Grabouw — Sustainable Development Initiative

Compiled by NM & Associates Planners and Designers

01. Introduction

Economic

Environment Social

Infrastructure

• Approach to the Study

• Study Brief

• Study Area

• Limitations to the Study

• The Global drive towards Sustainability

• SA Policy Context

• Report Format

Grabouw — Sustainable Development Initiative

Compiled by NM & Associates Planners and Designers

2

The project was eventually termed the Grabouw Sustainable Development Initiative (GSDI) as it was realized by the Client and Consulting Team that sustainability is a step by step process and cannot be achieved in a quick fix manner or as an end goal. Also, where we are as a nation or province or local district in terms of our understanding of how to set ourselves on the path of sustainability is very limited at this stage, hence we can only initiate the steps to put us on a sustainability pathway.

Sustainability is defined in terms of the following: Sustainable - ‘capable of being upheld or defended: maintainable’ (Ravetz, 2000: 1). Sustainability is a ‘direction’ not a fixed goal (Ravetz, 2000: 8). The terms sustainability and sustainable development do not necessarily mean the same thing. Using the word “development” recognizes that the social dimension of poverty, education, democracy and health must also be included as things which must become sustainable.

1.Introduction 1.Introduction 1.Introduction 1.Introduction In October 2006, NM & Associates Planners and Designers supported by an inter-disciplinary team of professional firms / sole proprietors: Design Studio, ACG Architects, Jeffares & Green, KALA, MLA Sustainability Matters and NB Ideas, were appointed to undertake a Sustainable Development Framework for Grabouw. The appointment is part of the Grabouw Sustainable Development Initiative commissioned by the Theewaterskloof Municipality in conjunction with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). A separate and independent team of facilitators were appointed at the same time to set up a Social Accord on the basis of this Initiative. This aspect is recorded in a separate document. At the same time, an independent Transaction Advisor Team was appointed to consider four special projects, namely: Project 3578, The Community Node, The Main Street and The Eikenhof Dam. These were pre-selected without any spatial evaluation, and are the subject of a separate product.

1.1 Approach to the study The study followed the sequence outlined in Figure 1.1 although it must be pointed out that the approach and methodology are more iterative than linear as it may appear from the diagram. (Refer to section 1.2).

Figure 1.1: Approach to the study

Grabouw — Sustainable Development Initiative

Compiled by NM & Associates Planners and Designers

3

Sustainable development was placed on the global agenda when it was adopted as a strategy at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, by a significant number of the world’s nations, for achieving a balance between development and environmental considerations, i.e. the need for increased economic growth in less developed countries, in order to address poverty, and the need to protect what remains of the earth’s natural capital. It was based on a definition put forward in what is commonly referred to as the Brundtland Report, as follows:

‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs’ (WCED, 1987: 43).

Sustainable economic development is development that lasts and is not restricted to GDP growth (as it generally is) but places just as much importance on what is known as the Human Development Index (HDI) developed in 1992. This index encompasses measurement of life expectancy and literacy, as well as GDP growth, as measures of development. (Refer to Chapter 3) Delegates at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg ten years after the Rio Earth Summit, reaffirmed their commitment as follows:

‘Sustainable development integrates economic, social and environmental objectives in order to create the best possible conditions for human development for now and in the future. Sustainable development should create prosperous and more equitable societies, increase employment opportunities, help to meet the basic human needs of everyone for food and water, shelter, energy, sustainable livelihoods, education and health care at the same time as protecting the physical environment and natural resources which nurture us.’ (Gauteng Declaration, August 2002 in WWF Living Planet Report, 2004).

The Western Cape’s Bioregional Planning Framework (PGWC, 2000) provides a planning methodology to support sustainable development, premised as follows:

International experience has shown that biodiversity conservation is a prerequisite for sustainable development, and that for biodiversity conservation to succeed, the maintenance of environmental integrity (as defined by ecological, economic and social criteria) must be one of the primary determinants of land-use planning.’

The approach is a ‘place-specific’ one which requires an understanding of the nature and quality of place because, “In the long term, it will be the pride and care people have for their places, which will form the basis for sustainable development…” (PG: WC, 2000: 44).

Five principles to be applied to all aspects of planning, design and development are drawn from Kelbagh’s ‘critical regionalism’ approach (PGWC, 2000, citing Kelbagh, 1997), namely Sense of Place, Sense of History, Sense of Craft, Sense of Nature and Sense of Limits. To these five principles, the Sustainability Institute has added a sixth – Sense of Justice. The Planning and Design Team’s view on sustainability as applicable to the Grabouw Sustainable Communities Initiative is framed in terms of the principles defined below in section 1.2. Typically, a ‘sustainability plan’ seeks to undertake a target-setting exercise in lieu of the metabolism of a place to which a spatial, economic, social and other relevant plans respond. Given the general state of decline and lack of information on Elgin-Grabouw, it was necessary to put in place an economics, spatial and strategic framework based on the protection of ecological processes and setting limits as a basis for revitalization and development. Broad targets have, however, been set which must be populated in further studies.

1.2 Study Brief

• To develop Principles for Sustainability including: - Sustainable balance (To achieve a balance between the ecological and development role of an area over time)

- Access (To ensure access to the opportunities and resources of a place for a range of people and activities e.g. access to land as a resource) - Integration (between people of different backgrounds, incomes, culture and experiences of their environment) - Social Justice (Viewing resources in the interest of society / community, not in the interest of individuals and restoring human dignity where this has been lost).

• Contextual Analysis

A spatial and contextual analysis of Grabouw and surrounds was required in terms of the proposal call document entitled: ‘Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan for Grabouw Sustainable Development Communities Pilot’. Using the principles or six senses and the contextual information contained in this proposal call document and through secondary research, public participation, ground truth studies and site visits, the Consulting Team applied a systemic approach to understanding and analysing the spatial and other systems of Grabouw i.e. the wilderness, the rural and the urban/town roles, structure and functions of the place. This contextual analysis concludes with a set of opportunities and constraints (some represented graphically) to guide the approach to the growth of the town and its hinterland based on fundamental sustainability criteria.

Grabouw — Sustainable Development Initiative

Compiled by NM & Associates Planners and Designers

4

• Conceptual Spatial Framework

This framework (chapter 7) is based on ideas that be-gin to embrace and reinforce the planning and design principles that motivate for local socio-economic devel-opment coupled with creating in time a sustainable Grabouw and environs. The systemic analytical ap-proach enabled different layers to be generated mak-ing the natural systems, open space and productive systems the driving elements of planning and design ideas. This concept was then be married with hard-core facts emanating from the contextual analysis, resulting in an appropriate plan for growth that begins to structure integration, economic growth and develop-ment, housing, partnerships and so on.

• The development of a spatial direction and guide-lines for special projects

Dropping down from a level of principle and conceptual planning/design, we embarked on a spatial develop-ment framework and plan that begins to bring all the contextual analysis, systems analysis and concepts together. At the same time, to ensure that the special (pilot) pro-jects which form part of the Transaction Advisors’ study “Transaction Advisor and PPP” for precinct scale projects already identified at the outset of this project, fit with the proposed framework, these projects were considered at a precinct scale providing broad guide-lines from a sustainability perspective (see Chapter 8).

• Strategic Framework for Grabouw

Based on the conceptual framework for Grabouw and environs, the strategic direction for Housing, Economic Development and Growth, Sustainable Infrastructure Framework, Landscape Framework and Public Struc-ture Framework was developed at the same time as the Spatial Framework. A progressive understanding of “sustainable” in the context of developing and extending the “social habi-tat” would focus on gaining a complex actual under-standing of the varying economic, social and cultural needs of the people / interest groups who inhabit the proposed environment. The planning instruments, strategies and physical outcomes were designed to appropriately fit the range of actual needs to achieve the basis for sustainability. Understanding the diversity of actual needs and achieving the appropriate fit would require ongoing dialogue between end-user groups and future planning teams or professionals in later planning and design exercises.

1.3 Study Area The study area was initially focused only on the area that forms the municipal boundary of Grabouw. How-ever, two key considerations informed the study area that the Consulting Team thought were more appropri-ate in terms of sustainability. One, the systemic ap-proach to the study implying that in many instances for example, in the case of storm water and water systems, transport and economics it is important to acknowledge that boundaries have to be crossed. The second and very important reason is that Elgin and Grabouw cannot be seen as separate entities from an integrated plan-ning point of view which is based on sustainability prin-ciples. To provide some form of logical study area that ad-dresses both these concerns as well as to provide a focus for the work that follows, the Palmiet River Water Catchment Area is regarded as the study area (refer to Figure 1.2). This is not to say that where necessary analysis and proposals have not gone beyond this boundary.

Figure 1.2: Study Area

Source: Gale, 2000

Grabouw — Sustainable Development Initiative

Compiled by NM & Associates Planners and Designers

5

1.4 Limitations of the Study The study has been disadvantaged in terms of deadlines and resources, specifically access to information and funding to support a strategic framework plan that is underpinned by excellent research and ongoing development and updating of information. For example, the brief required that secondary research be used as baseline information. This information available on Grabouw was either outdated or inadequate for the purposes of analysis from a sustainability perspective. A lot of the information contained in this report has therefore been developed through observation on site and interaction by the professional team with the people of Grabouw to be able to deliver a relatively well considered product. The study should therefore be regarded as an introduction to sustainability that requires a reasonable level of substantive investigations still to come to truly place Grabouw on the sustainability pathway. For example, the effects of global warming and climate change on the economy and the people of Grabouw has not in any way been investigated, nor have sustainability targets or indicators been set as promoted by the latest Strategic Framework for Sustainable Development in South Africa (2006), refer to section 1.5 below. This is not to say that these studies cannot commence as of now and be applied to later reviews of the proposals contained in this report. Furthermore, one key aspect that is covered at a level only in this study is the concept of a developmental local state as a tool for transformation to creating an integrated and sustainable society. It is understood that the Theewaterskloof Municipality is in the process of filling this gap as a separate exercise. Public involvement as recorded in a separate Social Accord process and in the context of this work has been limited to Elgin-Grabouw Stakeholder Forum (EGSF), members of the Ward Committees and a Steering Committee (TWK Municipality, DBSA and Provincial Government officials). While attempts were made to include existing organizations, for example the EGVV, local Chamber of Commerce, the Elgin Learning Foundation, one on ones and interviews with members of the broader community, the broader community needs to be officially drawn into the process as a matter of priority. This is essential to ensure that shifts in consciousness take place at all levels of community to enable the sustainability framework. Nevertheless, every effort has been made to set Grabouw on the path of sustainability and to slowly move away from business as usual.

1.5 The global drive towards sustainability The world trend is that “the global urban population is set to double from 2.6 billion in 1995 to 5.1 billion in 2030, by which time three out of five people in the world will be living in cities” (Beall et al. 2002).

Our local pattern reflects this global trend. The South African population was approximately 45 million in 2001 (Statistics SA, 2001). In 2001 approximately 55% of the nation lived in urban areas (South African Cities Network, August 2003). Although the study area cannot be defined as ‘urban’ as such, its growth (and role as transition area to the Cape Metropole) has been substantial particularly over the last 10 to 12 years (refer to Chapter 2: Settlement Patterns and Chapter 4: Economic Development). Against this background, it is necessary to review the significant and fast depletion of resources and to understand to what extent we are able to use integrated planning as a tool to promote a more sustainable approach to resource use. Ways and means are being researched and put forward to understand how sustainability can firstly, be measured and secondly, strategically directed relative to appropriate and sustainable planning and development. Wackernagel et al. (2006: 104) assert that eco-footprinting

1 documents, for a given population, the

area of biologically productive land and sea required to produce the resources such a population consumes and assimilates the waste it generates. Ecological footprinting employs a standardised measurement unit to make results for different areas comparable, that is, global hectares

2.

Zero-carbon initiatives encourage the utilization of sources of energy that do not produce carbon as an end product. The emphasis is on carbon as it is the main element of green house gases, which are a danger to the long-term sustainability of the earth. Such gases increase the temperatures on the earth’s surface leading ultimately to global warming. The more carbon we emit into the atmosphere, the more carbon concentration we will have and the higher the temperatures of the earth will rise. “CO

2 contributes

towards global warming which is predicted to result in a rise in global temperatures of between 1.4° and 5.8° by 2100” (www.bedzed.org.uk). One planet living suggests that we have only one planet but the rate at which humans use resources and produce waste exceeds the earth’s resource-production capacity and the rate / capacity at which it can assimilate waste. It is estimated that the planet has a total of 12.6 hectares of biologically productive land and sea. If 10% of this land and sea is left for wildlife, as a global society we should aim to live off 11.3 billion hectares. With a global population of 6 billion, our target should be for the average person to live within 1.9 hectares of biologically productive land (www.oneplanetliving.org). In South Africa, we would need two planets to sustain our lives if everyone lived like the average South African i.e. 4.02ha per person (The Enviropaedia, 2006-2008). 1Ecological footprinting has also been critiqued in terms of its theoretical basis and

application to practice – see McManus P. and Haughton G. in Environment and Urbanization (2006: 113 -127). 2A global hectare is one hectare of biologically productive space with the world

average productivity for a given year. Eco-footprinting is applicable at all scales, ranging from individuals, city, country or humanity as a whole.

Grabouw — Sustainable Development Initiative

Compiled by NM & Associates Planners and Designers

6

Footprint calculations, which in turn apply to zero-carbon and one planet living, demonstrate different ways in which ecological deficits can be reduced or eliminated (Wackernagel et al., 2006). The role of integrated planning and development should be to embrace contextually specific ways and means of achieving a more sustainable society on the basis of these insights and clear strategies supported by current policies on sustainable development. In terms of driving this agenda, the developmental state is crucial specifically with respect to integrated planning and infrastructure design (Swilling, 2006).

1.6 South African Policy Context There are many policies for example, the Provincial Spatial Development Framework (PSDF), Breaking New Ground (2004) and legislation for example, the National Environmental Management Amendment Act (No.46 of 2003) and the National Forests Act (No.84 of 1998) that are embraced in South African law and governance structures to obtain a sustainable society. Not all of these are discussed here but have been noted in the work that follows. It is worth noting one of our national policy imperatives to emphasise the importance of following a sustainable pathway.

‘A Strategic Framework for Sustainable Development

in South Africa: Draft for Public Comment, 29 September 2006’ The following International milestones underpinned South Africa’s National Framework for Sustainable Development. The process to develop a national framework for sustainable development in South Africa is based on a number of key international milestones that signify the increased awareness of sustainability as an important component in development strategies:

• The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972, where the environment was recognized as a development concern;

• The 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where Agenda 21 was agreed upon as a blueprint for sustainable development, reflecting global consensus and political commitment to integrate environmental concerns into social and economic decision-making processes;

• A decade of UN summits and conferences between 1992 and 2002, which focused on the social, economic and environment related fields and widened the concept of sustainable development;

• The 2000 United Nations Millennium Summit

where the Millennium Development Goals were adopted;

• The World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002, which reaffirmed the commitment to sustainable development, placed poverty eradication at the centre of efforts to achieve sustainable development, and reinforced the notion of development that aims for equity within and between generations.

A National Vision for Sustainable Development in our country emphasises that:

“South Africa aspires to be a sustainable, economically prosperous and self reliant nation state that safeguards its democracy by meeting the fundamental human needs of its people, by managing its limited ecological resources responsibly for current and future generations, and by advancing efficient and effective integrated planning and governance through national, regional and global collaboration.”

1.7 Report format After this introduction, Chapter 2 introduces the biophysical environment and landscape aspects of Grabouw and environs. Chapter 3 covers settlement patterns including where Grabouw comes from and what Grabouw represents at this point in time. This chapter also covers land use and land matters after which infrastructure is contextualized in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 outlines the economic development context. Chapter 6 synthesizes the context with opportunities and constraints and also gives a broad brush evaluation of Grabouw and environs in terms of sustainability criteria. Chapter 7 develops the spatial concept and provides the basis for the spatial framework. Chapter 8 depicts the spatial framework and associated strategies within which the proposals are directed. Chapter 9 reflects on proposed interventions, mechanisms for implementation and developmental local government. Chapter 10 concludes with recommendations.