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

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?

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

Mano, Maya and Angelo on the mezzanine level above the 120 new check-in counters

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, Mano and Angelo, and their cousin, Maya, there on the morning of the opening of the new central passenger terminal. After checking out the new Mugg and Bean, Vida-E, Woolworths and Wimpy, amongst others, we eventually settled on that old Cape Town children’s favourite – the Spur. Located high up with a great view of the planes and other runway activities, its bound to be a hit with families.

As a Capetonian, I am proud that we will be able to ‘welcome the world’ in style next year to our great new airport. The design is elegant, the decor is subtle, and the service is very good. As a father, its wonderful to have another interesting place in Cape Town to take the family for breakfast.

Zakumi, the 2010 mascot, was on hand to welcome us on opening day

View from above

IRT lane under construction in Cape Town (picture: Bruce Sutherland, City of Cape Town)

There has been a lot of public debate about the costs and funding of the planned new Integrated Rapid Transit System (IRT) in Cape Town recently. Many commentators and ratepayers are asking  – can we afford it? My view is – can we as a city afford not to implement an effective system of public transport such as the IRT?

Future congestion costs, pollution costs and energy costs all mean that Cape Town is not sustainable without a serious shift to public transport over the next ten years. As Ibrahim Seedat and Bill Cameron of the National Department of Transport point out: “The next 10 to 20 years are going to see traffic congestion, oil depletion, climate change restrictions and economic contraction seriously challenge inherited movement systems. Sustainable cities will be those that develop energy-efficient and user-friendly movement networks. Mass car use will not meet this challenge, but nor will ineffective public transport systems that are ’stuck in traffic’” (Cape Times, 02 November 2009)

Of course there must be accurate budgeting and costing for a project this size, and we have to live within our means as a city. It is prudent to ensure that promised funding from Central Government materialises. Bill Taylor, a US citizen living in Cape Town makes the point very well: “So now imagine a city where the authority running the mass transit scheme is facing a multibillion-rand gap in its budget because of the recession. Some of the projects have shot up way over the estimates, entire sections of the system have been left off the budget and forgotten. If this sounds familiar, consider that this is the recent report card not for Cape Town but for New York City. The main thing, however, is that despite all of this, there is no mention of stopping development. The city has realised that to retain its status and function properly it cannot allow itself to fall behind, although all five of its transport projects are costing more than anticipated” (Letter to the Cape Times, 02 November 2009).

The IRT is the one project that can serve to reconnect and integrate our physically and socially divided city in a relatively short period of time. I have a vision, in years to come, of an instantly-recognisable network of red bus lanes criss-crossing the city, connecting all communities to each other.

I say – let’s all get behind the Red Line. Hamba Bomvu! Go Red!

The instantly recognisable 'red line' snakes through Cape Town (pic. Bruce Sutherland)

Steel re-enforced concrete with a red ochre tinge makes the new IRT system instantly recognisable (pic. Bruce Sutherland)

Workers construct the IRT lane coming in from Paarden Eiland to the Cape Town Central City (pic. Bruce Sutherland)

Table Mountain and Lion's Head are recognisable from the new IRT lane under construction between Milnerton and Blaauberg

Bruce Southerland's beautiful aerial picture captures the 'red line' as it moves up the West Coast

Transit-led development

The IRT financial sustainability issue is not just confined to Cape Town. The City of Johannesburg went through exactly the same debate two weeks ago. Enrique Penalosa, ex-Mayor of Bogata, Colombia and IRT expert pointed out at a talk in Johannesburg recently that the real issue, in all SA cities, is our low density urban sprawl. I agree with him.

Any form of public transport will not be sustainable unless we seriously tackle our current urban form. More people travelling shorter distances, with better peak to base rations, will ensure that a future IRT service is viable. The City of Cape Town has recently published a draft policy on densification for comment. In my view, far tougher measures need to be put in place, but it is a good start and we should all be getting involved in the debate.

Last week, the Cape Times published a 3D city population density map by UCT academics Ivan Turok and Ken Sinclair-Smith, showing that our highest densities, not surprisingly, are in the townships and informal settlements in the south-east, rather than near the traditional urban centres. In my view, what would be useful is to show at the same time the population density pattern in relation to the location of the urban economy and current development patterns and the transport connections between them. While we need to try to take the economy to where the people are, in the long run, we need to bring the people nearer to the production centres and the jobs, reduce the physical footprint of the city, and the resulting distances.

This means promoting transit-led development, where there is a confluence of people, economy and public transport in nodes and along transport corridors, is given a high priority.

Two examples will suffice:

The new IRT station adjacent the Woodstock/ Esplanade rail stations, has the potential to drive the redevelopment of Woodstock, Salt River and Culemborg, and connect back to the proposed CT Station phase two redevelopment project.

The development of a multimodal transport connection (rail, bus, cycling) in Woodstock has the potential to lead the regeneration of the land east of the Cape Town CBD

Similarly, the IRT Red Line through Paarden Eiland could lead to the creation of a well-located mixed use, mixed income area

The IRT West Coast route goes through Paarden Eiland along a disused railway track (pic. Bruce Sutherland)

BRT

We’re busy gearing up for the Cape Town Partnership AGM this coming Thursday (29 October). We have decided not to go with just the boring stuff (annual report and financial statements) but turn the occasion into something worthwhile. So we will be having a mini-conference on ‘life after 2010’ to show that we don’t need necessarily to go through the post mega-event blues that many cities seem to go through and that Cape Town will be ‘open for business’. At the same time, we are also conscious of all the ‘unfinished business’ challenges that we face in the next decade – the need for more jobs, a growing economy, affordable housing, with the unfinished Foreshore Freeways and the incomplete restitution of District Six being the two most visible reminders. All the presentations and discussion will be on the Cape Town Partnership website from Friday.