Enabling Rural Communities Through Spatial Technology
“An innovative way of making spatial data available and accessible to communities for more informed decision-making mechanisms in sustainable planning for land administration.”
Executive Summary
The contents of this Post-Event Summary Report, relate to the consultative conference on the National Spatial Planning Data Repository (NSPDR) Ecosystem project – an official event of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management branch, within the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) – which took place at the Emperors Palace Hotel and Casino’s Conference Centre in Johannesburg, on Thursday, 23 November 2017.
The aim of the consultative conference was to provide a platform for national, provincial and regional/municipal policy-makers, administrators, practitioners and other related stakeholders to share their experiences, exchange ideas and most importantly of all, to hear about the new NSPDR Ecosystem and its wider benefits within the context of our theme “Enabling Rural Communities Through Spatial Technologies” that can further enhance their spatial planning development within the public sector.
The event was formally chaired by Mr Rajesh Makan, and officially opened by the A/DDG Mr Clinton Heiman. The conference then got underway with a selection of keynote speakers presenting on a multifaceted range of concepts. These were then followed by a panel discussion which took the form of an open and interactive Q&A session. After lunch the event then moved into its main focus point, which was the live demonstration of the NSPDR Ecosystem.
The workshop was broadly considered to be a success based on our preliminary objectives. It was attended by 114 delegates and participants, who’s combined inputs contributed to the depth of engagement. An attendance breakdown is included in this report; where some initial analysis has been undertaken on the attendance’s demographic – for example, there’s a split of 91 government officials to 23 corporate professionals and related stakeholders in the audience.
Community Feedback
“I’m looking forward to the NSPDR ecosystem going live; seeing that it will be a useful and progressive tool for planning, and assist us with efficiency at a municipal level.”
— Busisiwe Sibiya
West Rand District Municipality
From the DRDLR’s Instagram profile
The National Spatial Planning Data Repository (NSPDR) conference gets underway at Emperors Palace Hotel and Casino in Johannesburg, on 23 November 2017.
- The NSPDR ecosystem was setup to address challenges related to the availability of information for sustainable spatial planning.
- It aims to develop technical tools and systems to assist municipalities with spatial planning.
- This is in line with the NDP spatial planning imperatives of integrated planning approach.
- The NDP spatial planning advocate for ensuring harmony between environmental, social and economic factors on a given geographic space.
