RETROFITTING OUR CITIES FOR THE FUTURE

AS DIRECTOR OF OUR FUTURE CITIES, URBAN STRATEGIST RASHIQ FATAAR WORKS TO CO-CREATE MORE INCLUSIVE, SUSTAINABLE AND FUTURE-FOCUSED SPACES, HOPING FOR A FUTURE WHERE SOUTH AFRICAN CITIES POINT THE WAY

Why can’t we complete the incomplete Foreshore freeways? Why don’t our cities have vibrant public squares like Puerta del Sol in Madrid? Can’t they bring back trams? What if we built a High Line like New York?’

Very few dinner parties pass by without these questions being thrown my way when I share my passion for improving cities, communities and spaces in my work at Our Future Cities.

In a period of rapid urbanisation – 900 million people are expected to move into African cities in the coming few decades – economic and political volatility, a housing crisis, and our energy crisis, for the individual or household, the path to creating better cities for all to live in can seem quite daunting, if not overwhelming when faced with a barrage of statistics and data. The odd retweet and share of Greta Thunberg’s activism is far from enough, so how can South African society play a part?

One has to resist the false notion that the deployment of tech-based solutions, new apps (how many do we need?) and ‘smart cities’ will fix our lives.

Fortunately, the benefit of finding myself in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg many times in a year is that I get to see the positive signs and projects that signal a way to better design for more liveable future cities.

Our best bet is, in fact, working with what we already have: a future retrofit.

We know that the low density, sprawling nature of all South African cities is locking us into high-carbon emission societies. The refurbishment of existing building stock and vacant buildings will have a significantly lower impact on carbon emissions, and in most cases, remains a more efficient delivery mechanism than greenfield developments (even those which embrace ‘green’ principles).