Cape Town's East City Precinct: a streetscape ready to welcome the future
The vision is tantalising, but fully accessing this future is a function of the design of the area.
For at least the last twenty years, there have been many wonderful visions offered of a thriving East City Precinct.
Situated in what was once known as Cape Town's District Six, the East City Precinct today is now populated by an increasing number of trendy coffee bars, shops and restaurants (many of which are located in some of the area's historic buildings), offering an emerging streetscape that is on the up.
Deluxe Coffee on Buitenkant Street and Charley's Bakery located in one of the many historic buildings in the area.
But so far, the lived experience of the area is a far cry from what those compelling visions promise.
What's going on and how can a better future for the area be opened up?
Despite all the attention, and a heartfelt intention to enable rejuvenation, progress has been painfully slow. One of the key problems that the city, in general, faces...believe it or not... is cars.
Huge pockets of land in the East City are dedicated to either street parking, or to massive parking lots. During the week the area is plagued by chaotic traffic and cars parked on the side of the road, while on weekends the place resembles a ghost town.
Harrington Street Congregational Church and Lunacy Wine Bar
Historically the Cape Town CBD has been regarded by most as simply a place of work rather than an area in which to live or socialise, which means that every weekday over 500 000 Capetonians travel from their homes in the suburbs to the CBD. A staggering 70% arrive via a private vehicle (normally travelling to the city with just one occupant) and those cars obviously need to make their way through the city's crowded streets and be parked somewhere for the day.
The result is congestion, noise and an overall level of chaos that is simply not conducive to the attraction of crowds demanding a quality experience.
The city's long-term plan is to offer and promote more public and non-motorised transport options and then also turn large parts of the city into safer pedestrian corridors (a plan that includes partial and / or full pedestrianisation of Longmarket Street, Long Street and Buitenkant Street).
The vision is tantalising, but fully accessing this future is a function of the design of the area.
Right now, the East City is still optimised to serve as a servant of cars and drivers wanting to do formal business (go to Home Affairs, the police station, the courts etc etc) or access other parts of the city.
But when the focus shift and people are the priority in the redesigning of the area, the conditions will be created for more of an attractive streetscape to emerge. More boutiques, small traders, hospitality, hotels and evening entertainment are what's needed to get people back into the area, every day-and-night of the week.
An exciting plausible alternate future is available for the East City Precinct - it maybe just needs our vocal support to speed up its realisation.