Andrew Boraine

Public spaces and places in the city come of age on Human Rights Day weekend

Andrew — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:30:46 +0000

A large part of our time at the Cape Town Partnership and CCID is spent on finding ways in which our public spaces can be used by and for citizens of this city. The multiple events taking place this coming Human Rights Day weekend point to a coming of age in the use of our public [...]

Anti-urban bias continues

Andrew — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:56:23 +0000

The often confused or lukewarm policy of national governments towards cities in particular and urban areas in general is not confined to South Africa. Here is a good article in the Boston Globe about continuing anti-urban bias in US federal government policy.

Non-motorised transport projects make progress

Andrew — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:20:08 +0000

The shift from car-dominated to a people-oriented Central City took another step forward this week with the announcement by the City of Cape Town of new non-motorised transport projects in Adderley, Shortmarket and Bree Steets. These will complement the work already being done in Waterkant Street and Somerset Road to connect the CT Station to [...]

Giving responsibly in the Cape Town Central City

Andrew — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:53:18 +0000

Business Improvement Districts, or BIDs, were first established in Canada and the US in the 1960s and 70s. Since then, they have become popular mechanisms in many cities throughout the world to ensure that business areas are safe, clean and well managed, by raising an additional levy from property owners (or, in the case of the [...]

Sm(art) opening

Andrew — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:03:36 +0000

I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the opening of the Spier Contemporary 2010 Exhibition at the Cape Town City Hall last night. The event was well attended and a great success. Well done to Tanner Methvin and the Africa Centre for pulling it off. This is what I said at the opening: “The Spier Contemporary 2010 is South Africa’s largest [...]

Infrastructure for 2010 and beyond: Hospital Bend upgrade

Andrew — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:26:28 +0000

One of the legacies of the 2010 Football World Cup is the upgrade of two of Cape Town’s most congested motorway intersections: Hospital Bend and Koeberg Interchange. For those of you who are wondering just how the new Hospital Bend pre-selection scheme is going to work, here it is (inbound example): Download a larger PDF (1,8MB) version [...]

Alejandro Aravena: design for social change

Andrew — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:44:59 +0000

Many delegates to the recent Design Indaba conference in Cape Town have told me how impressed they were with the presentation by Alejandro Aravena, a Chilean architect, on the design and financing of affordable housing. I unfortunately missed the presentation, but here are two views worth reading: one by Bruce Nussbaum (who I had the pleasure [...]

Spier Contemporary coming soon to a large City Hall near you

Andrew — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:48:31 +0000

I’ve been given the honour by the Africa Centre of opening the Spier Contemporary 2010, the largest biennale art exhibition in South Africa, this coming Saturday (13 March) at the Cape Town City Hall. Hmmm, what to say to a daunting array of artists, art critics, journalists, politicians and business leaders? Today, in order to prepare myself, I was given a [...]

New forum for urban debate

Andrew — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:49:03 +0000

“Urban place-making can’t be left to the professionals”. With that bold statement, two Capetonians, Mokena Makeka and Rory Williams, have launched a new weekly column on urban issues in the Cape Times newspaper. Read their first column and check out www.men-about-town.co.za for more information. Better still, write a letter to the Cape Times and tell them your views.

Inclusive memorialisation?

Andrew — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:19:10 +0000

There’s been quite a bit of discussion recently on the issue of street renaming. My colleague, Ryland Fisher, writing in the Cape Argus on 22 February, asked what has happened to the working group leading a renaming process set up by the City of Cape Town a few years ago: “This group, under the leadership [...]