Explore a selection of our opinion pieces and articles below.
Opinion Pieces and Articles
This selection of articles has been published in various media in both English and Spanish over the past ten years.
29 November 2022
The ‘market square’ in South Africa and Colombia — a universe of potential unity to explore
Markets can support community links in contexts that would otherwise be difficult to build because of spatial geography and disconnect across communities — something South Africa could greatly benefit from.
Daily Maverick
Marcela Guerrero Casas & Dustin Kramer
8 November 2022
Why cities in the Global South should collaborate on mobility
A low carbon mobility exchange for African and Latin American cities recently convened by UN-Habitat in Colombian capital Bogotá. Cities in the Global South should learn and work together to plan and create climate friendly and resilient transport systems.
World Economic Forum
Marcela Guerrero Casas
1 November 2022
Mobility is about so much more than transport in the global south
A recent exchange for African and Latin American cities which took place in Bogota from 22 to 26 October provided an opportunity for a small delegation from Dar es Salaam, Kigali, Quito, Montevideo and Belo Horizonte to engage with the Bogota context and reflect on their own challenges.
Urban Pathways
MARCELA GUERRERO CASAS
16 August 2022
A series of firsts in Colombia sparks new hope for building bridges across the Global South
It was a perfect storm that may have given way to a new era. Indeed, the South American country is undergoing many ‘firsts’. The new government is the first left-leaning administration in the history of the country with Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter at its helm. It is also the first time the country has an Afro-Colombian woman as vice-president, and possibly the first time a president highlights a desire to build bridges with Africa.
Daily Maverick
Marcela Guerrero Casas & Dustin Kramer
14 May - 15 April 2021
Public Space Stories
This series of stories was the result of a process of working with individuals from communities across Cape Town on their experience and use of public space during COVID-19. Funded by the Heinrich Boll Foundation and published over 6 weeks in the Daily Maverick print and online editions.
Daily Maverick
Marcela Guerrero Casas
20 August 2020
A vision for post-pandemic mobility in African cities
The traffic-free measures taken by cities across the globe during the pandemic are still absent in many African cities. But transport infrastructure built with non-vehicular mobility in mind could transform cities for the better in the aftermath of COVID-19. Several cities, from Cape Town to Kampala, offer a glimpse of how urban mobility might look in Africa's near future.
World Economic Forum
Marcela Guerrero Casas, Seble Samuel & Constant Cap
28 May 2020
Changing the way we use public space in Cape Town is vital to the city’s response to Covid-19
The easing of lockdown measures brings issues of personal safety and personal space to the forefront of the public psyche. Cape Town, like so many cities around the world, will face challenges when it comes to public space. From the need to ensure physical distancing, to the limitations in our non-verbal communication curtailed by masks, the way we interact with each other in public might never be the same.
Daily Maverick
Marcela Guerrero Casas & Leanne Brady
28 October 2019
This is what happens when cities ban cars from the roads
A future in which everyone travels in driverless flying cars may still dominate the popular imagination, particularly when it comes to media and marketing hype. But if we are to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on sustainable cities and communities, a more revolutionary (albeit more low-tech) picture will unfold, in which people are moving freely and swiftly - but not by car.
World Economic Forum
Marcela Guerrero Casas
12 August 2019
Transparency And Corruption Are Not Always What They Appear To Be
When Ory Okolloh of Luminate recently posted a blog on their new financial transparency strategy, we emailed her saying that informed disenchantment isn’t necessarily about a lack of accountability, and that poor service delivery wasn’t just about corruption. She asked us what on earth we meant.
Luminate
Dustin Kramer & Albert van Zyl
10 June 2019
Crisis del agua: una advertencia de la Ciudad del Cabo
Entre enero y junio de 2018, la Ciudad del Cabo se encontraba al borde de una catástrofe: se acababa el agua. Un año después, lo que ocurrió en esta ciudad Sudafricana sirve como advertencia sobre los conflictos políticos que formarán una parte integral de esa crisis.
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El Espectador
Dustin Kramer
6 November 2018
Cape Town, South Africa: Building a Network of Street Enthusiasts
What is the glue holding our cities together? Marcela Guerrero, co-founder and managing director at Open Streets Cape Town, believes that the answer lies in the streets. In an open exchange with others, the initiative is building a network of fellow street enthusiasts in the Global South.
Urbanet
Marcela Guerrero Casas
26 April 2016
Open Streets Cape Town: Reconnecting the Post-Apartheid City
Not only do streets connect places, but they also connect people. Streets hold memories and stories, both individual and collective, and these stories help cement the path of generations to come. Stories aren’t always pretty, though, and sometimes streets bear scars that even a complete infrastructural overhaul cannot mend.
Project for Public Spaces
Marcela Guerrero Casas & Brent Smith
25 March 2015
The Struggle to Change the Apartheid State
More than 10 years of struggle by an alliance of communities, organisations, and social movements led to the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha – this became known as the O’Regan-Pikoli Commission of Inquiry.
Bertha Foundation
Dustin Kramer
