Imagine Durban: Imagining tomorrow, today

Imagine Durban is a council-led project on integrated, long-term planning. It is being implemented in conjunction with Sustainable Cities, an NGO from Vancouver, Canada and the PLUS Network (a network of 35 cities sharing experiences in sustainability planning) who have received funding from the Canadian International Development Agency to support the project.

Imagine Durban is a process that will start with mobilizing each of us (from government to non-government, civil society organizations, faith based groups, tertiary institutions, business organizations and ordinary folk) to imagine where we want to be in the future. It is also about realizing that the choices we make today will affect our children and grandchildren tomorrow. So if we are committed to handing down a safe, healthy and prosperous world to future generations, we need to make the right decisions today. Of course the best way to make the right choice is to make an informed choice, and this is where the ideas and the knowledge of the people of Durban come in.

While Imagine Durban is about capturing the imagination of the people, it must also be about taking action, as there is no point in daydreaming if this does not result in positive change. To that end, the team at Imagine Durban will be working hard to take the ideas of the people and turn them into action.

This will be accomplished with the help of municipal staff, representatives from the private sector, academia, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, and a variety of people from civil society. These actors will come together in a series of theme workshops that will take the ideas of the people and turn them into goals, targets, strategies and programs. Turning imagination into action! Imagine Durban will also be hosting regular Open Forum discussions on some of the key themes to provide ordinary people with an opportunity to enter into debate and discussion about solutions to some of Durban’s challenges.

It is envisioned that, arising from Imagine Durban, will emerge a clear and tangible Charter that will guide all our actions. More than a set of principles, the Charter will be the driver of change for the municipality to ensure that all its plans are now aligned with the spirit and goals of Imagine Durban. Similarly captains of industry and leaders from academia and civil society organizations will have to ensure that their programmes are in concert with the Charter. Additionally, the average citizen will have a role to play too: the opportunity to get informed, get involved, and to live in a way that does not inhibit the ability of future generations to also enjoy a high quality of life.

For more information, please visit www.imaginedurban.com and think about all of the ways that we can build a better city, a better country, and a better world for tomorrow.

Just Imagine!