City calls for representatives to serve on Spatial Planning Collectives across Cape Town
13 August 2025
The City is calling on residents’ associations, stakeholders, and organisations with a direct interest in spatial planning to nominate representatives to serve on the Spatial Planning Collectives to be established at the 20 Subcouncils across Cape Town. This innovative programme is a first for the City with the aim to create platforms for regular engagement with residents about spatial planning policies and planning processes in their neighbourhoods.
Residents are directly affected by land use, and the nature, form and location of developments in their areas. Thus, all Capetonians are impacted by the City’s spatial planning policies as these determine what our suburbs will look and feel like in future.
The spatial policies also impact property owners and developers as the plans inform and guide the City’s decisions when we assess development and land use applications.
Given the importance of spatial planning and its impact on Capetonians, the City’s Urban Planning and Design Department (UPD) is embarking on a programme to educate, empower and engage community stakeholders at the 20 subcouncils across Cape Town.
‘The first step is the call on residents, residents’ associations, stakeholders and groups with a direct interest in spatial policy to nominate representatives to serve on the Spatial Planning Collective at their local Subcouncil. This is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at improving engagements with residents and stakeholders, and to empower residents with the required knowledge to meaningfully contribute to shaping our spatial policies into the future.
‘There is no doubt about the importance of spatial planning. However, we have seen in the past that residents have limited knowledge on how to collaborate with the City on crafting these policies. Spatial planning is also complex, and we find that as much as residents are interested and committed to working with the City, there is a real need for more information and training about how spatial policy impacts residents where they live and work.
‘I am excited about this programme and the platform it will create for us to join hands with our communities, and plan together for a City that will work for all of us,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
Spatial Planning Collectives
The City’s Urban Planning and Design Department is starting a programme to educate, empower, and engage community stakeholders about our spatial policies such as the Municipal Spatial Development Framework; District Spatial Development Frameworks (DSDFs) and Local Spatial Development Frameworks (LSDFs), and planning processes.
The aim is to:
Establish a dedicated platform for each Subcouncil to meet with stakeholders about spatial planning and development related matters in their areas
Facilitate proactive and regular engagement and communication between the UPD Department and community representatives
Inform and educate representatives so that they can have a better understanding of spatial planning and how these policies impact their neighbourhoods
Provide training for community representatives about the City’s spatial planning processes, how to participate and comment on these processes, how to get involved with City projects, budgeting processes, environmental planning, housing development, resilience and climate change, transport, land use processes and local economic development
Nominations
The City invites community organisations with a direct interest in spatial planning and associated processes to nominate one member to represent them on the Spatial Planning Collective at their local Subcouncil.
Submit nominations by checking the selection criteria and completing the application form as follows:
The closing date for submissions is 14 September 2025.
The UPD Department will assess the nominations and finalise the list of participants to serve in the collectives.
If all goes as planned, the 20 Spatial Planning Collectives will be established by the end of September 2025; and thereafter the nominated representatives will receive training.
‘This is a golden opportunity for communities and stakeholders to collaborate with us. Cape Town belongs to all of us, and the City wants to build a common spatial vision with our residents. For this to happen, we need to have regular and constructive engagements on a subcouncil level and meet residents where they are. Each area in the City is different with its own unique challenges and opportunities and the Spatial Planning Collective Programme will create the platform for these critical conversations on a local area level. Thus, please nominate your representatives by 14 September 2025 latest, and join the collective,’ said Alderman Andrews.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
