The Housing Dialogue: Session 1: Residential Estates & Suburbs
Panel Discussion
June 18, 2026
Start: 15:00:00
End: 16:30:00
Estates are more than security and aesthetics; they reflect a deliberate design intent, architectural theory, and planning philosophy. Neighbourhoods, in turn, reveal something equally valuable: the real, unscripted needs of communities, and the power of leftover spaces to become places of meaningful encounter.
Speaker Bios:
Erky Wood
Urban Praxis
MEP (Urban Design) (Wits) BSc TRP (Wits) TRP (SA) MSAITRP UDISA
Erky is an urbanist, specialising in urban design and urban development processes since 1973, and a pioneer of the urban design discipline in South Africa.
He recently retired from GAPP Architects & Urban Designers and now consults as Urban Praxis. He is well-known for his expertise reflected in the V&A Waterfront project in Cape Town; the FNB’s BankCity headquarters project in Johannesburg; winning the Newtown Urban Design Ideas Competition in Johannesburg; and Mandela Square in Sandton.
Throughout, he has been involved in policy work guiding the post-apartheid South African city and co-authored the Johannesburg Metropolitan Interim Strategic Framework in the lead-up to democracy in 1994. This work culminated in preparing the Gauteng Spatial Development Framework for 30 million people.
His community housing work includes the Winterveldt and Mabopane upgrading and housing programmes; a farm laborers’ village at Coromandel; an IBM Projects Fund upgrade in Soweto; and a workers’ village in Wadeville. He was an adjudicator on an international panel judging the Housing Generator international competition run by the Netherlands Institute of Architects in Rotterdam.
He continues to direct the design, implementation and design review of Durban’s prestigious La Lucia Ridge Office Estate, and the adjacent Umhlanga Ridge Town Centre, a vertically integrated, complex, mixed-use activity node undertaken in a greenfields context.
In 2017 Erky was honoured by the Urban Design Institute of South Africa (UDISA) for his contribution to the discipline and delivered the third Roelof Uytenbogaardt Memorial Lecture. This lecture was presented in the Witwatersrand University Planetarium, projected against the night sky.
He remains passionate about cities and contributing to urban community. He now gives more time to urban consulting, lecturing, mentoring and writing, and continues to take city-building theory and principles into place-making practice
What can we learn from both, and how can urban design bring these lessons together?
Our panelists will debate this, unpacking how estate living and neighborhood design each hold vital clues for building cities that are more inclusive, resilient, and responsive to all who inhabit them.
Join us for the first session, focusing on suburban neighbourhoods and urban planning affecting cities today.
Donette Werkman: PrArch
Donette Werkman is a Professional Architect with more than twenty years of experience in residential architecture, building compliance, and municipal approvals. She is the founder of We Do House Plans, a Pretoria-based architectural practice specialising in residential design, plan formalisation, and making architectural services more accessible to everyday South Africans. She currently serves as President of the Pretoria Institute for Architecture (PIA) and as a Board Member of the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA), where she advocates for the role of architects as leaders, custodians, and changemakers within society.
Donette is passionate about expanding access to architecture beyond those who can traditionally afford the services of an architect. She believes that good architecture should not be reserved for a privileged few, but should be available to all South Africans, regardless of circumstance. Her work is driven by a conviction that architects have a unique responsibility and opportunity to improve lives, strengthen communities, and contribute meaningfully to the future of the country.
At the heart of her philosophy is a belief in the healing power of architecture. She sees architects not merely as designers of buildings, but as agents of positive change who have the ability to shape healthier neighbourhoods, more connected communities, and more sustainable environments. Through thoughtful design, responsible stewardship, and collaborative engagement, she believes architecture can help repair divisions, foster dignity, and create places where both people and nature can thrive. Donette believes that the architect’s greatest project is not the building itself, but the positive impact that building has on people, communities, and the environment long after construction is complete. In this workshop, she explores the story of walls in Pretoria’s suburbs and what they reveal about security, belonging, Ubuntu, and the future of South African neighbourhoods
Kevin Lloyd
My experience encompasses work in and on estate urban design, guideline establishment, architectural advice and monitoring and full service house projects for over 32 years.
My portfolio comprises over 80 houses in more than 22 estates throughout South Africa. Travel, combined with visits and interviews for ARC and HOA at Sea Ranch in California, 2 estates in Chile and an estate in Brisbane, Australia. Papers delivered on the SAIA Platform and SAIA KZN on architectural dialogues, guest editor on estate architecture to KZNIA journal
Members: Free
Non-Members Cost: R150 admin fee payable on request of CPD certificate
CPD Value: CAT 1- 0,2 credits
