Translating the Planning Lexicon: a Systematic Review towards Localised Planning Glossaries in South Africa

Lategan, Louis (2025) Translating the Planning Lexicon: a Systematic Review towards Localised Planning Glossaries in South Africa. URBAN INNOVATION: TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO CITIES HAVE GONE BEFORE. Medium sized cities and towns as a major arena of global urbanisation. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2025, 30th Intl. Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 925-935. ISSN 2521-3938

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Abstract

Planning theory has evolved towards a Post-collaborative agenda of non-tokenistic participation and reverence for perspectives from the Global South. Yet, practical implementation is complex and often falls short of participatory ideals in highly diverse and unequal contexts, such as South Africa, where formal land use management systems confront traditional leadership and customary practices in impoverished rural areas. To gain a deeper understanding and identify potential good practice examples, this paper engages with the international planning lexicons that shape participatory discourse, specifically examining whether, and to what degree, scholarly outputs, practical plans, and related documents evidence a shift towards more Post-collaborative and co-productive practices. A systematic literature review of academic and grey sources from 2000 to 2024 is conducted. From 664 potential publications, a final sample of 101 (15.22%) sources is reviewed and subjected to bibliographic and qualitative analyses to extract key themes. As an exploratory study, preliminary findings indicate that publications from the Global North continue to dominate. Scholarship maintains support for planning frameworks that more effectively engage with local conditions and incorporate indigenous knowledge, but limited practical guidance is provided. The tone of official planning documents, including their glossaries and explanatory definitions, continues to target a professional and well-educated audience through technical planning language. A small number provide direct linguistic translations, but most fail to support further understanding with contextualised discussions or examples. Locally informed planning glossaries, as participatory tools, may thus be relatively novel. Notwithstanding limited good practice examples, there is significant potential for South Africa to develop context-specific planning glossaries that enhance communication between planners and communities. To this end, this paper draws conclusions and makes related recommendations, including an example for a more localised South African planning glossary.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Planning Glossary, South Africa, Public participation, Systematic review, Planning Lexicon
Subjects:	T Technology > T Technology (General) T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Depositing User:	The CORP Team
Date Deposited:	26 May 2025 15:11
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2025 10:07
URI:	http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/1259

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