Urban and Regional Planning in Post-independence Mozambique.

As a broad overview of urban and regional planning in post-independence Mozambique, the paper inevitably touches on a number of issues that requite much more elaboration than can be attempted here. The civil war, which must be both the starting point and the backdrop to the subsequent analysis, is just the first of these; for its complexities are manifold. The Instituto Nacional de Plane ent Fisico or National Institute of Physical Planning (INPF) is the coordinating body for territorially based planning. It was lot actually established until 1983, some eight years after Mozambican independence. Since then the impact of the war, specifically the loss of state control over large swathes of territory, as referred to above, has limited the scope for planning in rural areas and for regional planning in general. However, in practice, its role has principally, remained that of an advisory body to other institutions and its impact has depended very much on individual contacts and collaboration. Moreover, many of the provincial offices have become increasingly ineffective through the lack of financial and technical support.