For South Africa’s townships and inner cities, infrastructure and zoning can create value, but regeneration also raises questions about who benefits.
South Africa’s spatial planning history has suppressed property values in township and peri-urban areas for generations through deliberate separation from economic activity, poor infrastructure provision and constrained development rights.
Addressing this legacy through proactive spatial planning is both a moral and an economic imperative, said DNA Land Use Consultants (Pty) Ltd.
The engineering services company said property values are shaped by more than location and market demand.
Behind every property price is a set of planning decisions, some made decades ago and others still being made today.
These decisions determine what can be built nearby, how infrastructure is allocated and whether a neighbourhood is positioned to grow or stagnate.
Spatial planning is therefore one of the most powerful, if least understood, drivers of property value.
A property's zoning directly determines its development potential and therefore its value. A rezoning from residential to mixed-use or commercial can increase a property's value significantly. Conversely, restrictive zoning that limits density or use can cap the value a property achieves.
Infrastructure can have a similar effect.
Where bulk infrastructure is extended, including new roads, water, sewerage and public transport, property values in surrounding areas typically rise. Infrastructure can signal accessibility and future growth potential; its absence can signal the opposite.
Spatial Development Frameworks indicate where municipalities intend to direct growth. Properties in designated development corridors and nodes can benefit from the signal that municipal planning intent sends to the market, while properties outside these areas can face a harder path to approval and lower investor confidence.
Mixed-use, walkable neighbourhoods with activated street frontages can also create stronger conditions for property value growth than mono-functional, car-dependent areas.
The implication is important for both investors and municipalities: planning does not simply respond to property markets. It can help shape them.
The company said developers who understand spatial planning can make better investment decisions, while municipalities that understand the relationship between planning and value can use planning tools to stimulate investment in areas that need it most.
But creating property value raises another question: who ultimately benefits from it?
Lesley Mashiri, a Precinct Governance & African Urban Regeneration strategist, said this week regeneration is not only about creating value but also about deciding who gets to keep it.
He was reflecting on a discussion on Community Land Trusts, affordable housing, land value and urban regeneration.
The discussion, he said, was also about land governance, neighbourhood stewardship and the long-term distribution of value.
“That matters enormously for Johannesburg. We have abandoned and underused inner-city buildings. We have a need for affordable housing. We have public and private investment flowing into precincts. And we have an ongoing challenge of ensuring that regeneration improves neighbourhoods without simply pricing existing communities out of them.”
Mashiri asked whether Community Land Trusts, working alongside municipalities, housing institutions, communities and CID/precinct structures, could help bring underused inner-city property back into productive use while protecting long-term affordability.
That shifts the land-value debate from simply asking how value can be created and captured to asking who controls it, who benefits and who can still afford to remain in a neighbourhood as it changes.
“I would be interested to hear from others working in housing, planning, property and urban management: Could a CLT model work in Johannesburg's inner city? What would need to change institutionally to make it viable?”
Infrastructure is another part of that equation.
Michelle Bartlett-Harris, a Property Finance Specialist, said new roads, schools, shopping centres and transport upgrades can significantly influence property demand and long-term value growth.
“Investing in areas with planned infrastructure improvements may enhance future resale potential. Due diligence into municipal development plans strengthens strategic decisions.”
For property investors, the lesson is straightforward: the future value of a property may depend as much on what a municipality plans to do around it as on the building itself.
And for South Africa's historically underserved areas, that makes spatial planning more than a technical exercise.
It is also a question of where economic opportunity is allowed to grow, and who gets to share in the value that growth creates.