A few days ago, Nike and I took our two sons to see the world’s largest ship, the Queen Mary 2, which was docked for 48 hours in the Cape Town Harbour. Courtesy of colleague Mike Evans, we got a great view of the vessel from the Webber Wentzel offices on the 15th floor of the Convention Tower on the Foreshore. While up there, I was once again struck by the sheer waste of space on the Foreshore, the awkward way in which the existing freeway cuts the CBD off from the sea, and of course, I was reminded of the issue of the unfinished freeways.
An eye-level view of the Queen Mary 2 from the 15th floor of the Cape Town Convention Tower
The Foreshore Freeways, which, together with the Cape Town industrial port, cut the historic CBD off from the sea
Part of the 'unfinished' portion of the Foreshore Freeways, and the massive road reserve in the middle which effectively sterilises any options for innovative development in the area. (The area under construction will be used as a temporary bus staging area for the 2010 Football World Cup)
Wasted space! I remember the horrified reaction of Enrique Penalosa, former Mayor of Bogata, Colombia, when he saw the huge number of cars parked at grade in a prime area that could and should be fully developed
Coincidently, the same day, Mokena Mokeka sent me and other colleagues an image that he had found on the Internet of what could happen if the space underneath the Foreshore Freeways was developed, as a way of provoking a debate about the future of the Cape Town Foreshore. In reply, Caron von Zeil, who is working on the Reclaim Camissa concept, sent an image of life under the highways in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Reimagining public space under the freeways (Please will the creator/ owner of this image contact me so that I can credit properly)
Example from Rio de Janeiro (Caron von Zeil)
This prompts me to raise the various debates about the Cape Town Foreshore again. Firstly, how should the Foreshore, a massive reclamation project which was initiated decades ago under such different political and economic circumstances, be appropriately completed? Secondly, and related to the first question, what should happen to the controversial Foreshore Freeways, especially the incomplete parts that draw daily questions and comments from Capetonians and visitors alike. (No, they are not incomplete because the original engineers got the alignment wrong or because a private property owner refused to sell his shop – all stuff of urban legend!)
There seem to me to be a number of options. First prize would to sink the freeways underground and extend the city grid pattern up to the harbour’s edge, creating new public spaces and a more active Foreshore precinct in the process. The only way in which this option could work is if the value of the new real estate released above ground could be used to offset the costs of sinking the freeways – an expensive and complex project. This would depend on a technical, economic and financial feasibility study being carried out – in itself quite a costly exercise, and seemingly not a public-sector priority at the moment.
Second prize would be to ‘hide’ the existing freeways over time by allowing appropriate densification of buildings on both sides and in between – as proposed by the draft CCDS Development Guidelines for Land Use Management going to city’s planning committee on 06 April – and by knocking down the incomplete portions of the freeway.
Third prize?? – complete the freeways, accept that the city will remain spatially and visually cut off from the sea, but use the improved ring road to divert a large number of motor vehicles from the CBD, e.g. by ‘calming’ the existing Strand St and Heerengracht ‘racetracks’ and other busy roads in the CBD to support the extenion of public transport, cycle lanes, pedestrian routes and public spaces.
Booby prize – allow the current status quo to remain on the Foreshore – i.e. no decision on completing the freeways (or doing anything else with them), therefore no possibility of developing the road reserve area between the freeways, leaving a barren urban wasteland in place indefinitely.
The only ones happy with a 'business as usual' scenario would be film directors and producers, who use the incomplete Foreshore Freeways for all sorts of film productions. Here, a car hurtles off the unfinished freeway on Table Bay Boulevard for a French Orangina commercial in 2002 (photo: Orangina)
Diverse views, as always, are most welcome.
P.S. we’re in good company! See Roads to Nowhere, a list of abandoned, ruined and unfinished highways and bridges around the world. More examples can be found on Skyscrapercity.com. For a humerous view from 2007 on Cape Town’s incomplete highways, see Bridges must Stay.
I think the the best option for dealing with this complex issue is looking at this space as serving the existing developments in the CBD, namely the cultural precinct and the newly developed City Hall.
The area in question is by far the most underdeveloped and also an eye sore. Unfortunately, it is a scary place to be – especially at night.
Creativity, art, design and entertainment are fundamental to Cape Town and will be essential going into the future. In order to be the Design capital of the world, we need to address these spaces with care and appreciation and develop a strategy that will connect the various spaces that it currently dissects.
There are some really beautiful and aesthetically pieces of design architecture in the area and I think this could be a starting point for the strategy along with the need for a space to address the issue of our informal traders and our local arts and crafters who so desperately need a space to exhibit their craft.
I believe we should take a multidimensional approach in which the creative industry in Cape Town should have a public space, the local residents the opportunity to access through cultural exchanges whether through purchasing or being entertained or perhaps eating something unique to Cape Town.
Each space should be looked at with a view to linking them. Film production studios and set manufacturers along with Special effects companies should also co-exist to create a link between all the various art and design disciples.
Public performance spaces for the dramatic arts and perhaps and open air amphitheater for musicians which leads to multi-purpose studio’s for artists to create energetic urban art pieces for display to both local and international tourists.
Finally, residential accommodation to house the urban artist with a love for energy and a passion for cultural diversity.
In summary, our spaces in question should facilitate art, culture, design. entertainment and cuisine along with living museums where art meets urban life and where we connect the disconnected spaces around the CBD and utilise parallel energy created through the existing highway infrastructure.
Valencia, reinventing the river, project has very similar echoes, and is certainly worth looking at.
I think I’ll play around with some sketches and see what I come up with.
The “wasted space” for parking you refer to above…I assumed that the CTICC were now considering that site since Customs House was no longer available.
The CTICC architect Anja vd Merwe Miszewski has a great sketch/plan on her website of an expanded CTICC and green space along the harbour.
http://www.vdmma.com/images/stories/galleries/CTICC-2/cticc15.jpg
Original foreshore plans not quite as turned out to be.
This is great information – thanks Hilton
Thanks Rashiq – Convenco is definitely still interested in the ‘wasted space’ as a possible area for the expansion of the CTICC
Do you have a reference for the Valencia River?
Great ideas Grant.
There are a few ways we can be practical about this:
1. Introduce new paving and landscaping that continues the type of NMT upgrades along Somerset, near the CTICC etc.
2. Install essential services such as lighting, power, etc. for the space to have variety of uses.
3. Incorporate existing events into the space, e.g. erect the Jazz Festival stage under the freeways ensuring reasonable cover from the elements. Perhaps move the circus tent of the Zip Zap to the site.
4.It may be cliche but brighten up the space using murals, paintings, patterns on the support columns of the freeway.
For very little the space can really become a public space, even if its only temporary, until a final decision is made.
Funding could be derived from various levels of government and from potential income from rentals of the site for movies and other events.
For your “first prize” option – is it even technically possible to sink tunnels through the Foreshore, given that it’s reclaimed land that’s not much above sea level?
I’m not sure – that’s what a proper feasibility study would have to find out
I used to look for new street kids in the disused areas around the foreshore. It was often where new kids ended up cos there were loads of hideaways. This was long before even the big hotels appeared.
It has been encouraging watching this space transform over the years. Walking along the Fan Walk recently, I marveled at what once was a place of tears and great pain in my work, and has now become a point of pride and celebration for Capetonians.
I have no doubt that the current dilemmas concerning the spaces under the uncompleted freeways will yield enormous dividends in the future – this is the gift of tension: when faced honestly and creatively, something fresh and unexpected can be born.
I like the ideas of generating capital from temporary solutions that also allow for the experimentation with the space. Such experimentation can also generate public interest and allow for unconventional, evidence-based public participation in the process. After all, you want to design stuff that you know people will use – so create something as close to it with what you already have and see if they will use it – or see why they don’t.
I’m also startled by the important point of integration between the city and the harbour. Yes! That would be wonderful. We take for granted the separation.
I remember as a kid being taken by great-gran to a fisheries place in the harbour that was always an adventure and the fish and chips were so greasy I would have slippery fingers for days afterward. She seemed to like finding the dodgy parts of Cape Town and seemed to know a lot of them from when she was mayoress.
Thanks for a fascinating article and links Andrew.
Maybe we should knock down the unused bits of the bridges and add some decorative feature to the remaining bridges (like the Nelson Mandela bridge in Johannesburg). Nothing too over the top that would dominate the landscape though. Then we create a park and market area, like in Rio, under the bridges and try to reconnect the city to the harbour in this way. Also take some ideas from the Sydney harbour bridge area. In other words, let some clever architecture do the job. Please just do some proper consultation and let the design be sensitive to the area.