SMART CITIES While a smart city needs high-quality, predictable and affordable public transport, the aim is to reduce the need for public transport as much as possible
Ramaphosa’s SMART CITY dream becomes ‘reality in the making’ Two years after President Ramaphosa announced his dream for a South African smart city, the draft Greater Lanseria Master Plan (GLMP) has been completed by a team of professionals appointed by the Presidency and the Gauteng Provincial Government. By Kirsten Kelly
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APP Architects & Urban Designers won an open tender and was commissioned to lead the design of the smart city. The professional team (assembled at tender stage) included SMEC South Africa’s Urban Development Division as the infrastructure and transportation planners. The Lanseria Smart City will cover a huge area (430 km2) that straddles three municipalities – City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, and Mogale City Local Municipality – and shares a border with Madibeng Local Municipality in the North West. Deon Du Plessis, function manager: Urban Development Division
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IMIESA June 2021
Deon Du Plessis, function manager: Urban Development Division at SMEC
at SMEC, explains that this adds a level of political complexity to the project. “A province cannot do any planning at a local authority level. Planning is a function of the municipalities. It is important to get buyin from each local municipality.” Erky Wood, director at GAPP Architects & Urban Designers, adds that the company therefore reported to a complex client body. “We worked with a project steering committee comprising representatives from the Presidency and the Gauteng Premier’s Office, the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), as well as from the City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, Mogale City and Madibeng Local Municipality.”
Erky Wood, director at GAPP Architects & Urban Designers
The meaning of a smart city “The majority of people associate a smart city with technology. This is a small component of a smart city. It is about creating a liveable space. A liveable city also needs land use, energy, water, mobility and refuse. All of these components need to be integrated with each other in order to create a sustainable city. The smart part of a city is not about the tech – it’s placing the correct urban structures in the correct places,” says Du Plessis. Wood believes that simply imposing the latest ‘smart’ technology in a structurally flawed urban system will merely increase the digital divide. “You have to get the fundamentals right, and inclusion is a vital part of a smart city. The Lanseria Smart City needs to be understood
