COMMENTARY

 

2020 Stals Prize winner

 

 

The South African Academy for Science and Arts¹ recently awarded the 2020 Stals Prize for Town and Regional Planning to Prof. J.J. (Das) Steýn, Emeritus Professor of the Department of Town and Regional Planning,²University of the Free State. This award is based on, among other things, his numerous publications in Afrikaans and the important role he played in the planning profession in South Africa.

 

 

He obtained a B Arch (1972) and the MSS (1978) from the University of the Orange Free State (UOFS), and a M Arch in Urban Design (1979) from Toronto University. He did reseach for his PhD (1989 UOFS) in The Netherlands under Prof. H.M. Goudappe, and completed his study under the supervision of Professor Wallace van Zyl.

He combined Goudappel's concept of urbanistics with Christian philosophy in an attempt to indicate what happens on various fronts of Town and Regional Planning and how planning theory links practice, theory and the underlying values systems. This runs like a golden thread through his academic work.

As editor of this Journal for the past 21 years, Prof. Das Steýn has focused on planning issues through well-founded headlines. The Journal has grown to such an extent that it is listed on the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, as well as the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and are read in over 60 countries.

The editorial staff wish to congratulate Prof. Steýn on being awarded this prestigious Stals Prize.

Prof. M.M. Campbell

Editor

 

 

1 The Academy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suid-Afrikaanse_Akademie_vir_Wetenskap_en_Kuns) was founded on 2 July 1909 and has, over the years, regularly granted prestigious prices. Since 1947, neatly 150 Stals prizes have been granted, of which 15 to staff associated with the University of the Free State. This is the first award for the Department of Town and Regional Planning.
2 In 1980, he was appointed lecturer at the University of the Orange Free State. He progressed through the ranks until he retired as departmental chairman in 2009. Thereafter he was a part-time lecturer and since 2015, a research associate at the University of the Free State.