Register today!
FREE CLASS | WORLDBUILDING
with a town planner!
Join us for a free class on Worldbuilding with a Town Planner, and no, you don’t need to write fantasy to benefit.
We’ll explore how real-life urban planning can help you build more believable, detailed, and immersive settings. Towns, cities, and communities all have structure, systems, and stories. Let’s bring yours to life!
📍This one’s for writers of all genres.
The class is at 11 am (SAST)
- 10 am London
- 7 pm Sydney
- 5 am New York
- 2 am Los Angeles
The class is at 9 pm (SAST)
- 8 pm London
- 5 am Sydney
- 3 pm New York
- 12 pm Los Angeles
All classes are recorded. Please register to receive the replay link.
When you register in Zoom, click the blue Johannesburg link to change the form to your timezone.
Meet Stephan
As a professionally registered Town and Regional Planner and Urban Designer with a PhD focused on Spatial Planning, I am driven by a clear purpose: to elevate the practice of spatial planning in South Africa and beyond through evidence-based analysis, integrated design, and actionable strategies that bridge the gap between policy intent and on-the-ground implementation.
With almost two decades of experience spanning government, academia, and private consultancy, I have led and contributed to high-impact projects across urban and rural contexts, ranging from Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs) and Human Settlements Strategies to Capital Expenditure Frameworks and Infrastructure Investment Plans. My work has reached across South Africa and into countries such as Mozambique, Angola, Kenya, Zanzibar, Tanzania, and Uganda.
As Director of BC Gildenhuys and Associates, I apply my expertise in GIS, spatial analysis, development economics, and infrastructure planning to help shape more effective, inclusive, and resilient places. I specialize in quantifying the spatial and strategic dimensions of development plans, ensuring they are aligned with municipal infrastructure budgets and long-term growth trajectories. My approach is client-centric and interdisciplinary, grounded in the belief that successful planning requires technical precision, cross-sector collaboration, and deep contextual understanding.
My PhD research critically assessed South Africa’s post-1994 spatial planning policies, exposing their limitations and proposing a new framework based on urban morphology and the transect approach. This work supports a more measurable, practical planning model—one that reflects the realities of the Global South and helps align infrastructure investment with spatial justice.
I am a frequent contributor to national and international conferences. I am passionate about mentorship, institutional capacity building, and knowledge sharing—particularly in the fields of spatial data integration, urban form, and planning innovation.
Stephan Gildenhuys (Pr. Pln A/1549/2012)
PhD, B(TRP), M(TRP), MUD
Spatial Planning Expert | Urban Designer | GIS & Data-Driven Policy Specialist
A deadline is the fastest way to fill a blank page
and in this class I am going to tell you about 52 of them.
About Us
Deadlines are the solution.
In a perfect world, no writer would ever get stuck, be stumped or get sucked into the black hole that is the internet. We would sit down, the muse would descend and we’d produce literary magic, but this world is far from perfect. We get stuck, stumped and sucked in by hyperlinks. We need deadlines.
Deadlines for Writers is the kindest, most productive writing community on the internet. We kick procrastination butt by meeting daily, weekly and monthly deadlines.
Deadlines for Writers
Deadlines for Writers is the home to several writing challenges. We host the 12 Short Stories in 12 Months, 12 Poems in 12 Months and 52 Scenes in 52 Weeks novel-writing challenge.
We write together, critique each other's work and constantly improve our craft.
Write your book in a year
If you have always dreamed of writing a novel or if you have several incomplete manuscripts languishing in your drawer or if you need some extra help and accountability, well, this challenge is just for you.
Weekly deadlines, flexible prompts and a supportive community will make the challenge of writing a novel not only possible but fun.
Mia Botha
Founder
Mia has been a creative writing coach for more than 13 years. She created the Deadlines for Writers, which as the name implies, is a deadline-driven, online critique group that helps writers beat procrastination and perfectionism and overcome self-doubt because she has learnt that a deadline is the fastest way to fill a blank page.
©2025 Deadlines for Writers.