The document is the 2010 annual report for Creative Cape Town, which supports and nurtures creativity and innovation in Cape Town, South Africa. It highlights several developments in Cape Town's creative sector that year, including the highly successful Spier Contemporary art exhibition, the opening of new creative venues like the Fugard Theatre and Open Innovation Studios, and Cape Town's bid for the 2014 World Design Capital title. The annual report was meant to introduce readers to Cape Town's active creative community and showcase its growth.

1. ANNUAL 2010
1
WORLD
DESIGN
CAPITAL
EDITION
CREATIVE CAPE TOWN ANNUAL 2010 ART SOUTH AFRICA PUBLISHING

2. 2

3. Creative Circle Michael
and
Frederica, Joost
Sophie of Mich
Stevenson Ar t
ael
son Art
Buchannan
Square keeps
Gallery
IG Prod
fighting fit at
Cape Town’s Mandy from
Orange Films
Orange
nine Fin
most original and
ed
coolest gym – The vir tually invent
Armoury Boxing th e ar t of
Inscape
Club. Tamsin is
sparring here production
with Buchanan’s
college
ne
sales agent, Ivo Nanine of Nani
a
Finewear, brings
C ape Town’s East Nestle (021 425
sense of style ...
nancial
City precinct, 1000).
o r Wo o d s t o c k a s
locals know it, is set
to follow the same
global trend seen
i n L o n d o n ’s E a s t
MCape rTown’s vCBDs ehas initiated,
irro ing o er as trends
limited space and rising costs
INDuSTRIAL ChIC
Andrew from Buchanan Studios’ Tiaan Vorster, Chamele
ing Futu
in immediately fell in love with the a partner in
End and New York’s the migration of many SME’s into semi-industrial feel of the building
Meatpacking District, Woodstock and the eastern city area. and changed his mind about how he Meyer+Vorster
Architects
agers L
where an expanding No longer just a “destination point”, intended to use the space. The fact
landscape of creative the precinct now boasts a number that there are mostly creative tenants,
and entrepreneurial of high profile addresses and has another production company in the
businesses have
boosted inner city
development.
become part of a strip of services
and retail venues that enhance each
complex, and Ogilvy over the road,
he gets the feeling that this is the
Alastair and
Antonello of Spanish
Theatre
other’s trade. “next place to be”. It’s connected La Bottega, a
B u c h a n a n The combination of its unique the dots between The Palms Lifestyle
Square has been aesthetics, its vibe, its proximity to Centre, The Biscuit Mill and Old Castle delicious Italian
er Cera
renovated into what town and its superb location, has Brewery. eatery
is now R100 million attracted a creative community h Av I N G A F I N e T I M e
worth of impressive of tenants who feel that there is a Nanine Finewear, one of the Gary of The
Showro
sa
commercial space, reflecting feeling of excitement here. That it’s original tenants, always loved Showroom know
the funky and cosmopolitan out
the place to launch an innovative or the old, high ceilings and funky thing or two ab
revival of Woodstock.
Light Cit
upmarket product or service. industrial feel of the building shoes ...
Traditionally part of the GOOD STOCk and is naturally excited about the
old meat-packing district, Nick from Stockhome, a custom transformation that has taken place.
Archite
an eclectic mix has been design kitchen company, says the For her, the space is a well-priced, lf
created by combining the character of the building was the perfectly conceptualized creative Debbie is one ha
original factory feel with key attraction to Buchannan Square. space – a visible and accessible of the creative duo
behind The Best
Models
sexy, minimalist styling and They have noticed an increase in address with well-known landmarks
the spaciousness of modern trade from people who choose to nearby Blind Company
interiors. The best of the
Blind Co
pass that way, en route into town, due Inscape Design College feel their
buildings’ raw, authentic to the shared profile of businesses new space at Buchanan Square
design element s – like in the area. lends itself perfectly to creativity. As e,
Nic of Stockhom
home Su
the steel doors, face brick Box Living furniture company educators in fields such as graphic n
exterior and cobblestone were already in the area. Buchanan design, interior design, architectural a custom desig
ny
p athways – have b e en Square had all the attributes they drafting and interior decorating, their kitchen compa
Meyer +
retained and enhanced were looking for: great development, position couldn’t be better.
to a l l ow m o r e n a t u r a l centrally situated on the Woodstock T h e s y m b i o t i c r e l at i o ns h i p
light and capitalize on the W ith space s tar ting f rom a attracted a cluster of creative tenants
Archite
strip and neighbours whose nature between businesses in Buchanan
spectacular views of Table r e a s o n a b l y p r i c e d R 7, 0 0 0/m 2 , who enjoy the community vibe of of business would compliment theirs. Square, and in the area on the
Mountain, Signal Hill and compared with similarly renovated the complex. The Armour y, The Tristan from Box Living feels there whole, boosts the district in an For more
information on
Living
Table Bay Harbour. office buildings in the area that are Hills and Buchanan Buildings make is a good energy about the place, unprecedented way. As for everyone re,
commanding prices upwards of up Buchanan Square – 19,900m2 of and that it’s more exciting than in Buchanan Square, they just really, Buchanan Squa
R10.000/m 2 Buchanan Square has contemporary workspace in total. town, especially from a creative, really like their neighbours. call Ivo Nestle on
entrepreneurial aspect. 021 425 1000

4. Design
minded
Zayd Minty, editor, Creative Cape Town
supports and nurtures the
Creative Cape Town Annual creative and knowledge
Contents
economy of the Central City of
Cape Town. Its aim is to ensure
2010,The World Design that the Central City becomes
a leading centre for knowledge,
Capital Bid 2014 Issue innovation, creativity & culture
in Africa & the South.
In our inaugural Creative Cape Town Annual, of local designers. We also created the space for PUBLISHER & PAGE 08 / 01 WINNING THROUGH DESIGN
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lorelle Bell explains why this is important to all Capetonians
published in 2009, we introduced you to our very cultural stakeholders in the Company’s Garden to Brendon Bell-Roberts
active and creative Cape Town Central City. We find a common agenda. www.artsouthafrica.com PAGE 30 / 02 WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON
Is Cape Town a future-orientated city? By Edgar Pieterse
sketched out Creative Cape Town’s decision to The city centre has seen ongoing growth of creative EDITOR
place its key support behind design in the next eventing. Highlights so far this year include the Spier
Zayd Minty PAGE 32 / 03 REIMAGINING THE fUTURE
zayd@capetownpartnership.co.za Mark Swilling talks about past problems and future choices
few years with such lead projects as the East City Contemporary, which radically changed people’s www.creativecapetown.net
Design Initiative and World Design Capital bid. We perceptions of the City Hall, bringing more than CREATIVE CAPE TOWN PAGE 34 / 04 THE cONTINENTAL cONTExT
10th Floor, Africa is a hotbed of socially responsible design. By Mugendi M’Rithaa
recognised in our work the importance of design as 20,000 people to an exhibition of South African The Terraces, 34 Bree Street
a cross cutting area of support to reach a wide range contemporary visual culture, over two months. Cape Town, 8001 PAGE 36 / 05 SOcIALLY cONScIOUS DESIGN
T +27(0)21 419 1881 Architects are setting new standards in Cape Town
of creative industries in the city. We showed too how We also saw the appointment of a dynamic new F +27(0)21 419 0894
this focus on design could build on the gains of the director for the Iziko South African National Gallery, E info@capetownpartnership.co.za PAGE 40 / 06 OPEN AccESS cITY
www.creativecapetown.net Andrew Boraine addresses the developmental challenges of the IRT
massive infrastructure developments brought by the Riason Naidoo, and a new CEO for Iziko Museums, www.capetownpartnership.co.za
2010 World Cup – not just changing the way we use Rooksana Omar. The wonderful Fugard Theatre PAGE 49 / 07 THE THINGS WE MAkE
art southafrica Photographer Guto Bussab presents Cape Town’s flourishing creative economy
the city, but also how we position the city to the world. opened in the East City and is the new home for ART SOUTH AFRICA MAGAZINE
Importantly we suggested our local distinctiveness the theatre company Isango Portobello. The design P.O.Box 16067, Vlaeberg, 8018 PAGE 60 / 08 WHERE cREATIvE TALENT MEET
T +27(0]21 465 9108 The Cape Town International Convention Centre. By Rashid Toefy
is the strongest raw material we have in positioning store Church opened in the East City as did the Open f +27[0]86 656 931
us as a creative capital. Innovation Studios. The East City Design Initiative has E brendon@artsouthafrica.com PAGE 62 / 09 HOME IS WHERE THE MUSIc IS
www.artsouthafrica.com Rashid Lombard on photography and the Cape Town International Jazz Fetival
The response to the annual was brilliant, both from grown in significance and interest. Die Antwoord, a
advertisers and readers. A total of 6,000 copies were sub-cultural music group became a global sensation CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTANCE PAGE 66 / 10 cREATIvE cENTRAL
No responsibility can be taken for the The East City neighbourhood is home to talented designers and entrepreneurs
distributed free to creatives, politicians, the media courtesy of the “interweb” outperforming any South quality and accuracy of the reproductions,
and business leaders. Delegates at the 2009 Loerie African band in history internationally. as this is dependent on the quality of the PAGE 68 / 11 INSPIRING INNOvATION
material supplied. No responsibility can The Cape Craft & Design Institute and its love of the local. By Erica Elk
Awards were the first to receive the annual. We have This year’s edition of the Creative Cape Town Annual be taken for typographical errors. The
continued our relationship with this vibrant awards is dedicated to Cape Town’s bid for World Design publishers reserve the right to refuse and PAGE 70 / 12 NETWORkED INTELLIGENcE
edit material. All prices and specifications Jenny McKinnell on Cape Town’s networked IT entrepreneurs
event by not only launching the 2010 edition during Capital 2014. We launched our bid at this year’s are subject to change without notice. The
the Loeries again, but creating a whole new event, Design Indaba, four months before the 2010 World opinions expressed in this publication are PAGE 72 / 13 GOLD REWARD
not necessarily those of the publisher. The 32nd annual Loerie Awards. By Andrew Human
Creative Week Cape Town, aimed at showcasing the Cup. We continued to work extensively behind the No responsibility will be taken for any
creativity in the city. scenes prior to and during the World Cup, recognising decision made by the reader as a result PAGE 74 / 14 IMAGINE cITY HALL
of such opinions. COPYRIGHT Creative Makeovers expose how the old City Hal as a vibrant cultural facility
Since last year our work has grown in leaps and that the event’s success will spur people to look for Cape Town. All rights reserved. No part
bounds. We now have a very popular Facebook more ways to keep inspired and connected in and
of this publication may be reproduced PAGE 78 / 15 cREATIvE LEADERSHIP
or transmitted in any form or by any
Cape Town is a leading destination for creative students
presence, a regular e-newsletter, a well-liked for the city. Win or lose, we believe the bid process means without written consent from
the publisher. Creative Cape Town does
creative clusters programme. Via the special edition itself will be highly beneficial, not just for the creative not accept responsibility for unsolicited
PAGE 80 / 16 kNOWLEDGE SHARED IS kNOWLEDGE MULTIPLIED*
material. ISSN-2075-5732 Finding a common voice for design in Cape Town. By Mel Hagen
of City Views, focussed on Creative Week Cape Town, community but also to the city as a whole. We value
we plan to reach many new audiences. Through your engagement with it.
our work we helped foster the Cape Town Design
Network, an organisation responsive to the needs Zayd Minty

5. SAFE CLEAN
CARING INFORMED
THE CENTRAL CITY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT:
KEEPING THE CAPE TOWN CENTRAL CITY
WHAT DOES THE CCID DO?
management and
The CCID offers safety and security, quality urban
social development services to stakeholders in the Central City.
13%
CCID 2009/2010 Budget
Security R15,199,909 52%
8%
Urban Management R 6,115,526 21%
Social Development R 1,763,329 6%
6%
Marketing & Events R 2,318,267 8%
Operational Costs R 3,838,100 13%
CITY VI
TOTAL R29,235,131 100%
52%
21%
C L EAN
| SA F E EWS
| CA R I
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CREATIVES
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6. Winning 01
through
design
Cape Town is bidding for World Design
Capital 2014. Lorelle Bell explains why
this is important to all Capetonians
01/DESIGNING CAPE TOWN
When it comes to Cape Town there is a distinct difference between TOP The new Central Terminal Building of the Cape
what visitors and even proud residents would choose in a show-and- International Airport opened on November 7, 2009.
Rod Stevens of Blueprint Architects working together
tell. Invariably it’s the iconic natural landscape that is reflected in the with a dynamic consulting team designed this key
images. But it’s the experience of people – their diversity, warmth, gateway to Cape Town for the Airports Company of
South Africa. fAcING PAGE An artistically remade
generosity, hospitality and ingenuity – that get a mention. Hopefully, one zebra, part of the “Not All is Black and White” project
impact of that big 2010 event will be that the world gets to appreciate held during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Each of the
this city, this country and, in fact, this continent, not as a combination 33 zebras, placed strategically around the city, was
inspired by a quote from Nelson Mandela.
of exotic beauty spots, wild life and trouble, but as modern, urban and Photo: Anita van Zyl
effective place in which people, rather than the big five, live.
010

7. 01/DESIGNING CAPE TOWN
vuvuzelas
So the new images are of people – blowing , wearing
makarapas, costumed in wigs, flags and oversized sunglasses,
celebrating, mingling and enjoying themselves. And they’re
doing this in urban spaces, in restaurants, pubs, public squares,
whole city roads, using trains and buses.
Whatever the impact of the FIFA World Cup, one result has
been that citizens of Cape Town have been reintroduced to
their city. But Cape Town, home to 3.4 million people, is – like
many cities the world over – grappling with meeting the needs
of a burgeoning urban population, together with creating an
environment for the investment and business development
needed to fuel the economic growth that must support them.
Cities that work are sustainable ones, that prioritise people –
their engagement with the city and their connection and ease
of access to opportunities for work, services, education and
cultural and leisure activities. Issues of proximity to these
opportunities and public transport are therefore key; and
densification, intensification of use and vibrant public spaces TOP The Grand Parade was the key
are critical aspects of urban design and development. official fan park during the World
Cup, with the Cape Town City Hall
Apartheid social engineering turned Cape Town into a gaining iconic prominence in the
sprawling city where the majority of citizens were (and still are) process. 560 000 people used this
fan park to enjoy the soccer and an
cut off from each other, from resources and opportunities. A entertainment programme.
huge housing backlog, unemployment, poverty and unequal OPPOSITE It’s the fans that make
access to education and health services are just some of the a World Cup special. Cape Town
showed its party colours with locals
challenges facing the city. and international fans turning up
in large numbers to make and
What, you may wonder, does this have to do with design? experience the vibe in the streets
Everything really. Employing design thinking and processes of the city. First time visitors were
inspired by the energy and warmth of
in addressing Cape Town’s challenges is critical if we want to locals around the country.
create a future city that is sustainable and fair.
12

8. 01/WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL
A project of the International Council for Societies of Industrial
The Cape Town Stadium adds a new quality to
the already iconic view of Cape Town with its
spectacular location between Table Mountain
and the Atlantic Ocean. The stadium was part of
an extensive redevelopment of the city including
Design (Icsid), a non-profit organisation that protects and the central Cape Town train station, public spaces,
promotes the interests of the profession of industrial design, the bicycle lanes, highways, bridges, public art and a
new bus rapid transport system. These projects
World Design Capital initiative is a “city promotion project” that have left a significant legacy for citizens, making
advances the value of design to cities. Recognising that more than the city centre a vibrant stage for future mega-
events and positioning it as a must-experience
half the world’s population now resides in urban areas, World destination. Photo of stadium on facing page:
Bruce Sutherland,
Design Capital aims to advance the use of design to address the
challenges arising out of this increasing urbanisation.
According to the organisers, design is “an increasingly
fundamental tool in all levels of public and private development.
For cities, design is at their very core and is leveraged in business,
with citizens, as well as in government to make cities more
attractive, more liveable and more efficient.”
The future success of cities, they argue, “lies in the hands of those
who plan, design and manage the shared spaces and functions of
their city”.
One of the mechanisms for acknowledging cities doing this is
the conferral of World Design Capital status on a city. A biennial
award, World Design Capital status is awarded to cities that
are committed to using design in addressing challenges and
implementing their vision for a future city. This status allows
the designated city to showcase its design achievements and
aspirations through a yearlong programme of design-led events
and activities. The current recipient of the award is Seoul.
World Design Capital is different from other design competitions
which focus on specific design sectors in that it is explicitly
awarded to cities that use design for their social, economic and
cultural development. The bidding process for World Design
Capital 2014 opens in the third quarter of 2010.
In the first phase, bidding cities are required to submit an
application detailing their city’s design assets, as well as their
vision and plans for a future city. From these submissions two
cities are shortlisted, the finalists then required to expand on their
bid proposal. The second round judging process includes a visit by
an Icsid panel. The winning city is announced two years before the
yearlong programme of events begins.
14 15

9. 01/COMPETITIVE EDGE TOP Cape Town is a major African hub for design, filled with
great designers, design events, design education and support
institutions, and publications. MIDDLE AND BOTTOM Award
Cape Town is bidding for World Design Capital 2014. While winning architect, Carin Smuts has worked on a number of
community centres throughout the province, such as the Dawid
cities bidding for the prestigious award are not publicly Klaaste Multipurpose Centre (Lainsburg) and Guga S’Thebe
announced, it is understood that Bilbao is bidding along with Arts Centre in Langa.
fAcING PAGE TOP The Cape Town Klopse Carnival is a unique
a number of Chinese cities. Cape Town, which hopes to clinch city festival arising from the period of slavery and the creolized
history of the city. It is a well loved working class celebration of
the 2014 award, has neither the obvious design assets of a the city with its own unique music, fashion and performance.
Photo: Jacques Marais
Bilbao nor the budget of China. fAcING PAGE BOTTOM Luyanda Mphalwa’s low cost housing
It strengths, however, are numerous and include the city’s design solutions show what’s possible when design meets social
responsibility. His beautiful, award winning design proposals for
unique locality, set against a national park, and the distinction a more dignified “RDP” home uses sustainable technology.
Photo: Guto Bussab
of being cupped between two national heritage sites: the
iconic Table Mountain frames Cape Town, while Robben
Island, symbol of South African political resistance, lies just
offshore.
Cape Town’s culturally diverse population, a blend of many
cultures, including a diverse indigenous population, the
progeny of slaves from African colonies, South East Asia, India
and European immigrants, gives the city its rich creolised
character. The city’s food, music, dance and language
reflect this rich variety – as does Cape Town’s wealth of good
designers and designs.
The CBD alone is home to more than a thousand creative
industry enterprises, nearly a half of which are design-
related. They include large architecture and urban design
practices, advertising agencies and IT companies, as well
as smaller enterprises like fashion, jewellery and surface
designers. The leading-edge design conference and expo,
Design Indaba, has been held annually in Cape Town for the
past 14 years and the annual Toffie Popular Culture Festival,
launched in 2009, offers workshops on a wide range of design
disciplines.
Many Cape Town designers have been awarded numerous
global design awards, notably the architects Luyanda
Mpahlwa, winner of the Curry Stone Design Prize for his
10x10 low-cost housing solution, and Carin Smuts, winner
of the 2008 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture; and
the team of industrial designer Philip Goodwin, electronics
designer Stefan Zwahlen and project leader John Hutchinson,
who won the Index Design Award for the Freeplay Fetal Heart
Rate Monitor. Local environmental design is also having an
impact. The Green Goal programme, which helped offset the
World Cup’s carbon footprint, has been widely acclaimed. At
the same time a locally designed electric car, the Joule, is
ready to go into production.
So we do have design to share. But, more importantly, the city
has a compelling story to tell, particularly in how it is using
design to overcome the huge challenges caused by apartheid.
16 17

10. A series of photos taken in the 1950’s and 60’s hark back to a period
when the city centre had an active public culture. District Six was the
epitome of energy, culturally rich with a dense cosmopolitan ecosystem
01/THE STORY
containing all the elements of a good city: pedestrian friendly, vibrant
public spaces and cultural institutions and well used public transport.
TOP “Fairyland” by Cloete Breytenbach. Courtesy of the District Six
OF CAPE TOWN
Museum. BOTTOM “The British Cinema” by Jansjie Wissema. Courtesy
of the District Six Museum. fAcING PAGE “Boy on Bus” by Cloete
Breytenbach. Courtesy of the District Six Museum
2014 is a landmark year in South Africa’s history,
marking two decades of democracy. Apartheid was
designed to divide. The story of Cape Town since 1994
has been about learning to reconnect.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Cape Town was a
relatively contained port city with a diverse population
of just over 100,000, mainly residing between Table
Mountain and the sea. The Grand Parade – a public
space located virtually in the centre of the early
city – was the place where Capetonians gathered to
celebrate, do business, sometimes even protest.
With the establishment of the Union of South Africa in
1910, huge buildings began to be added to the landscape
as the city’s status as provincial and legislative capital
grew. In addition, Cape Town’s profile as the country’s
cultural centre was reflected in the opening (in 1930)
of the South African National Gallery in the Company’s
Garden.
While racial segregation and discrimination were
already promoted by national government, the city
remained a relative melting pot.
District Six (the Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town),
perched just above and to the east of the central city,
within sight of the docks, symbolised this diversity.
Settled in the 1800s by a mixed community of freed
slaves, merchants, immigrants and labourers, the
area’s population expanded with migrants escaping
rural poverty, until it was home to about ten percent of
the city’s population.
Its dense, vibrant, culturally rich mix of races, languages
and religions gave District Six its cosmopolitan
character. Cape Town’s own version of jazz – modelled
after the musical traditions of Africa rather than
America – has its roots here, as do many renowned
writers, educationists, political activists and artists.
Sports clubs, community centres, places of worship for
different religions, schools and many small businesses
provided for the needs of this diverse community.
As white South Africans grew more affluent, benefiting
from the unfair labour policies promoting their
interests – in 1947, a local bylaw placed the onus on
Cape Town employers to pay for repatriating black
South Africans when their work contracts expired,
18

11. fAcING PAGE TOPP19 The school programme at the Lwandle Migrant Museum in Somerset West
tells the story of black exclusion in the Cape. fAcING PAGE MIDDLE A public art piece by Berni
Searle (2000) speaks to the complex space people of mixed descent inhabited during apartheid. In
particular it talks to some of the difficult politics in the Cape, which often sets it apart from other
South African provinces. Photo by Nick Aldridge fAcING PAGE BOTTOM A kinetic public art piece
by Kevin Brand on the desolate windswept landscape of contemporary District Six, originally part of
the District Six Sculpture Festival (1997). The work refers to the extreme loss experienced by former
residents, who were forcibly removed to poorly serviced dormitory suburbs outside of the city, while
their beloved District Six was reduced to rubble. Courtesy of District Six Museum. THIS PAGE TOP
AND BOTTOM LEfT The Athlone Towers, detonated on August 22, 2010, became an alternative icon
for people from the Cape Flats. It was this industrial feature, rather than Table Mountain, which
gave the area its defining feature. It’s importance for the Cape Flats was recognized in the logo of an
important arts festival in 1986, which was banned by apartheid authorities. Design by Gaby Cheminais.
THIS PAGE BOTTOM RIGHTAfrikaaps! Afrikaans as claimed back by people of colour has found fresh
resonances in Cape Town’s positive brand of Hip Hop. Photo courtesy of Dylan Vally.
effectively discouraging their employment in the city –
their social status decreased and they started moving
out of the crowded, integrated inner-city. Residential
segregation became a feature of Cape Town and the
city’s solution to its lack of housing was to develop
sub-economic housing on the Cape Flats strictly along
racial lines.
While racial prejudice was already deeply rooted in
the colonial-era town planning, the twentieth century
saw this prejudice enacted into law. As far back as
the 1920s, black South African men were designated
guest workers in urban areas. Town planning laws
reinforced this system: a 1937 law prevented black
South Africans from buying land except from other
so-called “Africans”; hostels (as opposed to homes)
catering for male workers were erected in the township
of Langa in 1948. The net outcome of this programme
of discrimination denied black South Africans an
opportunity to live and work in the city.
Life for non-white families historically resident in
Cape Town became equally miserable, residents of
mixed-race neighbourhoods like District Six banished
to the urban fringe. In 1966 District Six was declared a
white neighbourhood in terms of the Group Areas Act.
Residents were forced from their homes, their homes
bulldozed and their lives all but erased. The reasons
provided by government for the removals were that
the area was a slum, crime, prostitution, gambling and
alcoholism rendering it dangerous. Most residents
believed that the reason for their removal was the
land’s value, being close to the CBD, the harbour and
the mountain.
All counted, about 150,000 people, including 60,000
residents of District Six, were forced out of the central
city, causing wholesale destruction of areas and
communities.
Ironically, the area was never developed for whites
and remained a stark, empty scar on the landscape
for about 30 years. The only development was the
contested construction of the Cape Technikon, now
the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
20 21

12. TOP Until the 1950’s the city was still comfortably connected to the sea. The much-
loved boardwalk played an important role in the lives of citizens and the city had a sense
of scale and density that made it socially rich and economically viable. MIDDLE In the
1960’s transport planners devised what would later become known as “Solly’s Folly”,
building part of a ring road that was planned to go around the city, effectively cutting
the city off from the sea. The project was never completed, but it signalled a long period
of preference for cars over pedestrians. BOTTOM By the 1970’s a series of modernist
buildings, many in the “brutalist” style, often government buildings, were completed.
This started a trend that would continue into the 1990’s, of architecture that turned
its back on people. Together with underinvestment in public space and with many
Capetonians moving to suburbs, the city centre lost much of its earlier vibrancy.
fAcING PAGE TOP A historical
photo of the connection of city to
sea, which was destroyed shortly
after this picture was taken. By
1950 the foreshore had been
reclaimed from the sea leaving a
large empty tract of land on which
the foreshore highways would be
built.
BOTTOM AND RIGHT Today Cape
01/DISCONNECTED CITY
Town is reclaiming common
ground: new public spaces have
been created, or old ones revived,
public art commissioned and
During high apartheid (1948-1989) segregation became more sidewalks extended. An urban park
extreme and municipal housing schemes were located further is in development around the Cape
Town stadium. A beautification
from white residential areas and separated from those of other project in Long Street has seen
storeowners customising newly
race groups by industrial areas, railway lines and greenbelts. installed pot plants by the CCID.
While these developments decoupled people of different races A new public art piece by Gavin
Younge, entitled Olduvai, stands
from each other, modernisation and industrialisation were in outside an extension to the CTICC.
the process of influencing the city’s development in a way that
also disconnected people from the central city.
Modern ships being larger, the docks required expansion and
plans to reclaim land from the foreshore went ahead, releasing
land for development. This land could have helped realise
an earlier vision of the urban design of the city – one of the
sea being connected visually through wide boulevards to the
parliamentary precinct, and Table Mountain beyond. Instead, an
increase in the number of motor vehicles and the need for more
roads took precedence, and the city’s foreshore area became a
mess of car parks, broad roads and overpasses, cutting off the
city from the sea and resulting in it being virtually inaccessible
to pedestrians.
The interpretation of modern architecture – seen in the design
of buildings like the Civic Centre and the Reserve Bank, which
stood closed off from the streets – served to dehumanise the
city further. If well-designed buildings are meant to make
a positive impact on their environment and the surrounding
community, this trend in architecture achieved the reverse. A
once vibrant city, Cape Town closed in on itself, shutting out its
citizens and encouraging decay, crime and degeneration.
22

13. 01/RECONNECTING
THE CITY
Political opposition to apartheid reached its zenith in
the 1980s and Cape Town’s streets once again rang
to the sounds of voices and footsteps as Capetonians
reclaimed the city in political marches, masses
and mass meetings. Fitting then, that when Nelson
Mandela was released, it was on the Grand Parade
that tens of thousands of residents gathered to greet
him at his first public appearance. Bounded by the City
Hall, the Castle and the Cape Town railway station, the
Grand Parade’s significance as the centre of public life 01
in Cape Town had been in decline and the space was
used mainly for parking and market stalls trading in a
miscellany of goods. This trend continued during the
1990s and it was only recently that the Grand Parade
was upgraded and successfully used as Cape Town’s
official FIFA Fan Fest during the World Cup. There are
now plans to revitalise this public space, restoring it for
the use of everyone.
For the past decade the inner city itself has been the
centre of a major regeneration project, driven and
funded by a private/public partnership. While the Cape
Town Partnership facilitates strategic collaboration
that has brought development and investment to the
city, its operational arm, the Central City Improvement fAcING PAGE TOP A historic image of the City Hall, which looks out over the busy Grand Parade, home to the oldest running markets in the country.
fAcING PAGE MIDDLE A crowd assembled on Strand Street for the Cape Town Peace March, September 13, 1989. Photo by Eric Miller. This important moment,
District, has created a safe, clean environment. led by key civic and religious personalities, brought people of difference together as one, in the face of a crumbling apartheid state. It resulted in similar marches
The restoration of District Six to its historic claimants happening throughout the country heralding the beginning of political change in the country. fAcING PAGE BOTTOM 38 Special Café is one of a number of cafes
in the planned design and informatics innovation hub in the East City. Cafes and bars provide the meeting place of the new creative class developing in Cape Town.
and redevelopment of the area is underway, albeit TOP Nelson Mandela delivers his first public speech in 27 years on the day of his release, City Hall, Grand Parade, Cape Town, February 11, 1990. Photo by Chris
Ledochowski BOTTOM LEfT The struggle for rights continues in the new South Africa. Despite massive changes, there are still major challenges to be addressed:
painstakingly slowly and beset with political challenges. equal education, housing and massive unemployment are key issues. BOTTOM RIGHT Cape Town has a high population of young people, with more than half the
The area linking it to the Central City is, however, population under the age of 30, and 27% under 14 (Census 2001). The role and involvement of young people in the city’s development is thus essential. Here youth
commemorate the Soweto uprising during the World Cup.
enjoying a rapid reawakening. The East City, as it’s
called, is occupied by an increasing number of creative
industry enterprises, as well as artists, musicians and
writers, and theatres, coffee shops and restaurants –
reprising the precinct’s role as the centre of creativity
in the city.
This is also where the East City Design Initiative is
planned, an innovation hub focused on design and
ICT that will provide the space and impetus for those
in creative industries to benefit from the growing
knowledge economy. What was once the Cape Technikon
is now a campus of the Cape Peninsula University of
Technology where the unique Faculty of Informatics
and Design promotes socially conscious design, and
staff and students collaborate with communities to find
design solutions to social challenges.
24 25

14. 01/RECONNECTING THE CITY The Dignified Spaces
programme of the City of
Cape Town has created new
public spaces in previously
under-resourced suburbs
(townships) around the city
including developments
around transit malls,
government services
buildings and in a number of
instances commemorating
important historical
Woodstock and Salt River were once at the centre of the (now ailing) textile moments in these areas.
industry.Photos by Yasser Booley. Today it is the studio and manufacturing spaces Service Centres and Pay
of furniture designers like Pedersen and Lennard, fashion designers like Darkie Points in Khayelitsha, (2002),
and design stores and galleries like Art South Africa and Blank Projects. by Piet Louw Architects, are
part of the dignified spaces
programme.
For decades the clothing and textile sector, with a
base in the suburbs of Salt River and Woodstock,
was a robust industry and a major contributor to
the Cape Town economy. When this failed, the area
degenerated. But, like many cities worldwide that
have used design to revive locales, this precinct
is experiencing a process of regeneration, led
in large part by the presence of designers and
design-related businesses. Furniture designers
Pedersen+Lennard and Haldane Martin, lighting
designers Heath Nash and Brett Murray, fashion
design company Darkie Clothing all have studios
here. The area has also witnessed a proliferation
of art galleries, advertising agencies and design
shops. In the old clothing and textile district, a
cosmopolitan environment has arisen, where design
and lifestyle are key elements of its character.
Cape Town is a city with a cosmopolitan offering
of art, culture, entertainment and leisure, adding
another string to Cape Town’s marketing bow as a
destination.
Cape Town has also recently benefited from the
beginnings of an Integrated Rapid Transport (IRT)
system. A network of road, rail, pedestrian walkways
and bicycle paths, it has the potential of connecting
people and giving them greater access to different
areas, resources and opportunities. Through the
application of design, the IRT could potentially
unleash sustainable, economic development and
densification in the nodes surrounding stations.
Beyond the central city, there have been other
initiatives that reflect Cape Town’s commitment
to addressing the fragmentation of its layout. The
municipality’s Dignified Places Programme is one
example and aims to create positive, inspiring, safe
spaces in the most under-resourced areas of the
city for people to meet, trade and relax.
26 27

15. 01/WHY IS CAPE TOWN BIDDING?
Cape Town needs to get better at communicating its design assets and
achievements and sharing its design know-how so that best practices can be
replicated. Bidding for World Design Capital can help it communicate design
innovations.
Cape Town already has an extensive range of great designers and design assets
(product and graphic designs, film and television animation, advertisements, THIS PAGE Cape Town is a premier events
destination. Some of the highlights in the
furniture, jewellery, ceramics, fabrics and clothing). The city also has a calendar last year include The Spier Contemporary
2010, Design Indaba, The Cape Creative
of major events such as Design Indaba, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival Exhibition with Fringe Arts, Cape Town
and the Loeries, an annual award scheme for the advertising industry. International Jazz Festival, Switching on
of the City Lights and The Loerie Awards.
A number of winners of international design competitions are from Cape Town. Photos: Anita van Zyl, Jacques Marais,
Shaen Adey
Organisations like Cape Craft and Design Institute (CCDI) and Bandwidth Barn, fAcING PAGE TOP LEfT A CCDI City
and programmes like Creative Cape Town are committed to design thinking that Sculpture piece. Photo Anthea Davison.
TOP RIGHT Products from the Fringe
unlocks potential. Arts pop-up shop. MIDDLE LEfT Anatomy
Design stand, Design Indaba. MIDDLE
World Design Capital will provide the city with the opportunity to showcase its RIGHT Cape Town is a hub for music and
design assets and design savvy to the world. the performing arts. Die Antwoord is a new
international music sensation from the city.
Most importantly, the award can assist Cape Town in getting design into the BOTTOM LEfT AND RIGHT The District
Six Museum’s Offside exhibition dealt with
public domain, and in mobilising the city around using design for social change. racism in soccer.
28

16. fAcING PAGE A street art project by acclaimed artist Faith47 talks to
the extreme imbalances in the contemporary South Africa by evoking the
01/ABOUT DESIGN
Freedom Charter, a publicly developed manifesto from 1955, against the
backdrop of poverty. Photo by Rowan Pybus.
BELOW Cape Town’s World Design Capital bid could help the city fast
Unfortunately, locally, design has come to be associated almost exclusively with its aesthetic qualities track some of its many forward thinking projects, including the proposed
eco-village for Oudemoelen, the innovation hub planned in the East City,
and is often equated with elitist, consumerist and expensive, irrelevant things. Instead, it should be the Bellville Science Park, or the cruise liner terminal in the harbour.
understood in terms of its solution-finding, problem-solving, transformative potential, and therein
lies the heart of Cape Town’s bid. In an emerging society like ours, this potential is critical. Design
understanding and skills can help Cape Town to address challenges created by its past and enhance
the standard of living for everyone into the future.
Design begins with a problem, the interrogation and understanding of this problem, and then
proceeds to the development of ideas and processes, as well as evaluation of these, with a view to
solving the problem. Take for example some design innovations in the health sector.
In South Africa, where cervical cancer is responsible for 25% of cancer deaths among black South
African women, Pap smears are expensive. There is also no public Pap smear programme. Professor
Lynn Denny, head of the Gynaecological Oncology unit at the University of Cape Town, has designed
a cheap, low-tech alternative used to screen for cervical cancer at clinics in under-resourced
communities. Nurses use acetic acid swabs, which cause abnormalities in the cervix to show up
white, and abnormalities are then treated by freezing them with liquid nitrogen. The alternative is no
treatment at all. With a vaccine still several years away, this method saves lives.
Another example that draws from knowhow developed in under-resourced communities derives from
the high incidence of diseases like TB and HIV in these neighbourhoods. The IT department in CPUT’s
Faculty of Informatics and Design has been working with community- and home-based health
carers to develop a programme of support for health care workers. Using cell phone technology, the
students have developed and tested a programme that helps health practitioners to access support
and information to assist them in their work.
There is a lesson in this for all forward thinking Capetonians interested in living in a better-designed
future. Design is not necessarily an activity confined to the “lifestyle design” disciplines. It is about
more than sleek, tactile home products or cleverly conceived buildings. Design is fundamentally
about identifying the most effective, efficient, appropriate, and broadly applicable solutions, whether
they are products, systems or services. The message is simple: a commitment to design, and design
knowledge and training, which the award of World Design Capital offers, will benefit us all.
Lorelle Bell is the World Design capital coordinator at cape Town Partnership
30 31

17. What’s 02
really
going on
Is Cape Town adapted to be
a dynamic future-orientated
city? Sean O’Toole explains why
Edgar Pieterse might just
know the answer
Earlier this year, bookshops around the country started the city’s residents, who are excluded from the formal
displaying a bright yellow hardcover book. To read its title, economy and must rely on substandard public services
you had to tilt your head sideways. Counter-Currents, and their own makeshift shelters.”
declared the book’s shocking pink lettering. Make no mistake, Pieterse, a former policy advisor in the
The first major book to emerge from the African Centre Office of the Premier of the Western Cape (2004-07) and
for Cities (ACC), a newly formed inter-disciplinary currently the holder of the NRF South African Research
research centre based at the University of Cape Town and Chair in Urban Policy, is no Afro-pessimist. If anything, he
focused on the discipline of urban development, Counter- is a philosophical pragmatist with a deep-seated interest
Currents was conceived by its editor, Edgar Pieterse, in understanding the mechanics of Cape Town and its
as an experimental “catalogue of ideas”. It also treated relationship to other African cities. Unafraid of theory,
Cape Town as a laboratory for new thinking about African he is nonetheless motivated to produce scholarship
urbanism and showcased a range of “policies, dreams, that will bring about “meaningful policy discourses and
ambitions, critiques, philosophies and learning”. interventions”. Justice, openness and accessibility are
The book’s deductive mode of reasoning makes for central to his vision of a future Cape Town.
engaging reading. More than this, it also offers a useful “It is a myth to think you can innovate in a technical urban
insight into its editor. A committed urbanist, Pieterse, development field in Africa without a direct engagement
who took up office at the ACC in August 2007, is a prolific with the people who are meant to benefit from it,” he told
author and agile thinker with wide-ranging appetites. architect Kerwin Datu in March. Pieterse, who holds a
A warm conversationalist, when his busy schedule allows PhD in Urban Studies from London School of Economics,
for a meeting, his research interests include fashioning was in Rio de Janeiro at the time. (He moderated a session
an appropriate language to think and speak about the at the World Urban Forum.)
specifics of African urbanism; regional development “If we can get a fine-grained understanding of how people
policy; and, somewhat uniquely for a scholar, the visual in real terms in actual places navigate and practice the
representations of African cities. More plainly put, one city in usually contradictory ways,” this action-orientated
could say that Pieterse is critically engaged thinker thinker stated, “then we can begin to produce a new
actively re-imagining Cape Town. language, necessarily theoretical, which can get us closer
Criticism is an important part of his method. Despite to understanding what is really going on.” It is this sort
its sexy packaging, Counter-Currents doesn’t shy away of deep looking that makes Pieterse and the ACC such
from highlighting some of the key dilemmas facing a vital contributor to the ongoing debate around Cape
contemporary Cape Town. Town’s long-term growth as a city founded on sustainable
“The City of Cape Town is heading for disaster and is thinking and action.
already in deep crisis if one cares to look close enough,”
offers Pieterse in his introduction. “It is manifested most
fAcING PAGE Leisure Time: a billboard in Langa by artist Donovan Ward for
starkly in the dire situation that faces the majority of the public art project, Returning the Gaze (2000). Photo: Nic Aldridge
32

18. Reimagining 03
the future
We tend to blame our problems on
development, inequality and history,
argues Mark Swilling, but we forget that
we have choices about the future.
By Sean O’Toole
“Sustainability needs to be firmly grounded in the nitty- provincial context that is overwhelmingly urbanised.”
gritty details of design,” writes the pioneering eco-architect Unlike other provinces, the Western Cape is also not
Sim van der Ryn in his 1996 book, Ecological Design. Van heavily reliant on resource extraction and its capital, Cape
der Ryn’s thinking, which places design at the centre of Town, has an economy that is an agglomeration of small
sustainability debates, struck a chord with Mark Swilling and medium enterprises. While unemployment is lower in
when he first encountered it. Cape Town than elsewhere, literacy rates and per capita
Speaking at a symposium to discuss the East City internet penetration are higher. Cape Town also has the
Design Initiative in May, Swilling, a professor and highest rate of basic service connections in country.
division head in sustainable development at the School “You have quite an interesting possibility,” said Swilling. “It
of Public Management and Planning at the University of is an interesting space to think of making design innovation
Stellenbosch, reiterated Van der Ryn’s arguments for the central to our focus.”
benefit of his audience. After briefly reviewing initiatives like ECDI and discussing
“He has a very significant statement in the introduction the provincial government’s willingness to be “a game
to the book,” offered Swilling. “Paraphrased: the crisis changer” in the field of innovation, he concluded that Cape
of sustainability is actually a design crisis. Why this word Town was confronted with the need for higher levels of
design is so central, not just to dealing with the challenge collaboration. “Are we up to that?” he wondered. All the
of sustainability, but to sustainable development in general, indicators suggest yes.
is that it marks out a space that is often ignored. We tend
to blame our problems on development, on inequality, on
history, but we forget that we do have choices about the
future, and those choices lie in design.”
Central to Swilling’s arguments, which view the challenges
facing Cape Town in global macro-economic terms, is the
thought that we are faced with the need to re-imagine the
world in which we live in very fundamental ways.
“This reimagining,” he said, “which is already taking
place, is resulting in fundamental redirections in massive
investment flows, public and private, around the world,
leading to a reconfiguration of cities as we know and
understand them.”
Swilling, who completed his Ph.D. at the University of
Warwick where he is a senior research fellow, argues that fAcING PAGE TOP Blue Line, by Strijdom van der Merwe and AAW Art
Cape Town, particularly, is faced with a historic mission. Project Management, is a proposed land art project for Cape Town to
mark the extent of the city which would be under water should the sea
How so? levels rise with global warming fAcING PAGE BOTTOM The Reclaim
Camissa initiative seeks to revive the city’s damaged ecosystem and
“Cape Town has an interesting economy if you look at it its associated cultural connections. It plans to raise above ground
closely,” he stated. “It is quite different from many of the the tributaries from Table Mountain, which have been sunken in
underground tunnels and through which vast quantities of scarce
city economies in South Africa and Africa. It sits inside a fresh water are lost into the sea.
34