PLANNING
First State of the Planning
Profession
report released
Nontsundu Ndonga SACPLAN
Nontsundu Ndonga, Registrar of SACPLAN
The South African Council for Planners( SACPLAN) has released its first State of the Planning Profession Report, the first comprehensive assessment of urban and regional planning in South Africa since the advent of democracy.
Industry transformation goals remain unmet
Despite its changing demographic profile, the profession has yet to achieve its inclusivity, youth pathways, and gender equity goals. The report describes the pipeline of new planners as fragile.
Artificial intelligence, digital disruption, and climate change are also reshaping what is expected of planners just as the profession works hard to stabilise its foundations.
Five shifts needed
The report sets out five industry priorities for change:
• Stronger advocacy for the value of planning;
• streamlined planning processes and legislation;
• transformed planning education with a stronger focus on GIS, statutory skills, and climate adaptation;
• closer collaboration among planners, municipalities, and communities; and
• properly staffed and sustainably funded municipal planning units.
A shared responsibility
The report frames the road ahead as a shared responsibility for SACPLAN, government, planning schools, voluntary associations, and planners.
Commissioned by SACPLAN, the statutory regulator under the Planning Profession Act, 2002, it draws on surveys, interviews, case studies, and workshops with graduates to senior practitioners, municipalities, firms, educators, and professional associations.
Growth, but under strain
The number of active planners in South Africa has grown from 414 in 1985 to 5 314 in 2025, with 7 284 planners currently on the SACPLAN database.
The profession has also transformed, with black practitioners now accounting for 65 % of active planners, up from only one black planner in 1985.
However, municipal planning departments remain understaffed and under-resourced in many cases, while the sector carries the highest number of vacancies across government. Before 2000, planning graduates typically found work within six months. Between 2021 and 2024, only around 60 % did so within the same sixmonth period.
Surveyed planners also cited political interference, weak institutional capacity, and limited job opportunities as continuing barriers.
Planning capacity shapes how efficiently every other part of the industry can deliver.
For a built environment sector already facing capacity constraints, the findings show that planning capacity shapes how efficiently every other part of the industry can deliver.
Intended as a foundation for action, the pioneering report calls on the broader built environment sector to make use of it as an important reference tool for change.
Download the full report here.
54 spring 2026 | www. tobuild. co. za