Zimbabwean Urban Planners and Their Role in Urban Food

Planners manage the built environment and settlements. The profession envisions the form of urban areas and are responsible for the different land use mixes and the facilities available for residents to use. They also impose rules that determine the uses that are permitted in a locality. At the site level, urban planners determine the buildings that may be built and the extent of development permitted. So, planning determines what use is where and the detail of development. It also directs and dictates what uses are compatible with each other and can be situated next to each other. This is an important lens through which to assess the country’s compliance with provisions of global urban development objectives as set out in the New Urban Agenda (NUA). In Zimbabwe, the urban planning profession is very well-developed and strictly regulated. It borrows heavily from Britain, the former colonial authority. Examining the views of professionals that oversee this profession, the Urban Planners, is therefore, very useful in understanding their actions and in empowering society to meaningfully engage them. This chapter examines the views of Zimbabwean planners on their role in urban food systems. The questions that the chapter sought to answer include: Do Zimbabwean planners think it is part of their mandate to plan for food? What role do they think they should be playing? Who else do they think should be planning and managing food? Do they see themselves as contributing towards the achievement of urban food security? Various research methods were used to collect data including interviews with key informants. A desk survey of the existing planning tools, such as master and local plans, was also undertaken. The author also attended an annual gathering of Zimbabwean urban planners and listened to and analysed discussions during the conference to assess their views. An examination of decisions that have impacted on food systems in the past and the role of planners in these decisions was also used to gain an understanding of the planners.