iThemba Walkway
Safe and accessible public open spaces are a vital element of our cities and hold the potential to act as important friendly and inclusive urban spaces for learning, exchange, and practice. Public walkways (passages/laneways) are some of the most neglected and dangerous public spaces in the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
There is a small, neglected walkway or access passage that connects the roads of Dora Tamana Road (old NY89) and Lolo Mkonto Road (old NY57) in Gugulethu - commonly referred to as NY57/89 paveway, but now identifies as the iThemba Walkway. The iThemba Walkway is a catalytic community-driven public space upgrading project that demonstrates active & responsible co-design and participatory development opportunities in Gugulethu, Cape Town.
The iThemba Walkway forms the entry point and the start of the physical upgrading project. In March 2021, when visited on a virtual urban walk, the space was covered by all sorts of waste and left-over rubbish. By April 2021, the local community cleaned the walkway and created an accessible passage for the school children. In November 2021, a co-design workshop was conducted. In December 2021, the iThemba Walkway project emerged, consisting of multiple partners: UCT APG Urban Design, Africa Unite, Bazart, Movement for Change and Social Justice (MCSJ), Nobantu Primary School, Gugulethu Urban Farming Initiative, (GUFI) Community Action Group (CAN), Tekano, Ward 39 Councillor and local Street Committees (NY57,89 and 91). In 2022, as a partnership, we ran a series of co-design workshops around safe, inclusive and friendly spaces, linked to SDGs 5, 11, 13 and 16, as chosen by the community and stakeholders or iThemba Walkway. The outcome was a series of small but impactful implementation projects, such as wall paintings, Christmas lights, the start of a memory wall and on-going projects, such as co-produced benches, signs and a future outdoor movie wall.
iThemba Walkway is not seen in isolation. The University of Cape Town (UCT) Urban Design unit is conducting ongoing research and upgrade on walkways across Gugulethu as part of an urban design teaching project (urban design Studio Hope) and research project (Cities for Change: The Walkway Project) under the theme of urban resilience and safer cities.
The Walkway Project aims to upgrade urban walkways as strategic urban interventions that can raise awareness and highlight the impact of urban resilience, safety and inclusive and friendly public spaces. The project exposes the impact of waste dumping and water mismanagement along a broader network of neglected, unsafe walkways that connect to the local waterways and the Lotus River Canal in Gugulethu, Cape Town. The overarching aim of the project is to re-imagine forgotten urban spaces by transforming existing walkways into inclusive, friendly, colourful and safe places for all.
“Some people around the area are so much triggered by the looks of iThemba Walkway wishing to challenge the municipality to deliver services to all walkways in Gugulethu. iThemba is a living example, meaning communities must initiate responsibility to look after their spaces and surroundings for better living. Let’s make it possible and make history on that Walkway." (Phumzile, December 2022).
Images and Plans
Technical Description
The iThemba Walkway uses low technology and recycled materials as part of a public space upgrading strategy. The focus on materiality and technology is around small change (low budget, minimal soft infrastructure investment, low inputs) for big impact (safe and activated urban space). Some materials have been donated to the iThemba Walkway partnership (paint, trees, bricks) which are reimagined into functional and low maintenance approaches.
Key to the technical aspects remains grounded in coproducing maintenance plans, which are largely dependent on the surrounding residents and active participants in the project. Even electrical access remains tricky and small donations have been provided by community residents and partners for workshop days (to access power to allocation functioning of power tools, music to inspire participants, loudspeaker and projector use etc.). Where possible, lazer cutting of recycled plastic has been completed by students at the workshop in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, combining low technology and skills in a process of exchange and collaboration. Trees are watered by a local community resident with the help of school children from Nobantu Primary School.
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