Twenty years ago, on 11 February 1990, I watched Nelson Mandela’s release on a small TV in our rented house in Isidingo Road in Yeoville, Johannesburg. I had moved from Cape Town to Johannesburg in 1989, with my wife Nike Romano to work for an NGO called Planact. I remember getting highly irritated with SATV reporter Clarence Kayter’s [...] Continue Reading…

I visited the Museum of Sydney in December 2009. It is a relatively new museum (1995) in downtown Sydney on the site of the first Government House. It is architecturally inserted into the base of a large office tower building. I was curious to see how the story of the City of Sydney is [...] Continue Reading…

Continuing the theme of public spaces for public life…

My bike ride this morning confirmed for me once again that the Sea Point Promenade is one of Cape Town’s most well-loved and special public open spaces. It’s extended version provides a 6km pedestrian route from Saunders Rocks near the smart apartments of Bantry Bay to the scruffy little [...] Continue Reading…

I toured the East City precinct in the Cape Town Central City yesterday – and saw two amazing projects, and one disaster.

I first went to the City Hall to see the installation of the Spier Contemporary biennial Arts Competition and Exhibition, set to open on 14 March. In my view – we’re in for [...] Continue Reading…

On Saturday morning, I cycled around the Green Point Common area (Fan Walk, IRT Station, pedestrian underpass, CT Stadium, Granger Bay Boulevard, Urban Park) to investigate the car-free recreational cycling opportunities and to check the progress of all the 2010 developments in the area.  The date (23 January) was particularly significant because the first football match ever in the new [...] Continue Reading…

Ports d’Attache, or Home Ports, is a Canadian documentary series on 13 major port cities*, currently in the process of production. One of the cities is Cape Town, and I had the opportunity earlier this week to show reknowned Canadian photographer Heidi Hollinger, the host of the show, and her crew, around the Central City. The [...] Continue Reading…

While in Sydney, I was taken on a fantastic walking tour of some of the laneways that are part of a CBD lane revitalisation strategy. One of the ways in which this is being done is through an innovative urban art installation project called By George! Hidden Networks (George Street being the main street in the Sydney [...] Continue Reading…

I participated in a roundtable discussion on metropolitan governance at the end of last year, hosted by the Ottawa-based Forum of Federations, the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government and the Australian Major Cities Unit.

I had an opportunity to engage [...] Continue Reading…

The rich tradition of Cape Jazz continues at the Rainbow Room Jazz Club. Last night I had the pleasure of listening to the Denay Willie Band. What was even more impressive was the showcasing of new Cape Town talent, as impressive young musicians aged 14-19 joined the band for various songs. The Rainbow Room [...] Continue Reading…

*Title inspired by a Songs of the City concert held at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in January 2008

I’m kicking off 2010 with a list of my ten best songs that describe life in the city. Most lists of city songs contain songs with the name of a city in the [...] Continue Reading…

I’ve got quite a few city development stories from my recent visit to Sydney. However, they are going to have to wait for the New Year because I’m going on holiday, and no-one wants to read serious stuff at this time of the year anyway. So, let me close the year with a two great lighting projects that [...] Continue Reading…

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