Cape Town’s central city development: a strategy of partnership and inclusion

The legacy of South Africa’s past continues to upset the country’s drive towards inclusive and democratised spaces. This is particularly true in Cape Town, perhaps more so than in any other city in the country, where the spatial divides of colonialism and apartheid contribute to a most unequal and segregated geospatial existence. In order to address this urban challenge, the Cape Town Partnership developed the Central City Development Strategy (CCDS), a ten-year plan that calls for the densification of the central city to re-plan Cape Town into a more liveable, inclusive, democratic, and sustainable urban space. By critically examining the role that inclusionary housing policies, public transportation, and increased economic opportunities play in a more sustainable form of urban development, this article emphasises the need to expand the way in which planners approach urban design to take on a more holistic and partnership-based approach.