Abstract

Recent trends have shown that cities of developing countries have been switching from one urban planning approach to another and this trend will continue The methodology adopted involved a review of scondary data sources interviews and analysis The findings of this research present three areas of discourse First the demise and resurgence of conventional approaches is a worldwide recurring phenomena Secondly the switch return to master planning approach in Dar es Salaam was premature and largely resulted from a misconception of the theory of paradigm shift Thirdly the claim that SUDP is ill-suited to guide the process of urban change is more of a misleading generalization than a reality The utility of SUDP has to be examined not only from practice but also from core theoretical and conceptual tenets laws and procedures governing such an urban planning practice