ABSTRACT
The climate has vacillated since the formation of the planet millions of years ago; spatial planning has been practised virtually since the dawn of civilisation as exemplified, for example, by the familiar grid pattern adopted by ancient Egyptians to house workers at the pyramids in the third millennium Be. But it is only relatively recently that the planning prof Ession has begun giving thought to the varied challenges posed by climate change. This is largely because of the realisation that phenomena such as global warming, sea-level rise and increasing natural disasters have been exacerbated by human factors, particularly those brought about by the advent of the industrial revolution during the nineteenth century. This chapter examines how climate change considerations can be incorporated into planning instruments such as future spatial development, zoning, subdivision and environmental assessment with a view to reducing the overall carbon footprint in a typical African city. It does so against the backdrop of the South African planning law system generally, using the City of Cape Town metropole as a case study.
