Paper short abstract:

The paper will present comparative results of recent research into the impact of planning legislation on the form of urban settlements and the livelihood of residents in Tanzania and South Africa based on empirical research.

Paper long abstract:

In South Africa, changes in planning legislation and associated urban development guidelines are traced through three periods, namely:

• Early foundations (1948 - early 1990s)

• Transition (1990s)

• Contemporary (2000 to present).

In Tanzania similar periods can be observed:

• Colonial period (1891-1963)

• Post colonial period with a state led economy (until mid 1980s)

• Transition, free market economy (mid 1980s to present)

In each period, the study looked into the main planning legislation and related guidelines for urban development, resultant planning and layout standards, provision of physical infrastructure and engineering services; and housing delivery. Special attention is given to the impact of planning regulation on the livelihood of the residents in positive and negative ways. Case studies from the city of Durban and Dar es Salaam were selected for each period to illustrate the ways in which the prevailing legislation (or lack thereof during the Transition period), impacted on the form of urban settlement for the poor.

The paper will present lessons learnt from the more advanced planning machinery in South Africa facing now problems on how to cope with new informal settlements and from Tanzania where planning regulations do not have a large impact but flexible instruments are in place. It will contribute to a discussion of new appropriate planning regulations for Africa's urban reality by a comparison study of the two different countries.

Research team: Prof. Dr. Sabine Baumgart, TU Dortmund University, Germany

Prof Peter Robinson, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr. Susanna Godehart, South Africa, consultant, Dr. Wolfgang Scholz, TU Dortmund Unversity, Germany, Associate Professor German University of Technology, Muscat, Oman

Tanya Dayaram, South Africa, consultant