Abstract
Land use management (LUM) regulates and governs land use to ensure suitable development of the built environment. Property development is important for the economy of countries and cities as it supplies residential and business needs, provides jobs and stimulates several industries. The study identified the causes of challenges facing LUM processes in the City of Johannesburg (COJ), and possible interventions to alleviate the challenges. Key to this study was understanding the role of LUM in facilitating property development and determining the reasons for delays in the land use approval process. This study evaluated the effect LUM has in facilitating property development in the COJ and assessed the application process. Furthermore, it determined the role of the public and private sectors in the process, investigated challenges and their impacts and made recommendations to improve the process. Qualitative research design and an interpretative paradigm were applied to understand LUM processes. Literature was studied, documents were analysed, and purposively sampled respondents were interviewed to gather data, which was analysed thematically. Suboptimal stakeholder management and insufficient communication by both public and private sector stakeholders cause delays in LUM applications, as do incompetent consultants/developers, lack of alignment of applications with policy, and incomplete applications. Moreover, applications are done in series instead of parallel, stakeholders are bent on profiteering, interacting with city officials is fraught with problems, online submission systems are dysfunctional, and public objections and specialist studies cause delays. The study recommends that collaboration between the COJ and the private sector must be explored, the process streamlined, by-laws simplified, and staff trained. Developers must be encouraged to avoid submitting incomplete applications.
Keywords: Land Use management, Property Development, City of Johannesburg, Application Process, Public Sector , Private Sector.