Planning Laws For Urban And Regional Planning In Zimbabwe: A Review

There exists a wide variety of laws (statutes) which underpin the activities of regional and urban planning. These forms of planning are part of public planning which is primarily carried out by the state and its agencies (e.g. parastatals). Public planning is a state activity which represents intervention in economic, social and political activities to achieve a set or sets of goals. The nature of public planning is influenced by the prevailing state ideology, where in capitalist economies it will be relatively limited given the central role given to market forces in the management of the economy, whereas in socialist systems planning assumes a central role as the state controls and manages the major means of production. In most developing countries the state assumes a central role, not necessarily because of socialist ideology, but because of the overriding desire to develop, which requires massive physical and social infrastructure investments.

A RUP Occasional Paper.