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Cape Town World Design Capital 2014

2014

After Turin, Seoul and Helsinki, Cape Town will be the fourth World Design Capital in 2014. The International New Town Institute is contributing ‘The Density Syndicate’, developed in cooperation with the African Centre for Cities (ACC) and the City of Cape Town Planning Department, supported by the Dutch Embassy. It is also a programmatic component for NL@WDC2014, an initiative of the Netherlands Consulate-General in Cape Town.
The results will be exhibited as part of WDC Cape Town in the fall of 2014.

The Density Syndicate: Cape Town suffers from extensive urban sprawl, due to a combination of the legacy of Apartheid spatial policy, the middle-class ideal of single-family homes on individual plots of land, and politicians allowing developers to choose the way of least resistance for the expansion of the city. These societal divisions result in a fragmented city: a patchwork of disconnected business districts, affluent gated communities and poor townships, spread out across an area far beyond the city bowl defined by the bay and Table Mountain.

Studies have confirmed that there is more than enough space to accommodate growth within the city perimeter. There is a clear necessity to increase density. The current situation is socially, economically and ecologically unsustainable. Together with our local partners, the African Center for Cities (ACC) and the City of Cape Town Planning Department, the International New Town Institute (INTI) proposes a project to study the possibilities for increasing Cape Town’s urban density, by using the combined design intelligence of Dutch and South African architects and planners. The Density Syndicate will organize strategic partnerships between 5 Dutch and 5-10 South African architects (and urban planners) to connect these creative thinkers to Cape Town’s most urgent urban planning challenges.

By choosing five different sites in Cape Town and developing design proposals that will be exhibited at the large ACC exhibition at City Hall in October 2014, on the occasion of Cape Town World Design Capital 2014, the project aims to offer innovative, alternative strategies as a starting point for the future urban development of Cape Town.