Public Spaces Stories

Ensuring public spaces are accessible to all is the first step to making a city truly inclusive. But, as I’ve come to realise in my 11 years in Cape Town, not everyone is consulted — or even considered — when it comes to the planning of a city. In the first of a series that will appear every Friday, we meet Makgosi Letimile, a wheelchair user from Observatory who is afraid to leave her home.

Sindiswa Manxeba started a soup kitchen out of her home in Imizamo Yethu, Cape Town, when lockdown began in 2020. She and her team work primarily to help feed the children of the nearby school, who queue in the street outside.

In a country characterised by myriad gates, security personnel and other barriers, taking ownership of public space might entail both raising awareness of what public space means and thinking about our private spaces differently. Khayelitsha resident Khanya Qongqo takes us on her journey to this conclusion.

Zainap Salie says if she had the ear of policymakers she would ask for more public spaces, more trees and a school curriculum that teaches the value of urban gardens. In the meantime, she’s doing her bit to green her community.

Muizenberg-based artist Claire Homewood has, for the past two years, been painting a large mural by the St James Tidal Pool in the south peninsula. She believes art in public space is an important source of learning.

One of the best ways to explore a neighbourhood is on foot. That usually means walking when you’re on holiday. But what about running near your home? Local businessman Abdullahi Ali Hassan can vouch for this, too.

Video interviews with six Capetonians reflecting on how COVID-19 has affected their experience of public space – not always only as a result of the pandemic.