face today is that 120 years of mining in the Witwatersrand – until recently under inadequate or no legislation at all – has led to a vast legacy of environmental concerns.

“Because of 120 years of extensive mining in the Witwatersrand Basin, there is an estimate of around 6-billion t of mine residue deposits in the area,” says Sutton.

These residue deposits – be it tailings dams, sand dumps, waste rock dumps or tailings footprints – present risks to communities and the environment mainly in terms of dust pollution and the seepage of contaminated water into underlying soils, groundwater as well as sediments.

Sutton is busy with an MSc study to identify vulnerable land uses, as well as identifying and classifying the risks associated with these land uses by using various methodologies, such as historical aerial photographs and satellite multispectral remote sensing in a geographical information sytem.

Risk considered
The crux of these studies lies in understanding the potential risks associated with mining areas in order to develop more sustainable land-planning solutions by industry, town planners as well as regulatory bodies.

Paramount to finding these solutions is the role of planning authorities in applying appropriate land-use principles around mining dumps. “It is important for town-planning authorities to implement buffer zones around potential risky areas,” Sutton says.

As an extension of this, it is important to understand when an activity is considered risky or sub-economic and when it is not.

To use rehabilitated tailings footprints for residential or agricultural use, for instance, may be more risky than applying the space for industrial use.

Agriculture on rehabilitated mine land may also be risky, not only because of possible residual contamination but because grazing could be sub-economic on degraded land – contrary to some beliefs that these are viable options.

Rehabilitation includes land-use planning
Although mining rehabilitation is vital, it is also important safer and “soft” alternative land uses are implemented in degraded or contaminated areas, and descriptions of these land uses must be included in regulatory guidelines. “Tailings dams and footprints are very extreme landscapes but one can still use them to one’s advantage,” Sutton continues. In South Africa, the use of vulnerable land could include industrial sites, lined landfills and graveyards, carbon sinks and production of certain plant species. Mines need to start influencing authorities in development frameworks to prevent the use of potentially risky areas for residential or agricultural purposes. The more knowledge is available, the more industry and government could address these concerns together”. It is also important that rehabilitation initiatives are in line with future land-use applications.

Dust pollution an immediate concern
Land-use planning is a long-term, strategic solution to the impact of mine waste and pollution on the sustainability of urban areas even though it requires immediate action. In the short term, however, mining companies face dust pollution as a nuisance to nearby communities and a possible cause of respiratory diseases.

Mining companies have been comprehensively involved in the rehabilitation of tailings dams by using vegetation as dust suppressants.

Urban Green File spoke to Carl Nöffke, contracts director for Hydromulch, who has been providing a vegetation restoration service to mining companies for more than 30 years and has also been involved in erosion control, environmental rehabilitation and coastal dune-reclamation projects for major mining houses.

“Hydromulch makes use of hydroseeding; it is a mechanised process that involves applying a selected pre-mix blend of seeds, fertilisers, soil binders, ameliorates and water onto prepared surfaces at a predetermined application rate,” Nöffke states. Hydroseeding is a more cost-effective technique than most forms of vegetation establishment.

The planting of grass on side slopes is an effective dust-control initiative in the short term, provided it is maintained and there are no disturbances to the environment – either naturally or through human intervention, says Sutton.

Vegetation contains pollution
Isabel Weiersbye and Ed Witkowski of the School of Animal, Plant & Environmental Sciences at Wits have an extensive research programme on rehabilitation using indigenous plants in conjunction with gold producers like AngloGold Ashanti. The programme has gained international recognition with encouraging results by using indigenous plants to assist in rehabilitating gold slimes dams and controlling, or even cleaning up, pollutants.

The project entails the planting of indigenous species that have become tolerant of the harsh conditions associated with mining, including acid mine drainage (AMD). Apart from acting as windbreaks and dust-mitigation measures, trees and shrubs can also absorb acidic water in tailings dams. Little amelioration of the slimes, and none of the soil, is necessary as plants produce organic litter from roots and leaves and this serves as natural compost; increasing microbial activity in the soil. An exciting finding of the study was the formation by plants of valuable topsoil directly in slimes through these processes.

Some plants can help ensure that the “evapo-transportation” rate exceeds the seepage rate and thus offer a feasible solution to curb pollution of the groundwater systems.

Slopes of tailings reduced
In order for grassy vegetation to effectively grow on tailings dams, it has also been shown that the angle of the facility’s slopes should be lowered to less than 16°. Older tailings facilities have originally been built at a much steeper angle of 35° but many mining companies are using bulldozing equipment to lower the gradients of these slopes when they conduct rehabilitation programmes.

“Newer complexes are being built on flatter slopes if the mine considers the dump to be final but not if it knows it is going to reprocess it later,” says MD of EnviroServ Tailings, Derrick McKenzie.

According to McKenzie the civil teams involved in constructing these structures often weigh up using up more land space for environmental rehabilitation and thus increase the footprint of the waste site versus building the slopes at a steeper angle. According to Sutton, however, tailings dams will naturally develop a lower slope angle over many years of erosion so it makes sense for mining houses to construct the dumps at a lower angle in the first place.

Water treatment required
Water treatment is one of the most sustainable solutions to address the issue of AMD. It is however, a more costly exercise and, in an industry that has not adopted widespread application of this methodology, it still lacks critical mass.

The eMalahleni Water Plant in the Mpumalanga coalfields has been one of the first operational plants in the world to treat AMD to potable standards. The plant boasts a sustainable water-treatment solution that is the result of extensive research dating back to 1992. It can produce 25-million l of potable water per day of which 20-million l will be supplied to the eMalahleni Municipality while the remainder will be used by AngloCoal employees and residents.

The plant has a 99% water-recovery rate. Alternative uses for the 1% waste are being investigated by the CSIR in conjunction with AngloCoal. One is the conversion of gypsum into pure products like sulphur, magnesium carbonate and limestone (Gyp- SLiM); the second is the conversion of waste into building materials (GypBuMP). Another project uses the brine to grow algae for health products, such as spirulina and beta-carotene – even biodiesel.

The plant is a successful case study other mining companies can use. BHP Billiton will construct a similar plant near Middelburg. This project is in pre-feasibility. 

Mine water reused in industrial processes
Another planned water-treatment project is the Western Utilities Corporation initiative with three gold producers in the Witwatersrand’s Western Basin: DRDGold, Mintails and Harmony. A sustainable business model has been established to manage the proposed plant as a profit-generating business; apart from the mining houses.

Greywater reused
In short, the plant treats the water of the gold mines of the Witwatersrand to industrial or greywater standards; intended for sale as a cheaper alternative to industrial players in either the Rustenburg or Vanderbijlpark areas.

According to Jaco Schoeman, MD of Western Utilities Corporation, the project will thus create more drinking water for communities as less drinking water will be consumed by industrial players for processing. This is environmentally and socially more acceptable. The project scope includes a water-treatment solution for the entire Witwatersrand Basin; providing a regional closure strategy from a governmental perspective to address the potential environmental threats caused by AMD.

Oil and sludge recycled
The impact of hydrocarbon pollution on the environment is perhaps less severe than the seepage of contaminated water into groundwater systems. It is, however, a further waste stream that needs to be managed by mining companies.

Urban Green File spoke to Prof Gert Steyn of Eco Dynamics, which forms part of the Exol Group. Steyn, an ecologist who used to be active in research programmes at the University of Johannesburg, now offers a sustainable solution to mining companies to treat petro-hydrocarbon waste streams through bioremediation processes. Through its sister company, Oilkol, the vision of Eco Dynamics is to provide a total hydrocarbon-management solution to mines by managing and monitoring the mining company’s oil balance. The objective is to ensure the amount of oil used per month is in equilibrium with the amount of oil that has been sent for refining.

Mines usually dump waste oil in big pits, tells Steyn. The contents of these pits includes used oil, as well as oil sludge and water. Mines only pump out the used oil, which is collected by Oilkol. The sludge is, however, scooped up into drums and then discarded safely on an assigned landfill site. “From an ecological perspective, there are more sustainable methods to get rid of the sludge component,” says Steyn. “You have little control over what happens to the hydro-carbon waste over 100 years.” Eco Dynamics, therefore, provides the service of treating the sludge component through bioremediation processes to topsoil standards.

According to Nöffke the availability of topsoil is a major concern for mining houses when conducting rehabilitation programmes. It is also considered less environmentally acceptable to disturb large amounts of topsoil to treat a waste dump. These topsoil layers, formed through the Eco Dynamics bioremediation processes, can be sustainably applied in the rehabilitation of tailings dams, adds Steyn.

To mitigate the impact of exploration drill waste, products have been developed by SAMCHEM to perform a similar function; only in smaller quantities. These products also break down the petro-hydrocarbon toxins associated with exploration drilling and remediate the sludge to topsoil standards.

More pioneering solutions

Whether it is to mitigate air, soil or water pollution, it seems more and more pioneering solutions are being developed by environmentalists and industry specialists to curb the impact of mining on the environment and more directly on the urban settlements in close proximity to mining operations.

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WASTE & POLLUTION MANAGEMENT BRIEFS

Jo’burg reduces waste to landfill
In a bid to reduce waste to landfill, the City of Johannesburg is seeking an efficient waste-treatment system by conducting its own internal feasibility studies and through a public tender process, which closed on July 29.

Palesa Mathibeli, director: waste sector, City of Johannesburg Infrastructure & Services Department, tells Edith Webster of Urban Green File the city is busy with activity-based costing and process mapping for all its operations, including landfills, to help make an informed decision.

The savings from waste reduction will depend on the scale of the technology the city selects, Mathibeli adds. “This will be determined by how much waste will be processed at the proposed plant(s) and which technology is used. Resource recovery and recycling are part of the whole process of reducing waste going to landfill in order to save the limited airspace.”

Although various financing models are under investigation, Mathibeli could disclose the city is planning to enter into a public-private partnership in order to reduce its capital investment.

Pikitup, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the City of Johannesburg, provides waste-management services to an estimated 3,2-million residents who generate approximately 1,6-million t of waste per annum. Some 1,3-million t of this is collected for disposal by Pikitup.

New waste facility for Cape Town
The City of Cape Town is developing the first integrated waste-management facility in South Africa: the Oostenberg Refuse Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility.

According to Jeffares & Green, the R16-million facility will comprise a refuse-transfer station, a compaction hall, container-handling operations, garden-refuse chipping facilities, a materials-recovery facility, a workshop, wash bay, diesel storage, domestic recycling centre and public drop-off, security and entrance buildings, and weighbridges. Provision will also be made for a future “resource park” and alternative technologies. Jeffares & Green and GJA Consulting Engineers have been appointed to undertake the civil, mechanical and electrical design and implementation in joint venture. The layout of the facility has been planned for a containerised bimodal transport system (roadand/or rail) although, initially, the transfer of containers will be transferred by road only. The rail infrastructure will be provided at a later date. The design team is spending time on “green engineering” opportunities for this development, such as rainwater harvesting; supplementary supply of water harvesting by borehole or use of clean stormwater run-off from the site and/or the existing municipal stormwater pond across the road; low-energy lighting; solar energy; water-wise, indigenous greening of the area; specially-designed oil traps; site-specific litter traps and silt traps; natural ventilation; and natural lighting.

At the time of writing, tenders were expected to be issued in August 2008 and completion of the facility was scheduled for early 2010. The project team includes Jeffares & Green, G Johardien & Associates, DPE Consulting Engineers, DV CAPE and the Cook Lipschitz Partnership.

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INSPIRATION

Proper public space
A clean and tidy public precinct adds value to a city in desperate need of mingling space.

In Johannesburg, public space comes at a premium. Most developments turn their backs on the public realm by hiding behind high walls and      electric fences. Others show a complete disregard for the quality of the urban environment in that large warehouse- like “shopping centres” are surrounded by seas of cars on black tarmac with not a tree in sight.

Yet, places exist in this ever-sprawling and dusty city where people have shown more regard for the public realm. One such space is Illovo Boulevard. Here an urban designer has taken more care with the positioning of buildings to flank a treelined street. On the road medians, one finds parking spaces shaded by young yellowwood trees while two small street cafés add life to the street. One can walk down this street, camera around your neck, without ever feeling unsafe.

Managed by Kagiso Urban Management as part of a public precinct that is supported financially by the surrounding property owners (mostly corporate businesses), Illovo Boulevard is clean and tidy. While the landscaping is not cutting-edge, comprising exotic ivy combined with an equally foreign palette of trees, this is, nevertheless, a space where one feels Johannesburg is, indeed, an organised, green and well-groomed city.

Illovo Boulevard is not perfect as more dynamic street edges and a greater mix of land use with residential apartments, perhaps, provided on top of office buildings could have made the space livelier. But, in terms of urban management, it certainly deserves this edition’s Inspiration Award.

While photographing the boulevard, I was accosted by a security guard who told me I did not have permission to take photos. This has, in fact, happened with many of our journalists and photographers all over Johannesburg in recent years, and almost always in public environments that are overseen by urban-management specialists.

I vehemently opposed the guard’s infringements of my public liberty and took the matter up with Kagiso Urban Management and Colliers International. They apologised profusely and promised to take the matter up with all city improvement districts in Johannesburg and to ensure “security guards” and “precinct ambassadors” are better trained. In the interests of the public image of Johannesburg and South Africa, we simply cannot afford to have an innocent tourist taking a photograph of a beautiful public space to be accused of criminal activity! Ed.

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INSULT

Pavement predicament
What were they thinking when they did the urbanscaping in Sandton?

While public art and the improvement of sidewalks and road medians should certainly be of concern to the City of Johannesburg if it has any hope of achieving the world-class African city status it strives for, recent additions to the urbanscape in this regard cannot be commended.

In a city that is full of creative designers, some of whom are world famous, it is perplexing the design of the very publicly visible road medians is being left to someone who simply does not understand urban design or public art. What could be the motivation behind the fake African pots and stone pebbles being scattered around prominent intersections? Even right in front of Sandton City, on Rivonia Road, these monstrosities have found a home.

Come on Johannesburg, surely we can do better than this?!

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VIEWPOINT

Town planners without a plan
Is the South African planning profession finding itself without an official council for the registration of professionals?

The South African Planning Institute (SAPI) has been trying to engage with the Minister of Land Affairs several times since 2002 without any success.

SAPI is a voluntary body, which is the only one of its kind representing more than 1 500 town and regional planners.

It is recognised by government in that it regularly engages with national, provincial and local government in a consultative and constructive manner. This is everybody except the Department of Land Affairs (DLA), which is the “home” department of the planning profession. The unwillingness to engage with SAPI is perceived as an indication of disregard for this important profession by the department.

There are two recent examples. The first is that the South African Council of Planners (SACPLAN), the statutory body that sets the “standards and competence” of the profession, as well as determining its “legitimacy and effectiveness”, according to the Planning Professions Act of 2002, essentially does not exist any longer.

Not only is this illegal, it undermines the fundamental basis on which all forms of development take place. Although its term ended on June 8 2008, the minister, whose legal duty it is to appoint SACPLAN, has set no process in motion. So, even if the process is initiated today, it will be at least six months because of advertising and shortlisting, before a new council can be established.

Imagine the legal or medical profession operating under these circumstances!

The department and the minister did not plan for the fact that the SACPLAN term of office was to expire and that its mandate had, indeed, expired on June 8 2008.

So, effectively, there is no statutory body that can accredit universities teaching town and regional planning courses. New town and regional planners can also not be registered. The Planning Professions Act of 2000 states clearly that one cannot practise as a town and regional planner unless one has registered with SACPLAN.

No attempt to change apartheid planning
The second issue is the Land Use Management Bill, which is before Parliament. It has been 10 years in the making and the Bill makes no attempt to repeal apartheid-era planning legislation, which is still on the statute books.

The Bill
* undermines elected municipal councillors by removing their decision-making powers in land-use management;
* entrenches parallel decision making processes;
* does not clarify the powers and functions of the different spheres of government in  planning; and
* is not congruent with either the National Environmental Management Act or the National Heritage Resources Act. This proposed piece of legislation was submitted to Parliament two years after President Thabo Mbeki mentioned that its promulgation was imminent. He was not only, possibly, brought under a false impression but the proposed legislation undermines government by further complicating governance.

Scarce skill, dire shortage
Town planning has been identified as a scarce skill of which there is a shortage. The Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) has embarked on a process of finding ways in which these skills can be acquired urgently. The 10-year review of government, which eventually gave rise to ASGISA, identified the shortage of skills, which means that development applications cannot be processed or are not being processed at a fast enough pace.

This hampers the achievement of a 6% sustained economic growth rate hence the JIPSA process. Instead of supporting government initiatives, DLA is actively an impediment to them, despite the attempts by the Department of Provincial & Local Government, National Treasury and the Presidency to engage with them.
Ashraf Adam, president, South African Planning Institute