A large part of our time at the Cape Town Partnership and CCID  is spent on finding ways in which our public spaces can be used by and for citizens of this city. The multiple events taking place this coming Human Rights Day weekend point to a coming of age in the use of our public spaces for a wide variety of citizen activities. Take a look at some of the social, cultural, sporting and political events taking place in the city over the weekend:

The Cape Town Festival, part of the One City, Many Cultures project, will take place in the form of a four day programme of events from 19-22 March in the Company’s Garden, featuring, amongst others, Hilton Schilder, Good Luck, the Hip Hop collective, Kings of Vegas, South Paw, Country Conquerors, Under Kontrol (world beat-box champions), Keeno Lee, Claire Philips, Zaki Ibrahim (Canada), Loading Zone & Allou April, Napalma (Brazilian and African musicians), Gugulethu Tenors, Emo Adams, Anselmo Ralph (Angola) and the Rudimentals

The Absa Cape Epic, Cape Town’s world-renowned mountain bike stage race (8 days, 1200 riders, 722 km, 14 635m of climbing) will be launched at the North Wharf at the V&A Waterfront on Saturday afternoon

The Cape Town Carnival will take place on Greenmarket Square (music party featuring Emo Adams & Take Note, Loyiso Bala and Locnville) and Upper Long Street (float procession with 2000 performers) on Saturday March 20 during the afternoon and evening

An Equal Education march to Parliament for school libraries, starting at 11h30 on Sunday 21 March on Thibault Square, followed by a concert with Hip Hop Pantsula. Equal Education is a movement of learners, parents, teachers and community members working for quality and equality in South African education, through analysis and activism

The Kurdish Human Rights Action Group (KHRAG) will be launching a petition to call for the release of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in the Company’s Gardens at 15h00 on Sunday March 21 as part of the Cape Town Festival

A memorial commemorating the great march of 30,000 people from Langa to the city centre led by Philip Kgosana in 1960 to protest the pass laws will be unveiled in Langa at 13h00 on March 21. Part of the march will be re-enacted from the Grand Parade to the Caledon Square police station. (For the history of Langa, one of the oldest African townships in South Africa, see the Centre for Popular Memory at UCT)

A special Day of Prayer will take place on Monday March 22, when over 55 000 people are expected at the CT stadium to pray about ”important issues surrounding our city and the impact of the World Cup event as a whole – employment opportunities, youth, child trafficking, drug abuse, our government, our essential services”. This event is also being held to test the readiness of the CT stadium and transport arrangements ahead of the 2010 Football World Cup starting in June. Participants are being encouraged to use public transport to town and catch a shuttle bus or walk to the stadium, on a route parallel to the official fan walk, which is still under construction

The Out of the Box Festival of Puppetry and Visual Performance, organised by the South African branch of the Union International de la Marionette, or UNIMA, runs from 20-28 March. It will be launched at the Baxter Theatre on Monday evening March 22. Many of the events also take place at the Little Theatre at the Hiddingh Campus at the top of the Company’s Gardens. More details are available on the Out of the Box Facebook Group

The Parlotones play at Kirstenbosch Gardens on Monday evening

And finally, don’t forget the Spier Contemporary 2010 exhibition on at the City Hall every day!

PS. Sport lovers need not conflicted. The Cape Town Festival has cleverly arranged to screen Super 14 rugby, IPL cricket and Sunday’s big match between Liverpool and Manchester United on big screens in the Company’s Gardens

The shift from car-dominated to a people-oriented Central City took another step forward this week with the announcement by the City of Cape Town of new non-motorised transport projects in Adderley, Shortmarket and Bree Steets. These will complement the work already being done in Waterkant Street and Somerset Road to connect the CT Station to the CT Stadium via a pedestrian-priority and cycle route.

The Cape Times (16 March 2010) called it ‘A non-motorised transport revolution’. Download the full article here. See also IRT bike paths designed for cyclists, by cyclists

The central pillar of the new pedestrian bridge across Buitengracht St, connecting Waterkant St to St Andrew's Place and Somerset Road, Green Point, was put in place today

The bridge will ensure that fans walking to events at the CT Stadium are able to get there safely. In addition, Green Point retail will become more accessible to people working in the CBD and vice versa

The bridge is expected to be finished in the next month. A second pedestrian bridge lower down Buitengracht St will allow an easier pedestrian connection between the CBD and the V&A Waterfront

I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the opening of the Spier Contemporary 2010 Exhibition at the Cape Town City Hall last night. The event was well attended and a great success. Well done to Tanner Methvin and the Africa Centre for pulling it off.

Matanaswo-A Bragging and Proud Lady - Phillip Rikhotso

This is what I said at the opening:

“The Spier Contemporary 2010 is South Africa’s largest visual and performing arts exhibition, and we are honoured and delighted to launch it here in Cape Town tonight.

A good friend of mine in the art world gave me some advice about my speech. She said: keep it short, make it humorous, and for goodness sake, don’t talk about art. Whatever you say, you will be wrong. In any case, the audience are there to look at the work, and those who are really interested in contesting assumptions of what constitutes the proper protocol of post-apartheid rainbow nation representation in liminal spaces, with or without the cliché of the white frame, can read the catalogue.

Well, you’ll be pleased to know that it will be short. I don’t know about the humour bit, and I will limit myself to just one comment about art.

Maggots in red earth from Polokwane? Die Bystander - Hanje Whitehead

Our current national discourse is fractured, polarised, intemperate and downright dismal. Populism and opportunism is the order of the day and all manner of insincerities abound – none of which bring us any closer to finding ways to solve the real problems of the day – poverty, hunger, unemployment, our lack of solidarity, community and ethics, the need for better systems of accountability and governance.

Hope and Fear - Frina Galloway

Clive van den Berg, a member of the Curatorial Team, talks of a ‘national distemper, a profound unease in the nation’ that is reflected in many of the works submitted for consideration and many of those chosen for the exhibition. Mwenya Kabwe, another team member, notes the political cynicism that exists amongst many artists at the moment, whose work reflects ‘a deep sense of distrust and disappointment in formal politics and particularly with politicians’.

Representation: A Discourse - Christopher Marsberg and Francois van Tonder (video installation)

Phula Richard Chauke's acerbic view of politicians and their cars

The Spier Contemporary has amongst its aims: audience and artist development, creation of new markets, and training and development of artists and curators. All these aims are exemplary. It seems to me however that its greatest contribution is in giving us art as another language to understand and express ourselves, especially during this time when the conventional political discourse is severely limited. And it’s not all serious, thank goodness. Humour, irony and sly jokes abound in many of the works that cast a jaundiced eye on our contemporary leaders and problems.

The 2010 Football World Cup is not spared either. Ball and Chain - Dawood Petersen

I want to say something about the Africa Centre, the organisation behind the Spier Contemporary. Established in 2005, and located in the Cape Town Central City, the Africa Centre has already distinguished itself through its other programmes – in particular, the Badilisha Poetry X-Change, the Pan African Space Station and the Infecting the City public arts festival which annually stages and exhibits free high-quality, thought-provoking works in the public spaces of Cape Town accessible to everybody.

The Africa Centre is one of the new breed of organisations that are conspiring to make Cape Town a creative and innovative city. Five years ago, we realised the close connection between culture and urban regeneration, and so initiated the Creative Cape Town programme. Amongst other things, this programme attempts to find and create both public and private spaces for creative industries and enterprises to grow and flourish.

Today, there are more than 1000 creative industries in the Cape Town central city alone, which is why Cape Town has decided to bid for the World Design Capital for 2014, a biennial accolade that is given by the International Council of Societies for Industrial Design to cities that best use design for social, cultural and economic development.

One of our current projects is the East City Design Initiative (ECDI). The East City is that curious and quirky part of the city centre that lies between Adderley Street and District Six – an architecturally and historically rich area with amazing potential.

Home to many design and advertising businesses, film producers and photographic studios, the East City is also the location of the Cape Craft and Design Initiative, Fabrication Laboratory and Cape Town Fashion Council in Harrington St, the new Fugard Theatre and the District Six Homecoming Centre in the Sachs-Futeran Building, the District Six Museum itself, the Book Lounge, the Assembly live music venue, the Central Library in the beautifully restored Drill Hall, the rejuvenated Grand Parade (site of the 2010 Fan Fest), the new CT Station, Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Faculty of Informatics and Design, and the soon to be restored Granary Building.

A building in the East City with the potential to become one of Cape Town’s most important cultural spaces is the City Hall. To date, for a variety of reasons, this project has not managed to get off the ground. (By the way, have a look at Jonathan Garnham’s work – Gold Chain – a 298,5m long comment on the neglect of the City Hall over the years).

(Untitled) Gold Chain - Jonathan Garnham

The Africa Centre, by presenting the Spier Contemporary Exhibition in the City Hall, has done us a huge favour, in that we can now imagine how these spaces could be creatively used in future. This is why, to coincide with the opening of the Spier Contemporary, Creative Cape Town, the Africa Centre and Cape Mic have launched the Imagine City Hall campaign.

The Spier Contemporary 2010 has brought life and colour into a neglected building

Imagine City Hall is a citizen activation programme. Its aim is to draw support for the development of the Cape Town City Hall as a dedicated cultural venue. The space should be accessible to all the people of Cape Town, and should forward the broader arts and heritage of the city and the continent. Please visit the Imagine City Hall Facebook group, which already has 541 members, and read what local artists Tina Schouw, Steve Fataar and Barry Smith have to say in support of the initiative.

More importantly, when you walk around the Exhibition, please take the time to see how spaces that were, until recently, dark, cluttered and neglected, have been ‘opened for art’, and to imagine the City Hall as a permanent cultural space.

Enjoying the new spaces in the City Hall (Picture: Anita van Zyl)

The opening speakers were mercifully located adjacent to the main balcony used by Nelson Mandela on 11 February 1990 (picture: Anita van Zyl)

In conclusion, my thanks and congratulations go to:

• the many South African artists who submitted a total of 2700 works for consideration
• the 101 artists that have been selected for the exhibition
• the Spier Estate for supporting visual and performing arts at a time when funds are hard to come by
• Tanner Methvin, Farzanah Badsha, Robin Jutzen and the hardworking team at the Africa Centre – for the exhibition and for all you do for the city
• The curatorial team and the judges, especially those who are visitors to our city – you are most welcome

Ladies and gentlemen, you are in for a treat! Please enjoy the evening. The Spier Contemporary Exhibition at the Cape Town City Hall is now open for art.”

A Downtown Symphony (detail) - David Koloane. This is my favourite piece on the exhibition (naturally)

Brett Murray at his provocative best with his piece 'Culture'

Voices - Maurice Mbikayi (picture: Anita van Zyl)

Heartbreaker (literally!) - Johann van der Schijff

(By the way, have a look at Gabeba Baderoon’s thoughtful response to Minister Lulu Xingwana’s comments about the Innovative Women Exhibition)

“Urban place-making can’t be left to the professionals”. With that bold statement, two Capetonians, Mokena Makeka and Rory Williams, have launched a new weekly column on urban issues in the Cape Times newspaper. Read their first column and check out www.men-about-town.co.za for more information. Better still, write a letter to the Cape Times and tell them your views.

"If design influences how we conduct our lives, it's up to us - those who use the urban space - to contribute to the creation of a great city"

Like the name says, one of the longest streets in Cape Town

There’s been quite a bit of discussion recently on the issue of street renaming. My colleague, Ryland Fisher, writing in the Cape Argus on 22 February, asked what has happened to the working group leading a renaming process set up by the City of Cape Town a few years ago: “This group, under the leadership of Rhoda Kadalie, produced what I thought was a fair report, given the city’s divisive history. However, nothing happened after they delivered their report.”

Ryland correctly points out that the renaming of streets in honour of people who gave their lives in the struggle against apartheid has to date been confined to former black townships: “It irritates me no end, and makes me ashamed to be a citizen of Cape Town and the Western Cape when I drive through Khayelitsha and I see that it’s only there that streets are named in honour of these leaders. I’m glad that they are honoured – but not in this ghetto fashion. It is almost as if Mandela and the others fought for the liberation of black people only, and so they must be honoured in black townships only… It galls me to drive around in the city centre where almost every street name harks back to apartheid, while township streets celebrate the leaders who fought for the liberation of all.”

I (mildly) disagree with Ryland’s view that “almost every street name (in the Cape Town city centre) harks back to apartheid” – many are good descriptive names like Long, Loop and Bree, or, for example, like Strand, Waterkant, Jetty and Sea Streets, tell a story about the historical shoreline of the city – but overall, Ryland is correct to ask the question: what has happened to the process?

Shortmarket St - telling a story of the origins of the Cape Town retail economy

Last week, the issue was raised again, this time at a public meeting in Cape Town called by the South African Geographical Names Council. The debates were reported heated, with traditional Khoi leaders in particular calling for a comprehensive name-changing process. “Many atrocities were committed during the changing of names (during the colonial period) in this country” said Frank Smith, national organiser of the SA Progressive Civic Organisation. Dan Fletcher, of the Indigenous Royal Council, pointed out that: “Not a single street in this province is named after a Khoisan”.

Perhaps in response to the criticism, Sakkie Jenner, Western Cape Provincial MEC for Cultural Affairs and Sport, announced last week that the Provincial Government would be establishing a provincial committee to deal with the process of name changing in the province.

So, where does this leave us? There is no doubt that many names of streets (and buildings and public places and amenities) in Cape Town continue to offend or hurt. I sometimes can’t believe that we still have a street (Oswald Pirow on the Foreshore) named after a prominent Nazi sympathiser. Or a major highway (Settlers Way) named in such an obviously provocative way.

On the other hand, the process of renaming, if not handled correctly, can lead to further divisions and conflict rather than nation-building. The way the street naming process was mishandled in central eThekwini/ Durban (see pictures) is a case in point. A few years ago, Mayor Pieter Marais’s attempts to try and to rig the voting process to force through the renaming of Adderley and Wales Streets (to Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk respectively) in the city centre, was highly devisive and helped lead to his demise as Mayor.

The renaming of streets in central eThekwini/ Durban has been a messy process

Any process of renaming needs to be open, transparent and inclusive. Personally, I dislike naming (or renaming) streets after politicians, no matter how great and good. I am particularly saddened when I see names such as Beyers Naude, Oliver Tambo, Joe Slovo and Lillian Ngoye given to roads (or hospitals or schools or places) that are then allowed to decay through poor maintenance and management. What an insult to honourable leaders!

I prefer names that tell a story, that are historically interesting, or geographically descriptive, names that above all, will endure long after our current generation has come and gone.

As a student of history, I am aware that a renaming process can be superficial and shallow if it is not part of broader efforts to genuinely build social cohesion and address the physical and materials needs of citizens. Like patriotism, the practice of renaming can become a refuge of scoundrels, enabling leaders to deflect from delivering on substantive issues. However, I don’t buy the arguement that the process of renaming certain streets and places is irrelevent or that there are ‘more important issues’.

Cities and towns are about people. As human beings, we express ourselves through culture and we value our personal, neighbourhood and community identities. If our roads and buildings and parks and beaches and statues and images and advertisements and designs do not reflect people’s cultures inclusively, then we will never succeed in becoming a city truly owned and respected and cared for by all citizens. And that’s not the sort of city I want to live in.

Its time for a process of more inclusive memorialisation in Cape Town (and in our country), but done in a such way so as to educate ourselves about different cultures, languages, communities and contributions, to bring ourselves closer together.

Contradictions in central eThekwini/ Durban: the historically evocative Brickhill Road, and the benign West Street, have been renamed, but Kitchener St, named after a British colonial warlord type, remains.

Know your history: What would Anton Lembede, political activist and founding president of the ANC Youth League, have to say about being placed alongside Theophilus Shepstone, who, as secretary for native affairs in Kwa Zulul-Natal for 30 years, was arguably the architect of separate development?

You can get a good idea of how the Green Point Urban Park is taking shape from the top of the Ritz Hotel in Sea Point

Ella Smook of the Cape Argus wrote an article this week on the new Green Point Urban Park, which describes the facilities being planned for the area after the 2010 World Cup. Located next to the new Green Point IRT station, the park will become more accessible to communities throughout the city as the IRT system is rolled out, although just looking at how well-used the adjacent Sea Point Promenade is by a wide range of Capetonians, I have no doubt that the Urban Park will become a popular regional facility from the word go.

The outline of the central common can be clearly seen. The Metropolitan Golf Course is in the background

The Urban Park will form part of a wider system of recreational areas and pedestrian and cycle routes, such as the Sea Point Promenade

The Urban Park is adjacent to the CT Stadium precinct, and will be managed by Stade de France and Sail, the stadium managers

The 2010 FIFA Football World Cup Fan Walk in Cape Town is taking shape. This is the route that creates a pedestrian-priority route from the CT Station in the CBD to the CT Stadium to be used by an estimated 18 000 fans on match days.

My 2010 colleague Carola Koblitz briefs CTP and CCID staff members at the start of our recent Fan Walk inspection tour (corner St George's Mall and Waterkant St)

Up the hill to Long Street. Waterkant (Waterside) Street, the main route of the Fan Walk in the CBD, marks near where the historical shoreline used to be. The whole of Waterkant street is being transformed into a pedestrian-priority route and cycle lane

Broken street furniture in Waterkant St due to be repaired in time for 2010 as part of the City of Cape Town's beautification programme

Sea Street is another reminder of where the shoreline used to be before the reclamation of the foreshore after 1939

Greening the city. In future years, the Fan Walk will be a shaded avenue

The Fan Walk goes past several traditional shops, including the well-known Lusitania Fisheries, where you can get one of the best calamari and chip rolls in town!

Improvements to public space often prompt the upgrade of adjacent buildings. Here, a new design-related development on Waterkant Street behind the historic Lutheran Church takes shape

A new pedestrian bridge under construction, corner Buitengracht and Waterkant St

One of the busiest roads in the Central City is Buitengracht Street, which forms a hostile barrier for pedestrians between the CBD and Green Point. A new pedestrian bridge will begin to soften the interface between these two areas. There will also be a new at-grade pedestrian crossing

The Fan Walk passes the Prestwich Memorial in St Andrew's Square, which pays tribute to the thousands of poor Capetonians, many of them slaves, who were buried over the years in unmarked graves outside the historical city boundary (buiten die Buitengracht - outside the Outer Canal). The new Truth coffee shop provides a welcome respite along the route

The other half of the new pedestrian bridge under construction, against a backdrop of the old Lutheran Church and Table Mountain

The old tram rails show where the trams coming from Sea Point and Green Point used to turn towards town along Waterkant Street

The Fan Walk continues past the historic St Andrew's Church into Somerset Road, Green Point

Somerset Road is at the moment a jumble and clutter of traffic, in places very pedestrian unfriendly. The Fan Walk upgrade is an attempt to allocate addition space to pedestrians and cyclists through this busy area

The Fan Walk passes by the popular Cape Quarter extension

The Gallows Hill (another reminder of our conflict-ridden past) Traffic Department parking lot being converted into a temporary access road onto the Western Boulevard as part of the 2010 transport plan

For sale. Another example of how the upgrade of public space can prompt potential private development

The pedestrian and cycle route along Green Point Main Road is now well established, although concrete benches have been placed in awkward places, causing a potential hazard to a crowd of pedestrians and to cyclists

The new Green Point Circle pedestrian underpass links the Fan Walk to the IRT station, the Waterfront, the CT Stadium and the Green Point Urban Park

Looking back. The Fan Walk provides a pleasant 2,6km (approximetely 30 minutes) walk from the CBD to the Stadium, and will become a means of accessing the stadium over and above the bus shuttle systems that will be provided on match days. It will also contibute to the 2010 legacy in the form of permanent cycling and pedestrian-priority routes through the city, which will no doubt lead to ongoing intensification of urban economic activities

Like the man said, imagine...

I’ve never been a fan of the Cape Town City Hall from an architectural and aesthetic point of view. I always find it a bit gloomy – two buildings in one rather awkwardly joined together with a rabbit-warren of corridors and rooms. However, there is no denying its symbolic and historical significance, and its imposing edifice is instantly recognisable against the backdrop of Table Mountain.

With a bit of imagination, I believe that the City Hall can become one of Cape Town’s leading cultural centres. Already preparation for the forthcoming Spier Contemporary 2010, which is stripping out the detritus of the past few decades, is revealing the future potential of the building. This is why Creative Cape Town, together with the Africa Centre and Cape MIC, has recently launched an Imagine City Hall campaign – an opportunity for citizens to register support for the City Hall as a dedicated cultural venue, and to imagine ways in which the building can come alive again.

For more information, check out the Creative Cape Town webpage  and sign up at the City Hall Facebook Group.

The logo for the Imagine City Hall campaign

The Africa Centre’s Infecting the City Public Arts Festival kicked off in public spaces in the Cape Town Central City this morning. The theme for this year’s festival is Human Rite. I saw two very powerful yet different performances – Quiet Emergency on Thibault Square and Meet Market on Church Square.

Quiet Emergency

“Cape Town: a patchwork map of dislocation, where communities are separated by history and inequality, isolated by high walls and indifference…”

Quiet Emergency is created by Anthea Moys, Gilbert Douglas and Margie Mackay

"Honouring that which unites us as human beings, that which gives us connection, hope and continuity"

"Every community has its boundaries, each interaction its limitations... we live in a state of quiet emergency"

Creating a halfway meeting space - street children, sex workers, security guards, street cleaners and professional performers

Meet Market

Meet Market tranforms Church Square into a startling new green space in the city

"The procedure is not pretty, it concerns dis-ease"

"A new rite is exercised... an infected wound is lanced, disinfected and then sealed to allow healing"

The act of passing water for a cleansing ritual from the site of the old slave tree to the Slave Memorial on Church Square brings traffic to a halt in Spin Street. The Slave Lodge is in the background.

"The putrification of centuries of denial and shame requires removal"

"Conflicting memories and fragmented histories"

Arriving on one of the new "Dutch Team" pedicabs to watch the performance

Jan Hofmeyer, founder of the Afrikaner Bond, contemplates a 'Home for All' on the side of the Provincial Government building in Wale Street

Meet Market is created by Andrew Buckland, Athina Vahla, Ibrahim Quraishi and Lerato Shadi. Infecting the City is on until 20 February.

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 beaches in Mouille Point. It is well-used by a racially- and economically-diverse range of Capetonians – for, amongst other things, walking, roller blading, football, touch rugby, swimming, fitness classes, cycling (on the adjacent pavements, not on the Promenade itself), kite-flying, religious ceremonies and people watching. With its numerous grassy spaces and playparks, not to mention the Blue Train, it is very children-friendly.

In recent years, citizens have organised a great campaign called Seafront for All to ensure that the Promenade remains accessible to the public. This is an essential aspect of public spaces for public life – the space not only needs to be well-used but also ’owned’ by citizens. Sometimes new public spaces are created that are well-designed but remain unused because of lack of citizen involvement; the Sea Point Promenade, on the other hand, slightly jaded in places, battered by waves during winter storms, remains a much loved place where Capetonians from all walks of life can engage.

Two fishermen try their luck off Saunders Rocks near Bantry Bay

Sunday morning football games are taken very seriously

So too is five-a-side touch rugby

The Sea Point Promenade near Three Anchor Bay

The stretch of grass near the Mouille Point lighthouse provides breathtaking views of the West Coast across Table Bay

My favourite part of the pedestrian route - the little beaches in Mouille Point - still give one an idea how the coastline looked 100 years ago

A 'pirate' cruise boat in front of Robben Island

See Seafront for All Facebook site

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 a treat! The exhibition is organised by the Africa Centre and will showcase 132 pieces from 100 South African artists. The best news is that the City Hall is finally receiving a bit of a – albeit temporary – makeover, showing what the space could look like if it is properly restored.

Clutter and debris dating back to the 1970s being removed from the City Hall to create bright modern exhibition spaces

Majestic spaces - where the City Library (now next door in the restored Old Drill Hall) used to be

Next, I went around the corner to Caledon Street to the Sachs-Futeran building to look at the new Fugard Theatre. Its going to be the home of the award-winning Isango-Portobello Theatre Company. Situated in an old Congregational Church Hall and an adjacent warehouse, it is one of the best restorations of an historic building I have seen in a long time. The Fugard opens on 12 February with Mozart’s The Magic Flute-Impempe Yomlingo. Situated next door to the District Six Homecoming Centre, and the Old Granary Building (also due for an upgrade in 2010), the complex is set to become the heart of the Cape Town Partnership’s East City Design Initiative.

The entrance to The Fugard in Caledon Street, off Buitenkant Street

Rehearsal space on the second floor

Terri Carter of the Cape Town Partnership auditions on stage

The roof terrace boasts some of the best views in the Central City

See recent Sunday Times article on The Fugard by Marianne Thamm

And finally – the bad.

I walked around the newly-upgraded Grand Parade and was bitterly disappointed in what I saw. The Grand Parade is Cape Tow’s oldest public space. It is one of our most important heritage sites. It was where Nelson Mandela first spoke to the world as a free man 20 years ago. It is the venue for the official FIFA Fan Fest in June. The City of Cape Town has recently spent R22m on upgrading the Parade. It looks like this:

The brand new brickwork is covered in ugly oil stains due to the vans and bakkies that are allowed to park there

New paving turning to rubble due to lack of maintenance

The vandalised base of a monument

Lack of cleansing and refuse removal mars the environment

The main problem is that the City does not have a public space management policy and strategy in place. No one is responsible or accountable for maintenance and management, even though many of the spaces have been beautifully upgraded by the City in recent years. This issue, which has been kicking around the Civic Centre for the past four years, needs to be resolved once and for all. Watch this space!

A story on the state of the Grand Parade appeared in the Weekend Argus on 30 January 2010:

Vandals trash Grand Parade after upgrade

City’s main fan park ‘not managed’

By Helen Bamford

The Grand Parade, the site of Cape Town’s main fan park for the World Cup, was upgraded at a cost of R24 million but within weeks has been damaged and vandalised, apparently because of a lack of management.

In his blog, the chief executive of the Cape Town Partnership, Andrew Boraine, described his disappointment after walking around the newly-upgraded site.

He posted photographs of what he saw: brickwork covered in oil stains from vehicles permitted to park on the parade, new paving turned into rubble due to lack of maintenance and the vandalised base of a monument.

He says the main problem was that the city did not have a public space management policy and strategy.

“No one is responsible or accountable for maintenance and management, even though many of the spaces have been beautifully upgraded by the city in recent years.”

The city’s 2010 co-ordinators are also concerned.

Shameel Ho-Kim, project co-ordinator for the city’s 2010 operations office, said the Grand Parade was a high priority for 2010 and they wanted it closely managed.

He said that they had raised their concerns with the city’s sports and recreation department, under which the Grand Parade fell.

“They have indicated it will be managed more closely with increased patrols.”

The Parade will be fenced off from May 1 for construction of the fan park which will create a stadium atmosphere accommodating an estimated 25 000 people, with an overflow along Darling Street which will take 15 000 people.

All 64 World Cup games will be screened live at the fan park which will be open from 10am until midnight on match days with hospitality areas and beer tents.

The city has appointed an operator called Grand World Visions, a consortium of World Sport, VWV and Grand Parade Investments, to plan, implement and manage the fan fest on its behalf.

Paul Williamson, city service co-ordinator for business areas management, said the city had identified two alternative sites for existing traders during the World Cup.

The city would ensure that the Grand Parade was in a suitable condition for the fan fest, and the damage identified would be repaired.

 Weekend Argus sent written questions to Gerhard Ras, the councillor in charge of sports and recreation under which the Grand Parade falls, on Thursday asking who was responsible for managing the site and why it was not being done.

He did not respond but Gert Bam, director of sport, recreation and amenities, said the areas requiring attention since the upgrade were not substantial.

In one area the electricity department had “disturbed the paving” during an installation.

“This caused a ripple effect on the surrounding paving. We have asked the electricity department to correct this.”

In other areas the paving seemed to have sagged.

“As we are still in the maintenance period of the contract a snag list has been drafted and the urban design department which managed this project will interact with the contractor to attend to all the snag items,” Bam said.

Published on the web by Cape Argus on January 29, 2010.

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© Cape Argus 2010. All rights reserved.

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 CT Stadium was due to be played that afternoon (for great pictures of this event, click here). All in all, with the pavement next to the Sea Point Promenade thrown in, I experienced 18km of mainly car-free cycling which I enjoyed so much, I returned the next morning, this time with my sons, Mano and Angelo.

Fan Walk from Station to Stadium. This wonderful pedestrian and cycle path provides a new connection from the CBD to the CT Stadium, Waterfront, Urban Park and Promenade

Pedestrian underpass – nearly completed and now navigable on a mountain bike

IRT Bus Station under construction – designed to handle large crowds before and after matches

An army tent guards the horizon at Fort Wynyard in the shadow of the stadium

Fort Wynyard, a centrally-located and valuable heritage site, is currently under the control of the Cape Garrison Artillery. It was built in 1861 by convicts from the nearby Breakwater Prison (now UCT Graduate School of Business), although the site was first used for coastal defences by the Dutch in 1795. It makes sense to consider upgrading and opening this facility to the public to make it part of the overall Green Point Common experience. At the moment, grumpy army guards do their best to keep one away from the site.

Green Point Urban Park under construction. I have no doubt that when this facility is completed, it will become one of the best used public open spaces in Cape Town

Mouille Point Lighthouse. The Urban Park will provide a magnificent pedestrian and cycle link between Green Point Main Road and the Sea Point Promenade.

Urban Park under construction. A row of cranes that look as if they could be from that best loved children's book Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel

Green Point Urban Park under construction

Different angles. The stadium is framed by Signal Hill and Table Mountain

Different angles: CT Stadium and Devil's Peak

Different angles: The stadium resembles a giant paper lamp in front of Table Mountain

Reporting for duty. Security staff get ready for the first match to be played at the new stadium (Santos vs Ajax Cape Town, 23 January 2010)

Mike Mulligan, Mary Anne and friends wave goodbye

Sunday morning

A club cricket match in a stunning setting - surely more use could be made of these grounds?

Mano Boraine was keen to pose in front of the CT Stadium tunnel onto the pitch

Paragliders circle Signal Hill and Lion's Head

Angelo Boraine outside the new CT Stadium