Project proposal for transforming Grabouw, Western Cape, into a sustainable community

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Cities and in particular, secondary cities are fast emerging as the dominant form ofhuman settlement. Considering the anticipated growth in the population and theexpected global economic growth, what role will cities play in addressing the coreissues pertaining to sustainable development? Will cities be able to address theseissues at all? Addressing the sustainability of cities is about focussing on addressingthe key issues of form and function. These, coupled with the specific socialinteractions, the cultural and political actions, are the drivers that need to beharnessed, integrated and reworked if cities are to be sustainable in any way.Without a collective and concerted drive to make direct inputs into the three maindrivers of a city; planning and design, the resource use and inputs and the socialinteractions within cities, no efforts to address the hope of leaving legacies ofresources for future generations will be realised. If these efforts do not originate in,and grow out of cities, cities will not support, but rather undermine, any attempts atachieving sustainable development.There is an increasing realisation that the current approaches to development arenot meeting the needs of the growing global populations and as such, newapproaches need to be sought. The one key area where these new approaches holdpotential is to attempt to seek ways to create sustainable communities, communitieswith equitable access to resources and where communities are designed to functionin different ways. The town and outlying areas of the Grabouw region in the WesternCape provide a unique and extremely rare opportunity for implementing a wide rangeof Government policies that have been adopted at the National, Provincial and LocalGovernment levels to give effect to the national commitment to sustainabledevelopment and the creation of sustainable communities. These policycommitments span social, environmental and economic policies. Grabouw isperfectly configured in both geographical and strategic terms to become a nationalmodel for 'integrated sustainable development' and to demonstrate in practice howthe attainment of the concept of sustainable development and sustainablecommunities can be supported. The intention of the project proposal is to facilitate specific actions that would includethe framing of a foundation that is the core discussion document for the engagementwith the broader communities. The purpose of this document and supporting planwould be to facilitate the communities' participation in the creation and design of theproject that serves to transform the town of Grabouw, and the region, ultimatelybecoming a national model of sustainability with a community that is resilient andequitable, meeting their current needs fairly, but doing so in a manner that preservesresources for future generations of Grabouw residents and South Africans.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University