A not-for-profit organisation is hard at work to transform areas in the CBD into diverse places where locals want to be. The drab substation at Riebeeck Square in Cape Town’s inner city has been transformed into a vibrant public gallery featuring murals by local artists. Along St George’s Mall, through which 120,000 people pass daily, pedestrians can pause to peek through a pinhole into a repurposed “Kiosk of Curiosities” packed with artwork.
Cross traffic-congested Strand Street, and pedestrians step on a canvas of cheerful daisies designed to remind motorists to be courteous. After dark, the pedestrianised sections of Shortmarket Street and Church Lane are lit up with strings of festoon lights. These small interventions led by the Mission for Inner City Cape Town, a not-for-profit launched eight months ago, aim to make the city more welcoming and walkable.
Describing the group’s aims, cofounder and executive chair Tim Harris said: “We are building a platform that unlocks energy and ingenuity by supporting locals who have their own vision.” The mission works hand in hand with the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID), on whose board Harris serves. Over 25 years, this government-business collaboration has helped to arrest inner-city decay and the exodus to suburbia. Yet Harris and cofounder Brad Armitage were “shocked by what we saw” as 117 businesses vanished from the CBD during Covid, revealing a need for additional interventions to unlock local potential and private investment.
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“We realised that we needed to supplement the CCID’s efforts, for instance, to fast-track approvals from the City of Cape Town, ease facilitation, provide funding now and then, and offer support.” Unlike the CCID’s broad mandate and 750-person organogram, the mission is focused and lean, tapping into the energy of people working and living in the city. One example: “Inner-City Saturdays” were launched after retailers sought help to boost weekend trade. “Inspired by the format of First Thursdays, we created an activation and supported them, but it was their effort; they led it.
That’s the model: we unlock passion across the city. That is how we achieve scale.” The mission has secured three years of City funding, matched by private contributions, with more sponsors in the pipeline. Harris, a former MP and Wesgro CEO, believes Cape Town is a “functional inner city in the face of serious social challenges”.
Inclusivity and diversity underpin the mission’s model, with a concept called “placemaking” – collaborative public space-building for living, working, playing and learning – at the core. Place-making enhanced Riebeeck Square’s Bree Street Gallery with murals, concrete seating and planters. A giant mural appeared on a Long Street wall.
Nearby, Shortmarket Street is lit at night and being semi-pedestrianised, hosting two new boutique hotels opposite the iconic 1980s late-night Cadiz takeaway café. Church Lane also boasts lighting, benches and retail curation plans, all key mission interventions alongside walking routes, wayfinding and public events.
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