Cape Town Squared (or how some of our most valuable public assets are not being properly used)

Do you remember the popular zebra artworks dotted around public spaces in Cape Town during the World Cup? Well, they’ve now migrated to the Artscape Piazza on the Foreshore.

The 33 zebras form an exhibition entitled ‘Not all is Black and White’, by the World for All Foundation, which runs until 27 August. Each zebra is decorated by a different artist on the basis of a well-known quote from Nelson Mandela.

Artscape Piazza

Overnight, the artworks have transformed the relatively underutilised Artscape Piazza into a more welcoming and vibrant place. People interact with the zebras and pose for photos. The public space is now a destination rather than an empty space through which to pass en route to somewhere else.

The artworks help to make the public space more interactive

The Piazza, normally no more than a thoroughfare, now invites the public to linger awhile

Cape Town is fortunate to have many fine public squares and spaces. However, they are neglected and underutilised to varying degrees.

Some, like Riebeeck Square (which started life as Boeren Plijn or Farmer’s Square in 1724) and Harrington Square in the East City (created overnight following the demolition of a block of buildings in District Six) are currently car parks. Both have the potential to contribute to the regeneration of their respective neighbourhoods if utilised more imaginatively.

Church Square (once a hippo pool, then a graveyard, and for years a car park), and Jetty Square and Pier Place (both named for the grand old pier demolished in the 1940s to make way for the Foreshore reclamation) have been upgraded by the City of Cape Town in the past few years, but remain unmanaged and relatively unused.

Our two oldest public squares, the Grand Parade (1699) and Greenmarket Square (1710), have also been recently upgraded, but lack proper management, maintenance and utilisation plans. The beautifully upgraded St Andrew’s Square, next to Lower Buitengracht, which was recently ‘discovered’ by thousands who used the 2010 Fan Walk, is similarly unmanaged.

Stalplein (1791), next to the South African Parliament, was stolen from the public in the 1980s in the name of national security. It is still fenced off and accessible only to Parliamentarians and civil servants.

Thibault Square, on the Foreshore, is privately managed, and kept neat and tidy, but is underutilised and remains fairly desolate. Station Square, at the start of the Fan Walk in the centre of town, has been recently created by Prasa and Intersite, and which has great potential, but lacks a plan.

The historical and contemporary squares of Cape Town are priceless public assets. They are all possible places of meeting, markets, public events and civic interaction. They have great economic, social and cultural value. They have the potential to issue a ‘standing invitation’ to Capetonians to leave their private buildings and cars, and engage with fellow citizens, on an equal footing.

If the public squares of Cape Town were public buildings or roads, they would fall under a specific City or Government Department. Someone would be accountable for their maintenance and management, and they would be one someone’s budget. But because they are seemingly ‘empty’ spaces, no-one looks after them.

No-one spends time thinking how best they can be used, and how conflicting uses can best be managed. No-one’s key performance indicators are measured according to the number of people that congregate, buy and sell goods, protest, play and listen to music, mime, feed the birds, people-watch and just generally hang out in public spaces.

And because of this, social dialogue and public interaction in our city is so much the poorer.

The herd of zebras in the Artscape Piazza shows how little things can make a big difference to the way in which public spaces are perceived and used. So too, more public art, imaginative lighting, food markets, or just a decent place to sit and read the newspaper in the winter sun.

We need a proper plan how our public spaces, in the city centre and throughout the City of Cape Town, can be properly managed, maintained and used. This starts by recognising and valuing these spaces as essential elements of democratic city life.

'Not all is Black and White'

Artscape Piazza - now a destination in its own right