Open Streets Cape Town

Well-designed streets can be a platform for community building, recreation, active mobility, and improving accessibility of public space will make cities more inclusive and equitable.

Open Streets Days, a temporary network of car-free streets, are proven people-centered tools that do just that. The concept of “Ciclovias” from Latin America has been successfully tested and further developed in Cape Town by Open Streets Cape Town (OSCT). Based on OSCT’s track record and close relationship with local government, TUMI selected OSCT to showcase practical examples of tactical urbanism, share knowledge with and inspire other African city officials to initiate similar efforts in their home cities.

The Challenge contributed to creating more vibrant streets and public spaces, particularly in marginalized areas of Cape Town, to improve accessibility, air quality, road safety, and overall quality of life for all urban residents.

It helped create a new mindset about movement on city streets and streets as public spaces. The Challenge facilitated creating a network with other African cities to share experiences and generate new knowledge. This happened at different levels:

Internationally: The most important legacy of the Challenge is the launch of an Open Streets network for African cities, which continues to work and support each other to facilitate Open Streets activities. Furthermore, the Challenge has planted the seed to create new bridges with Latin America initiatives to expand the knowledge and develop avenues for exchange across the Global South. OSCT was invited to present at the annual congress of the Latin American Open Streets in Cali, Colombia, where the experience was lauded and widely shared on social media.

Locally: Open Streets days took place the last Sunday of every month in different locations: Woodstock, Bellville, the City Centre, Langa, and Mitchells Plain. Moreover, a resident’s association in Cape Town initiated their own Open Streets program in a marginalized area called Grassy Park. The local impacts highlighted in

• media coverage generated to a value of more than R 1 000 000
• widespread participation by residents and collaborators
• participation by and promotion through government officials
• the organization of group bicycle rides or “bike buses” from different parts of the city

Regionally: OSCT has been consulted by other African cities, who started their own program, namely Addis Ababa/ Ethiopia, Kampala/Uganda, and Nairobi/Kenya.

Nationally: The Transport Department in Johannesburg sent two representatives to the Open Streets Exchange who participated actively in the roll-out of an Open Streets Day in Johannesburg with a local school and are currently
planning on its growth.

The network of African cities and decision-makers, which was established during the pilot project in Cape Town, entails great potential, enabling successful replication in other cities. Through the network, knowledge and best practices can be developed and shared. The concept of Open Streets and Car-free days has caught on throughout Africa and is catching up to the rest of the world. These sorts of actions are increasing evermore as the citizens of cities fight to regain space taken from cars.

With a mechanism to allow vendors and others to earn a living and the people of the cities to get out, there is a tremendous potential in the future. The Corona lockdowns have changed people‘s attitudes and behavior towards non-motorized means of transport (NMT). With the right guidelines/distancing, Open Streets across Africa can give citizens space and opportunity to gather in a safe place and retake the streets from cars.