The Gauteng Department of Economic Development has recently released the Gauteng Planning and Development Bill and Regulations for comments. This bill is set to replace the old act with the same title of 2003, which was never enacted, due to the Regulations not being promulgated. This act will change the face of town planning procedures in Gauteng for ever, due to the fact that it will consolidate a wide range of development applications into a single process. It will in some respects also make development processes easier.

For the last few years CityScope town planners has been involved with the creation of safe houses for abandoned babies. The AFM Executive Welfare Council is probably the pioneer in the provision of shelters for the most vulnerable of our communities, the babies that are the victims of unfortunate circumstances. CityScope has been working with the AFM EWC in procuring the necessary land-use rights for these institutions country wide on either reduced professional fees or in certain cases even on a Pro Deo basis.

CityScope town planners is supporting all efforts to be environmentally responsible citizens, but it means little if you do not put words to deeds.

For one, the firm has recently embraced the information technology by decentralising the office. This enables staff to work from any preferred location, without the necessity of attending office every day. In order to maintain contact with each other, a centralised computer network was established and all remote locations are connected via broad band to the complete database on the server. Day to day communication takes place via Skype or video conferencing. This arrangement does not only result in staff spending on average an hour per day more productive, but travelling by private vehicles was reduced by almost 50%.