Regional development policy and its impact on regional planning practice in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This paper traces regional development policy in Zimbabwe in a historical perspective from the colonial to the post‐colonial era, and evaluates its impact on regional planning practice. It is argued that regional planning practice is the interpretation and application of the regional policy framework to the solution of the problems of regional development within the confines of a national economy.

In Zimbabwe, there has been a contradiction between the territorial regional development policy espoused by politicians’ rhetoric and regional planning practice, which has continued to be functional in both substance and method in the post‐colonial era. Despite a shift to a socialist orientation by government, functional rather than territorial initiatives have remained the operative frameworks for economic development. To avoid this contradiction, there is need to correctly conceptualize the relationship between the central delivery system and regional development policy and planning practice in Zimbabwe.

Notes

Christopher Rambanapasi is a lecturer in planning theory and regional planning in the Department of Rural and Urban Planning at the University of Zimbabwe. He has co‐edited a book on planning practice in Zimbabwe, and has had papers accepted for publication in Third World Planning Review, Planning Outlook, Local Government Studies and Social Epistemology.