PROPOSED SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THE CAPE REGIONAL AREA: MALAN |
INTRODUCTION Having set the broader strategy in place the project briefly analyses the structure of one of the development corridors, Corridor A. Along this corridor existing small towns are identified. They are the conceptual "beads on a string" of the development corridor. One of these small towns, Malan, is then selected as a case study to show how settlement intensification can occur here. Thus demonstrating how settlement can be managed so as to provide access and opportunity to the greatest possible number of people while still protecting the regions natural resources. The intention being that by decentralizing the regional settlement pattern no one area takes precedence over all the others. Consequently a situation where a few, who by way of their favoured location, hold a monopoly over the majority is avoided. In addition many costly, and unnecessary, transport trips are avoided. As a result traffic bottlenecks, wasted time, and associated costs, are also avoided. The amelioration of these bottlenecks also means that unnecessary infrastructure does not have to be built in order to deal with them. So while this project focuses primarily on the development of a relatively small settlement, the aim behind it is to demonstrate an alternative way of thinking to a more equitable regional development pattern which values and protects its natural resources. |
