2026-09-18T21:07:37Zhttps://openscholar.dut.ac.za/server/oai/request

oai:openscholar.dut.ac.za:10321/48382025-04-03T01:09:08Zcom_10321_13col_10321_14

A synthetic approach to regional spatial planning in less developed contexts Kiepiel, Julian Harris, Geoffrey Thomas Dewar, David Synthetic method Regional spatial planning Marginal regions Spatial development frameworks KwaZulu-Natal: South Africa Methodology Embeddedness Spatial-structural Landscape character Sense of place Assessment criteria Regional planning Land use--South Africa Rural development--South Africa Spatial behavior Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration - Peace Studies, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2023. Large numbers of people in South Africa, and indeed globally, live in marginal regions in both rural and urban areas. While systemic problems of ecological breakdown, poverty and inequality affect all in varying ways, marginal regions are least able to cope. These problems are not self-correcting and if not addressed, the possibility of violence is high. While regional spatial planning is a potentially important tool for meeting these challenges, theoretical approaches, which largely ignore regional spatial planning issues, are inadequate as is local practice in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Using the case of KwaZulu-Natal, this study proposes a more appropriate approach to regional spatial planning for marginal regions. This substantive study draws upon methodologies from a number of disciplinary fields. Through an interpretive, synthetic understanding informed by an eco-humanist ethic, the regionalist tradition, observation and precedent, a landscape-based, spatial-structural methodology is extended into regional planning. A method of regional planning, which merges thematic and geographic concepts of space, is proposed: regional spatial planning is conceived of as a counter-movement that tackles disembeddedness directly. D 2023-06-27T06:01:09Z 2023-06-27T06:01:09Z 2023 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/10321/4838 https://doi.org/10.51415/10321/4838 en 351 p application/pdf