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Cape Town Fan Walk lives on

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It wasn’t as big as the World Cup Fan Walk. Or as glamorous. But last night’s PSL double header at the Cape Town Stadium showed that the Cape Town Fan Walk is here to stay.

Of the 46 000 people that attended the match at the stadium, only 6 000 used…

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Cape Town’s Integrated Rapid Transit System takes shape

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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…

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

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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.

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The ‘unhappy compromise’ shows signs of coming of age

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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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Reclaiming cities for people

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Have a look at this short inspirational talk by Gil Penalosa (brother of the more famous Enrique) on how Bogata, a developing city, shifted resources into building liveable streets and spaces for the benefit of the majority of citizens.

 I particularly like his example about constructing linear parks and walkways that…

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Post 2010 paradigm shifts create opportunities for new city development

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In 2008, the City of Cape Town and the Cape Town Partnership published the Central City Development Strategy – a framework to guide change and manage growth over the next ten years. We are currently reviewing and updating the strategy in light of the 2010 World Cup experience.…

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Cape Town shows the world how to street party

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We were hoping to get 100 000 people on the Cape Town Fan Walk for the Germany vs Argentina 2010 World Cup Quarter Final match. At its peak, the Fan Walk hit an estimated 153 000! This means that when 65 000 people were in the stadium, over 90 000 continued

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Our Cities Ourselves

Our Cities Ourselves is the title of an imaginative new exhibition that opened yesterday in New York, which shows visions for ten cities, mainly in the developing world, from ten leading architects. The exhibition, which is organised by the respected Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, is themed around sustainable transport…

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Heaven forbid we return to business as usual in the city

Cape Town will never be the same again. Not after the experience of the World Cup. I’m not talking about the infrastructure legacy, or the new facilities created, or the worldwide exposure for Cape Town as a destination. I’m talking about the way in which our attitudes to using the city…

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I love it when a plan comes together

“I love it when a plan comes together” was one of the catchphrases of John ‘Hannibal’ Smith, a character in the popular 1980s TV-series, The A-Team. I felt like repeating it on Friday evening when I saw 20 000 people (the City of Cape Town’s official figure) using the Cape Town…

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New Cape Town inner city public transport system takes shape

One of the legacies of the 2010 World Cup will be improved public transport, including an inner city route. The following information is adapted from a recent City of Cape Town communiqué:

The inner-city loop service (download route map) will provide a safe, quick, reliable way for tourists and locals to…

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Cape Town gees (spirit)? – We’re getting there!

There’s been quite a bit a talk about Cape Town not being in the mood for the World Cup. Sure, we sometimes take a bit longer than other parts of the country to get going. But don’t just count the number of flags on cars or lamp-posts. Rather, walk around…

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