Cape Town Partnership 2013 Annual Report by Cape Town Partnership

PEOPLE MAKE PLACES

CAPE TOWN PARTNERSHIP’S

OUR OUR HISTORY WHY 1999-2008:

2008-2012:

2012-2018:

When we were founded in 1999 – by the Cape Chamber of the Commerce, the South African Property Owners Association and the City of Cape Town – it was in response to the state of Cape Town’s central business district. The area was in crisis: businesses were moving out (or threatening to) and the streets weren’t safe. At the time, the way we thought about cities was very much as economic engines, places driven by investment. Together with our core partners (and our first project), the Central City Improvement District, we were single-minded in ensuring the city centre was clean and safe so that it was attractive to business.We spent a lot of time acting as a translator between the public and private sector (specifically property developers and owners), working to ensure business stayed in the central business district. Within a decade, Cape Town’s downtown area had undergone a total turnaround, becoming one of the cleanest and safest in the country, and business was booming.

Nearly ten years later, in 2008, we began collaborating with the City of Cape Town on a shared ten-year vision and workable plan for the turnaround of Cape Town’s central city – the area from Salt River to Green Point, the mountain to the sea. The process of defining the Central City Development Strategy forced us to look at more than just business and urban management, and think of the role events, the knowledge and creative economy, and popular history and memory could play in the area’s development. Over this time, we came to see the city as an interconnected system – of transport, infrastructure, business, services – of which people were the users. The goal was to make the space more user-friendly. With the 2010 World Cup, we were able to fast-track a number of urban developments: Public spaces were upgraded, public transport rollout was fast-tracked, pedestrian corridors were created. It’s not a path we can take alone. Join us. The city became more user-friendly seemingly overnight, thanks to urban design. On the back of that experience, we started driving Cape Town’s successful World Design Capital bid.

At the Cape Town Partnership, we’re an excitable group of people with a future-forward, positive approach. But there have been unintended consequences to our exuberance and the rate of our success. We never saw ourselves as agents of gentrification, or thought of development as a tool for displacement. And yet that is how our work has been seen, and criticised, in some quarters. Looking back, part of our learning has been not to get so caught up in things – in urban upgrades, cycle lanes, cranes on the skyline, the idea of design, pursuit of titles like “world-class city” – that we forget about people. In trying to pave a road to our future, at times we lost sight of our past: parts of Cape Town might’ve transformed in the last few years, but many others are still living out apartheid-era realities of a life divided and disconnected. Thinking of a city as an economic engine or an interconnected system had us thinking of people more as users or consumers of a city than creators of it. Today, we’ve come to think of cities as places of “concentrated humanity”, networks of human connections. That’s why, for the next five years of the Cape Town Partnership and the remaining term of the Central City Development Strategy, our focus is on putting people first. On participation and people-based placemaking, not destination marketing. On dialogue and debate, not one-way conversation. At the heart of a city is people. And for it to work, its people, our people, have to work together.

CITIES ARE FOR BUSINESS

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CAPE TOWN PARTNERSHIP The work of the Cape Town Partnership, since its inception in 1999, has been about helping make the city work. And yet this work – what we do, where we do it and who we do it with – has transformed over the years. In 14 years of existence, we’ve had to make our own path, not only through the city, but also in our understanding of what a city is and what makes it work.

CITIES ARE FOR PEOPLE

IMAGES: Lisa Burnell; Steve Gordon; Sydelle Willow-Smith

MAPPING THE WORK MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

STORIES, CITIES, CITIZENSHIP

VISION

PEOPLE ARE THE FUTURE

THIS IS

OF THE CAPE TOWN PARTNERSHIP

A PERSONAL JOURNEY

SOME SAY CITIES ARE THE FUTURE// WE SAY

PEOPLE ARE THE FUTURE

“What is the city but its people?” William Shakespeare, Coriolanus III.1

THIS IS

Like some Capetonians I grew up in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. As a child, some of the most exciting times in the village that I can remember were when migrant workers came home from the big cities during the holidays and, around the fire at night, would tell dramatic, terrible, exciting, extravagant tales of city life. Usually embellished stories too. As children we would sit and listen in awe at the drama of it all.

THIS IS Believing there is more that connects us than divides us// Speaking the language of hope// Working together for the common good// Building from the ground up Sharing the spaces in between

I guess you could say that this started my fascination with cities – with how they work, how they are designed, and the different lifestyles they attract or encourage. From an early age I dreamed of not just living or working in the city – I wanted to be part of making it work. This is the reason I chose town planning as a career. And so started my journey, from

WE CAN PLANT OUR TOMORROWS SHAPE OUR FUTURE HEAL OURSELVES WE CAN MAKE OUR CITY WARM OPEN WELCOMING

CAPE TOWN A CITY WITH A PAST A

I look forward to that time when we tell a greater, richer, fuller story for Cape Town – as diverse as the many people who live in it.

PEOPLE WITH A FUTURE

RICH IN OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL

BULELWA MAKALIMA-NGEWANA

Today, we’ve come to think of cities as places of “concentrated humanity”, networks of human connections.

Lusikisiki, via a master’s in town planning at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, to the city of Cape Town. Lusikisiki and Cape Town, the start and end points of this trip, might seem like they’re worlds apart. But they’re not so different. Because when you look at it, villages and cities may be very different types of settlements, but they share one very important thing: Without people, they lack soul and become purposeless.

not wait – it doesn’t wait for us to heal ourselves from past trauma, it doesn’t wait for a Big Plan to be implemented in perfect sequence and with 100% predictable results. The people of Cape Town are creative, diverse and changing this city, and adapting to this city, through small actions every single day. I get to be a part of this by looking for connections and other opportunities to amplify these actions. I get to be surrounded by people who are all offering something towards the public good and a shared future.”

There’s something else that, for me, connects my first home with my current home. Something that my roots can teach me about my current role. It comes down to those stories told around the fire. In those moments where we were sharing stories, we were weaving the past with the present, the present with the future. Stories have incredible power over us as humans. They can help tie us to other people and to a sense of place. They can help us feel like we belong.

It is this kind of passion and dedication that makes each day, no matter how difficult, deeply rewarding.

It strikes me that this is something cities like Cape Town need: a shared platforms for citizen stories, a place where people can weave their personal stories together, to see how their strands come together. A tying together of the human fabric that makes up this city. In many parts of Cape Town, there is still this sense of a lack of ownership – that the city belongs to someone else. Maybe by sharing our personal stories, of how we came to be here, and hearing the stories of others, we can start to see how we’re all connected, and that we can all belong. Maybe redesigning the apartheid city begins with building bridges – between people.

I look forward to that time when we tell a greater, richer, fuller story for Cape Town – as diverse as the many people who live in it. For there’s no doubt in my mind that Cape Town, like South Africa, is a city with a past. But it’s also a people with a future.

I’m inspired and moved by these stories, not just of citizens, but of my colleagues too. In my day-to-day I work with people who are incredibly passionate about cities and being a part of a better future for Cape Town. There’s something about their enthusiasm and insight that weaves me closer to my work, closer to this human tapestry that makes up the Cape Town Partnership. One of my colleagues, Jodi Allemeier, says it well: “Working on Cape Town as a place for people is a constant reminder that time does

One of my favourite poets, Ben Okri, speaks about how “stories are the secret reservoirs of values”. “Change the stories individuals and nations live by and tell themselves,” he says, “and you change the individuals and nations. Nations and peoples are largely the stories they tell themselves.”

Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, CEO

Alan Cameron Alma Viviers A b

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OUR STAFF

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BACK COVER HERE

Counted in our staff complement are community organisers, economists, storytellers, photographers, activists, artists, historians, cultural geographers, events organisers, finance specialists, social workers, media mavericks and mums and dads. See the back cover for their names.

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Hendricks Skye Grove Stacey Augustine

Cape Town Partnership The Terraces, 34 Bree Street Cape Town, 8001 021 419 1881 www.capetownpartnership.co.za

OUR BOARD

Nasima Badsha, CEO of the Cape Higher Education Consortium; Garreth Bloor, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic, Environment and Spatial Planning; Hanns Bohle, Chairperson Small Business Development Portfolio Committee for the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Dave Bryant, Ward Councillor for the Cape Town City Bowl and surrounds; Refqah Fataar Ho-Yee, Director, Attorney and Conveyancer at Smith Tabata Buchanan and Boyes; Ralph Hamann, Research Director and Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business; Amelia Jones, social development specialist and former CEO of Community Chest of the Western Cape; Rob Kane, CEO of Vunani Property Investment Fund and Chairman of the Central City Improvement District; Dr Gilbert Lawrence, Head of Department of Community Safety at the Western Cape Government; Thabo Mashologu, Managing Director of Msingi Construction Project Management; Leila Mahomed Weideman, Director for Development and Operations at Mainstream SA; Louise Muller, Director of Shareholding Management at the City of Cape Town; Njabulo Ndebele, a respected

DEFINING A FUTURE FOR CAPE TOWN

South African writer and academic and chairperson of the Cape Town Partnership board; Laura Robinson, Director of the Cape Town Heritage Trust; Rashid Toefy, CEO of the Cape Town International Convention Centre

In any journey of understanding, it helps to start with what you know.

OUR PRIMARY FUNDING PARTNERS City of Cape Town, Western Cape Government, and the private sector

We know that urbanisation is a worldwide trend, and that Africa together with Asia are urbanising the fastest. We know that nearly twothirds of South Africa’s population are already living in cities, and that these cities, while they’re seen as places of incredible opportunity, also face extreme challenges. Not least among these are trying to reverse the effect apartheid planning (and many more decades of segregation) had on our cities, while also addressing the severe strain that migration and urbanisation are placing on our urban infrastructure. We know we face a backlog of housing and transport infrastructure – a city’s basic connectors – across the country.

OUR PARTNER AGENCIES

Wesgro, the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the Big Seven (which includes the V&A Waterfront and the Table Mountain Cableway), city improvement districts throughout the Table Bay district and the Cape Town Heritage Trust

Central City Improvement District: One of South Africa’s oldest and most successful business improvement districts, of which Cape Town Partnership was the founder in 2000 and is now the managing agent: www.capetowncid.co.za Western Cape Economic Development Partnership: A multi-sector partnership that focuses on mobilising a wide range of socio-economic stakeholders towards a more inclusive and resilient regional economy: www.wcedp.co.za The Safety Lab: An innovation hub and ‘test centre’ that aims to catalyse social innovation to develop effective, innovative, street-ready safety solutions in the Western Cape: www.safetylab.co.za Hout Bay Partnership: An apolitical organisation, currently being established by the Cape Town Partnership, that seeks to promote and facilitate the sustainable social and economic development of Hout Bay as an integrated whole, through partnerships.

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OUR CO-LOCATED PARTNERS

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GOING GLOBAL We’re committed to sharing what we know and eager to learn from others. Here are some of the global connections we’ve made and conversations we’ve been a part of in the last year.

We know we need to address this backlog and reverse the effects of apartheid. We know our cities need to become places where people – all people, no matter who they are or where they’re from – can live full, connected, healthy, meaningful lives.

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This we know. 

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GLOBAL CONNECTIONS (PARTNERS)

CAPE TOWN NAIROBI Inhabitat Project for Public Spaces Africa SINGAPORE Centre for Liveable Cities World Cities Summit

TAIPEI Taipei Design Centre

STOCKHOLM Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

LONDON St Mungo’s Community Housing Association



GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS (CONFERENCES)

MONTREAL ICSID Member ICSID General Assembly

10 JOHANNESBURG

13 BILBAO

NEW YORK Project for Public Spaces IDA Board Member IDA World Congress 2013

11 DURBAN

14 LIEGE

SAN FRANCISCO Hope Public Housing Project

Urban & Housing Conference Planning Africa Conference

12 MUMBAI

Kala Ghoda Festival Urban Vision

World Cities Summit Young Leaders Creative Wallonia

15 HAMBURG

Future of Cities

16 MINNEAPOLIS

IDA Congress 2012

What we don’t always know is how to get there, to this place called “better tomorrow”. For some time now, as a city and as a people, we’ve been guided by someone else’s roadmap. Guides to “a more liveable city” or a “world-class city” were and are useful in helping us understand how other places have reconnected and reconfigured themselves for the greater good. We can

A JOURNEY IN PLACEMAKING

I hope that our passion and dedication comes through as you read this publication. We have strived to be creative in telling the story of how we work. I hope, too, that you will be inspired to share your story with us, to weave into being the city you want to leave behind as your legacy for the next generation.

AFRICAN LIVEABILITY

PEOPLE FOR CITIES

2013

As St Augustine of Hippo, said: “Every city is a living body.”

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON Our work simply wouldn’t be possible without an extraordinary network of people and partners.

FRONT COVER HERE

Most journeys begin at home. For the last 12 years Cape Town has been the place I call home. So perhaps it’s appropriate, in this mapped guide to the Cape Town Partnership, that I say a little about my personal journey – how I came to be so passionate about cities.

learn from international case studies and successes. But what these guides and roadmaps don’t always account for is the amazing diversity of the place we call home, or the impact history and memory continue to have on our sense of self and our sense of place. Our journey, for better or worse, is not going to be as simple as taking the paths other people have forged. If we’re going to get where we’re going, to this place marked ‘better’ and ‘tomorrow’, we need to define, for ourselves, a better measure of our progress and a sense of where we’re going: What in Africa is our definition of ‘liveability’? In response to this question, what would the future of Cape Town then look like? If we’re talking about the future in terms of how the city looks, then I’m not sure any of us really know. We might not have seen its form yet. But what I do know, and what I can see, is a vision of the human lives it makes possible. It’s a place where people are able to live close to their jobs, where they don’t have to leave their children in the early hours of the morning, just to bring home enough to feed their families. A place where transport costs don’t take up 10-20% of people’s salaries, and they can invest that time and money more productively, planting it somewhere else in their lives. It’s a city with a living heart of all kinds of people. A place where children can safely play in the streets and public spaces are welcoming, comfortable and accessible

enough for us to treat them like our own living rooms. Spaces where we can express ourselves and speak our minds, just as much as we can learn to be more cognisant of others. A place we can all call home – even if we didn’t grow up here, or are just staying for a time. I don’t know this for sure, but maybe, just maybe, this city of the future isn’t altogether out there. Maybe it’s in us, already here, unfolding every day like a quiet miracle. In the resourcefulness and resilience of people who find their way in the city, even when the path isn’t paved. In the connections and everyday conversations between people whose paths might never have crossed before, who find each other despite the divides of history and geography.

Maybe this city of the future isn’t altogether out there. Maybe it’s in us, already here, unfolding every day like a quiet miracle. NJABULO NDEBELE

In my first year as chairperson of the board of the Cape Town Partnership, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about transformation of an apartheid city as work that starts with building bridges – between people. An integrated public transit system for the soul, perhaps?

IF YOU’D LIKE TO PARTNER WITH US: ceo@capetownpartnership.co.za IF YOU’D LIKE TO GET INVOLVED IN ONE OR MORE OF OUR PROJECTS: projects@capetownpartnership.co.za

In its purest form, this is the work the Cape Town Partnership is committing itself to. It’s not just work for the longhaul, but also the kind that is never finished, the kind of destination you keep having to redefine every time you arrive. It’s a path you can’t take alone. Whoever you are and whatever your story is, if you live and work in Cape Town, I’d like to encourage you to think about your journey through this space, and this idea that, in your everyday interactions, you create the city of tomorrow. In your today, have you created traces of the kind of future you’d like to leave to your children and your children’s children?

Njabulo Ndebele, Chairperson

IF YOU’RE IN THE MEDIA AND HAVE QUESTIONS OR WANT TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW: media@capetownpartnership.co.za

CONNECT WITH US

WALK THE TALK We believe in the power of people working together to create change. People like you. If you’d like to join us on this journey, or have some questions along the way, this is how you can reach us:

IF YOU’D LIKE TO BE INVOLVED IN OUR CONVERSATION SERIES, IZIMVO ZASE KASI izimvo@capetownpartnership.co.za IF YOU’D LIKE TO DISTRIBUTE COPIES OF MOLO OR HAVE A PERSONAL STORY TO TELL: molo@capetownpartnership.co.za Cape Town Partnership The Terraces 34 Bree Street Cape Town 8001 021 419 1881 www.capetownpartnership.co.za

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HISTORY & MEMORY

1999 -2018 ATLANTIS

ROBBEN ISLAND

BELLVILLE

OF THE CAPE TOWN PARTNERSHIP

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

PUBLIC SPACES

COMMUNITY

PUBLIC SPACES

DESIGN BEYOND BORDERS

TO ATLANTIS, MAMRE AND PELLA

DURBANVILLE

Table Bay

STELLENBOSCH

HOUT BAY SOMERSET WEST False Bay

Plotted on this map you’ll find a range of projects the CapeCAPE Town POINT Partnership is involved in, paired with personal accounts from Cape Town municipal boundary some of the people involved. Think of it as a quick(CTP’s guide to ofwho broad area influence) we are and what we do. While we’ve tried to include as much detail as we can, what you see here is only a small portion of the work we do. Each story represents a bigger body of work that spans high-level planning and policy to community interactions and street-level conversations. If you’d like to know more about any one project or about the organisation overall, turn this map over and refer to the “walk the talk” section, which will help you get in touch with the right people.

PROJECT: The Fringe

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: SUPPORTING JOB CREATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FORMAL OR INFORMAL ECONOMY

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that children have access to parks and schools and safe means to travel to both. It means the parents of those children have access to hospitals and job opportunities and public transport. It means less time spent commuting to and from work which in turn means more time spent with family and friends.” That is why the Cape Town Partnership is involved in an ongoing series of conversations – with groups like the Development Action Group, the National Association of Social Housing Organisations, Street People’s Forum, departments at the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government – around the provision of appropriate affordable housing structures close to Cape Town’s city centre.

CCID WATCH VAN

TROLLEY PUSHERS AND SMALL FOREIGN BUSINESSES

A CORNER FOR EVELYN TO THROW A FIT ON THE URINAL

ORANJEZICHT

A CORNER TO WATCH DRAMA UNFOLD

FRESNAYE

a viable business model for rollout and maintenance of units. There is also a recognition that beyond the regulatory and infrastructural complexities, the informal trade sector is underpinned by complex social structures. Through an emergent design process Cape Town Partnership consultant Andrew Putter is seeking to bring to light some of the overlooked stakeholders in the space of informal trade. For example, at seven o’clock every morning, homeless men from all over the city converge to wait for the opportunity to push trollies from the Excelsior building on Harrington Street down to the Grand Parade. Andrew produced a ten-minute video of this journey from storage to trading space by attaching a camera to the top of a trolley. While the video is a creative product of the process, he explains that the real impact is the conditions that lead to its production: “The images are less important than the process, which allows me to start making a connection with these people and the social systems that exist around trolley pushing. The intention and desire to make the work allows for a better, more multidimensional way of understanding the situation.”

STREETS AS COMMUNITY PLACES Cape Town Partnership, and Observatory Improvement District, was a great success. People came from all over the peninsula, by train, bike and skateboard. And while they were there, they ambled up and down the road, listened to buskers play, watched limber people do acrobatic yoga, chalked their names, walked their dogs and met friends along the way. Beyond the more event-based Open Streets, the Cape Town Partnership is also looking at spaces like Long and Adderley Street as opportunities to shift the perception that streets are just movement arteries.

SHORTY’S SPOT TO WAIT TO BE SERVED

CREATING A 24-HOUR CITY PROJECT: 24-hour city research

How can Cape Town start to encourage extended operating hours and a broader range of available activities for people of all ages and backgrounds? “We want to see more people reclaiming their downtown, for city life to be extended by even two to three hours in the next three years,” explains Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana. “We want this to be a socially cohesive space, where diverse groups can congregate. To ensure this, we need to focus on our residential population and the provision of more affordable housing options in a more sustained way.”

PUBLIC SPACES

FREE MONTHLY CONCERTS PROJECT: City All Sessions

First Thursdays, a global concept brought to Cape Town by local collaborator Gareth Pearson, means that on the first Thursday of every month a host of galleries in the city centre stay open later, encouraging people to linger in the city and enjoy the art on display. As of September 2013, gallery-hoppers have even more reason to stick around: City All Sessions is a monthly series of free music concerts in Greenmarket Square, presented by Creative Cape Town, produced by Making Music Productions, and supported by the National Lottery Development Trust Fund and the City of Cape Town. “This series is about bringing the spirit of the acclaimed City Hall Sessions to public open

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space beyond the confines of Cape Town City Hall,” explains producer Steve Gordon. “City Hall is an extraordinary space, but it’s also used by an incredible diversity of community groups which means it’s sometimes fully booked and we can’t stage concerts on our preferred dates. With these regular free concerts in the city, we can now showcase a broader spectrum of artists more regularly, while also supporting First Thursdays.” As a way to give greater impetus to the First Thursdays movement and encourage people The gathering corner- where worlds collide to stay later in the city, Cape Town Partnership is also making Riebeeck Square – a space we manage as an organisation – available for food Trolley pushers and small foreign businesses trucks to park and ply their trade for the night.

The urinal

HISTORY AND MEMORY

CITY SOUNDS AT CITY HALL

CREATIVITY

A place to hide from trouble around the CCID, Evelyn & Rain

MEET THE MAKERS

PROJECT: City Hall Sessions

PROJECT: Meet the Makers

How do you put a historic civic building, Cape Town’s City Hall, back on the map as a public cultural asset to its citizens? By breathing life and sound into it through music. In 2011 Cape Town Partnership through the Creative Cape Town programme, with support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, launched a concert series, City Hall Sessions. “Playing here in City Hall signifies a new start for Cape Town; a new start for South Africa,” said Tlale Makhene, a percussionist performing with Moreira Chonguica at the 2013 Freedom Day concert. “My wish is that all the major town halls would take this example and host performances likes this and bring back the most important aspect of music; the tradition of performance.”

Creative Cape Town seeks to support, communicate and facilitate the development of the creative industries, showcasing the potential of this economic sector. By exploring the personal narratives of local creative producers, Meet the Makers offers a glimpse into their processes, spaces and personalities – from architects to educators, designers to dancers. Meet the Makers was first realised as a series of studio tours during Creative Week 2011; since then the project has evolved to include both studio visits and a documentary short film series on the designers. Says project manager Caroline Jordan: “The project provides a platform to spotlight local creative practice and production in a global context, which is especially relevant given the city’s year as World Design Capital 2014.”

SHORTY’S CAR WATCH BUSINESSES AND GOSSIP CORNER

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That’s why independent researcher Edith Viljoen is driving a project aimed at understanding what the barriers to extended city hours are, working with retailers to find creative ways to overcome them, and measuring the impact that extended hours have on sales and footfall in the area – and piloting it in the Kloof Street area: “In trying to create a 24-hour city, we are not only looking at logistical challenges but also the need to help businesses and consumers understand the benefits of extended trading hours.”

A corner for Evelyn

ROELAND ST

A STOEP WITH A VIEW TO DRINK COFFEE

COMMUNITY

CREATIVITY

resilience of our city.” The outcomes of this year-long strategy development will include guides and tools to inform policymaking and action that encourage stakeholders to work together to reduce overall carbon emissions in the central city. This will feed into and support the existing City of Cape Town Energy and Climate Change Strategy and associated action plan. Urban sustainability is now a lens for the Cape Town Partnership: “The issue of lowering carbon emissions is not isolated but now informs our thinking on issues like densification of housing options in the central city, integrated transport planning and urban agriculture,” explains programme manager Jodi Allemeier.

In South Africa, the informal sector contributes between 8-10% to the country’s annual GDP, accounts for 12% of the local Cape Town economy and employs 18% of the city’s economically active residents. Considering the economic importance and historical significance of informal trade, the Partnership is committed to supporting and developing this sector in a holistic manner and within the context of inner-city transport planning, the rightsizing of complete streets, urban design processes and the management of public spaces. During the City of Cape Town’s 2012 review of the Informal Trading Policy and Management Framework and amendments to the related by-laws, the Cape Town Partnership provided comment and input into shaping the way forward. Walking the talk, the Cape Town Partnership, through its Creative Cape Town programme, has partnered with the informal trade community and various public and private stakeholders to seek new design solutions for the informal trade units. The project will consider trading locations, unit and goods storage, vendor movement, economic sustainability and the relationships with the formal sector, with the aim of designing

EYE’S HILL AND SLEEPING PLACE

COMMUNITY

We all know that we need to change our behaviour to ensure a sustainable future but concepts like climate change and carbon footprints are not easy to understand. That’s why the Low Carbon Central City strategy, a research project done in collaboration with Sustainable Energy Africa, the City of Cape Town and other key stakeholders, believes that by looking at the central city specifically we can better understanding the micropatterns that have the most significant environmental impact. “The aim is to translate the data produced into tools that both policymakers and citizens can use to make decisions,” says senior researcher Andrew Fleming, “but also to take the necessary actions that would contribute to collective and meaningful impact on the future

A MEETING PLACE FOR MORNING VISITORS

SUSTAINABILITY

PROJECT: Low Carbon

EN ROUTE WITH INFORMAL TRADERS

Open Streets is an initiative inspired by the successful Ciclovia in Bogota where kilometres of road are closed to motorised traffic on a regular basis to be transformed into spaces for public recreation. A SHADY SPOT TO BE CHASED AWAY FROM Thanks to the relentless efforts of the Open Streets Cape Town working group, OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH SKYWAYS the first fully-fledged Open Streets event took place on 25 May in Lower A SPOT TO HIDE IF HARASSED Main Road in Observatory and Salt River. WALLED OFF NON-PLACE The event, a collaboration between citizen-led Open Streets Cape Town, AMBULANCE VISIT – A RISKY CORNER IF DRINKING Transport for Cape Town (TCT), the

SUSTAINABILITY

TOWARDS A RESILIENT CITY

people and this means making the most of our public spaces. Free WiFi is sure to add an extra reason to visit this quintessentially Cape Town space.” The free wireless project is a result of the collaborative efforts of the City of Cape Town, the Cape Town Partnership, Connected Space, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Company’s Garden and City Parks, and is a test case for the roll-out of other public wireless hotspots in the city centre.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

THE MORNING CUPPA AND LUNCH PLACE

LION’S HEAD

For a few years now, the Partnership has been involved with the cultural stakeholders surrounding one of Cape Town’s oldest heritage sites (dating back to the 1650s), the Company’s Garden. One project to emerge from this involvement is the introduction of free wireless internet access at the tea garden. “The Company’s Garden is the green heartbeat of our city,” says Cape Town Partnership CEO Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana. “Our commitment at the Cape Town Partnership is to unlock the city for more

A PLACE WITH A FUTURE?

THE GATHERING CORNER – WHERE WORLDS COLLIDE

Molteno Reservoir

PROJECT: Company’s Garden

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

PROJECT: Open Streets

BARRICADE BENCHES THE NOON WORK SOURCE SPOT

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PROJECT: Housing

A SET OF CORNERS OUT OF THE WAY

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GARDENS

MOBILITY

A MULTIPLE GENERATION STRONG LEGACY

TAMBOERSKLOOF

WHY SOCIAL HOUSING MATTERS

DEVIL’S PEAK ESTATE

THE COMPANY GARDENS VREDEHOEK

TROLLEY PUSHER ROUTE

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HOUSING

Apartheid planning continues to have a significant impact on the people of Cape Town. However, adequate affordable housing, close to urban nodes, can do a great deal to break down the inequalities of the past, while also having beneficial economic and environmental effects. Affordable housing encourages higher urban densities, eases the detrimental effects of low-density urban sprawl and means less rush-hour traffic congestion, more customers for local businesses and livelier, more liveable neighbourhoods. “Affordable housing means better access to all the amenities, infrastructure and economic opportunities of the city,” says senior researcher Andrew Fleming. “It means

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AFRICAN CITIES: THINKING MORE CAREFULLY ABOUT WHAT AN AFRICAN CITY IS, SHOULD OR COULD BE

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MOBILITY: FACILITATING HOW PEOPLE MOVE THROUGH THE CITY – WHETHER BY FOOT, BY BIKE, BY CAR OR BY MINIBUS TAXI

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PUBLIC SPACES: INVESTIGATING, INVIGORATING AND CONNECTING PEOPLE AROUND OUR SHARED SPACES – WHETHER PARKS, SQUARES OR STREETS

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COMMUNITY: HELPING CONNECT PEOPLE TO EACH OTHER AND FOSTER A SENSE OF PLACE AND BELONGING

HISTORY AND MEMORY: REMEMBERING, RECOGNISING AND CELEBRATING CAPE TOWN’S DIVERSE CULTURES, ITS HISTORIES OR POPULAR CULTURE

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CREATIVITY: SUPPORTING, CELEBRATING AND PROMOTING THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN CAPE TOWN

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SUSTAINABILITY: HELPING CAPE TOWN BECOME A MORE RESILIENT, SUSTAINABLE PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK

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process, a pilot Solid Waste Management Project has been established by the City. The second Design Storming session, held in August 2013 and co-hosted by Equal Education and Ikamva Labantu during the Open Design festival, focused on early childhood development and how to get parents more actively involved. “The Design Storming model adds a collaborative approach to the design process,” says project manager Mike Purdham. “It’s not about reinventing the wheel, or generating new programmes, but rather about working with the stakeholders to come up with ideas that can result in real improvements.”

PROJECT: Informal Trade

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WIFI HOTSPOTS MYCITI BUS ROUTES

Design Storming is a platform for inclusive and participatory design, focused on addressing issues of social significance. Coordinated by the Cape Town Partnership, Cape Town Design Network and the Social Justice Coalition in partnership with relevant community organisations, its focus is on using design to promote collaboration, raise awareness and develop open-source ideas that can serve as catalysts for change. Started in June 2012, the first Design Storming session focused on issues of waste management in Khayelitsha. Some interesting proposals were developed and put forward to the City of Cape Town. Off the back of this sb

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PROJECT: Design Storming

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experimental interventions informed by this street-level, people-specific research. Through his work Evan is also collaborating with service providers working in the sector, like the Service Dining Rooms to the east of the city centre. A pilot project is currently under way at the Service Dining Rooms that includes a new library, and extended operating hours that allow people to use the space for more than just lunch. The hope is that this pilot will provide case-study data that can demonstrate the urgent need for interventions with a longterm vision that is contextually informed.

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place like Trafalgar Park and it is only through piecing together the multiple perspectives of people that we can create the space for any meaningful change. Public spaces are the last free frontier in neighbourhoods and should be preserved as such, explicitly accessible to all,” explains project manager Zarina Nteta. “It is imperative that we try to listen to as much as we can to what the community needs its public facilities to look and feel like. This is the only way we can even begin to facilitate nuanced and relevant public spaces.”

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How can exercises in story sharing and mapping, or seemingly arbitrary actions, like sitting in a shady spot or getting a meal, inform new ways of thinking about the urban dynamics of our city? Using these kinds of ethnographic techniques, Cape Town Partnership researcher Evan Blake is investigating the social geographies of marginalised groups, specifically street groups, in the east city area. Recent work has specifically involved understanding, from the perspective of street groups, why current social outreach systems are not effective, with the hope of developing

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PROJECT: Social development and Research

WHAT IS DESIGN STORMING?

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We hope this map inspires you – to walk your city more and to be an active part of making it work.

HOUSING: SUPPORTING DENSIFICATION AND THE PROVISION OF AFFORDABLE OR SOCIAL HOUSING CLOSE TO CAPE TOWN’S CITY CENTRE

A shift has taken place in the approach of the Cape Town Partnership to initiating and defining projects. Since the end of 2012, we have been in the slow process of establishing relationships with various communities who have a direct or indirect stake in Trafalgar Park in Woodstock/District Six. The process recognises that entry into a space means ‘being invited in’ by the people who are there. To get invited in means you have to build trust and this takes time. “We all carry various perspectives about a

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For ease of reading, we’ve categorised our work into eight broad themes or areas of focus.

PLOTTING A NEW WAY FORWARD

PROJECT: Trafalgar Park

In 2008 Creative Cape Town research meaningful engagement in the project, were identified the neighbourhood east of the raised. MELKBOSSTRAND CBD as having a high concentration of After honest reflection we realised that our design-related businesses and proximity to a approach needs to evolve. The focus now shifts university with strong design and technology away from place marketing and branding, faculties. The Fringe brand was born as a towards the deepening of relationships with way to market this area. While it has been all people who have a stake in the future of successful in establishing a ‘Design and the area; to using design as a way of bridging N7 Innovation District’, the aggressive branding differences whilst creating economic and promotion of a ‘future vision’ for the opportunities. PARKLANDS district also attracted criticism. Concerns The area will also play a pivotal role as a aboutDU the serious risk of ignoring the historic testing ground for the implementation of the NOON BLOUBERGSTRAND significance of the area, which falls largely Western Cape Design Strategy, which seeks within District Six, potential gentrification to enable the infrastructure needed to raise and displacement of economically the profile of design within the economy and TABLE VIEW vulnerable people as well as support the development of designers. DURBANVILLE the lack of opportunities for

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MAPPING THE WORK

CAPE TOWN PARTNERSHIP’S GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS (AND AREA OF INFLUENCE)

GROWING URBAN CHANGE PROJECT: Green Clusters

Urban agriculture is about more than just green spaces and vegetables. It can help protect our urban environment while creating jobs and playing an important role in youth education. That’s why the Cape Town Partnership has started a series of conversations with urban growers, NGOs and city officials – with a view to aligning individual efforts and lending more momentum to the urban agriculture movement in Cape Town. “Urban agriculture can have a positive impact on our city through job creation and by ensuring that there’s less ‘leakage’ from local economies,” says Cape Town Partnership programme manager Jodi Allemeier. “It can benefit our urban environment by helping to safeguard the quality of our air, soil and water, and it can have important social benefits

through skills transfer and education.” Urban agriculture also offers an interesting lens on the city’s history, and an opportunity for people to connect around a shared heritage, says Stanley Visser of the City of Cape Town’s Economic and Human Development Unit: “Urban agriculture is as old as Cape Town itself, in fact, it is the reason for its existence. It is my firm belief that there is a place for everyone within urban agriculture in Cape Town.”

OUR CITY, OUR STORIES PROJECT: Molo

Cape Town has a new community paper, focused on the diversity of people who live and work in the city, published by the Cape Town Partnership. A bimonthly publication, Molo is an experiment in citizen storytelling aimed at fostering connections between people and a sense of belonging to the places we live and work. “The title of Molo is a very deliberate one,” explains Cape Town Partnership CEO Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana. “As a greeting, and a way to say hello, we hope it invites readers to view the paper as a vehicle for conversation and dialogue. Of equal importance is the fact that this is a community paper. After all, our community is the place where we feel at home, where we recognise our own stories and see the stories of the people we know and love

reflected. Likewise, in Molo we hope to create a repository of real, relevant and proudly local stories, in which we can all recognise ourselves. We’d like people to think of Molo much as you would a trusted friend – someone with whom you look forward to spending time, who always has something interesting to say and whose company you leave feeling just a little more inspired and optimistic about the future of our city.”

IZIMVO ZASE KASI PROJECT: iZimvo zase Kasi

In March 2013, we launched a new platform for conversation about our city: iZimvo zase Kasi. This Xhosa phrase, which translates as “views from the city”, is an open space where those committed to making our city a better place can come together to connect and create positive change. The sessions have so far featured a wealth of thought-provoking comments and questions: Western Cape chairperson of the South African Institute of Black Property Professionals Thabo Mashologu asked: “How do we solve the conundrum that is Cape Town, a place that has so much promise yet for so many people does not yet resonate as home?” International urbanist Lance Berelowitz spoke about connecting the city back to its origins – the port. “Remember, in re-imagining

this city, to consider how much space you have. Fill it in, reclaim it. Don’t let what it is stop you from imagining what it can be.” Founder of Project for Public Spaces Fred Kent encouraged people to view Cape Town through his “Power of 10” principle. In short, the idea is that for a city to flourish, it should contain ten neighbourhoods with ten spots where you can do ten different things. “Placemaking is human empowerment. The feeling in a place that you immediately sense when you enter it, the warmth people exude when they are comfortable.”

SUPPORTING CREATIVE TALENT

PROJECT: Creative Nestlings

Recognising that young local creatives needed a place to showcase their work, as well as better access to a career in the creative industries, Dillion Phiri and Nokulunga-Mateta Phiri started Creative Nestlings in 2011. A Cape Town-based social enterprise, they publish regular artist profiles and interviews on their website and host film screenings, exhibitions, and monthly networking sessions. “Our work is about helping young people make their ideas happen,” says Dillion. “We hope Creative Nestlings will be the platform that emerging creatives, nationally and across the continent, go to with their ideas.” In June 2013, Creative Nestlings became a programme of the Cape Town Partnership,

with both Dillion and Lunga becoming full-time staff. Cape Town Partnership CEO Bulelwa-Makalima Ngewana explains: “We see this as a strategic opportunity to support young creatives and entrepreneurs who will be the industry leaders of tomorrow. While our Creative Cape Town community is often established professionals, Creative Nestlings’ community is made up of fledgling creatives.” “With the backing of Cape Town Partnership, we’re able to implement more ideas and projects,” Lunga says. “Through the partnership, we hope to exchange knowledge and create lasting impact in an effort to build a more creative city.”

Our commitment at the Cape Town Partnership is to unlock the city for more people and this means making the most of our public spaces. BULELWA MAKALIMA-NGEWANA, CEO

CREATIVITY

OPENING UP THE CITY THROUGH CREATIVITY

PROJECT: Creative Week

From 14 to 22 September 2013, Creative Cape Town invited citizens to turn the city inside out in the fourth annual Creative Week Cape Town. The nine-day festival is an open call to Capetonians to host creative events that include such diverse happenings as exhibitions, performances, walking tour and public lectures. The crowdsourced events are then logged on the Creative Week calendar from where they are promoted through social and traditional media. Why crowdsourced? When it comes to arts and cultural festivals curation often means exclusion; by opening it up to the community a much richer representation of creativity in the city is obtained. This year saw a 140 events listed on

the calendar, with highlights including the City Exploration tours, a collaboration between Creative Cape Town and renowned city creatives like photographers Ed Suter and Andrew Brauteseth and architect Mokena Makeka, as well as the launch of the Cape Town Partnership mural project in the east of the city. Cape Town Partnership acted as a facilitator between building owners, the City of Cape Town and street artists to enable the realisation of a series of public murals, the first two of which were completed during Creative Week.

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