A 24-hour city is a place where it’s fun to live, not just work. It’s a place where the streets are alive with activity, day and night, where the entertainment options are as varied as the weather and public spaces are just that: spaces used by everyone, any time. Sound like your kind of town? Read on to find out how you can help Cape Town become a 24-hour city.
Cities need people: sufficient inner-city residents ensure that the CBD of a city remains abuzz with activity long after the last office worker has left work, that there are enough customers to support local businesses, and that transport networks are well supported and therefore sustainable to maintain.
In the case of Cape Town, increased densification will help to ensure future growth, while affordable housing will ensure that it becomes a truly diverse city. According to Joel Mkunqwana, president of the National Association of Social Housing Organisations, Cape Town stands to benefit from increased residential densification in other ways too: “Providing affordable housing in well-chosen locations close to the CBD will ignite social mobility and change, encourage social cohesion, and have a number of important economic knock-on effects. Densification means more tenants for inner-city landlords and can also aid in job creation by providing additional customers to local companies and encouraging a 24-hour economy in the city.”
For lower-income individuals, social housing close to the Central City provides welcome relief in the cost of transport, allowing people to spend less money commuting and more time with friends and family. As Joel points out: “Alleviating the cost of transport also frees this income to be spent in other ways, on things like education or on supporting local retailers.”
Going places
An affordable and extensive public transport system is essential to connect the people and place of a city but non-motorised transport also has an important role to play in the creation of a 24-hour city.
As Marcela Guerrero Casas, coordinator of the Open Streets Cape Town initiative explains: “Studies have shown that pedestrians and cyclists make more trips to shopping stores as capacity to carry goods is limited. If non-motorised transport is made easy, safe and attractive, this encourages businesses to stay open for longer periods of time, which helps maintain activity in the city after working hours. We are particularly lucky in Cape Town as, for most of the year, the weather makes walking very appealing, and, if infrastructure and security are provided, we are likely to see a lot more activity at night time.”
Shared spaces
Another essential ingredient of a 24-hour city is welcoming and inclusive public space in which a diversity of people can interact in a variety of ways. As Marcela explains: “Shared spaces – like streets, squares and parks – can improve the health and life of a city by helping people to experience the city and connect to each other in new ways. That's why the Open Streets initiative is such a powerful tool: Open Streets effectively convert public spaces, normally allocated only to cars, into places where people can reinvent their surroundings by using streets differently and linking with one another regardless of who they are and how they move.”
Temporary interventions, which allow people to interact with the urban environment in new ways, are a case in point. Daniel Siegler, a long-time business resident of Bree Street, is hoping to do just that, by establishing a pedestrianised cultural market in Bree Street on weekends that will showcase new ideas, talent, products and urban development projects. “It will not just be another craft market for people to stroll around and consume boutique products. It will be more a place to experience and experiment with music, art, fashion and public space – all embedded in a warm environment for the people of the city,” Daniel says. “We are still in planning stages but at the core of the project is the desire to be on the streets as a pedestrian and a citizen alike – finding new inspiration and interacting with other people and cultures.”
We’re all city changers
But beyond the necessity of densification, the power of transport to enable change or the need to create viable and vibrant public spaces, Cape Town will become a 24-hour city through the participation of its citizens. After all, cities are made by the people who live in them.
So what can you do?
As a resident
- Be present: get into town in the evenings and over the weekends, attend local events and activate the city’s public spaces. Use public transport if you don’t already, you will be saving on fuel costs, parking costs and the need for a designated driver when you’re out on the town.
- Vote with your wallet: spend your cash locally and help to create a market for local businesses while sustaining the Central City economy. Request that your local shops extend their shopping hours later in the day or over weekends – if they know that there is a market for their goods and services, they will be happy to oblige.
- Make your voice heard: lobby your local City councillor to ensure that your neighbourhood is working towards becoming more child-friendly and pedestrian-friendly.
As a business owner
- Keep it local: making use of local service providers for your next company event will support the Central City economy and save on transport costs for employees.
- Be creative: when it comes to space, think multipurpose: If you own a space that would be good for events why not allow the local community to hire it after hours? Also, by staggering the times that your employees need to be at work you are alleviating rush-hour pressure on infrastructure, as well as ensuring that the Central City is consistently busy – an important consideration for local retailers and service providers. Lastly, provide incentives for your employees to take public transport, walk or cycle to work, either in the form of transport rebates, or by providing services like bike racks.
Words: Ambre Nicholson
Photo: Lisa Burnell
This article first appeared in the February issue of City Views. Read it online.