Planners’ roles and techniques in developing sustainable "eco-City": The case of gaborone, Botswana

Abstract

Efforts to incorporate sustainability principles into city planning demands new relationships between traditional and contemporary culture of key players involved in urban development arena. Many stakeholders involved in urban projects, management and governance are tailoring the destiny of urban world. Unfortunately, their contribution to sustainable practices show the lack of awareness and negative attitude towards protection of basic environmental, economic and social elements for the benefits of future generations of urban dwellers. By changing the way in which they think it is important to spell out clearly the role of planning professionals which should be more active and persistent in educating and advising decision-makers and other stakeholders helping them not to think and act only sectorally supporting individual and forgetting common interests. With carrying capacities and sustainability in mind these "key players" should be trained and guided by planners and diverse community entrepreneurs to have a look well beyond current planning horizons of socio-economic and physical plans, because sound sustainable solutions need wider and more ecologically friendly temporal frameworks. This paper explores contemporary physical planning concepts for sustainable development of Gaborone city, the capital of Botswana. sensitive development solutions, lamenting more on behavioural organisational and technological improvements in city planner?s "toolkit" and planner?s roles of technocrats and advocates of sustainable change. The purpose of this exploration will also be to suggest how to create enough manoeuvring space beyond the exclusive political power and how to apply different planning concepts which can help to create a sustainable eco-city.