Todes, AlisonOdendaal, NancyCameron, Jenny2012-07-092012-07-092004-10Urban Forum, Vol. 15, No. 4, October-December 2004.http://hdl.handle.net/10539/11646There is growing interest in integrated area development projects as a way of responding to special problem areas, including ameliorating the geographic concentration of social and economic disadvantage. This is expressed through the move towards ‘joined up’ government and development ‘in the round’ at the local level; and new forms of area-based initiatives aimed at neighbourhood renewal and urban economic development. The growing influence of sustainability concepts and developmental approaches to housing and urban development is also leading to multi-faceted projects that incorporate economic, social and environmental dimensions. In the South African context, the interest in integrated area development manifests in the major urban renewal projects that are presently being mounted, and reflects a search for ways of achieving integrated development that are more grounded than the grand scale planning associated with Integrated Development Plans and Spatial Development Frameworks.enDevelopment projects, planning, innovation and sustainability.Article