Planning and Transformation provides a comprehensive view of planning under political transition in South Africa, offering an accessible resource for both students and researchers in an international and a local audience.

In the years after the 1994 transition to democracy in South Africa, planners believed they would be able to successfully promote a vision of integrated, equitable and sustainable cities, and counter the spatial distortions created by apartheid. This book covers the experience of the planning community, the extent to which their aims were achieved, and the hindering factors.

Although some of the factors affecting planning have been context-specific, the nature of South Africa’s transition and its relationship to global dynamics have meant that many of the issues confronting planners in other parts of the world are echoed here. Issues of governance, integration, market competitiveness, sustainability, democracy and values are significant, and the particular nature of the South African experience lends new insights to thinking on these questions, exploring the possibilities of achievement in the planning field.

Philip Harrison is Executive Director of Development Planning and Urban Management in the City of Johannesburg and an honorary professor at the University of the Witwatersrand where he was previously professor of Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning.

Alison Todes is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. She was previously a Research Director at the Human Sciences Research Council, and Professor of Planning at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Vanessa Watson is Professor in the City and Regional Planning Programme in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, University of Cape Town.