Partners aim to let a Tyger loose on Voortrekker Road

Public’s ideas sought for ambitious plan to develop corridor

A BUSINESSMAN and a city planner have an ambitious idea to transform the 15km stretch of Voortrekker Road between Salt River Circle and Stikland Bridge – and they want the public’s advice on how to do it.

Monday marks the launch of the first phase of the Future Tyger project, which takes in Facebook, Twitter, smartphone apps and gaming. Chief executive of the project Tienie le Roux said: “We’re trying everything to get people involved.”

The teamwork began in October, bringing together the City of Cape Town, the private sector and universities under the Greater Tygerberg Partnership.

As of this month, the Future Tyger project has been accepted into the programme for World Design Capital.

It falls under the category “Bridging the Divide”, for initiatives which seek to reconcile disparate communities.

“South African cities post-1994 have not transformed into the inclusive, vibrant environments we hoped for,” said Shahid Solomon, a city planner by profession, and the brains behind the Voortrekker Road project.

He wants the people who live, work and study in the Voortrekker Road vicinity to weigh in on what transformation they’d like to see. The public participation phase will last three weeks, after which the results will be collated and considered.

“We have very specific ideas for development but not knowing what the people want, they could be the wrong ideas,” said Le Roux.

By November, they hope to have created a framework for regeneration of the corridor area, based on public suggestions.

From there, the experts take over. The partnership will launch a competition for international architects and planning firms to submit designs of their vision for the corridor. A winner will be chosen by the middle of next year.

“Developers are really getting excited,” said Solomon.

According to his figures, there is a total of 500 hectares of land suitable for development along the corridor – the equivalent of two city bowls. But the development must be done in an environmentally responsible way.

“Cape Town is in a colossal race against time, and not everyone understands that,” said Solomon. The race is to develop according to a low emission development strategy, before carbon taxes and other environmental constraints make the city and its products “extremely uncompetitive”.

According to Solomon, the Voortrekker Road corridor is the best way to implement such a strategy. It will allow for businesses along the road on street level, encouraging foot traffic and cycling. High-density housing could be placed above the businesses, with the corridor providing for public transport, rather than private vehicles.

“We’re trying to drive quality of life,” Solomon said.

But the partnership can only function as a facilitator, for now. They are trying to co-ordinate the public, universities, profession- als, business people and the City of Cape Town in an ambitious effort to transform the alreadyused land between Bellville central and Salt River Circle.

It’s a mammoth task and, for the next three weeks, residents, business owners and anyone interested has a chance to get involved in shaping it.

Join the conversation on the Future Tyger Facebook page or go to www. futuretyger. info for more information.