Informationen zur Raumentwicklung Heft 5/6.2012 313 Roseanne Diab Debra Roberts Towards a low carbon city: the case of Durban 1 Setting the scene Towards a low carbon city A few months before the COP17-CMP7 Meeting (The 17th Conference of the Par- ties – COP17) to the United Nations Frame- work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Session of the Con- ference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol, held in Durban in November and Decem- ber 2011, the report “Towards a Low Carbon City: Focus on Durban” was released by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf ) (ASSAf 2011). The report, the first of its kind in South Africa, had been commissioned by the eThekwini Municipality, the local government of the City of Durban, and was aimed at identifying key areas of interven- tion that would position Durban on a path- way towards a low carbon city. This report and its findings serve as the ba- sis for this article, which is aimed at criti- cally reflecting on the various challenges and constraints confronting the city, and the failures and successes characterising the city of Durban in its transition to a low carbon city. Durban is one of the leading cities in South Africa, and indeed the Afri- can continent, in terms of climate change initiatives and is the first city to promote a comprehensive approach to low carbon ur- ban development. Local context Durban is a harbour city on the shores of the Indian Ocean, with approximately 3.4 million inhabitants (as of 2010) and the second largest city in South Africa. It ex- tends over an area of about 2 300 km 2 , and its harbour is the largest one on the African continent. The municipal area of Durban is classified as 36 % rural, 29 % peri-urban and 35 % urban (ASSAf 2011). The apartheid history of the city is still evident in its racially segregated socio- economic character and urban land use pattern. Durban is facing high levels of pov- erty and unemployment. One-third of the city’s population is characterised as poor and over one-third of the economically Prof. Roseanne Diab Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) PO Box 72135 Lynnwood Ridge Pretoria South Africa, 0040 E-Mail: roseanne@assaf.org.za Dr. Debra Roberts eThekwini Municipality Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department Durban South Africa E-Mail: roberts@durban.gov.za active sector of the population is unem- ployed (ASSAf 2011:37). The racial inequal- ity in the city is reflected in the fact that 93.5 % of poor households are African, 0.1 % White, 1.2 % Coloured and 5.2 % Asian. (AS- SAf 2011:36-37). Apartheid spatial planning policies that promoted dormitory town- ships on the outskirts of the urban area, as well as a modernist planning paradigm that favoured individual dwellings on their own piece of land have led to urban sprawl over the past 70 years. Almost one quarter (24.5 %) of the city’s households, totalling 948 000 units, are in- © eThekwini Municipality, 2009/Source: ASSAf, 2011: 39 Durban Tradeport Umhlanga Springfields Durban Bluff Amanzimtoti Umkomaas Indian Ocean Tongaat Bridge City Hillcrest Cato Manor Cato Ridge N2 KwaMashu South Durban Basin Hazelmere Verulam Phoenix Clermont Pinetown Queensburgh Umlazi Umgababa Uminini Inanda Mpumalanga Shongweni Umbumbulu PRIORITY INVESTMENT NODES Airport Seaport Industry Beach Tourism Sports Tourism Other Tourism Major Investment Node Mixed Investment Node Rural Investment Node Investment Direction Subject to servicing and phasing limitations Date: March 2008 Main Roads National Route Provincial Route Metro Route High Priority Public Transport Network CORRIDORS Coastal Mixed-Use Tourist INDUSTRY LAND USE ENVIRONMENT Including initially threatened areas URBAN CORE SUBURBAN SUBURBAN INFILL BEYOND URBAN EDGE Subject to servicing limitation AGRICULTURE RURAL AIRPORT METRO BOUNDARY URBAN EDGE Figure 1 Spatial development framework of eThekwini Municipality