CHAPTER 4: GREEN SPACE PLANNING
4.9 Collaborate: Lively place and green space planning relevance in rural communities
4.9.3 Success aspects in terms of rural development
As mentioned previously, the term ‗rural challenges‘ is synonymous to social challenges or issues as well as to human vulnerability issues (as referred to by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (1), 2000:34). As stated by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (1) (2000:34) these challenges in rural communities arise due to the lack of certain successful and adequate social aspects like social capital (trust, norms and networks), social services (food, water, shelter, health, education, transport, safety and security), equality (equal life chances between urban and rural, social security, gender equality and income equality (Veenhoven & Ehrhardt, 1995:7)) and social exclusion (van der Ploeg et al., 2000:394 – also refer to Gopaul (2006:69) illustrating the
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practical example of Umgababa in KwaZulu-Natal (to be discussed as pilot test in Chapter 6) displaying social exclusions as ―...a major challenge‖).
In order to successfully address these unique and consisting rural challenges, a sound living, working and playing community (NSDP, 2006:5) needs to be planned for or created through the correct and applicable implementation of lively place and green space planning (theory discussed in chapters 3 and 4 and empirical application and success to be discussed and identified in Chapters 5 and 6). The success aspects regarding this lively place and green space planning in terms of addressing rural challenges include the planning for and inclusion of aspects (as discussed in the theoretical chapters describing the main focuses and objectives of lively place planning and green space planning) such as cultural relevancy, local needs, quality of life, social networks and benefits, services (food, water, transport, shelter, safety and security, etc.) and employment (all of which are regarded as important factors and challenges specific to that of rural communities like inequality (social exclusion of women and children in rural communities (Gopaul, 2006:73)), vulnerability issues (poverty, health, living conditions (Cannon, 2005?:36) and limited access (to health, safety, employment and educational services (Campbell et al.,2008:3 and Gopaul, 2006:20)).
This section determines specific aspects to be included as basis to determine whether these theoretically successful approaches (or aspects of approaches) or case studies can also be successful regarding rural development and especially in terms of addressing social challenges (all of which are discussed and identified in detail in Chapter 2). These aspects to be regarded as ‗basis‘ are aspects included in rural development programmes and/or initiatives aimed at improving rural life as well as other lively place and green space planning elements applicable to rural social challenge addressing.
As mentioned in the introductory section of this chapter, one of the main reasons for challenges like safety and security, social exclusion and inaccessibility in rural communities is that of vastly unused open spaces with no human attraction and presence needed to create a feeling of belonging, socializing and safety. In Chapter 3, section 3.2.1 the creation of a successful public place (an accessible and inviting space provided with a variety of well maintained and managed functions, activities and attractions with a unique identity and flexibility supported by good visibility (Baltimore City Department of Planning, 2010:170 and Worpole & Knox, 2007:9 – refer to Chapter 5 section 5.2.1.1)) was discussed. This section includes certain main features (identified by Worpole and Knox (2007:9)) needed to create a successful green space and lively place, serving as aspects to be included in planning for spaces to create humanly attractive places attracting human presence and therefore creating a sense of lasting safety. These features include:
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invitations by peers and others – embedded in social networks to encourage use, also supported by Hobart City Council (2011:1) mentioning the importance of creating invitations for a wider range of user groups to create useful and sociable spaces;
an exchange-based relationship in which the use of the space moves beyond traditional consumerism usage but rather move to participation regarding the exchange of goods and services – i.e. presence of people and economic activity to provide mere open spaces with function and activity and therefore prolonged human presence and safety.
choreography of spaces by discreet and good management whilst still leaving room for self- organisation by the community and the people in order to create a place where the inhabitants have a sense of ownership and connectedness (Cilliers et al., 2012:9); and
The concept of moving beyond the presence of, or focus on mono-cultures and rather encouraging diverse groups and various activities to be shared within these common public spaces.
These features directly correspond with the key aspects or values theoretically necessary to include in planning initiatives or projects aimed at creating lively places and green spaces.
As mentioned in Chapter 3 and defined in Table 2, rural development refers to policies and programmes that aim to improve the economy and quality of life in rural communities. In South Africa such programmes includes the RDF, ISRDS, CRDP, NSDP, Agenda 21 and the Constitution (amongst others). These approaches primarily aim at eradicating poverty, alleviating unemployment and meeting basic needs (refer to Table 8 for a summary of these frameworks and/or programmes).
In terms of addressing safety and security, these programmes include the following:
Tourism (NSDP) - promoting tourism as potential catalyst for addressing safety and security through the development of visitor safety measures for enhanced experience;
Social security (the Constitution) - providing each person with an annually revised right to social security;
Environmental regulations (Agenda 21) – making trade and environment mutually supportive to prevent human health and safety being impaired or endangered through the promotion of a
―culture of safety‖ (Agenda 21, 1992:57); and the establishment of safety nets for the most vulnerable households (Agenda 21, 1992:115);
When comparing the rural challenges (as discussed and summarized in Chapter 3) to the approaches and case studies regarding lively place and green space planning (discussed in detail in Chapters 3 and 4 respectively), it is evident that much of these green space planning case studies and lively place planning approaches correspond directly to the addressing or providing of areas (places) that are able
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to improve rural social challenges (as was potentially identified and tabled in Table 4 opposing each identified rural challenge).
This is evident in and substantiated by South African and international approaches and case studies also implementing certain actions or initiatives aimed at addressing safety and security and other social challenges in rural communities. These approaches are discussed in detail in Chapter 3, and summarized in Tables 13, 14 and 15 which include programmes and legislative policies like the RDF, ISRDS and the CRDP as mentioned above).
These approaches aim at creating lively places to reduce and inhibit the potential of unsafe environments by means of creating better visibility of places (Baltimore City Department of Planning, 2010:170) and Loudier and Dubois (2001:6) with specific reference to CSIR (2000:252) emphasizing the importance of visible entrances and buildings as well as the contribution of maintained landscaping rather focusing on less than more to prevent and deter the potential for petty delinquency and crime (Loudier and Dubois, 2001:20).