- Title
- Communal land use management and socio-spatial planning in Mooiplaas, South Africa
- Creator
- Eglin, Ronald Arthur https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3983-709X
- Subject
- Land use -- Planning -- South Africa
- Subject
- Land use--Planning -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Subject
- Land use, Rural -- South Africa
- Date
- 2024-02
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/29684
- Identifier
- vital:78871
- Description
- This study explores, for the first time in southern Africa, the possibility of using a pattern language as part of a more adaptive planning process where decisions to change land use are made by municipalities and communities taking into account the extent to which these decisions respond to the ever-changing context. The objective was firstly to identify what socio-spatial planning principles (presented as a patterns) the community use and would like to use to guide communal land use, secondly to evaluate how effective land use management has been in determining land use activities, and thirdly to explore how a pattern language could be used to guide land use change decisions. Using a qualitative research methodology, 67 semi-structured individual and key informant interviews as well as three focus group discussions were conducted in two villages within the Mooiplaas communal land area. The main findings indicate that the current informal procedures for managing land use change by the community’s leadership is increasingly ineffective in guiding land use decisions in ways that prioritise environmental protection and promote economic and social development. However, using visioning and needs analysis techniques, the study demonstrates that a community can develop a pattern language that reflects a comprehensive vision for their area. This pattern language can then be expressed as local spatial development principles in the municipality’s Spatial Development Framework. Additionally, as part of its Land Use Scheme regulations, the municipality can establish natural, intensive agricultural, and settlement overlay zones, overlaid on an underlining extensive agricultural base zone. Anyone wanting to use land for any purpose not provided for in these zones has to submit a land use change application and the authorising structures are required to use the local spatial development principles to help inform them as to whether to approve the application or not. The study advances a new understanding of the pattern language as an expression of a community’s vision for a particular area and demonstrates how a pattern language planning approach could work in a communal land area in South Africa within the context of existing spatial planning legislation.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2025
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (xxi, 397 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University Of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- rights holder
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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Collections
UFH Department of Sociology and Anthropology
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details | SOURCE1 | EGLIN RONALD ARTHUR THESIS.pdf | 133 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |