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A year of blogging dangerously

I see that I have written 148 posts on ‘Cities for People’ since I started blogging in October 2009. That’s more than a post every three days, which I’m told is the least one must do to keep one’s readers vaguely interested. Blogging has been a great opportunity to get back into the art of …

One step forward, two steps backwards: the densification debate continues

28 September 10 5 Comments

I reported earlier this month that the City of Cape Town has approved a new city densification policy (City of Cape Town considers new urban densification policy). It appears that I was mistaken. It’s now back to the drawing board, as Ella Smook’s article in the Cape Argus (see …

Can greater connectivity help address poverty and inequality in the city?

27 September 10 0 Comments

Improving access and mobility for all citizens through the citywide implementation of the Integrated Rapid Transit System (IRTS) is a major priority for Cape Town in the next 15-20 years. In parallel, and perhaps as important, is promoting greater connectivity through the roll out of Cape Town’s Broadband Infrastructure Network.

Can greater connectivity …

Why lively public spaces that centre around people and community, not cars, are important for democratising cities

10 September 10 1 Comment

My colleague, Ibrahim Seedat, Director of Public Transport Strategy at the South African Department of Transport, drew my attention to this great interview with former Bogotá mayor Enrique Peñalosa in Yes! Magazine.

In Ibrahim’s words, “Even though you have heard it all before, it is always a refreshing option to read Penalosa …

Transforming the city through redesigning public spaces for people

10 September 10 7 Comments

Here is another great article published in yesterday’s Cape Argus (Sept 9, 2010) by my colleagues, Lorelle Bell and Alexandra Jongens, in support of Cape Town’s bid for the title of World Design Capital 2014. Through the WDC bid process, we are asking the question: how do we use design …

City of Cape Town considers new urban densification policy

09 September 10 0 Comments

The Cape Times today reports that the City of Cape Town is considering adopting a city densification policy next month. This is welcome news and needs to be supported! Continued low-density urban sprawl in Cape Town is not sustainable. We are one of the most dispersed and fragmented cities in

…

Where is the centre of Cape Town?

08 September 10 1 Comment

My colleague Iain Harris, who runs the popular Coffeebeans Routes (“We create contemporary, urban, African experiences that provide travellers deep insights into the places they choose to visit”) raised some provocative questions on his blog yesterday – Where is the centre of Cape Town? What happens if we move the existing city centre?…

Cape Town’s Bid to host 2011 UN Climate Change Conference

07 September 10 14 Comments

Cape Town is one of three South African cities bidding to host the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) towards the end of 2011. The fact that the event will take place in South Africa so soon after the 2010 World Cup is a major boost for our country.…

Cape Town’s Integrated Rapid Transit System takes shape

26 August 10 1 Comment

The City of Cape Town announced deadlines for the implementation of phase one of the Integrated Rapid Transit System (IRTS) at a meeting of the Cape Town Partnership’s Central City Partners Forum this week.

The West Coast trunk route between Bayside Shopping Centre and the CBD/ Waterfront will be up and running …

Whoops! Did someone perhaps jump the gun?

22 August 10 1 Comment

Sunday, 22 August. We had been waiting for about two hours at the Clyde-Pinelands sports fields, along with a good crowd of about 5 000 people, to watch the demolition of the Athlone Towers. Finally, three minutes to go. Nearly time for the big event. A stir of anticipation began …

Athlone Towers – a giant new opportunity for a different approach to city building?

22 August 10 2 Comments

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.

For …

The ‘unhappy compromise’ shows signs of coming of age

07 August 10 5 Comments

The Cape Town Foreshore has been described as an ‘unhappy compromise’ resulting in series of ‘wind-blown stretches of asphalt and concrete, filled with car parks and roaring traffic, inaccessible to pedestrians.’* Yet on a still winter’s morning, in the early dawn light, on foot, the Foreshore can almost be beautiful.…

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