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Letter from the editor
Lerato Peu
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING AT MERAFONG LOCAL CITY MUNICIPALITY
Zeenat Ghoor
DIRECTOR AT ASPIRE CONSULTING ENGINEERING SOUTH AFRICAN cities have historically been designed based on apartheid principles. Our cities were designed around decentralised neighbourhoods and included incorporating infrastructure that would segregate and keep races apart and separate people with different levels of income. Cities were designed to incorporate a car-based transport system. Post-apartheid planning has tried to incorporate transport modules from outside the city centres and has tried to decentralise city centres. Most public transport in South Africa is now the minibus taxi. For women to feel safe and included the following elements need to be present: • Access – using services and spaces in the public arena free of issues and concerns around safety. • Mobility – moving around the city safely, easily and affordably. • Safety and freedom from violence – being free from danger in public and private spaces. • Health and hygiene – living and working in healthy spaces. • Climate resilience.
• Security – accessing and owning land and housing to live, work and build wealth that is safe. We need to consider how and where we work, play, exercise, go to school and get health services. These spaces need to be safe, clean and accessible. These are the aspects I would incorporate in the design space: • Public toilets: Women need more space in a bathroom for prams and children and to cater for the fact women sit down when using toilets. Bathrooms should be bigger and have changing tables for babies. • Inclusive spaces that allow for a variety of recreational activities like soccer, playgrounds and using benches to demarcate the space for playing. • Cleaner cities by having more bins and sustainable paving. • Women-only transit opportunities such as designated bus areas for women only, especially during off-peak hours. • Designated spaces for women where they can go for help – like booths or emergency call boxes to make calls. • Mobile apps showing locations of public transport so women don’t have to stand and wait. • More light, more cameras and greater visibility.
THE VOICE of women within the planning and engineering spaces is yet to be heard, especially in the private sector. A few individuals have made strides but we are nowhere near where we ought to be. This is important, given that women generally bear the brunt of poor planning. If I were to design a city, it would be based on the core principles of structural resilience and social justice. From the onset, the design, look and feel of the cities must be able to weather all sorts of pressures. The cases of New York, London and to a large extent Cape Town, and how they have remained resilient and relevant over time, come to mind. There has to be a consistent and deliberate intention to continuously support and re-engineer the cities, otherwise they become economic risks for investors and uncontrollable liabilities for the government. In terms of social justice, women should never be intimidated when walking alone at night in any major city. This is the ideal city. I would want my daughters to live in spaces (cities) that symbolise: • National strength through equality between races, classes and sexes through design. • Economic empowerment where cities offer ample opportunities for all people. • Sustainable spaces where people work, live, play and learn. • On the lighter side, we want cities to have a sense of identity, to offer cultural experiences
through music and art. Some of the major social ills facing South Africa today include poverty, unemployment and inequality, and cities should be responsive in dealing with these challenges as they affect mostly women. Even though all major cities predate democracy, it is imperative that authorities prioritise the continuous modelling of cities to suit current trends and social needs. Our cities should be accessible to accommodate various means of transport within a systematically friendly hierarchy of arterials for both the pedestrian and the motorist. The design should support economic and social integration between the motorist and pedestrian. The case today is that most cities are designed for the motorist, not so much the street vendor, the cyclist and pedestrian. Cities should be places of work and should promote mixed-use areas for various income groups. Johannesburg and Cape Town are classic example of cities that offer residence for two extreme ends of the income spectrum. While Johannesburg is affordable, most of the residents are lowerincome groups and often illegal occupants of buildings with zero to little tenure/ownership. Cape Town, on the other hand, is unattainable for the average local. The layout of cities should expose criminal activity and offer high levels of public safety and interaction. Social amenities also play an important role in the functionality of cities. Given that families interact with cities daily, it is only common sense to have more parks, museums and restaurants spread across the entire city.
DISCLAIMER: The publisher and editor of this magazine give no warranties, guarantees or assurances and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised within this edition. Copyright ANA Publishing. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent from ANA Publishing. The publishers are not responsible for any unsolicited material. Publisher Vasantha Angamuthu vasantha@africannewsagency Executive Editor Property Vivian Warby vivian.warby@inl.co.za Features Writer Property Bonny Fourie bronwyn.fourie@inl.co.za Design Kim Stone kim.stone@inl.co.za
THERE is a post doing the rounds on Facebook asking if there is any woman who has not walked holding her keys as a weapon or turned a corner in a city and run because she feels unsafe. It could also have asked which city mother hasn’t had problems pushing a child’s pram on unpaved kerbs or which women struggle with multiple trips just to get to work. As women, our experiences and needs of a city are unique. But as roles change, some basic town planning necessities that are being overlooked are actually important to all. Because women haven’t been involved to the degree necessary in how our cities should be designed, the cities do not necessarily reflect our needs. This is sadly what happens when we have cities built and designed to exclude. And sometimes poor planning happens because it’s not the town planners’ lived experience. I feel privileged that we have been able to tap into the wisdom of four top women in property, who have helped us delve into what a city designed for women could look like. It’s exciting, inspiring and powerful. They tell us it will take more than town planning departments becoming more femaleorientated in order for cities to be better designed for women. What it will take, they say, is changes to government policies. To this end, we hope those in power get to read these ideas from women whom we admire in the profession. When we know better, we can do better. We will certainly keep this story alive with the hope that one day we will see truly inclusive cities – if not in our lifetime, then certainly in the lifetime of our daughters and nieces. Warm regards
Vivian Warby vivian.warby@inl.co.za
