Elizelle Juaneé Cilliers

The importance of creative participatory planning in the public place-making process

The idea of ‘place’ has long been central to the planning and design practice. Recent trends illustrate increased intervention in the ‘experience’ and ‘feeling’ of places, in order to influence and enhance community dynamics. While place-making is an important tool for experts to utilize in community planning, it should be accompanied by a thorough understanding of the contemporary social dynamics of place and the implications it has for the people who inhabit these places. In this sense, participatory planning forms an integral part of future place-making processes and planning thereof. In this paper, the first aim is to capture the importance of incorporating public perspective into the place-making process when considering future urban planning. The second is to stress the importance of the creative participatory processes to attract stakeholders and enhance their willingness to partake in the participatory planning processes. The third aim is to identify creative participatory planning tools that can be used to enhance participatory planning within the place-making process.

Sustainable green urban planning: the workbench spatial quality method

Purpose – Amersfoort Local Municipality implemented the workbench spatial quality method (referred to as workbench method) to enhance participation in green‐planning processes.Design/methodology/approach – As part of the Valuing Attractive Landscapes in the Urban Economy project (made possible by INTERREG IVB North West Europe, European Regional Development Fund, European Territorial Cooperation, 2007‐2013), the method was evaluated based on its contribution to three core issues: understanding the value of green spaces; identifying these values; and planning for the enhancement of thereof.Findings – Based on case studies conducted in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, this interactive method invites people to think about the use and experience values of spatial aspects and rate them according to importance and vulnerability. The method focuses on participatory planning and quality identification.Research limitations/implications – Assessment of the value of green space will differ between users, experts and bet...

Sustainable green urban planning: the Green Credit Tool

Purpose – The Green Credit Tool is evaluated as a method to quantify the value of green‐spaces and to determine how these green‐space‐values can be replaced or compensated for within urban spatial planning projects.Design/methodology/approach – Amersfoort Local Municipality created the Green Credit Tool to ensure protection and enhancement of the urban green totality. The tool is described and evaluated based on three core elements: the value matrix, the collection of values and green compensation. Findings were based on case studies in Parkweelde and Randerbroek (Amersfoort, The Netherlands).Findings – Green‐planning is not just about flora and fauna, but also about planning for economic benefits and thus needs to have a quantifiable value. The Green Credit Tool enhances integrated green‐planning by means of the value matrix (identifying values of green), collecting values (participation and stakeholder‐identification) and compensation (protecting green spaces).Research limitations/implications – Assessm...

Green Place-making in Practice: From Temporary Spaces to Permanent Places

Current spatial planning and sustainability approaches attempt to create competitive, lively and sustainable cities. This paper argues that place-making approaches and green-planning approaches can assist in this regard as these approaches focus on creating qualitative, socially viable and environmentally friendly spaces. These approaches furthermore assist in transforming temporary spaces to permanent places by introducing green-initiatives as captured from pilot studies included in this paper, namely city-trees, green roofs, green graffiti, green walking routes and green impulses. The objective as captured in this paper is to transform public space and reclaim public space for public use, by means of green-planning initiatives.

Transforming spaces into lively public open places: case studies of practical interventions

Abstract Urban public open spaces are an important part of the urban environment, creating the framework for public life. The transformation of open space into successful public places is crucial in this regard. In the context of target-driven performance it is essential to identify the value of successful public open places, along with characteristics that define them. This research evaluated three case studies in Belgium (Namur, Wavre and La Louviere) which successfully transformed spaces into lively public open places. The transformation was captured by means of before-and-after imagery and analyses, and evaluated in terms of space-usage prior to, and after redesign, along with the experience and added value that the redesign brought to the area.

The Undervaluation, but Extreme Importance, of Social Sustainability in South Africa

Almost every planning-related paper employs the increasing urbanisation figures and problematic impact of such, to substantiate research needs and approaches. This is especially true for the African content which often top the charts in terms of population growth. Accordingly, spatial planning recently became a tool to guide broader sustainability thinking and direct the planning of smart futures. Within this notion spatial planning, theoretically, often relates to the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) to find adequate planning solutions. In practice divergent scenarios are seen, where focus are often placed on economic- and environmental interventions, as easier implementable solutions, in comparison to more complex approaches related to social sustainability. This chapter therefore considers sustainability from a South African perspective, illustrating the unique social considerations that impacted on the results of various planning studies, arguing that despite social sustainability being less researched, it has the most prominent role to play in the African context. This finding is substantiated by reference to a literature review regarding the three dimensions of sustainability and relevance within local context, followed by a reflection on six individual studies conducted between 2014 and 2017 on diverse planning-related themes in South Africa. None of these cases aimed to investigate social issues, but findings illustrated deviations from theory, initiated by the unique social context. This chapter concluded on the importance of social sustainability as primary point of departure for realising broader sustainability in practice, referring to adequate knowledge and contextualisation of concepts, and the importance for context-based research in South Africa, acknowledging issues of status, safety and scale.

CONSIDERING NEW URBANISM, NEW RURALISM AND GREEN URBANISM IN RESPONSE TO MULTIFUNCTIONALITY: THE CASE OF VERKYKERSKOP, SOUTH AFRICA

Paul Davidoff charged planners in 1965, as a profession making urban life more beautiful, exciting, creative and more just, as having little to say. The task thereupon was to train a generation of planners to go well beyond the designers of the sixties in their ability to prescribe future urban life. Nijkamp, in 1980, affirms the utopians’ claim that the future is open and flexible, and that every development in the community, could imply a surprising step towards something better. A half century since Davidoff’s indications, planners encounter ever expanding planning approaches, “towards something better”, ranging from compact cities, transit oriented developments, new urbanism, new ruralism, shared cities, to smart growth and, of late, green urbanism and eco-cities; all in response to multifunctionality. Although the concept of multifunctionality has gained increasing attention the last decade, there is much frustration amongst planners regarding a proper set of broadly based definitions and clear statements concerning its scientific points of departure. This research argues that a combination of planning approaches are a more suitable response in attaining multifunctional land use; especially as megatrends underscore the need for moving away from seeking a predictable single future or outcome. The uniqueness of the Southern African landscape, inherently being rural, necessitated a rural accentuation on multifunctionality. Applying theory-based sampling as part of qualitative inquiry into the recently planned rural village of Verkykerskop, acclaimed by the Charter for New Urbanism in 2012, it is questioned whether the reciprocal employment of planning approaches induced multifunctional rural land use. Offering a design philosophy, whereby “farming, playing and living” is attained through the combined appliance of new urbanism, rural urbanism and green urbanism in planning the rural village, conclusions are drawn relating to the conduciveness of these approaches in achieving multifunctional rural land use.

Artificial Green Corridors Crossing Large Infrastructure In Metropolitan Areas

Metropolitan areas have a growing need for better connections with inter-urban green areas, which are better dissected by large infrastructure networks. This chapter analyses the planning process of the green Craailo bridge in the Netherlands, the world’s largest artifi cial and a very expensive nature bridge. The planning process appears to have been far from linear. In fact, many incidents, sudden changes and unexpected opportunities were evident during the planning process, not described in common planning literature. The complexity perspective and planning process of the Craailo bridge were analysed based on several policy documents that were scrutinised, along with 19 interviews conducted with key players. A new perspective on highly complex planning processes in the spatial planning practice was introduced as a fi nal result of this research.

Designing public spaces through the lively planning integrative perspective

Abstract The current sustainability-driven urban reality is complex. Planning for such a multidimensional environment is even more complex. Alternatives to traditional planning approaches are sought in an attempt to create liveable and lively urban public spaces. The lively planning approach is based on the principles of place-making, planning scales and within various planning dimensions, with the aim to design successful public spaces. This paper evaluates the role that lively planning integrated approach can play in creating sustainable, liveable and lively public spaces, by determining the scale of implementation and identifying the dimensions of lively planning that could be incorporated in public space design and planning. The scale and dimensions of the lively planning integrative approach are linked to each another, and examples of elements to be incorporated in the design of a public space are included as a conclusion of this research.