Cape Town - Fire artists, chalk painting, food stalls, jumping castles, street dancing, music, puppet shows, poetry performances and yoga were part of the launch of the inaugural City Walk aimed at invigorating trade and tourism during quieter hours.
City Walk is an initiative of the Cape Town Partnership and it is a route in the central business district that “connects significant places and offerings at the core of Cape Town’s city life”.
It starts in the Company’s Garden, continues down St George’s Mall to Waterkant Street, makes its way on to the Fan Walk and concludes at St Andrew’s Square in Green Point.
The route will be promoted to locals and tourists, with a City Walk map pointing out landmarks on the way. The map is available for download on the Cape Town Partnership website.
The partnership said it was working with businesses along the route to “bring public spaces to life”. The route was easily accessible as a free self-guided tour.
Every third Saturday of the month, the partnership will curate a themed walk from 10am until 2pm. Play was on Saturday’s theme and yoga, live music, face painting and board games featured along the route.
The partnership’s chief executive, Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, said the walk was part of their strategy to re-imagine Cape Town as a 24-hour city. “This can happen if we have longer trading hours in the city. The walk will attract people into the city.
“They can spend an extra hour or two in the city to visit the different attractions on the map. Or they could go to a restaurant or do some shopping.”
Makalima-Ngewana said there were also informal traders along the route and the walk could “strengthen their trade”.
The partnership would consider various participants for future themed walks. “We want people to join us and tell their stories,” she said.
It also envisioned the city centre as having “multipurpose, liveable streets that prioritise pedestrians”. The City Walk would add a “layer of regular activity”.
Makalima-Ngewana said they also intended the walk to “create a more inclusive city”.
“The streets of a city are the ultimate public unifier... public space that belongs to every single citizen. We recognise that Cape Town still often presents its history in ways that many of its citizens don’t identify as their own,” she said.
“The City Walk will see us surfacing the different storylines to… acknowledge the important role that history and memory plays in the life of our city, and help citizens to find spaces to share their own stories and interact with one another.”
As the walk progressed, Makalima-Ngewana stopped to watch an oversized chess game in the Company’s Garden. “Who knows if they (the two chess players) would ever have met if it weren’t for this game? Diverse Capetonians can meet and have a conversation.”
Cape Town Tourism chief executive Enver Duminy said the City Walk would offer participants a chance to “experience the vibrant streets and sidewalks while discovering inspiring architecture, monuments… and our beautiful people”.
The partnership said the City Walk had also been recognised as the seventh addition to Cape Town’s big six tourist attractions – Cape Point, Robben Island, Groot Constantia, Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch and the V&A Waterfront.
Weekend Argus