City Background

Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa and the capital of the Western Cape Province, and the second most populous city in South Africa, with a population of predominantly black, white and Asian. At the beginning of the 20th century, Apartheid began in South Africa. Later, hundreds of racist decrees were issued, which extended the apartheid to all aspects of life, bringing discrimination and social inequality, and growing conflicts between ethnics.

Protest in Cape Town

Until Mandela was elected president of South Africa, the apartheid was abolished, and since then, the process of democratization and urbanization began in Cape Town. During more than two decades of social transformation, Cape Town has promoted the process of racial integration and social democratization by developing a creative economy and building Creative Cities.

1. Break Down Geographical Constraints and Build a Harmonious and Symbiotic Urban Space

After the abolition of apartheid, the removal of geospatial segregation in Cape Town began to accelerate. Cape Town comprehensively addressed the problem of spatial inequality among all ethnic groups by building harmonious and symbiotic urban public spaces and living space.

Sun rises over Cape Town

Urban Public Spaces: transformation of Cape Town's Central Business District

The public areas, such as shopping centres and parks, gradually became the meeting places of various ethnic groups, and some previous private places,such as cafes and restaurants gradually became new public space. Among them, the transformation of Cape Town's Central Business District (hereinafter referred to as the CBD) is the most representative one.

Garden in Cape Town

In the 1990s the CBD suffered a development crisis, with homeless people occupying the streets, lack of environmental governance, poor community management, and residents and businesses moving away, which led to communities paralyzed. To bring the CBD back to life, Cape Town launched the Central City Improvement District (CCID), which aims to adhere to the principle of "preserve the history and culture of the CBD, reflect the public identity of Cape Town people, and create inclusive, effective and diversified CBD".

ST GEORGES MALL

After 10 years of comprehensive governance, CBD has improved greatly in terms of safety, sanitation and management collaboration, reducing crime by 90%, attracting investment of 14-18 billion rand, upgrading and renovating more than 170 buildings, reviving public space, improving sidewalks, and building a large number of worldclass hotels, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues.

SPAGHETTI MAFIA - 199 Loop Street

At the same time, in order to get more black people into the CBD, in the process of revival, dedicated space for small vendors was set up, which not only increased the income of vendors, but also activated the overall atmosphere of the CBD. According to statistics, the CBD had opened up a total of 380,000 square meters of open space for vendors, and there were 1,200 various retail stores scattered on streets16. The restored CBD, as the centre of new social interaction, is attracting visitors of different ethnic groups.

Living Space: affordable houses

On the other hand, with more and more black people gradually moved from the edge of the city to the downtown, different races began to live in the same community. Demand for housing has been high in recent years as the population has grown, but there's no affordable houses in the city centre for black people, and rental houses available to them are scarce and expensive.

Cape Town

To address this problem, in 2017, the government used the PPP model for the first time to provide developers with land in city in exchange for affordable houses and millions of dollars of infrastructure. This measure managed to open up access for black people and poor people to enter the city centre and achieve real racial equality.

2. All Citizens Participate in Creating the “City of Design”

Creativity and design have been playing an important role in Cape Town's urban renewal and democratization process. As early as 1995, Ravi Naidoo founded the Design Indaba Conference which focused on the interaction and convergence of the world's top ideas and the local design industry and made "design" an important part of urban renewal. In 2014, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) awarded Cape Town the honor of the World Design Capital in recognition of the city's innovation and design to transform the city and revitalize the community. In the same year, to celebrate the honor, Cape Town launched a one-year World Design Capital in 2014, focusing on the city's creative and design industries.

World Design Capital Project

Based on the theme of "Live Design, Transform Life ", the WDC collected creative design projects, held a number of international design exhibitions, established innovative design laboratories, and promoted creative design concepts to the city. And all those activities including art, education, energy, transportation, health, housing and other aspects.

Maboneng Township Arts Experience

During the WDC, 460 creative design projects were held, and a series of creative workshops were launched. Some projects have far-reaching implications and have even continued today, such as the Maboneng Township Art Experience project, which transformed the backward countryside into an art gallery, and the Open Streets project, which aimed to create car-free streets.

This large-scale design campaign, in which all citizens have participated, was a great success, with artists, businessmen, citizens, communities and social activists contributing to the construction of the "City of Design".

3. Tourism Industry Promotes the Urban Democratization

Tourism is an important part of the creative economy and plays a significant role in the economic, employment and sustainable development of cities. Tourism has created 716,000 jobs in South Africa, accounting for 4.6% of all jobs, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

Muizenberg, Cape Town

The role of Cape Town's thriving tourism industry in the process of urban democratization in Cape Town is mainly reflected in the following two aspects: respect for cultural diversity, and increase of public participation and social inclusion.

Fashon Costume Design

Cameraland, Cape Town

First, respect for cultural diversity. Cape Town is a cultural melting pot which contains the traditional folk culture of African indigenous, the Christian culture brought by European colonists, the Muslim culture of Malays, and the culture brought by wealthy investors from all over the world. By reasonably exploiting cultural resources of all ethnic groups, the tourism industry not only provides more travel options and cultural experiences for international visitors, but also contributes to Cape Town's respect for ethnic, ethnic and cultural diversity.

18 Oct Human Rights Tattoo Event-Open Design Festival

Second, it increased public participation and social inclusion. To attract international visitors, Cape Town hosts a large number of cultural and artistic festivals each year, involving citizens of all ethnics and enhancing ethnic and cultural exchanges. The Open Design Festival, which began in 2013, attracts about 8,000 people a year, while the Indaba Design Conference attracts more than 10,000 visitors .

Bo-Kaap, Cape Town

In addition, tourism and related services have created a large number of local jobs, to some extent easing the ethnic economic tensions and promoting the sustainable economic and social development of Cape Town.

2017: City of Design

During more than two decades of social transformation, Cape Town has promoted the process of racial integration and social democratization by developing a creative economy and building Creative Cities. Its main practices are, first, to break geospatial restrictions and create public space accessible to all, while allowing black people to enter urban centers, to provide opportunities for different races to better understand each other; secondly, to abide by the creative design as a strategy for urban renewal and strengthen the cooperation between various ethnic groups in the field of art and design with the support of official organizations to let more people participate in construction of "City of Design"; finally, to vigorously develop tourism and attract international tourists through building new tourism facilities and holding a large number of cultural and artistic activities, invisibly increasing the city's tolerance of different ethnics’ cultures.

Now, in Cape Town, all races are participating in all aspects of the city's economic, political and cultural development, ethnic integration is deeper, and a significant progress has been made in the process of social democratization. In 2017, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network awarded Cape Town the title of "City of Design" in recognition of its thriving creative industries, particularly in the area of design.

45 Lighthouse Rd, Cape Peninsula, Cape Town

Note: Picture Source:

Protest in Cape Town: http://www.wayward.co.uk/special-page/nelson-mandela-memorial-liverpool

Garden in Cape Town: https://www.capetownccid.org/companys-garden-2

ST GEORGES MALL: https://www.capetownccid.org/explore/visit/st-georges-mall#listing

SPAGHETTI MAFIA: https://www.capetownccid.org/explore/shop/spaghetti-mafia#listing

18 Oct Human Rights Tattoo Event-Open Design Festival:

https://opendesignafrika.org/event/18-oct-human-rights-tattoo-event/