Spatial Planning, Land Use Management and Urban Development Dynamics

The short course in Spatial Planning, Land Use Management and Urban Development Dynamics is specifically designed to enhance your skills and knowledge as real estate practitioner, property valuer, commercial property broker, estate agent, property developer or property financier in the wake of recent changes in development planning and infrastructure delivery by-laws. The course is ideal if you are involved in real estate or property development and often have to deal with complex processes or sometimes high-risk investment decisions on property deals. The course will provide you with much needed knowledge to counter the effects on your business operations and/or investments.

Learning Outcomes

After successfully completing the course, you will be able to

• demonstrate an understanding of how urban regions function within the larger urban space economy as well as the challenges facing urban regions
• demonstrate an understanding of the institutional and legal frameworks and policies guiding planning and development
• illustrate spatial planning from broad scale metro planning to local planning
• show an understanding of the challenges, legalities and technicalities of land use management (with specific reference to zoning and township establishment processes)
• understand the relationship between planning and property development
• show the relationship between property valuation, planning and zoning
• identify current and development opportunities within the spatial planning framework context, and
• understand the legalities and challenges of the town planning application processes and how to effectively manage them.

Course Content

• Understanding the urban development dynamics and economies of the city
• Overview of urban and spatial problems and challenges
• Overview of the various policies and acts guiding the planning system and processes in South Africa
• Introduction to metropolitan and municipal development planning, spatial planning and land use management
• Challenges with regard to rezoning processes and township establishment processes
• Role of communities and dealing with objections
• Development contributions
• Ethics in planning and property: where to draw the line

The course will be facilitated by experienced course presenters from the Department of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Pretoria. Skilled professionals from other departments and experts from industry will also contribute to specific modules of the course.