In South Africa, urban planning is influenced by western-centric and colonial planning, including social housing, building technologies, architectural form, master plans, zoning, and land tenure systems.
The colonial and apartheid planning policies and practices from the 1930s gave European settlers the sole rights to live, work and be educated in urban areas, where they had complete freedom of movement. On the other hand, the presence of African people in urban settlements was strictly controlled through pass laws, spatial segregation, and systems of land tenure that restricted them from living in towns and cities.
