The City of Cape Town has extended the deadline to submit comments on the draft Spatial Development Framework, which aims to put Cape Town firmly on track to become a low-carbon city. 

The SDF aims to replace the outdated guide plans and spatial plans that are currently being used to guide land use decisions. The draft SDF is complemented by eight integrated Draft District Spatial and Environmental Plans, which will provide resolution to the City SDF at district scale, all of which are now available for public discussion and the submission of comment.

The SDF will also ensure that growth in Cape Town will now be managed in such a way that the phasing of development and infrastructure provision and upgrading are aligned.

The SDF aims to indicate areas that are best suited to urban development, areas that should be protected, and areas where development may occur if it is sensitively managed. In so doing the SDF will provide public and private investors with a clear idea of where they should invest. It will be used to assess applications submitted by property developers and will therefore guide changes in land-use rights.

Growth that is managed in this way will also improve public transport systems and services, because it will ensure that industrial, commercial and mixed land uses, higher density residential development and community facilities are located on the major public transport routes, which will also improve the financial viability of these routes.

Another important strategy in the SDF is encouraging a better distribution of economic opportunities and work places, shops and trading areas.

These strategies will mean that the City is better able to manage urbanisation and transform informal settlements and townships into suburbs, and develop a socially and economically integrated city.

The SDF does not give or take away zoning rights.

The afore-mentioned will be implemented through five key strategies:
1. Enhancing the accessibility and value of the natural and rural environment and open spaces for the people of Cape Town
2. Establishing an integrated grid-based movement system
3. Consolidating and intensifying development on the accessibility grid
4. Directing urban growth and promoting compact, integrated development
5. Developing more great people places

Copies of the full Draft Spatial Development Framework and the eight Draft District Plans, as well as the City’s Draft Densification Strategy and Draft Development Edges Policy are available in print and PDF format. For more information, please visit  http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/sdf/Pages/Maps.aspx  or email futurecapetown@capetown.gov.za