Cape Town - The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) in partnership with the City is on a mission to clean up and beautify the CBD, hoping that visible maintenance will revitalise the business district’s economy.
Over the next few weeks, the CCID’s Urban Management Department will be initiating three new projects that will focus on maintaining the appearance of the city centre.
The projects will focus on cleaning city centre streets and on the general upkeep of urban spaces for stakeholders, ranging from big-time investors to small and medium business owners and visitors.
CCID chief executive Tasso Evangelinos said: “The projects may seem small but the upgrades speak to a rejuvenation of the urban space. This constant upgrading builds capacity for positive change, shifts negative perceptions and plays into the famous ‘broken window’ theory that decreasing visible signs of disorder has a net positive impact.
“It helps to build the narrative of a thriving CBD that’s open for business, and will benefit the more than 3 000 business entities in the central city from retail and entertainment ventures to architectural practices, educational institutes and more.”
CCID urban management manager Kally Benito said: “Our team plays a pivotal role in cleaning the city centre’s streets and maintaining general upkeep. Of late, it has embarked on several special projects in addition to business as usual.
“We have initiated projects Red, Brown and Blue to contribute to maintaining the urban fabric of our city centre. Investing in the central city attracts investment, as more business entities and investors will perceive it as an attractive proposition,” she said.
Project Red will involve the sanding and repainting by technical teams of all the post boxes in the CBD, while Project Blue will focus on the sanding and repainting of blue infrastructures such as bollards, poles and the 18 metal benches on Thibault Square. Project Brown will entail the sprucing up of wooden benches in St George’s Mall and other areas in the CBD.
The three projects will also work to provide employment, through the CCID’s initiative in partnership with non-profit organisations such as the Straatwerk NPO.