The role of urban land as a lever for strategic urban restructuring in frontier towns: a case study of post-apartheid spatial planning in graaff-reinet

Abstract

The focus of this research was on the role of urban land as a lever for strategic urban restructuring in frontier towns of South Africa, using a case-study analysis of post-apartheid spatial planning in the town of Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape province. Consequently, the extent to which well-located state land parcels provide strategic levers for the socio-spatial restructuring of the apartheid geographies of Graaff-Reinet was investigated. Furthermore, the study analysed the extent to which emergent land-use planning and management systems and instruments have been used to reshape the spatial structure of the town’s growth. The purpose of this research was to determine the nature of the emerging assembly of land-use in the municipal area, particularly the relationship between ownership and patterns of public budgets and investment in infrastructure and services. A qualitative case-study approach was adopted for this research, using personal interviews with stakeholders, as well as document analysis of the Graaff-Reinet local municipality’s integrated development plan (IDP), the Camdeboo spatial development framework (SDF), Graaff-Reinet Zoning Scheme (2012), and Dr Beyers Naude local municipality’s IDP. Findings from the historical reconstruction of the evolution of land-use, structure and infrastructure development in Graaff-Reinet revealed the existence of planned and intentional fragmentation of the town and the maintenance of structuring elements in the form of buffers between designated areas, separating the settlements. Meanwhile, the influence of the pre-1994 spatial plans on existing Graaff-Reinet spatial patterns shows the existence of restricted land development for the majority and the prioritisation of the town’s heritage over sufficiently formulated spatial plans designed to achieve the desired spatial development goals. These findings also highlighted the capacity of the municipality’s understanding of land-use management methods and lack of effective implementation of the spatial elements. The use of well-located state land to accommodate new developments through the integration of previously segregated areas and recycling or repurposing of vacant, degraded and under-utilised state land for the restructuring of Graaff-Reinet is recommended in the study.