How Cape Town aims to plan for the future - Belinda Walker - World Town Planning Day

In her opening address at the World Town Planning Day seminar, Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial, Economic and Environmental Planning, Alderman Belinda Walker says, we are planning for the future in a time of uncertainty about climate change, an unpredictable world economic future, energy and resource scarcities and rapidly changing technology.

The City of Cape Town has combined three portfolios: Spatial, Economic and Environment for good reason. Very simply put, we want to get planners to think about what happens in the spaces they design and the buildings they approve, to encourage economists to think about where growth and development happens and to have the environmentalists working with the planners and economists for the best possible outcome.

In other words, we would like to better reflect the economic goals of the City within our spatial decisions, whilst still protecting the integrity of our natural surroundings.

Someone once remarked “if you want to make God laugh, tell him your future plans”. But we must not let ourselves be discouraged.

Read the full speech at the City of Cape Town website