Abstract
Amidst the global discourse on the identification of strategic land, there has been a
growth in planning support systems aimed at assisting policymakers in unlocking the
value of strategic land. Despite planning support systems’ immense benefit of aiding
planning, there are limited planning support tools to aid communities in marginalised
areas to unlock the value of land. Therefore, this study adopts a GIS-based approach
to develop a planning support system to identify, quantify and visualise an index for
urban agricultural land in a marginalised area. The proposed solution utilised Greater
Orange farm, a marginalised area in the City of Johannesburg, as a case study to
inform spatial planning for emerging economies. Using the Charrette visioning
process, indigenous knowledge systems were incorporated in formulating the criteria,
weights, and rulesets. The results reveal spatial sites ranked through an index where
sustainable investment in urban agriculture infrastructure should be targeted. The
developed index identifies suitable locations for urban agriculture infrastructure and
supporting programs. Furthermore, the solution builds from the existing reservoir of
planning support systems in Southern Africa by demonstrating the potential for
planning support systems as sustainable data-based decision-making tools to inform
spatial planning. Lessons emerging from this study are that there is an inseparable
existential connection between indigenous knowledge systems and contemporary
sustainability planning, which is critical for ensuring sustainable development.
Key words: planning support system; urban agriculture; marginalised area;
sustainable; emerging economies; Johannesburg.