Past Events
Land Value Capture Dialogue 2023
The National Land Value Capture Dialogue was hosted on 1 November 2023 by the National Land Value Capture Programme. The Dialogue brought together more than fifty urban practitioners from government, civil society, the built environment sector, the private sector, academia, and development organisations. It sought to reflect on the first four years of the programme, critically engage with the concept of land value capture (LVC) as it applies to South African cities, and look towards the future of LVC and the next four years of the LVC programme. The summary report distills the key themes that emerged during the Dialogue.
Land Value Capture Webinar Series for Metro Officials
The National Land Value Capture Programme, with notable support and involvement from both the Cities Support Programme and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy has launched the LVC Webinar Series for South African Metro officials. The primary objective of the Webinar series is to improve understanding of the Land Value Capture concept and the different contexts in which the LVC concept is applicable in order to ensure that the application across metros in South Africa relevant and effective. The target audience for the webinar series is metro officials across the country. The intent is to promote peer-to-peer learning across the metros and in doing so building a community of practice amongst government officials at the level of practical implementation of Land Value Capture mechanisms. The webinar series commenced in August 2021 and will continue into 2024.
Webinar 6: How Legal Interpretation Hinders or Helps Land Value Capture
The sixth webinar of the National Land Value Capture Webinar Series was hosted on 29th of June 2023. The invited speaker of the webinar was Astrid Haas, an independent urban economist, who presented on her experiences from Africa and beyond. This webinar expanded the usual South African focus to lessons from cities in Jordan, Egypt, and Uganda. The presentation reflected on the link between the law and LVC implementation, and while some clear linkages exist, it became clear that legal frameworks are not the be all and end all. While an enabling legislative and policy environment is important for LVC, having one does not guarantee effective implementation. An interesting reflection was that implementation can happen in novel ways outside of formal norms and standards, if applicable to the local context.
Webinar 5: Using Data to Understand Urban Value and Inform Planning
The fifth webinar of the National Land Value Capture Webinar Series was hosted on the 22nd of February 2023. The City of Johannesburg senior spatial planner, Dylan Weakley, shared their experiences using administrative datasets to analyse, measure and understand the urban value and urban development trends to inform spatial planning. This was followed by a facilitated expert panel discussion and input from metro participants. Some of the thought-provoking inputs and questions from the webinar related to spatial & social justice, ‘one-city one tax-base’, and spatial cross-subsidisation.
Webinar 4: Precinct-based planning & value creation
The fourth webinar for metro officials was hosted on the 11th of May 2022 and considered the principles and approaches employed by local government spatial planning teams to stimulate urban regeneration, spatial transformation, and value creation. The session began with a detailed and thought-provoking input from officials from Cape Town on their experiences and lessons learnt in planning and implementing the Parow Prioritised Local Area. This initiated a conversation between the different metros in the room, particularly on value creation- the various means and unintended consequences- and the preconditions for value capture.
Webinar 3: Transit-Orientated Development & LVC
The third webinar for metro officials was hosted on the 1st of December 2021 and sought to unpack some of the local experiences in conceptualizing Transit Orientated Development (TOD) plans and strategies. The session began with a thought-provoking input from officials from Johannesburg on their experiences of implementing TOD. This initiated a conversation around the experiences of other metros, as well as shared challenges and blockages faced. Later the focus of the discussion shifted to existing and future opportunities to embed LVC tools in TOD plans as a way to potentially address some of the blockages faced at municipal level.
Webinar 2: Unpacking LVC Tools and their Applications
The second webinar was hosted on 15 September 2021 and was well attended. LVC expert David Amborski, from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy & Ryerson University, led the session with a presentation and training of Land Value Capture tools and the different contexts in which the tools are applicable. Important and South African specific commentary was delivered by Willard Matiashe, which spurred on further local discussion.
Webinar 1: Positioning Land Value Capture in South Africa- Leveraging land value to drive Spatial Justice
The webinar series was launched on 12 August 2021 with this introductory webinar. Notably, officials from all eight metros were present, as well as representatives from National Treasury, the CSP and a host of local and international LVC experts. Samantha Naidu from the CSP framed the relevance of LVC in South Africa highlighting how the LVC concept intersects with spatial transformation and the municipal fiscal sustainability agenda. Thereafter the project team facilitated an interactive presentation on Land Value Capture concepts and this became the basis for an engaging plenary discussion.
Public Land Leasing Workshop
As part of an initiative to improve the municipal fiscal health, attention is increasingly focused on how best cities can make better use of public assets i.e., existing underutilised public land buildings. A significant proportion of current public land holdings is underutilized, and these assets need to be “unlocked” to generate income and/or promote social and spatial equity. On the 7th of April 2022, the LVC programme held a workshop focused on improving knowledge and understanding of current practices and common approaches concerning the leasing of public land by South African local government authorities. The rationale behind public land leasing is that value capture is realized through public control of land use designation, manner and timing of the lease and the price paid to secure the long-term lease agreement.
International Roundtable: Knowledge Sharing on Inclusionary Zoning as a Spatial Planning tool in India & South Africa
The CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), India supported by GIZ India, and, the Development Action Group (DAG), South Africa in association with the City Support Programme in the National Treasury and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, hosted an International Round Table aimed to facilitate peer learning based on the experiences of Inclusionary Housing / Inclusionary Zoning in cities of the global south: Ahmedabad, India, and Cape Town, South Africa.
With the concept of Inclusionary Housing originating in the United States in the 1970s, most of the available literature focuses on experiences from the Global North, particularly United States and England. However, similar policies have also been successfully implemented in several cities in the Global South. The 2-hour International Round Table drew on experiences of the Inclusionary Zoning Regulations in Ahmedabad, India and Inclusionary Housing in Cape Town, South Africa and deliberated on successes and failures in various cities in India and South Africa, key learnings, practice, outputs, outcomes and its integration with local planning. The Roundtable took place virtually on September 3rd.
National Dialogue Series on Land Value Capture
The Development Action Group, in partnership with the Cities Support Programme and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy hosted the launch of the National Dialogue Series on Land Value Capture. The aim of this National Dialogue Series is to structure, hold and facilitate a very strategic high-level conversation focused on LVC related issues and concerns at a national level. The National Dialogue is an integral part of building a national community of practice and includes officials, academics, consultant professionals and activists. The first Dialogue took place virtually on June 28th at 14:30 – 17:00.
