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

There are five key elements of the 2010 World Cup legacy for Cape Town:

• R14bn of infrastructure, much of it funded by National Treasury (e.g. CT Stadium, Green Point Urban Park, CT Airport, rail station upgrades, first phase IRT, highway intersections, pedestrian routes, cycle routes, public squares) – There has been nothing like the immovable deadline of the World Cup to get decisions made and things done
• Higher levels of local skills and experience in the public and private sectors (e.g. negotiating with FIFA and National Government, building infrastructure on time, planning and coordinating diverse work-streams and events, issuing complex tenders and managing multiple contracts, up-skilling in the construction industry)
• Enforced cooperation: Government departments, city agencies, organisations and private companies learning to work more closely together to get things done on time
• Stronger Cape Town profile and brand (especially with the positive impact of the Final Draw on 4^th December)
• Better social cohesion – Capetonians enjoying the same space together – an intangible but important part of the legacy

The new raised traffic circle in Green Point, allowing pedestrian access to the CT Stadium and Urban Park, is part of the 2010 infrastructure legacy

So, Cape Town is already a winner because of 2010. How do we build on this legacy? Cape Town is well poised to continue the momentum through key initiatives that are already taking us into the future:

• City Development Strategy
• Integrated Rapid Transit Strategy
• Central City Development Strategy 
• Bid to make Cape Town the World Design Capital in 2014

We still don’t have a clear vision of where we want to be as a city in 20-30 years time, and how we are going to get there. This means that we tend to continue with ‘business as usual’ type thinking and doing.

What we need is a city development strategy – a planning process used by many cities around the world to set out a vision for the city’s future and a roadmap on how to get there.

A city development strategy or CDS is not a ‘plan’ but a way of getting city leaders and citizens to agree to make the right choices. A successful city strategy cannot be all things to all people – it must provoke choices. To be really useful, a CDS needs to contain a set of ‘change levers’ to ‘bend’ our current unsustainable development path towards a more desirable future.

Khayelitsha - a poor but potentially vibrant economic node

Examples of issues (indicative rather than exhaustive) that would need to be addressed by a CDS include:

• Employment and greater distribution of incomes
• Entrepreneurship and the establishment of businesses
• Social cohesion and common city identity
• Urban land question (unsustainable low-density urban sprawl and the need for a more compact city; shortage of adequate housing and basic services; car-based planning or make a fundamental shift towards a city organised around proper public transport)
• Looming resource constraints: energy, water
• Impact of climate change on our coastline and agricultural production
• Human capital development: education, health, skills
• Impact of rapidly changing technologies

The good news is that the City of Cape Town has recently signalled its intention to lead an inclusive and participative city development strategy process later this year. Much good work has already been done by Accelerate Cape Town’s 2030 visioning process, which can be built upon.

It is imperative that we take this process seriously and get involved so that we can collectively shape the future of our city.

We need to get behind the Integrated Rapid Transport System (IRTS)

The question we ought to be asking is not, can the Cape Town afford the IRT, but rather, can we afford not to build it. To continue as a primarily car-based city without a decent, safe, reliable public transport system is not sustainable. A large proportion of our citizens don’t have cars in any case! Rising energy costs will make car travel less affordable. We need to reduce our city’s carbon footprint. The economic cost of congestion on our roads increases exponentially every year. Finally, we cannot continue with the political, economic and social cost of not connecting the disparate parts of our city together and enhancing mobility and access for our citizens.

The IRT is not just a transport project – it is a city transformation project. It is the cheapest form of car-competitive public transport available to cities. It has the potential to drive the necessary city densification processes, with more compact development clustering around stations and along public transport corridors. It can link isolated communities to the mainstream urban economy, offering opportunities to reduce poverty. It can complement the existing rail network. It can provide jobs for taxi- and bus-drivers and many others.

IRT lanes under construction (Pic: Bruce Sutherland, City of Cape Town)

IRT is probably the single most important infrastructure project in the city over the next 10-15 years. It is the main 2010 World Cup legacy project – if we mess it up, we will have squandered the development opportunity of our generation.

It is a complex project, not for the faint-hearted. The City of Cape Town’s initial estimates of costs were too low, the initial project management processes not systematic enough. However, I believe that the City has rectified these issues, and that we are back on track. There is a top team with experience in place under Mike Marsden, which has instituted proper programming and planning. The Department of Transport and National Treasury are firmly behind the project – but this window of funding opportunity will not last forever. If we are not seen to be actively behind the project, driving it beyond 2010 to all corners of the metropolitan area, the funding will peter out, and with it, our chance to experience a decent public transport in our lifetime.

Central City Development Strategy (CCDS)

The CCDS is an existing ten-year framework to guide public and private planners, investors and developers in the Central City (defined as stretching from Green Point to Salt River), published by the City of Cape Town and CT Partnership in 2008.

There are two exciting new projects currently underway that will potentially have a large impact on the future development of the city:

Land Use Change Management: This project aims to address issues that often cause difficulties when it comes to deciding on applications for rezoning and departures, such as building height restrictions, development densities, views, heritage and conservation, active streetscapes, parking ratios in buildings, amongst other things. The intention is for the City to be able to publish development parameters to guide future developments in the Central City and thereby give more certainty and predictability to developers when they are drawing up their applications, investors when they are considering funding projects and planners when they are making approvals. The City of Cape Town intends to consult publically in April. If successful, this path-breaking planning project could be used to guide development in other parts of the city.

Cape Town Central City by night as seen from Table Mountain

Provincial Central City Regeneration Project: The Provincial Government is a major owner and occupier of space in the Central City (some 200 000m²⁾. MEC Robin Carlisle has begun a process whereby all Provincial assets in this area are evaluated in terms of their development potential, for example:

• Reconfiguration of Provincial Government accommodation
• Provision of public services
• Better use of educational and health facilities
• Possible public-private partnerships for commercial, mixed-use or affordable residential developments

The MEC has brought in the participation of the four universities through the Cape Higher Education Consortium. He is also currently liaising with Intersite and Passenger Rail Services (Prasa) with regard to the Cape Town Station phase two regeneration project (in itself, a major potential post-2010 initiative) and Transnet with regard to their Culemborg site, to ensure an integrated public asset management strategy.

This project, which will hopefully be implemented over the next 5-10 years, could have a dramatic impact on the momentum of development in the Central City, and provide ways of addressing the need for affordable housing, spaces for small businesses and non-profit organisations, and additional educational and social facilities. If successful, the intention is to be able to use the model elsewhere in the City and Province.

Cape Town CBD and harbour, with Blaauwberg on the other side of Table Bay

World Design Capital Bid 2014

Creative Cape Town is a programme of the Cape Town Partnership which promotes the development of the creative and knowledge economy in Cape Town. One of our projects is the East City Design Initiative (ECDI) which aims to create a precinct for design, innovation, creativity & entrepreneurship in the Central City.

The East City Precinct is already attracting major attention. It was recently designated a Cape Catalyst project by Provincial Government. It is the home of the successful Cape Craft and Design Initiative, Fabrication Laboratory, the District Six Museum and Homecoming Centre, and the new Central Library in the restored Old Drill Hall. The Old Granary Building is scheduled to be upgraded into a cultural hub.

The new Fugard Theatre opens this week in the old Congregational Church Hall (one of the best restorations of an historic building I have seen) and is destined to become one of the best theatres in SA. The Spier Contemporary is opening in March in the City Hall – showcasing 100 SA artists and 132 works of art – which in turn is helping to restart the process of using the City Hall as a dedicated music and cultural centre.

On the basis of these trends, we will be launching a process to bid for World Design Capital status for Cape Town in 2014 at the forthcoming Design Indaba.

This award is conferred biennially by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) to a city that is dedicated to using design for social, cultural and economic development. If we are successful, this title will give Cape Town a chance to showcase our achievements and aspirations through a year-long programme of design-led events and activities – just as World Design Capital designees Seoul (see YouTube video) and Helsinki will do in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

More importantly, pitching for this title will also give city stakeholders an opportunity to once again work together towards a common goal – just as we have done with the 2010 World Cup. Already, many key stakeholders including the Mayor of the City of Cape Town have endorsed the project, and prominent individuals associated with design innovation have agreed to join a bid advisory body.

We have to be ready to submit our bid in February 2011. That gives us a year to get our act together. I invite any individual, organisation or business who is interested in getting involved to contact the Partnership, which is acting as a bid secretariat on behalf of all the stakeholders.

Conclusion

I know of many other examples of initiatives and projects in Cape Town, which have the potential to take us beyond 2010. However, time does not permit me to list them all here.

Plans and projects on their own are not good enough – we need to look at how we do things. In implementing plans for 2010, we have shown that we can do things differently. We have taken complex decisions. We have met deadlines. We have mobilised people out of silos and compartments, beyond ‘business as usual’. We have become less parochial and more outward looking.

The key question is: can we continue on this basis, or will we slip back into comfortable mediocrity?

Capetonians came together in 1989 to help get rid of apartheid. Can we again come together around a common vision?

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

Ports d’Attache, or Home Ports, is a Canadian documentary series on 13 major port cities*, currently in the process of production. One of the cities is Cape Town, and I had the opportunity earlier this week to show reknowned Canadian photographer Heidi Hollinger, the host of the show, and her crew, around the Central City. The documentary series is looking, amongst other things, at the impact that ports have had on a city’s history, people, culture and development. 

The series is specifically not focusing on popular tourist spots but what it terms ‘the soul of the city’. Walking only a short distance, we were able to discuss the origins of Cape Town as Camissa, the ‘place of sweet waters’ where for centuries, indigenous inhabitants watered their herds until their dispossession by the Dutch East India Company; the consequences of the importantation of slaves from Africa, India and the East to build the Castle, dig the canals, plant the Company’s Garden and construct the early settlement; the origins of Greenmarket Square, Church Square and the historic role of Eerste Berg Dwars Straat (St George’s Mall); the devastating impact of forced removals of tens of thousands of families from the Central City through the Groups Areas Act; the gradual separation of the city from the sea with the construction of the modern industrial harbour and the reclamation of the Foreshore, and current efforts to reconnect the mountain to the city to the sea, and the many other issues that have shaped the history of Cape Town.

The Purple Shall Govern - telling the story of the September 1989 march in town that defied the apartheid police alongside the public sculpture by local artist Conrad Botes on the corner of Berg and Church Streets that commemorates the event

With photographer Heidi Hollinger at the Rainbow Experience in Church Street

Celebrating the release of Nelson Mandela on 11 February 1990 (almost twenty years ago!) and his first speech to the world as a free man from the Cape Town City Hall balcony

All pictures courtesy Heidi Hollinger and crew, with thanks. The Cape Town Partnership conducts regular walking tours in the Cape Town Central City – all welcome!

*Cities: San Francisco, Helsinki, Marseille, Lisbon, Havana, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Houston, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Melbourne and Reykjavik 

Keep off the grass!

About a year ago, I was privileged to have the opportunity to take Enrique Penalosa, former Mayor of Bogata, Colombia, on a walking tour of the Cape Town Central City. Penalosa is well known because of his pioneering efforts as Mayor between 1998 and 2001 in transforming his city from a car-dominated to a more people-friendly environment.

The website of the Project for Public Spaces in New York has this to say about him: “While mayor, Peñalosa was responsible for numerous radical improvements to the city and its citizens. He promoted a city model giving priority to children and public spaces and restricting private car use, building hundreds of kilometres of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks… Peñalosa also led efforts to improve Bogotá’s marginal neighbourhoods through citizen involvement; planted more than 100,000 trees; created a new, highly successful bus-based transit system; and turned a deteriorated downtown avenue into a dynamic pedestrian public space. He helped transform the city’s attitude from one of negative hopelessness to one of pride and hope, developing a model for urban improvement based on the equal rights of all people to transportation, education, and public spaces.”

So, Peñalosa is a pretty influential person when it comes to promoting people’s rights to the city, especially public spaces, and we were keen to learn from him. We showed him around town, and looked at our own public space improvements, such as the Grand Parade and Greenmarket Square. We observed where invasions of public space were continuing to take place, by cars, traders and retailers (Peñalosa expressed his horror at the amount of open parking lots in the city, but admired the potential of the St George’s Mall pedestrian spine). We discussed ways in which to improve the pedestrian environment and to promote cycling.

We also discussed the proposed new Integrated Rapid Transit System and the planned improvements to the Cape Town Station. It was while walking through the station precinct that the embarrassing incident took place. As we walked onto the Station Forecourt, the only bit of green space in the CBD other than the Company’s Gardens, we were immediately ordered to get off the grass. We remonstrated with the security guard: ‘Surely this is public space, a place for people to come out of the buildings to eat their lunches?’ It didn’t help. We were unceremoniously turfed off and completed our walking tour in a somewhat subdued fashion. Clearly, we still had a long way to go in terms of changing attitudes…

Postscript: the Station Forecourt is currently being dug up and resurfaced to form new public square in the heart of the city. People will be welcome in the space, which will effectively form the start of the Fan Walk to the new Cape Town Stadium.

Enrique Penalosa in Cape Town 2008

We had a great turnout at the Cape Town Partnership AGM this week. Our theme was ‘Life after 2010′ and we showcased over 40 public and private projects and developments that demonstrate that Cape Town is ‘open for business’ after the World Cup has come and gone.

CTP Board celebrate 10 years of successful public private partnerships in the Cape Town Central City at 10th AGM October 2009

Happy 10th anniversary Cape Town Partnership

New Pano

Bruce Sutherland of the City of Cape Town captured the iconic grandeur of the new stadium in Green Point last week with these night-time shots. Interestingly, the photographs do not include Table Mountain, Cape Town’s most well-known and best-loved icon. Perhaps this is symbolic of the new era we are moving into, with Cape Town no longer simply defined by our natural beauty, and marketed through traditional reference to our spectacular flora and fauna. As one of the speakers pointed out at the launch of Silicon Cape the other day, the day we are known as a city for our technology, R&D and universities, and not just for our ‘wildlife, whales and wine’, will be the day we start taking business and people development more seriously.

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