08 Dec 2024

Zimbabwe Institute of Regional and Urban Planners president, Dr Admire Mudawu has underscored the need to establish a regional urban planning association for knowledge sharing and strengthening collaboration.

He said town planners in the Southern African region such as Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, South Africa among others, faced similar challenges due to comparable socio-economic and environmental contexts

Giving a keynote address during the World Town Planning commemoration day held in Maun on Friday under the theme: Homes Start with Planning, Dr Mudawu said countries were experiencing urbanisation pressures, infrastructure deficits and climate change related challenges saying through the association, their voices could easily be heard by countries’ leadership.

He said they could also consider partnerships with regional bodies such as SADC for policy alignment. 

Dr Mudawu also noted that they could also collaborate on funding applications for regional projects through the African Union or World Bank organisations.

However, he said there were some areas of concern such as urbanisation and housing, transportation and mobility, technology and data driven planning, governance and policy, economic development and industrialisation and heritage and tourism, which they could engage in regional efforts and identify opportunities for collaboration.

On urbanisation and housing, he said countries were experiencing a common challenge where rapid urban growth had led to informal settlements, inadequate housing and pressure on urban services.

“As regional collaboration efforts, we can share best practices in affordable housing strategies. We may also harmer the idea of sustainable urban planning as well as develop joint frameworks for urban renewal and slum upgrading,” he stressed.

With regard to infrastructure development, he cited inadequate and aging infrastructure in cities and towns such as roads, water supply and sanitation systems. 

In Zimbabwe, Dr Mudawu said they had some suburbs in certain towns and cities with outdated colonial infrastructure and believed that as regional efforts, they could have collaborative infrastructure funding through regional development banks or public-private partnerships (PPPs).

Climate change and environmental sustainability was also identified as a common challenge as Dr Mudawu highlighted that urban areas in both countries faced vulnerabilities to climate change including droughts, heat waves, floods and water scarcity.

Furthermore, he pointed out that lack of spatial planning for economic hubs and industrial zones was a common challenge adding that coordinating the establishment of regional economic corridors and special economic zones could be considered.

Planners, he said could also think of harmonising planning standards for transportation and logistics infrastructure to boost regional trade as well as share strategies to integrate informal economies into urban planning.

On heritage and tourism area, Dr Mudawu said the countries could consider collaborative strategies for conserving cultural and natural heritage in urban areas, promote tourism friendly urban development across the region and also think of joint urban design initiatives to integrate heritage into cities.

North West District Commissioner, Mr Thabang Waloka appreciated the event saying it came at the opportune time when the district was faced with many planning challenges that needed immediate interventions.

The district, he said was challenged to come up with a robust, bold and sound planning initiatives and projects that could transform Maun into a world class green city that would be envied by all, indicating that that shall be realized through adherence to the planning interventions as outlined in the draft final Maun Development Plan (2023-2043).

“We are proud as the district as this event gives us the opportunity to introspect as we revisit a list of the planning issues in the district, the opportunities we have and envisage the future of Maun as a green city given the abundance of environmental assets in our area,” he added. Ends