The metro walked away with Best Mentorship Programme Awards for its role in mentoring students of the University of Venda and Best Municipal Plan for development of the city’s Spatial Development Framework.
The SAPI awards focus on all municipalities and metros within the southern African region.
In terms of the mentorship programme, the city mentored 20 students in 2014 over a five-day period on a precinct planning exercise for Dries Niemand and Tembisa Civic Node.
This exercise was to assist the third-year students with a metropolitan planning course.
Head of City Planning Motubatse Motubatse said: “We have taken a step in shaping our future planners and expanded their practical knowledge on spatial-planning-related issues.
“They learnt how to research and develop precinct plans for the selected two precincts, which was included into their semester marks.”
In 2015, over a five-day period, the city mentored 30 students on the precinct area of Palm Ridge Court.
The officials provided the planning students with sound expertise. This experience was coupled with tours of the City, OR Tambo Airport and Gautrain.
The second award, Best Municipal Plan award, gave confidence to the development of the Metropolitan Spatial Development Framework of the city and its spatial trajectory as aligned to the GDS.
The Metropolitan Spatial Development Framework (MSDF), approved in 2015, is a planning structuring strategic tool that guides development and investment within the city.
Metropolitan Spatial Development Framework introduced and placed emphasis on spatial structuring elements (fixed Urban Edge), nodal developments, corridors and mining belt all incorporated under sustainable planning which reduces urban sprawl.
