Tag Archives: Public transport

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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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

Pedestrian zone in Adderley Street

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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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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Award for Cape Town Station designer

Yesterday, I wrote about the huge public space opportunities that will present themselves once the new CT Station Square in the Central City is unveiled (Cape Town Station Square – Unburied Treasure). In today’s Cape Times, I see that my colleague Mokena Makeka, the Cape Town architect behind the redesign of the…

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Cape Town Station Square – unburied treasure

We haven’t quite yet begin to realise the future potential of the new Cape Town Station Square. Situated right in the middle of the Cape Town CBD, the construction of the new Square was initially driven by the need for a public evacuation area, so that the CT Station can conform to international transport safety…

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New people’s park

 

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…

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‘Life after 2010′ – Talk to the Cape Town Press Club, 08 February

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

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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…

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Breakfast at the new CT Airport

Breakfast at the airport? Well, if you have children who like watching Skychefs load meals onto planes, and baggage handlers driving strange vehicles around the apron, not to mention planes taking off and landing, then breakfast at the new CT Airport is the place to be. I took my two sons,…

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