City approves plan to turn downtown Bellville into Cape Town’s 2nd CBD
"It's not another version of the CBD and will take on its own identity,” says Marco Morgan, an urban planner at GrowZA.
John Maytham speaks with Marco Morgan, an urban planner with GrowZA.
Listen below.
Morgan argues that redeveloping Bellville into Cape Town's second CBD could decentralise business activity, reduce congestion, and bring much-needed innovation.
He points to examples of successful urban re-imagining in other cities and believes Bellville’s revitalisation could enhance economic and social dynamics.
The City has approved plans to allocate resources and funding to grow Bellville into a second CBD hub, reports Morgan.
"It's a lot more than a notion or plan, it has gone through council and plans were approved, so that's quite a big step in advancing the notion that Bellville will be a second economic node."
- Marco Morgan, Urban planner - GrowZA
"That approval means across the City there's policy integration, funding and resource integration... The initial steps are focused on regeneration and getting the grounds ready for investments which are in place."
- Marco Morgan, Urban planner - GrowZA
Morgan notes that the plan is not to make Bellville a copy and paste of Cape Town City's CBD.
"It's not another version of the CBD and will take on its own identity."
- Marco Morgan, Urban planner - GrowZA
"... what does a world-class city look like...?... without forgetting that we are an African city and what does an economic node look like in a beautiful African city? Bellville has the right ingredients to develop these things and reimagining the area is based a lot on the optimisation of spaces... Who is in the space and how it will accommodate them, and non-motorised transport...?
- Marco Morgan, Urban planner - GrowZA
Plans to develop the area are divided into short, medium and long-term phases.
One of the plans driven by the City of Cape Town involves transport, road extensions and getting people and vehicles in and out of the area safely and effectively, adds Morgan.
"There's a big focus on transit orientated development... it's a mechanism of bringing people closer to this CBD and economic opportunities with less reliance on a private vehicle to move from one place to the next... so it brings people closer and clusters everything together, so there's a lot of movement towards this and a reason to be optimistic..."
- Marco Morgan, Urban planner - GrowZA
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.