“This is how I want to feel,
walking down my street.”
Photo: Rory Williams
On October 12 Open Streets is closing Rubusana Street in Langa to motorised traffic to make way for Cape Town’s art-loving A-List as the Maboneng Township Arts Experience opens its permanent arts route in the Langa Quarter.
If you are looking for an excuse to Occupy The Train and head to Langa, residents and visitors are invited to Occupy The Street between 10am and 4pm in a day of celebration as 10 homes on Rubusana Street are declared permanent gallery spaces. Entertainment and activities will be held on the street throughout the day … a little yoga, street drawing and skateboarding … but just imagine the people-watching.
A group will be travelling by train, departing Cape Town Station, at 9:30am. I think I will wear my purple hat!
Volunteers sought! Please [email protected]
Remembering the last time we seized the day and the streets!
Close your eyes and imagine streets without traffic of the threatening, belching kind … imagine how the tarmac of the World Design Capital of 2014 would come to life. Now write this in your diary: Observatory, Cape Town, May 25: Launch of Open Streets. Capetonians should get down to Obs on this day when pedestrians and cyclists will take back the streets. Yup, you go it, foot power only.
Inspired in Bogota’s Ciclovia, the aim of Open Streets is to connect different parts of the city by enabling all citizens to move and use streets freely, safely and creatively. The concept, which is changing neighbourhoods around the world, entails the creation of a temporary network of car-free areas and routes throughout a city.
Lower Main Road, between Main and Albert Roads, in Observatory is the first leg of an envisaged network of Open Streets in Cape Town.
The Obs route is:
- long enough to be cycled and skated on
- connects different communities
- located near major transport hubs
- home to local businesses
Many activities are planned to celebrate the first open day, which coincides with Africa Day, the Moonlight Mass monthly bicycle ride and 100 in 1 day, part of a global movement to encourage people to utilise public space in creative ways.
The concept has the full support of the Observatory Improvement District, as well as local residents. As part of its sustainable transport policy, the City of Cape Town is supporting the roll out of an Open Streets network. The initiative is also aligned with World Design Capital programming.
On yer bikes!