Planact supports meaningful participatory engagements between government and community members regarding local development in specific areas particularly regarding integrated human settlements development, integrated development planning, performance management plans, social labour plans and municipal budgeting.
For example:
a) Sustainable Waste Management in Informal Settlements
This pilot project aims to improve the current waste management system for informal settlements in the City of Tshwane.
Key objectives are:
• To find innovative and effective waste management systems that remove waste from informal settlements.
• Reducing waste dumping and burning of waste by introducing targeted improvements to solid waste management systems.
• Enhance sustainable waste management initiatives which integrate informal workers as service providers.
• Reducing the identified health risks for informal workers and small-scale recyclers.
• Explore innovative and sustainable solid waste management ideas for informal settlements, for example, organic waste solutions, separation at source, separation of waste, reverse vending machine.
• Introducing changes and mainstream policies, budget, and procurement practices, in order to bring about sustainable changes in the system to reduce adverse impacts for the most vulnerable groups.
• Environmental awareness education for informal settlement communities.
b) Corridors of Freedom
The project was based on in-depth case studies of three large-scale developments in the three different contexts. It was aimed at understanding how large-scale urban development projects, which are key vehicles for delivering residents’ needs in many cities, as well as focal points for delivering urban economic growth, generate social innovation in cities, in relation to community organisation, governance practices and development management.
The project, running from January 2016 to February 2018, had three primary partners, one in each of the locations: University College London, United Kingdom; the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Pudong Urban Planning and Design Institute in Xiang Luo, China.
In China and South Africa, the primary partners were assisted by consultants, community researchers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), to undertake aspects of the overall research project. To this effect, Planact partnered with the University of the Witwatersrand to provide social facilitation.
GET THE REPORT HERE: Planact’s Social Facilitation Role in The Research Project: “Governing the Future City: A Comparative Analysis of Governance Innovations in Large Scale Urban Developments in Shanghai, London, and Johannesburg”.