Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa is leading South Africa’s bold plan to build cities that include everyone and stand strong against future challenges. His vision rests on five big ideas: teamwork across government, listening to communities, using new money and technology, fighting climate change, and boosting local leaders. South Africa’s cities are changing fast, and this plan hopes to turn struggles into smart solutions, making cities places where all people can live safely and with hope. The journey is tough, but with fresh ideas and shared effort, a brighter, fairer urban future is within reach.
South Africa’s urban development, led by Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa, focuses on five pillars: coordinated governance, participatory planning, innovative financing and technology, climate resilience, and strengthening local government. This vision aims to create inclusive, sustainable, and resilient cities by 2030 through collaboration and community empowerment.
A cool Pretoria morning in 2025 saw the city’s skyline mirrored in the sleek windows of a buzzing conference centre. Inside, South Africa’s Second National Urban Forum convened, gathering a cross-section of government officials, local leaders, advocates, and international urban thinkers. Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa stood before the audience, energized by the sense of purpose filling the room. His keynote address set the tone for a gathering determined to transform the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) from a policy document into a foundation for tangible, shared progress.
Minister Hlabisa began with appreciation. He highlighted the collaborative fabric that organizations like SALGA, SACN, and UN-Habitat have woven around the nation’s urban vision. For Hlabisa, these partnerships aren’t routine – they are essential drivers behind the effort to build cities where opportunity, safety, and dignity extend to every citizen, not just a select few. In his speech, one could sense the optimism of earlier generations of planners who saw cities as engines for social uplift.
Urban centers, as Hlabisa reminded the forum, have rapidly evolved into the main stage of South African life. More than seven in ten South Africans now live in urban areas, making the management and design of cities a central concern for anyone invested in the country’s future. The forum’s conversations reflected this reality; urban governance is no longer a technical challenge but a matter touching every aspect of South Africa’s social fabric.
The 21st century has become known as the urban century, with cities growing at unprecedented rates. In South Africa, the urban shift has redefined economic opportunity, social life, and even identity. The process, while rich with potential, comes with complex risks. Poorly managed growth can lead to crowded settlements, failing infrastructure, and deepening social divides. Yet, with careful stewardship, cities can inspire creativity, drive sustainability, and promote justice.
The IUDF, adopted in 2016, arose from an urgent need to address South Africa’s long history of spatial injustice and patchwork urban planning. It established a roadmap for cities to become more inclusive, integrated, and resilient. After nearly ten years, Minister Hlabisa reflected on both the achievements and growing pains along the way. The path hasn’t been smooth or simple – meaningful urban reform in South Africa, like the country’s broader journey, resists the comfort of easy answers.
Despite the challenges, progress marks the landscape. The second five-year cycle of the IUDF saw cities experiment with new spatial planning strategies and pilot innovative financial tools such as green bonds and pooled investment funds. These efforts signaled a readiness to break from past patterns and explore dynamic, flexible solutions tailored to local needs.
In practice, South African cities have started to embrace more forward-thinking approaches. Major metros and fast-growing towns rolled out plans for regeneration, harnessing public, private, and community partnerships to spark urban renewal. These local successes validate the IUDF’s core principles: cross-sector cooperation, innovation in financing, and participatory planning.
Nonetheless, Hlabisa did not shy away from hard truths. Fragmentation remains a stubborn obstacle, with municipal departments often working in silos and overwhelmed by limited resources. Promising strategies sometimes get stuck at the planning stage, hindered by bureaucracy or a lack of on-the-ground capacity. For many residents, essential services remain unpredictable, and progress in closing spatial and social gaps is inconsistent.
One mayor from the Free State relayed her city’s struggle to fund and coordinate new public spaces, illustrating the daily realities that local leaders face. These stories are common across South Africa and highlight the need for more robust support systems – both financial and technical – to turn policy into daily improvements for ordinary people.
Tracking progress, meanwhile, has proven a challenge. Monitoring systems, while in place, need to become more transparent and rigorous so that citizens and officials alike can measure real change. These issues point not to failure, but to the need for a shift from rhetoric to results in the coming years.
Looking ahead, Minister Hlabisa laid out a vision for 2030 built on five key pillars, each informed by both international best practice and distinctly South African realities.
The first pillar calls for genuine coordination across all levels of government and society. The proposed National Urban Coordination Mechanism aims to bridge departmental divides and bring provinces and municipalities into alignment. South Africa can draw inspiration here from global examples, such as Northern Europe’s inter-city collaboration, where shared priorities and open communication have underpinned decades of progress.
A second, equally crucial focus is putting people at the heart of urban development. Hlabisa argued that successful planning must involve everyone – especially youth, women, and marginalized groups – at every stage. This approach echoes the principles of participatory urbanism: cities thrive when they listen to the voices of those who live in their neighborhoods.
Embracing new finance and technology forms the third pillar. With traditional municipal funding under strain, South Africa’s cities are exploring fresh options – green bonds, land value capture, and even crowdfunding. On the technology front, the drive to adopt digital twins, artificial intelligence, and smart infrastructure promises to make cities more responsive and adaptive. Johannesburg, for example, has started piloting AI-powered traffic management systems that reduce congestion and improve emergency response, providing a glimpse of what’s possible.
Climate change and sustainability shape the fourth priority. After the devastating KwaZulu-Natal floods, Hlabisa stressed that every municipality must integrate climate resilience into its planning by 2026. Urban green infrastructure – ranging from parks to permeable paving – will become as vital as traditional roads and utilities. The focus is on practical adaptation, not just theory.
Finally, strengthening local government capacity rounds out the agenda. Through targeted initiatives like the Intermediate City Municipalities Programme and the Small-Town Regeneration Initiative, the IUDF aims to build skills, share expertise, and ensure that even the country’s smallest towns receive the support they need to grow strong and sustainable.
South Africa’s urban journey does not unfold in isolation. As the country prepares to engage with global urban events such as U20 and WUF13, Hlabisa emphasized the need to align local efforts with international frameworks. The IUDF must fit seamlessly with the National Spatial Development Framework and the National Development Plan 2030, while also advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – especially SDG 11, which calls for inclusive, safe, and resilient cities.
Urban diplomacy, for Hlabisa, is both about sharing South African innovations and learning from others. The nation’s cities stand at the intersection of local priorities and global aspirations, and the Minister called for stronger participation in shaping the international urban agenda.
Leadership, in Hlabisa’s view, is the true engine of transformation. The new [Intergovernmental Urban Leadership Forum ](https://capetown.today/building-urban-resilience-through-brics-cooperation/)will ensure that urban issues remain a top national priority. By producing annual progress reports and making data public, the government aims to keep leaders accountable and restore trust between city officials and citizens.
Cities are more than infrastructure – they are living stories. As Minister Hlabisa concluded, neighborhoods like Maboneng in Johannesburg and dynamic Cape Town townships illustrate how creativity, resilience, and hope can transform once-neglected spaces. These local narratives, marked by both hardship and aspiration, are the raw material from which South Africa’s urban future will be built.
Hlabisa challenged all stakeholders to move beyond talk and take action: align projects with the IUDF, invest in people as much as in physical infrastructure, and empower communities to lead their own transformation. As delegates left the forum, the path ahead was clear – South Africa’s cities, shaped by collective effort and renewed vision, are ready to write their next chapter.
Minister Hlabisa’s plan aims to build South African cities that are inclusive, sustainable, and resilient by 2030. The focus is on creating urban environments where everyone – especially marginalized groups – can live safely, access opportunities, and enjoy dignity. This is achieved through five key pillars: coordinated governance, community participation, innovative financing and technology, climate resilience, and strengthening local government capacity.
The IUDF, adopted in 2016, provides the strategic roadmap for inclusive urban transformation. It addresses historical spatial inequalities and promotes integrated, resilient urban growth. Over nearly a decade, the IUDF has encouraged experimentation with new spatial planning approaches, financial tools, and partnerships between public, private, and community sectors. Minister Hlabisa views it as the foundation for turning policy into real, on-the-ground improvements.
Despite progress, several obstacles remain:
– Fragmentation and lack of coordination among municipal departments.
– Limited financial and technical resources, especially in smaller towns.
– Bureaucratic delays that hinder project implementation.
– Inconsistent delivery of essential services to residents.
– Difficulties in tracking and transparently reporting progress.
Minister Hlabisa acknowledges these challenges and stresses the need for stronger support systems, better monitoring, and accountability mechanisms.
South African cities are beginning to leverage emerging technologies to create smarter, more adaptive urban environments. For example, Johannesburg is piloting AI-powered traffic management systems to reduce congestion and enhance emergency responses. Other innovations include digital twins (virtual city models) and smart infrastructure that allow for real-time data collection and more efficient city services. These technologies help cities respond dynamically to residents’ needs while optimizing resource use.
Minister Hlabisa emphasizes active participation in global urban forums such as the United Nations’ Habitat conferences, the U20, and the World Urban Forum (WUF13). South Africa seeks to both share its experiences and learn from international best practices. Aligning local urban strategies with global frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDG 11 on sustainable cities) strengthens the country’s efforts and supports urban diplomacy, fostering collaboration that benefits cities worldwide.
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