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CHAPTER ONE Background to the Study

1.1.0 Introduction Systems of urban planning typically incorporate the preparation of land use plans and regulatory procedures for controlling land use development in line with the plan. Urban Planning can be seen as a procedure in identifying where people should settle and how one can obtain a residential plot where to build (INESOR, 1998). Planning decisions determine where and how new buildings may be built and whether existing uses of land and buildings may be changed. Physical planning is also concerned with the provision of necessary infrastructure, with appropriate legal regulations including by-laws relating to the quality of building and construction (ECE, 1996). Town planning is about organising the way land and buildings are used so that as many people as possible, including generations to come, benefit. The broad objective of planning is to ensure the orderly development of urban areas which is achieved through the application of the relevant laws and regulations. Planning wants to ensure sustainability of growth, it ensures allocation of resources such that maximum efficiency is achieved while respecting the nature of the environment and the welfare of the community (ECE, 1996). Town and Country Planning Acts, Local Government By-laws, Public Health Acts and Housing (Statutory and Improvement Areas) Acts are some of the principal forms of legislation used to govern urban development and planning and are the main instruments of urban planning practice. The planning legislation of Zambia like in most English-speaking African countries, is derived from the British Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 (http://www.housing.gov.za). Regulatory frameworks are put in place to govern the manner in which plans are formulated, implemented and enforced, and usually include land use regulations such as zoning and development control, subdivision regulations, standards for planning, building and service provision, administrative and institutional procedures, and enforcement mechanisms (Town and Country Planning Act, cap 283). Economic growth and development has implications on the physical environment which planning sets to control. Zambia is considered one of the most urbanized countries in Africa with approximately 40 per cent of the population living in cities (http://www.norad.no/items). With the influx of people in the urban centers greater pressure is placed on land and the predefined

development plans tend not to be followed and illegal developments mushroom everywhere. Development Plans are prepared as a way of formulating a policy which can act as a basis for guiding, controlling or initiating development; for deciding for example whether development should take place at all or on particular pieces of land. It is expected that as a result of making the plan, and of steering development in accordance with it, the ill effects of uncoordinated development will be avoidable and an area becomes better to live in than it might otherwise have been without planning control, and some contribution will thereby have been made to national wealth and general well being of the people. The Town and Country Planning Act (Chapter 283) of the Laws of Zambia provides a framework for effective planning and control of development in Zambia. The Ministry of Local Government and Housing delegates the powers of town development plan preparation and control of development to the Local Councils. The Minister may, by statutory notice, order a development plan to be prepared for an area by the appropriate planning authority and the Minister may him/herself initiate the process of plan preparation. The plan is then submitted to the Minister for approval, it is advertised and is available for public inspection and the submission of views to the Minister, who, taking into account those views and following a public inquiry or an opportunity for the planning authority and objections to state their views, may or may not approve the plan with suitable modifications (Town and Country Planning Act, s.15 (1)). Subsequent changes are subject to formal modification of the plan and this may be cumbersome and time consuming (Nchito, 1998). Development control remains a major challenge for many cities round the world. Un-Habitat (2007) in a paper titled: Lusaka Urban Sector Profile, has mentioned that Zambian cities have not been spared from the challenges that come with urban growth and development. The high and increasing proportion of slums and informal settlements in towns and cities in African countries is evidence that past and current regulatory frameworks have failed to achieve the objective of planned urban growth. In Zambia in spite of all the planning and attempts to arrange space beginning in the colonial era, illegal developments still remain the order of the day. The full desired results of the plans that have ever been produced are not fully realized. For example, if we consider the development of the city of Lusaka: the city was established by colonial mining companies in the early 20th century (Schlyter, 1980). The location of the siding (Lusaka) was chosen because there was water available for the steam engines. In 1931, Lusaka was declared

capital and a British town planner was brought to the country with instructions to recommend a suitable site for the capital and later to work out a town plan. The town planning model chosen was that of an extremely spacious garden city (Schlyter, 1980). In 1967 the firm Doxiadis Associates was engaged to prepare the Lusaka Development Plan. Doxiadis plan was meant to replace the Lusaka Town Planning Scheme (LTPS) which had replaced the grandiose Adshead plan of 1930, in 1952 (Agyemang A. O., Chirwa B., and Mundia M., 1997). Adshead plan had planned the city solely as an administrative centre. Doxiadis plan heavily premised on a motorized resident population was built up around a tremendously overdimensioned network of freeways and expressways, creating a grid pattern in the plan, beautifully painted for different uses (Schlyter, 1980). Notwithstanding the fact that the plan was not in all perfect (i.e. it being based on segregation of the human settlements); it failed to achieve the concept of sustainable urban planning, that is, control still lacked to contain development and growth of illegal settlements among other. When Zambia attained independence in 1964, the government declared the restoration of free movement; which meant that the citizens of the country could live wherever they wished. Because of this, rural to urban migration increased which was followed by the formation and growth of informal settlements (INESOR, 1998). The relevant authorities failed to contain this growth and Lusaka by 1990 had 26 informal settlements out of 72 residential areas all these starting as simple squatter settlements for the white masters servants. These informal settlements are characterized by structures built of sun-baked mud bricks with one or two rooms and sometimes no windows, roofed with an assortment of iron or asbestos sheets (CSO, 1990). A development plan is the expression of the vision showing the spatial arrangement of land uses and a proposed course of official action to influence land use. Between the existing situation and what is desired in the future lies a great deal of change. The general field of planning should be concerned with the process of change, in particular guiding what happens to human communities of all sizes and natural environments. Development control is essential in ensuring sustainable growth of cities.

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