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THE PREPARATION OF A MASTER PLAN FOR THE GREATER LANSERIA GROWTH NODE
The creation of a new ‘Smart City’ within the Greater Lanseria Growth Node emanates from a joint initiative of the Presidency, the Office of the Gauteng Premier, the City of Tshwane, the City of Johannesburg and Mogali City. The DBSA and the adjacent North West Province municipality of Madibeng are also represented. The State President introduced the initiative in his State of the Nation address in February this year and the Office of the Premier has led extensive studies and engagements in putting the planning of the smart city in place. The Lanseria Regional Strategic Development Policy (LRSDP) of 2018 is a founding reference for this planning.

THE MAKING OF THE LANSERIA SMART CITY
The brief for the preparation of the Greater Lanseria Master Plan is extremely explicit in its vision that this is to be a truly post-apartheid city based on best practice in terms of urban sustainability and the principles underpinning the ‘Smart City’: it is to be a publicly-led planning initiative that welcomes and enables the involvement of a broad range of stakeholders, including local communities, community interest groups, NGOs, the business community and developers. It is to be inclusive of the broadly defined South African socio-economic spectrum and must stimulate a vibrant, mixed urban economy.

All this is encapsulated in the acronym TRAM – Transformation, Re-industrialisation and Modernisation.

The Master Plan is also to guide the way towards innovative ways of approaching economic drivers for the area, social and cultural amenity, support and urban infrastructure. In so doing, it is imperative that the initiative is led by creating urban prospect not only for future residents and users of this city but also, in the short term, to integrate the many marginalized low-income communities that already occur within or on the fringes of this growth zone.

As a pioneering development initiative, it is the intention that this planning approach and its results should be replicable and point the way for similar initiatives country-wide.

A ‘smart city’ is not merely a digitally and ICT-advanced conceptualization of a modern city: there are several dimensions on which it is based and principles that underpin it as a truly sustainable approach to city building, not least being the need for social, economic and cultural inclusivity. A city deeply divided along economic, ethnic, cultural and exclusionary lines cannot be sustainable and there are key elements to an appropriate planning and delivery approach that guide the planning approach as set out in this master planning exercise.­­

The compact, complex city
A fundamental of sustainability is that people should have, as far as possible, little need to commute and any commuting should, by default, be by non-motorised means (walking or cycling) or, where necessary, by public transport. In planning terms, this means the new city needs to be ‘walkable’ and its horizontal extents for any activity zone within it, be this for purposes of getting to work, shopping, schools, etc., should be governed by the 5 minute/400m and 10 minute/800m walking isochrones. Effectively, the lateral extent of an activity zone within this new city should be roughly 1600m, meaning a 10 minute walk in any direction from its epicentre.

This implies too that not only should an activity zone be compact in its spatial extent, it must also be complex in its mix of urban uses: rather than spatially separated land use zoning (where, for example, residential areas are simplistically separated from other areas of a city), people live, work, pray and play within a mixed-use activity zone where employment, residence, commercial opportunity and access to shopping, services and amenities are all found in close proximity. Where certain opportunities are not available within one activity zone, it should be possible to use safe, reliable and affordable public transport to access such opportunity further afield.

In addition, this complexity extends to not only the ‘horizontal integration’ of land uses (i.e. one use next to another) but also, and ideally, ‘vertical integration’ as well (one use on top of another, as typically occurs with retail at ground level, a number of office levels above this and residential apartments, penthouses and hotels above these in turn).

Urban intensification as a basis for sustainability
Apart from the walkability of the city model of compact complexity, and the reduced need for commuting (and, hence, reduced reliance on public and, more importantly, private mobility in the form of cars), living at higher residential densities within patterns of more intense urbanity make it possible to achieve far higher levels of efficiency in terms of infrastructural services and public transport systems. It also increases the evenness and efficacy with which social services and amenities are provided.

Urban complexity for dealing with complex socio-economic integration
The sustainable city model relies heavily on the complex, organic organization of city life to deal with urban integration. In an urban structure of complex compactness, it is less possible (or indeed necessary) to define ‘difference’ or ‘otherness’ and the city’s patterns of social organization become less spatially distinct or overt: in many respects, the city looks to its own naturally-occurring systems of embracing diversity rather than relying on planning having to misdirect itself with the ‘social engineering’ of spatial separation and division.

Residential integration within a complex urban profile
Housing policies targeting the delivery of lower-income housing as an integral part of urban development, rather than as a distinctly separate activity delivered In the absence of urban prospect (i.e. the possibilities of being able to access urban opportunities and advancement of skill levels through proximity) both enhance the delivery process, make infrastructural, transport and social servicing more cost-effective and reduce the social stigma and stratification of such housing. It also allows for far more open-ended opportunities for the private and non-governmental sectors to participate in these markets as a less differentiated aspect of the housing market as a whole.

It becomes possible, for example, even within areas of fairly affluent levels of housing development, to introduce ‘inclusionary’ housing (a certain percent, nominally 15 or 20%, of all units to be earmarked for subsidized occupants). Similarly, amongst a wider area of apartment buildings, whether vertically integrated or not, it is possible to place social housing apartment complexes without these being moved to the periphery of the urban system. Public housing apartment blocks, too, can be implemented in these de-massified ways so that the competition for housing space closer to areas of prime location is factored into the planning process at a policy level.

The design of apartment blocks is, in policy and design guideline terms, also moved from the ‘conspicuous consumption’ approach that makes the extent and type of each apartment obvious. Rather than an ‘egg-crate’ approach that singles out each unit, more complex design codes seek to accentuate the ‘address’ of the complex as a whole and make it less clear who exactly owns, or has right of tenure, to which particular unit.

In effect, in urban complexity, it becomes easier to de-stigmatize socio-economic profile in housing delivery and spawn a culture of inclusion as opposed to exclusivity.

The public environment as the armature of public life and inclusion
City building has tended become an exclusive domain for private developers who ‘ring fence’ off areas, whether literally or symbolically, to create enclaves of exclusivity within which semi-private environments are owned, delivered and managed on the basis of excluding ‘LSMs who don’t fit the desired profile’. Planning has, to a large extent, abrogated its leadership role that sees the definition of a well-designed, well-managed, secure public environment as an essential aspect of how a greater, inclusionary commonwealth of the city is engendered.

It is also necessary to understand the public environment not merely as streets, urban spaces and parks: this ‘capital web’ (Crane, 1966) of the city extends to all the ‘key installations’ (public buildings, schools, universities, hospitals, fire stations, places of worship, etc.) and the ‘strategic connections’ between them. It is to this ‘capital web’ which developers and the market as a whole respond in what Crane refers to as the ‘city of a thousand designers’.

The design of the inclusionary city starts with the importance of the public environment and the manner in which a ‘responsive architecture’ both defines and assists with the natural surveillance and safety of that environment: the tenets of ‘safe city design’ apply and a people-first, rather than a car-first mentality leads the design process. Only 17% of South Africans own cars and the design approach needs to redress the imbalance between space, resource and exclusivity that attends the focus on private-mobility planning. Highly permeable, safe and convenient pedestrian and cycle systems need to be augmented with a comprehensive, integrated street system defined less by class of traffic function and more by networked connectivity that is future-proofed as urban mobility rapidly reinvents itself.

Environmental planning as a basis for the healthy city
Far too often, open space planning is driven more by the ‘SLOAP’ principle (Space Left Over After Planning) than by the definition, as a fundamental underlay to the entire urban system, of an ecologically sound network of biodiversity, habitat and connectivity. This is a system that drives the layout and shaping of our cities and looks to maximize the social value of the public environment.

As a system of reserved, positive space around which the city will evolve and grow, it is also a meaningful way of reserving land that, over time, will be required for public amenities as demand grows.

On this basis, open space is a fundamental of urban structuring: it is a crucial element in how it is designed, the many purposes it must serve and, very importantly, the maintenance and management required on an ongoing basis.

Holistic thinking and moving beyond business as usual
An important aspect of the city economy is its infrastructural investment, not simply in how it is funded and delivered but also the inclusion of myriad up-stream and down-stream aspects of its economic chain. Much of the contemporary thinking regarding urban sustainability recognizes this as well as the more obvious aspects of energy-efficiency and the striving for carbon-neutral systems.

It has become increasingly clear that the silo approach to infrastructural planning, delivery and maintenance of service and movement infrastructure that has characterized engineering over the years prevents us from making important shifts in approach. Many systems are now outmoded and in fact at odds with sustainability and yet, without thinking about these and related aspects collectively, or holistically, we fail to make critical connections in paradigms that take us beyond the present limitations of our thinking. The Lanseria Smart City presents us with an extraordinary opportunity to think thinks through in this holistic way and open up avenues of profound opportunity into a sustainable future. One must clearly avoid the errors of moving too far ahead along untested lines but there is more than enough in place that requires us to at least achieve a move to ‘best practice’ rather than persisting with the flawed thinking embedded in ‘business as usual’. Done carefully, it should indeed be possible to keep future thinking open-ended enough as we move to ‘leading edge’ approaches that embrace  very exciting, rapidly-evolving innovation.

The inclusionary economy as a spatial layout principle
It is not enough to simply rely on well-intentioned policy statements and ‘some ill-defined principles of economic osmosis’ to achieve meaningful overlap and participation in the complex profile of South African urban economies: these things have very important spatial implications. It is therefore necessary, at all levels of the spatial planning and urban design of the new city, to look for economically generative ‘latch-on’ nesting opportunities and a space-economy in the urban fabric that engenders this.

As with the holistic thinking noted above, it is necessary to see the design of the public environment as one of the most important generators and platforms for spawning economic cross-over. Inevitably, this again means embracing complexity and inclusion rather than simplistic models of separation and ‘specialization’ as has been the case, for example, for so many years, the regional shopping centre. Experience now shows how well-designed shopping centres, suitably ‘cracked-open’ can become very powerful and rapid-result catalysts of more complex economic patterns; left as introverted ‘islands of privilege’ they spawn very little latch-on over many decades. How the energies of one investment into the urban system are harnessed through careful urban design to spawn other opportunities is a vital aspect of the layout and enablement of activity zones, be this at the city-scale of, for example, a new fresh produce market, an airport or a freight and logistics hub, or the more localized scale of an open air market and transit centre allied to a vibrant retail centre.

Agriculture as an integral part of the urban economy
The Greater Lanseria Region is not necessarily well-endowed with rich soils and agricultural potential yet it has several characteristics that make higher-intensity agriculture and aquaculture important. This in turn relates to the value of agri-processing in a strategic city-region hub embedded in the fringe of the Gauteng City Region as one of Africa’s great Mega Cities’.

Strategic linkages in this regard, and connections into North West Province place responsibility on this project to actively engender agriculture as an integral part of a new city economy and ensure that this is a new, well-directed sector that integrates a broad socio-economic spectrum. This means ensuring, too, that education, training and support are embedded in the spatial framework for this essentially urban enterprise.

Incrementalism as a responsible approach to urban development
Much of the ‘front-end loading’ from a cost point of view in a new city development lies in the provision of bulk services and early reticulation of services to various parts of the nascent city. Historically, and again in a context of less holism as a paradigm, projections of an “ultimate future” have tended to lead this process: this ‘ultimate’ is then pared back into a phased approach to this pre-determined future.

City growth through history shows that incrementalism is in fact the more appropriate way to think of city development and, used thoughtfully, is a more valid way of thinking about future development. In effect, one plans rather for thresholds and manages the risk around these thresholds, knowing that one has various options in dealing with these. This is considered to be a more appropriate approach to the Smart City not only in managing front-end costings (and not necessarily making long-term investments at present-day values to cover future demand) but also in dealing with fast-moving innovations on an open-ended basis.

Particular mention also needs to be made regarding the provision of social infrastructure: just as city-building initiatives need to be led by economic drivers that provide urban prospect for existing marginalized communities and future city inhabitants, it is essential that communities have early access to social enablement, notably in the health and education sectors. It is not enough to simply make provision for a requisite number of sites in this regard (and often simply creating vast amounts of socially-fallow land in the process): one has to embed a delivery process of certain key installations that have to lead prior to housing programmes that deliver significant new populations into an area. Whilst incremental delivery of service delivery must be paced according to residential demand (i.e. not only must there be a site available as well as a school building, for example, there also have to be desks, chairs, books and, most importantly, teaching staff in place), it is essential that early-warning systems be put in place to ensure timely ‘just-in-time’ delivery of comprehensively built, stocked, staffed and managed facilities.

The ‘Smart City’ as an enabler of managing new thought paradigms

In many respects the ‘smart city’ is thus a product of thinking across many dimensions of city-building holistically: it is not simply a city operating off a comprehensively-enabled ICT platform, as important as this indeed is. Much of what is being spoken of here, in taking us to new paradigms and approaches to city building, are able now to be undertaken with confidence precisely because of ICT enablement. The levels of modeling, demand assessment and management to support the just-in-time delivery modalities noted here are possible because of this burgeoning capacity.

Starting with modeling and planning as now possible through ICT advances assists in breaking the mould of the outmoded predictive, largely ‘social-engineering-based’ approaches: it is then possible, in that and related modern planning paradigms, to extend this ICT competence across the entire new city in both spatial and physical terms to provide the cyber underpinnings of this future city.

Getting to a post-apartheid city
In effect, what has been set out above fundamentally defines what is meant by ‘post-apartheid’ planning: it is not simply some platitude or ‘deemed ideal’; it is the preparedness to boldly confront the issues that have become embedded in planning thought and that hold us back from real transformation. By being particularly mindful of and guided by, and being true to, the principles above, we in effect eradicate apartheid planning thought from our approaches to making life-enhancing environments for all the city region’s citizenry.Here is a citation to a website.

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External links section
https://www.gov.za/documents/draft-greater-lanseria-masterplan-3-nov-2020-0000

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNEgK5wtf1hBDyH4mApf4tA/

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pOeIH34neXSp089qOXUqi6HlxkjbgQKO?usp=sharing

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-star-south-africa-early-edition/20201014/281775631631529