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Parks vs. People? Challenges Facing Greening the South African Capital
Aug
Green areas in cities have recently attracted increasing interest from researchers due to their benefits They offer.
Gardens, parks, reserves and trees have been connected to cultural, spiritual and alternative medical solutions. Natural or semi-natural land areas can also provide ecosystem services such as food, stormwater management and climate control. Cities can plan and manage for maximum benefit.
Our research team is working on Integrated Green Infrastructure Planning project, a collaboration between the University of Pretoria in South Africa and Aarhus University in Denmark. We reviewed policy documents on green infrastructure in the city of Tshwane (Pretoria and surrounding areas) to find ways to plan, manage and maintain green space resources. We also conducted interviews with city officials and held workshops with officials and consultants.
We found that Tshwane needs guidelines based on green infrastructure principles. Raising awareness of green infrastructure among city officials and residents will enhance the many benefits that green spaces can bring.
Brisk development
Tshwane is located in an area prosperous in biodiversity. It is one of the largest metropolitan areas Municipalities by area in the world – growing at a rate 3.1% year – and serves as the administrative seat of the South African government. Despite the change of government to a democratic one in 1994, the influence of the apartheid era is still evident in the city’s neighbourhoods and land operate. People are still spatially separated, and some areas have more services, amenities and access to planned green infrastructure than others.
Green infrastructure in Tshwane takes the form of public and private gardens, street trees, community parks, unmanaged green spaces and reserves. The city Tshwane Bioregional Plan 2016 revealed that biodiverse, protected and ecological areas cover an area of 456 340 hectares, which is 26% of the area of Tshwane.
In any city, expansion often comes at the expense of green space. In Tshwane, our research found that challenges to green infrastructure include rapid expansion, budget constraints, departmental silos, negative perceptions and confined capacity within departments. Collaboration between different disciplines within city departments is also inadequate to manage and maintain green infrastructure.
One official told us:
The biggest challenge to the sustainable development of green infrastructure is related to the rapid changes related to aspects such as the higher level of formalization of informal settlements, which makes planning more tough.
Another challenge is resources. A city official explained that projects such as electricity and road construction were prioritized over the environment. In her words:
If we look at the capital budget, the portion of the budget allocated to the environment is probably less than one percent.
We found that the flow of information between departments was confined. One informant said that the situation could complicate necessary or urgent decisions and actions. For example, flood solutions could extend beyond the Department of Infrastructure and Engineering to the Department of Social and Human Settlements to lend a hand with social welfare and relocation.
We are not fully utilizing the benefits of understanding the connections and dependencies between different departments.
Another city official argued that residents’ perceptions can influence green infrastructure planning:
People simply do not comply with green infrastructure regulations because they are not very environmentally aware.
From our policy documents, the research team found that housing, roads, electricity and water were at the top of the government’s priority list. The majority of the annual budget was spent on these services. Green infrastructure plans were largely embedded in climate action plans.
Read more: Green policy introduced in South Africa’s largest port city, but a key element missing
GRIP Research Team
We believe that there are opportunities to balance the protection of green areas and the socio-economic needs of people by creating multifunctional and beneficial green areas. The city of Aarhus in Denmark is an example of a city where recently developed urban green areas provide multifunctional benefits. For example, a fresh city park also retains rainwater during floods.
Transdisciplinarity has recently been highlighted as a way to solve sophisticated global problems.
Representatives from the Aarhus city authorities spoke about the fact that green infrastructure planning should be carried out independently of departments, such as engineering and housing, and also between different disciplines.
Someone said:
I see a need for trans- and interdisciplinarity within individual departments; the problem of stormwater management should be considered not only from an engineering perspective, but also from a planning and social perspective.
One way to break down barriers between departments could be to work together on common projects.
Balancing needs
Cities need to find a balance between the everyday needs of their inhabitants and the preservation of green spaces to preserve biodiversity, adapt to climate change and ensure a vigorous environment.
Based on the interviews conducted, one way to move forward is for the city to engage in collaboration to create an enabling environment and develop practical guidelines that enable people and green spaces to coexist.
In our research we have identified three priority green areas to support Tshwane’s biodiversity.
We recommend that high priority green areas that provide the most benefits from green infrastructure should be carefully protected. Medium priority areas should serve as buffer zones for critical biodiversity areas that are vulnerable to climate hazards, fires, etc. Low priority areas are areas with low benefits from green infrastructure, characterized by high population density and informal development. These areas are adaptable in terms of development.
Planning and managing green infrastructure involves raising awareness of the benefits of green spaces for government, developers and residents, creating a shared vision and clearly defining expectations for all.
