What is the City Walk?
The City Walk is a collaborative community placemaking project facilitated by the Cape Town Partnership. Starting in the Company’s Gardens, continuing down St George’s Mall to Waterkant Street, and progressing up the Fan Walk to St Andrew’s Square, the City Walk connects significant places and offerings in the urban heart of Cape Town through storytelling, wayfinding, public art, walking tours and retail offerings to bring our public spaces to life.
What is placemaking?
Placemaking is the activity of using various tactical urbanism tools and activities to evoke a pleasant feeling in a public space, a feeling that makes someone want to stay and hang out for no particular reason, other than it feels good. The Cape Town Partnership believes this feeling is evoked by creating a sense of connection between city dwellers, which is why interactive, creative and citizen-led projects are key.
What is tactical urbanism?
Tactical Urbanism is an umbrella term used to describe urban interventions of a sort – quick, often temporary projects that aim to make a city more lively or enjoyable. The Cape Town Partnership uses various forms of tactical urbanism to improve local neighbourhoods and city gathering places.
Who is coordinating the City Walk?
Cape Town Partnership
Who is funding the project?
The Cape Town Partnership is working with private, public and civil partners that are reside along the City Walk.
Why is it called the City Walk?
The name needed to be an open frame that allowed space for everyone who uses the space’s story, regardless of demographics or culture. It also needs to say exactly what the project is, so that a visitor to Cape Town can understand immediately. With “City Walk”, it can be understood as a route between A and B – which is one way of experiencing it – or as the activity of walking the city, in its entirety – which is what the route hopes to inspire.
What’s the big deal about public spaces and walkability?
Streets are the most basic form of public space, open to absolutely everyone, and a place where everyone comes into contact with the full range of social diversity and difference in our neighbourhoods and cities. Cities all over the world are now embracing the notion of multipurpose, liveable streets that prioritise pedestrians from young kids to the elderly and disabled, from headphone-wearing individuals to boisterous families, from joggers and performance artists to photographers and beggars. It brings a sense of humanity and soul back into our urban environment.
Is the City Walk a tourism project?
First and foremost, City Walk is about making Capetonians feel welcome in their city and connected to each other. If that sense of belonging and inclusive, free fun attracts people from other cities and countries, then we say: make the circle bigger! This is why the City Walk has been recognised as the seventh of Cape Town’s Big Seven tourism attractions. As we saw during the 2010 World Cup, the Mother City throws a good party and the more the merrier.
What is the Big Seven of Cape Town?
Previously known as the Big Six, with the inclusion of City Walk, Cape Town’s key tourist attractions have been rebranded the Big Seven. The other six are Cape Point, Robben Island, Groot Constantia, Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch and the V&A Waterfront. The City Walk adds the much needed urban, streets-and-people aspect that was previously missing from the collection.
What does the City Walk hope to achieve?
Recognised for its safety, liveability and tourism desirability, the Cape Town CBD is steeped in heritage, public art, retail and events – both informal and formal. The City Walk will thread these elements together across all the layers of the Cape Town CBD story into an informative, engaging precinct to captivate both locals and visitors. This will immediately provide an accessible and coherent means to experience Cape Town as a city destination, being a meeting point across divergent histories, cultures and demographics.
Have there been any City Walk projects yet?
The City Walk initiative was announced at the Cape Town Partnership’s 2014 AGM and is to be launched at the Tourism Indaba. A pilot City Walk-related project was the City of Lives public art project that took place during Infecting the City in March 2015. Cape Town Partnership project manager Andrew Putter worked with 100 third-year graphic design students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to surface the stories of people who use the space on a daily basis, and express these narratives through temporary recyclable, paper-based art works that adorned the bollards. Read more. The monthly City Walk Saturdays are kicking off in April.
How will businesses, residents or organisations along the City Walk be affected?
We’re hoping that it will generate more foot traffic, safety and social cohesion in the city, so you can only benefit. It is entirely up to you how involved in the process and you would like to be.
How can I get involved?
City Walk Saturdays is a great opportunity to contribute to the hyperlocal community spirit with a promotion, activity or whatever you can think of – including simply coming to encourage everyone else. You can contact Didintle Ntsie didi@capetownpartnership.co.za for guidance and support. If you have other ideas for the City Walk, we’d also love to hear them, so drop Mike Purdham a line on mike@capetownpartnership.co.za.
What are City Walk Saturdays?
City Walk Saturdays is a monthly opportunity to use Cape Town’s inner city as a place to play, meet and create. The first is on Saturday 18 April from 10:00 to 14:00. The event is intended to kickstart spontaneous citizen-led engagement of the space every day of the week, month and year.
Is there free Wifi on the City Walk?
We are currently exploring the potential of free public Wifi on the City Walk with a pilot project at the top of St Georges Mall, with our partners the Taj Hotel and Connected Space. Based on the results of the pilot we will start expanding the coverage, so watch this space!
How can I connect with City Walk on social media?
Tweet us @CTpartnership using the hashtag #walkCapeTown. Share your photos with us on Instagram @CapeTownSoul