Urban and Rural Planning in South Africa: Time for Integration?

Framed within the normative planning approach, this article argues that cultural planning is relevant to post-agricultural, cultural tourism and the needs of the people as it presents a viable framework for addressing the social, local economic development and physical problems, particularly of small towns and rural areas in South Africa. This article adopted storytelling as a valuable methodological approach; it is exploratory; hence the fulcrum of the argument is that a cultural planning approach should be integrated into the national Integrated Development Plan (IDP) guidelines and spatial planning practices in order to ensure that it informs the municipal Integrated Development Plans and tourism industry. The analysis was through a combination of storytelling and the available content stages. Hence, the paper proposes that cultural planning, as an innovative planning approach, is a timely idea in South Africa, as it will land potency to the bid to integrate Group Areas Act planning to urban and rural planning.