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It is creativity and the creative sector that defines the personality of Cape Town, the tone of the city and its surrounds, and the street life, fashion, music, food and focus of the people of this city. Creativity matters in Cape Town because it inspires our visitors, engages our youth, and drives economic growth and job creation. CAPE TOWN PARTNERSHIP 2014 THINK OF THIS AS AN ALBUM OF HIGHLIGHTS FEATURING OUR WORK FROM THE PAST YEAR. BY NECESSITY, WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS ONLY A SMALL PORTION OF WHAT WE DO BUT WE HOPE THAT IT PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO THE FIVE MAJOR THEMES OF OUR WORK: CREATIVITY, ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, RESILIENCE, AFRICAN LIVEABILITY AND THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY, AS WELL AS HISTORY AND MEMORY IN THE LIFE OF OUR CITY. OF OUR WORK A SNAPSHOT How can we better understand the complexities of our emerging African economy while avoiding over-simplification or the repetition of failed strategies? How can the economic value of informal trade be better recognised and increased? How can the rich history of our inner city be better leveraged to create economic opportunity? The work of the Cape Town Partnership has been reaching households and businesses across the Mother City since February 2014 with a fortnightly column in the Cape Times. The column, written by Cape Town Partnership CEO Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, is called “My Urban Heart” and attempts to tell a richer, fuller story of Cape Town – as diverse as the many people who live in it. “So far the column has covered such diverse subjects as urban agriculture and food security, public art and creating a unique identity for Cape Town, seeing the city through the eyes of a child and how creativity is driving a new economy.” BULELWA MAKALIMA-NGEWANA, CEO In this area, the work of the Cape Town Partnership subscribes to the values of collaboration, action research techniques and seeing ourselves as being “place curious” rather than as “place makers”. More than anything else, our work in this area has taught us the value of listening – to existing inhabitants, previous residents and regular users of the space. Under the leadership of our Creative Cape Town programme, our aim is to champion the vital role that creativity plays in the life of our city through a range of projects, events and communication platforms that provide opportunities for our city’s diverse creative practitioners to interact, network and access user-friendly, sector- specific information and research. In June we launched the Creative Cape Town app, a project that came about when considering our WDC2014 project to map the creative industries of the city. At the time we recognised the need to gain better insight into the economic trends at play in the local creative industries. In collaboration with Domino Digital we translated that need into a self-sustaining tool that maps the local creative industries. Why are we excited about it? The Creative Cape Town app allows users to search for creative businesses, suppliers and learning centres, by list or geographically, quickly and simply. It also allows visitors to Cape Town – whether business people or cultural tourists – a quick overview of the local creative sector. The free-to-download iPhone app is also one of the first dedicated mobile events portals for the creative industry, and a free tool for creatives to raise their presence online and market their work. CREATIVE CAPE TOWN DESIGN DIALOGUES To create a sustainable future for Cape Town, issues like climate change and the need to lower carbon emissions cannot be seen in isolation. It is for this reason that, in addition to project-specific goals, each initiative of the Cape Town Partnership – from transport and housing to green events – is also viewed through the lens of whether or not it builds the socio-economic and environmental resilience of our city. A RESILIENT CITY A CREATIVE CITY The idea of African liveability can be hard to pin down. We believe it is a combination of user-friendliness (how easy it is to access the city’s public spaces and services like transport), distinctiveness (a strong identity based on a celebration of a city’s unique characteristics) and a shared sense of community that transforms inhabitants of a place into active citizens who take pride in their city. A PEOPLE’S CITY What turns a habitat into a home? While we don’t claim to have all the answers, our work with regards to the important role that history and memory plays in the life of a city has taught us that stories are an undervalued currency. In our experience, sharing our stories, and acknowledging our common or disparate experiences, goes a long way in creating that all-important sense of recognition that encourages social cohesion and a shared urban identity. A LIVEABLE CITY A CITY OF OPPORTUNITY 21 000 27 000 2020 850 000 16 000 2 700 30 kms 12% 47 060 R900 million At the Cape Town Partnership we believe that in order to help create a local economy rich in opportunities for all Capetonians, it is essential that we understand both the broad economic trends at play in our city, as well the realities of our hyper-local economies where our unique competitive edge as an inclusive and resilient city oſten lies. With this in mind, the Cape Town Partnership is focusing on two key areas: research at both macro and micro levels, and a project that aims to create an exciting new way for locals and visitors to experience the inner city. WIFI IN PUBLIC SPACES What would happen if we started making WiFi freely available in our city’s public spaces? Could it have an impact on the profit margins of small and informal businesses or help diversify the activity that goes on in parks and squares? The Cape Town Partnership and partners Connected Space intend to find out. Two pilot studies in the Company’s Garden and Harrington Square prove that people find free WiFi valuable and it’s highly likely to attract pedestrians to an area. The next phase of the project will now light up large pedestrian areas demarcated for the City Walk project with free public WiFi. Watch this space to see how people take advantage of this sponsored service, and as a result, make these public places more vibrant and increase the potential for economic development in the area. CHURCH SQUARE Church Square is a multi-layered public space in the heart of Cape Town, with a long and complex history. On one side of the square stands The Groote Kerk, on the diagonal corner stands the Slave Lodge, and the island in the middle of Spin Street holds a little-recognised memorial to the slave tree, where slaves were once bought and sold. It is a place laden with painful memory, but it is also a place with exciting potential as a lively and engaging public space, one that honours and respects this shared history. Our efforts to surface this potential have taken the form of helping to facilitate self-sustaining resident-led initiatives that have included music evenings, storytelling sessions and, most recently, four successful events in our ongoing Open City series, which invited anyone with an interest in the space to use it as a “canvas” for activities and events. “In the future I hope Church Square can continue to be an example of the ability we all have in taking ownership of public space in a lighter, quicker, cheaper way that is considerate of our fellow users of public space.” DIDINTLE NTSIE, project manager CITY ALL The idea behind this series of free concerts in Greenmarket Square is about bringing the spirit of the acclaimed City Hall Sessions to a public space outside the confines of City Hall. These free concerts in the city, held in tandem with First Thursdays, can showcase the very broad spectrum of musical talent available locally, as well as help support the night-time economy of the city by encouraging people to linger in the city aſter work. The Neighbourhood Communication Project (NCP) looks for ways to bring strangers in the city into meaningful connection with each other, using the cultural, social and political diversity of city streets as the basis for this work. The first of these initiatives aimed to use technology to connect local businesses to one another, and to local rough sleepers and job seekers through a recycling initiative in the East City. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Malmo University represented the academic sector; Doo-Co-Lab and Trashback represented the private sector, along with numerous other local businesses and “waste-producers” in the area; while local NGOs working with street people – the Service Dining Rooms and The Carpenter’s Shop – representing the non-profit sector. The results of this pilot phase are being collated into a case study that can be used to replicate or scale-up this recycling job- creation initiative that tackles a commonly reported challenge to neighbourhood level recycling initiatives – that of informal waste and scrap collectors (“skarrellers”) digging in bins and leaving behind a mess – by directly incorporating these individuals into the business model. During Creative Week, the NCP collaborated with the Michaelis School of Art’s annual City Project. This year some 70 second-year Discourse of Art students learnt how to use the city as a context and inspiration for thinking about art, and created artistic interventions in Harrington Street in the east city. The NCP also collaborated with the District Six Museum on a Memory Design Lab on Harrington Square. CITY HALL SESSIONS In 2011, the Cape Town Partnership, through Creative Cape Town and with support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, launched a concert series at the City Hall, aimed at breathing new life into this local landmark while also encouraging the night-time economy of the central city. This year, City Hall Sessions continued to invite the reimagining of this iconic public space with a celebration of Africa Day that featured the Ethiopian- inspired sounds of Imperial Tiger Orchestra, and Ntombe Thongo from the rural Eastern Cape. WHAT DOES THIS Picture a city in which planning is done with future generations’ wellbeing in mind, housing options exist for people at all economic levels, natural resources are conserved, neighbourhoods are racially diverse, and public transport is extensive and affordable. Visualise a city where children are safe to play in the streets, markets hum with commerce, public spaces are alive with activity and public art is celebrated as a right, not a privilege. http://signup.creativecapetown.com MOBILITY The theme of mobility intersects almost every aspect of our work, from the need to create safe and welcoming streets to encouraging better access to the inner city, affordable public transportation, and the need to reduce carbon emissions in the city and beyond. Our most recent work in this area has focused on supporting the establishment of more cycle lanes around the city. LOW-CARBON STRATEGY The Cape Town Partnership and Sustainable Energy Africa, funded by the Swedish International Development Agency, worked with the City of Cape Town and other key stakeholders to research the transformation of Cape Town’s central city into a leading urban hub of low-carbon emissions. New research and energy modelling enabled us to create working carbon emissions scenarios for this small yet crucial area of our city – an area that will significantly impact on Cape Town’s environmental and socio-economic future. RESEARCH INTO THE INFORMAL ECONOMY The recent Informal Trading Co-Design Research project saw students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology tasked with understanding the challenges faced by the outdoor trading sector, and co-designing solutions for more dignified infrastructure and systems to support these microenterprises. This collaborative endeavour between our Neighbourhood Communications Project, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, City of Cape Town officials and Greenmarket Square Traders, also looked at ways of designing more effective processes within institutions, such as improving the flexibility of the academic calendar and the City’s implementation of its trading policy, to allow for process-driven collaborative design work. CITY WALK The Cape Town Partnership believes that people are the soul of this city. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that when visitors recall their most memorable experience in Cape Town they oſten speak less about the city’s famous beaches, mountains and vineyards, and more about encounters with the local people. Our city already has a Cape Town Big 6 that represents one destination with six unforgettable experiences: Cape Point, Groot Constantia, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Robben Island, the Table Mountain Cableway and the V&A Waterfront. Now imagine a seventh: the urban attraction of the Cape Town CBD. The concept of the City Walk, as this seventh iconic attraction will be called, is to create an experience through town, starting at the cultural precinct around the Company’s Gardens and stretching through St George’s Mall and up the Fan Walk, where visitors are encouraged to engage with a range of museums, public art pieces, busking, and both formal and market retail. The City Walk will not only offer visitors and locals a curated perspective of the historic and contemporary culture of Cape Town’s historic centre, but it will also lend momentum to other projects including the offering of free WiFi across public spaces, and the potential this holds for retailers, hoteliers and event organisers; night- time economy projects such as First Thursdays; and ongoing work to bring public art and performance to our city’s public spaces. Design Dialogues V5.0 Creative Nestlings Conversations on Creativity Meet the Makers: Bantu Wear “By working with partners across the central city, the Cape Town Partnership wants to take this project forward and activate the central city as an urban laboratory of carbon reduction. By doing this, we can help equip people with the practical tools they need to make changes that reduce carbon emissions and promote Cape Town’s urban resilience.” ANDREW FLEMING, project coordinator and senior researcher Oranjezicht City Farm Urban agriculture can aid food security in Cape Town Family-friendly public space A free public performance during Infecting the City 2014 Neighbourhood Communications Project workshop Learners from the Childrens Radio Foundation A wider variety of affordable housing options can help bridge historical divides Public transport helps cut down on carbon emissions Solar panels aid green building practices in the central city “The 2014 series of Design Dialogues events, which we produce with the Cape Town Design Network and in partnership with Woolworths, have proven to be an extremely powerful way for creatives and industry thought leaders to network, interact, forge cross-sector connections, and share knowledge and experience. It’s also a place to ask the tough questions, and topics like ‘What I learned the hard way: business lessons from creative entrepreneurs’ have really resonated with the local creative community.” MIKE PURDHAM, head of programmes CREATIVE WEEK Creative Week 2014 invited people to “start where you are, use what you have and make what you can to celebrate everyday creativity.” This annual celebration of creativity, innovation and culture ran from 13 to 21 September, and included hundreds of crowdsourced projects ranging from citizen-driven urban interventions to performance art and workshops. Free Wifi is now available in Harrington Square Woodstock street art The Company's Garden provides green space in the central city Re-imagining public space in Church Square Open-air theatre on Church Square “This research will underscore the economic value held within a partnership-driven approach to local economic growth while also bridging the local economic development work being done in Hout Bay, through the Hout Bay Partnership, the central city and other economic nodes in the Cape Town metropolitan area.” BULELWA MAKALIMA-NGEWANA, CEO The economic city WOODSTOCK Woodstock is a nexus of change within Cape Town. As such we have deliberately moved carefully within this contested space so as to ensure we understand the historical, social and economic factors at play before setting out any programmatic goals. “Our on-the-ground research has highlighted the complex social, economic and racial dynamics at play in this important part of our city. Our hope is that we can inform processes that will provide a safe space for individuals and groups within the community to come together to discuss, debate and find solutions for the area’s pressing challenges. Our research is looking at understanding the neighborhood’s economic diversity and, more specifically, at ways in which Woodstock can continue to be a liveable option for its lower-income residents.” ZARINA NTETA, project manager NEIGHBOURHOOD COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT This is the kind of place that attracts people from all over the planet to participate in its own unique brand of African urbanism. The journey towards this city has already begun, but there is still much work to be done. ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY In order to better understand the collective economy within the Table Bay Planning District and its role within the larger economy of the Cape Town Metro-Region, the Cape Town Partnership is commissioning research that explores the economic activity of the various sub-places within the planning district and their respective economic contributions. WHILE OUR WORK IS MULTIFACETED IT IS DRIVEN BY A SINGLE GOAL: TO HELP CREATE POSITIVE CHANGE FOR CAPE TOWN, NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE. Informal traders make an important contribution to the local economy Creative Week How do young creatives engage with the city? Langa Street Art Festival FUTURE CITY www.creativecapetown.com MEET THE MAKERS “Meet the Makers is an officially recognised WDC2014 project that explores the personalities, processes and spaces of local creative practitioners. The wealth of creative practitioners in Cape Town – chefs, designers, artists, craſters and more – is overwhelming. We reach out to both established and emerging practitioners, and we find that most are very open to sharing what they are doing with their peers, potential patrons or just curious citizens.” CAROLINE JORDAN, project manager CREATIVE NESTLINGS In 2011 Lunga Mateta-Phiri and Dillion Phiri started local social enterprise Creative Nestlings. Through their website, which features the work of up-and-coming local creatives, and a range of networking events, Creative Nestlings aims to provide a platform for young creatives to gain a better understanding of how to access a career in the creative sector. In 2013 Lunga and Dillion joined the Cape Town Partnership and over the past 18 months we have worked together to support local emerging creatives. In Dillion’s words, Creative Nestlings hopes to continue “being the place where young creatives across the country and continent come to make their ideas happen.” HOUSING “Of all urban planning tools, housing holds some of the strongest promises for reshaping Cape Town. Our city was separated by a divisive and unequal housing policy. By seeking out a new kind of integrated housing in Cape Town, we can bring people of different incomes, cultures and races together in a more densified way. Integrated higher-density housing also promotes environmental sustainability, helping to secure a more resilient future for our city.” ANDREW FLEMING, senior researcher Promoting non-motorised transport in Cape Town Traders on Greenmarket Square MY URBAN HEART Neighbourhood Communications Project workshop MOLO Molo is a free community paper that connects and celebrates the diverse people of our city through the power of storytelling. Since 2013, Molo has covered such diverse themes as children, food stories, love and sex, and Cape Town in 50 Objects. Whatever the subject matter, Molo proudly features stories by, for and about the people of Cape Town. Promoting a people-centred approach to urban planning City All concert on Greenmarket Square City Hall Sessions GREEN CLUSTERS The catalysts for our Green Clusters project, a collaborative platform for local urban growers, were twofold. While the project began in response to the numerous requests we received for help in navigating the City of Cape Town’s permitting process, it continued in light of the many benefits that urban agriculture offers cities. Not only does urban agriculture have the potential to play a leading role in getting people involved in environmental sustainability on a personal level, it also increases food production, income generation, job creation, city greening, flood reduction, social cohesion and placemaking.
