Cape Town has the best city centre in South Africa. A blueprint for others to reverse decay?
Cape Town's Central Business District has undergone significant revitalisation efforts over the past few years, writes Tim Harris in his latest Business Day piece.
City centre of Cape Town, Table Mountain. Wikimedia Commons/Discott
CapeTalk's John Maytham (in for Lester Kiewit) is joined on Good Morning Cape Town by Tim Harris, economic development advisor; former DA MP and Wesgro CEO and CCID board member.
Listen below:
As cities across the continent (and around the world) grapple with the challenges of urban decay, Cape Town's city centre stands out as a metropolitan success story.
According to former Wesgro CEO Tim Harris' latest Business Day piece, the Mother City offers a compelling blueprint for cities in decline.
It wasn't always the case, writes Harris, who acknowledges that the central city was once plagued by economic decline, neglect, and deteriorating infrastructure.
He says the CBD has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years.
And the credit for that goes to the partnership between the government and business that developed from the early 2000s via the Cape Town Partnership, and then the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID), he says.
"It's about working together, between government and business to keep evolving that utility for all of [its] different audiences, and if you get that right, you create a much more sustainable and resilient economy."
- Tim Harris, Former Wesgro CEO
"One of the reasons why the Cape Town CBD is so interesting is there are areas with different kinds of challenges evolving..."
- Tim Harris, Former Wesgro CEO
Harris highlights the work of the CCID in galvanising local businesses to invest in the upliftment of the CBD.
"The great thing the CCID has done... is it's created this incredibly stable base... the security, cleaning, social work, this idea that the Cape Town CBD functions, that's an incredible base from which to land investment, attract tourists, and turnaround areas where there is more obvious decay."
- Tim Harris, Former Wesgro CEO
Struggling city centres across South Africa could learn lessons from the work the CCID has done to maintain the viability of the Cape Town CBD, concludes Harris.
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Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.