The Genealogy of South Africa's Integrated Development Plan

Abstract

The centrepiece of planning in post-apartheid South Africa is the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which is intended to provide strategic guidance to newly constructed municipalities, and to link and coordinate the many different sectoral plans and planning processes. The IDP was introduced by legislation in 1996 but it has multiple and diverse origins, and is the product of both international trends and influences and the specific South African context. In terms of practical outcome, the first round of IDPs has been disappointing, but integrated development planning should be understood as an incremental learning process.