Public Space Conversations

​

As part of our Global South Public Space Platform, and through a collaboration with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Southern Africa, we produced a series of video snippets through conversations with different people working and thinking about public space, informality, and local economies in South Africa and Colombia.

​

Nazeer Sonday is the Chair of the Philippi Horticultural Association (PHA) Food and Farming Campaign in Cape Town. He reflects on his earliest experiences of markets as public space and a vision for markets and small-scale farming in Cape Town.

​

Thireshen Govender is an architect and studio director of UrbanWorks. Thiresh reflects on the difficulties and possibilities of public space in South Africa and how to put the 'public' back into public space. 

​

Diego Guevara is the Deputy Minister of Finance, Colombia and Paula Triviño is Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Colombia. The concept of the 'popular economy' is increasingly used in Colombia to speak to a broad and diverse economy that incorporates the informal economy. Diego speaks about what this means, while Paula reflects on how this economy can create dynamic public spaces which themselves improve safety at neighbourhood level. 

​

Mmeli Sotshononda is the Interim Chair of the Western Cape Informal Traders Coalition. Mmeli discusses some of the tensions that prevent the informal economy from growing in South Africa, and what can be done to resolve this.

​

Watch the videos below!

​

​