The Right to the City Dialogue Series has been a year-long process, focused on contextualising and providing momentum to the Right to the City concept in South Africa. As discussions were held between a number of organisations, including representatives of the urban poor and NGOs, a number of priorities emerged. It was clear that the poor have a fundamental right to participate in the making and shaping of their city, and to claim the benefits of being urban citizens. These priorities were presented to national government in a round table discussion. The kinds of priorities, activities and partnerships that are required to ultimately enable the urban poor to be part of their city, rather than living alongside it, were candidly discussed.
Tristan Gorgens, Mandela Rhodes Scholar and policy researcher at Isandla Institute – one of the partner organisations in ‘The Right to the City Dialogue Series’ project – has some valuable information to share. The work has impact on the future, not just of Cape Town, but of cities around South Africa. When Cape Town was named the World Design Capital for 2014, it began a process of re-envisioning the urban landscape of the country as a whole. Continue reading
