I’ve just spent three days in the Basque city of Donostia-San Sebastian, where I was a speaker at the World Urban Development Congress (INTA 34). I was interested to discover that San Sebastian is a candidate city for the European Capital of Culture 2016. Given Cape Town’s…
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Wooden cobbles recently discovered in Adderley Street
A popular tradition of the Cape Town Partnership AGM is to take our guests on development walking tours of the Central City after the formal business has been concluded. This year, there were four choices of tour: East City Design Initiative, Cape Town’s World Design Capital 2014 Bid, Public…
History and bitter irony – the Huguenot Memorial in Franschhoek, South Africa
The well-known Huguenot Monument in Franschhoek commemorates the arrival of approximately 270 French Huguenots in the Cape circa 1687-89. They were fleeing religious persecution in France following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
The monument incorporates a figure of a woman with a bible in her right hand…
Cities for visitors or for locals? A journey through the ‘top 200′ cities of the world
Many of my posts this year have tended to focus on the impact of the 2010 Football World Cup in Cape Town. Well, it was considerable. But now that the big event has come and gone, I thought that it would be nice to broaden my horizons once again and…
Press freedom and good governance are indivisible
Is there a connection between Cities for People, the title of this blog, and press freedom, currently under threat in South Africa? Yes. Good governance is essential for the wellbeing of cities (and states). Freedom of access to information, including press freedom, is fundamental to good governance, and is the right of all…
Jay Walking in Cape Town
I spent an enjoyable two hours yesterday walking the streets of the city and talking about the history of Cape Town and South Africa with Lucie Pagé, an award-winning French-Canadian writer and journalist. Impatient with many travel guides to South Africa that still persist in starting with “In 1652, Jan…
Cape Town’s Reclaim Camissa Project puts social media tools to good use
“CAMISSA, meaning ‘the place of sweet waters’ is the ancient Khoi name for Cape Town. Embedded, lost and obscured within the city’s fabric this vital ecological and cultural link still exists….”
The Reclaim Camissa Project, a citizen activation project to investigate, document and restore vital ecological and cultural heritage links between…
Mouille Point – what’s in a name?
While the Sea Point Promenade ranks as one of the best public spaces in Cape Town, my personal preference is for its slightly scruffy and less well known neighbour – the Mouille Point promenade and beachfront.
I have often wondered how Mouille Point got its name, so I started doing some…
Come rain or come shine… we walk the city to discover our history
I took a group of 25 international journalists on a walking tour of the Cape Town Central City this morning. The weather was awful, a typical wet Cape winter’s day, but true to our motto – we walk, come rain or shine – we set off in good spirits. The group is…
Athlone Towers – a giant new opportunity for a different approach to city building?
When our boys were small, their name for the Athlone cooling towers was the ‘giant’s coffee cups’. Located near the N2 highway out of Cape Town, the ‘coffee cups’ usually signified the start of a holiday weekend out of town, or the end of a long tiring journey home.
…
A Ripple of Hope – Reflections on Robert Kennedy’s 1966 visit to South Africa
For many years, an old LP recording of a speech by Robert Kennedy in Cape Town in 1966 lay around our family home. I never realised its significance until I saw RFK in the Land of Apartheid – A Ripple of Hope at the opening night of the…
The UDF was born in song
Steve Gordon’s moving tribute to the late Robbie Jansen in the Mail and Guardian this weekend (The last blow for freedom) reminded me just how important music was to the culture and ethos of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Cape Town in the 1980s.
Who can forget…
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Perverse outcomes? New bicycle lanes in Cape Town CBD add space for cars
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Who is championing Cape Town’s Integrated Rapid Transport system?
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Why the Cape Town airport shuttle isn’t working
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Cape Town’s Bid to host 2011 UN Climate Change Conference
- Cape Town loses bid to host UN Climate Change Conference in 2011
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For sure, freeways?
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Wooden cobbles recently discovered in Adderley Street
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Integrated Rapid Transport in Cape Town – no other alternative
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Cape Town Station Square – unburied treasure
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Cape Town shows the world how to street party
- Designing better sanitation services in informal settlements: Cape Town’s R138m Special Jobs Creation Programme has real potential to add impetus
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Stop the Secrecy Bill: Pictures from Right2Know march, Cape Town, 17 September
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Looking for Africa
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The ABC of the EDA in Cape Town and the Western Cape
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Who will lead the economic inclusion agenda when working class leaders abandon that role through ill-disciplined actions?
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Going up: Cape Town’s tallest building since 1993 represents more than a property development
- Introducing the new Cape Economic Development Agency
- Designing a fairer future – why Cape Town is bidding for World Design Capital 2014
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Paradise Road: An inspiring story about Zimbabweans in Cape Town
- Five reasons why making the World Design Capital 2014 shortlist is a good thing for Cape Town
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Christo Fabricius: Knowledge, education and skills development should...
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Etienne du Plessis: Hi Andrew, I conduct a photo stream on Old Cape...
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Greeff Kotzé: Rashiq Fataar 02 December 10 at 20:32 # "I will g...
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Tessa: Hi, I sent you a message via facebook regarding yo...
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Mark Dean Brown: Why doesn't the City offer some sort of tax incent...
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James de Villiers: That's great but still these are only expectations...
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Uhuru: 2.The strength of the visitor destination brand vs...
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Socomo: I'm very keen to see the final design. It's a pity...
Find out more about Cape Town's bid to win the title of World Design Capital in 2014
