What does Cape Town need ...and where? Is it an existing structure in another city? A boulevard? A particular type of lighting...bridge? paving?

I think it would be great if once the Culemborg area was developed we had a huge "sail" like pedestrian bridge from Culemborg across the N1 to the harbour.

Like this

http://www.macina.com/typo3temp/pics/sbp_-_creek_bruecken_film_-_5th_3b_nacht_kl.jpg

Something I've been wondering about for awhile...a V&A Casino? Sol is already there, all the hotels you could need...and casino for the parents and a entertainment park for the kids.

I'm assuming this idea has been discussed before?

No! Not another casino! Grand West is depressing enough.

The bridge I like.

As for the question, what does Cape Town need? A lot. Let me think a bit...

No! Not another casino! Grand West is depressing enough.

The bridge I like.

As for the question, what does Cape Town need? A lot. Let me think a bit...

lol Grand West is terrible I agree. But something classy that caters for the thousands of tourists in that area which most are very well off. Take your mind off 'casino' and more an entertainment world. It's not so much that I want a new casino or more of that type of entertainment - its just seems to a market that isn't being catered for in that area.

Just small things...trees...or bridges...or a building you like or a cruise terminal design or something planned or existing elsewhere

A Ramblas avenue running central on the reclaimed land above the raillines.
http://hotelpulitzerbarcelona.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/la-rambla.jpg
http://www.gaybarcelona.com/397ramblas.jpg

with a Washington Arc at one end
http://www6.worldisround.com/photos/20/100/130_o.jpg

and musical fountain on the Grand Parade
http://images.travelpod.com/users/zento/eandl2006.1162384920.03_large_musical_fountain.jpg

and my favourite must-have- A Brighton Pier at Seapoint
http://www.iananthony.com/images/bio%20page/brighton_pier.jpg

Hmmm. A few months ago I would have said we need more city squares and parks, but we’ve pretty much got that covered now! The Grand Parade could do with an overhaul though – I’d like to see something ceremonial and, um, grand like Trafalgar Square or a Roman piazza. Okay, that’s not at all practical but it would be cool.

Roeland Street, the road to parliament, should be upgraded. I like briker’s tree-lined boulevard idea.

Cape Town needs an interesting as well as functional public transport system! Duh. Well, obviously a city wide network should consist of heavy rail and IRT, but an inner city monorail or tram would be intriguing. All transport should be branded and run by a central transport authority, a la Transport for London.

More art in public spaces!

Something needs to be done in the area surrounding the foreshore freeways. Not sure what but I’ll think about it. I don’t necessarily agree with sinking them underground as driving in and out of the city, especially at night, is a great pleasure afforded by these roads.

I reccon that in addition to my wish for a ferris wheel and bandstand/ picknick area in the vicinity of Fort Wynard, the more focus should be made on the area at the end of the pier/breakwater past the Helipad at the V&A. This area should be paved in a maritime pattern, and create an idea of the pier being a needle on a compass - thus giving thought to Cape Towns innitial origins and nautical ties, as well as its remoteness geographically. I have alway enjoyed a walk along the breakwater, and the views they afford, but am frustrated that more international tourists dont realise/take the innitaitive to walk this extra bit - due to ignorance, or fear of being mugged by baddies leaping from between the Dolosses.

As a lover of Croatia, I have been to a central city there called Zadar. at the end of the island peninsula, a famouse Croatian artist has created 2 iaward winning instalations, namely the Sea Organ ( an array of steps at have hidden pipes which give off certain pitches/keys of sound as the waves hit them ) and most recently the Greeting to the Sun, which is an array of potovoltaic cells laid out in a circle that record the light signatures at any one given time during the day and at sunset, and then "play it back " after dark. the effect is awesome. loads of people come out at dusk to celebrate to discs doing their reflective dance!

copy this link to have a look at what Im prattling on about!

http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9541/1/Spectacular-Monument-to-The-Sun-in-the-city-of-Zadar-by-Nikola-Baiae.html

Both these idea would be awesome IMO.

maybe a wind farm tower thing at the end of the pier! to act as an environmentally friendly sculpture

Isn't there a wind farm proposal in the future V&A development proposal? I remember seeing turbines in the renders.

Wind farms are noisy.

My idea: A greater part of the harbour should be open to the public, on the side of the V&A. A cruise ship terminal, huge art installations, a gallery and a theatre complex. Have a strip of cafe/lounges/bars/ maybe a club or two that opens till very late. Attract more middle class residential developments between the V&A and the city. Culemborg can also work.

Basically in future the district of CBD, Foreshore, Culemborg should be one huge mini-city on its own with most amenities one would need.

Cape Town has the mountain. Doesn't exactly need an Eiffel tower, Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, Opera House as an identifier / icon.

^^ Isn't that kinda the plan, anyway? :P

Just because it’s not a need does not mean we can’t have it.

I think we could do with a bridge (although we getting a "nice" pedestrian one), a few additional creative monuments/landmarks.
Grand Parade certainly needs something... maybe a waterfall and some benches although it is a cliché.
Definitely not an amusement park in our CBD or on the pier... I think that would cause too much visual cutter in the area. A cruise ship terminal, I think is needed, at least something decent; I mean This Is Cape Town.

Wind farms might be environmentally friendly because they don't spew out smoke, but lots of birds get killed by those massive blades. I can just imagine bits of Cape Comorant and Kelp Gull chopped up and sprayed about a crowded V&A during peak tourist season!

:lol: That'll give them a few Kodak moments I'm sure.

Instead of this:

http://www.sa-transport.co.za/buses_and_coaches/w-cape/golden_arrow_ct_l06.JPG
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/2581806630_8b3886bd56_b.jpg

This:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/2617115631_a8a70e2545_b.jpg

Yes Mo! The Golden Acre bus station is the worst bus station in the world.

Now I have an idea...maybe too far fetched, but then most good(and bad) ideas are. How about they move the harbour, to the area between Macassar and Mitchell's Plain. I'm not clued up enough, whether False Bay is deep enough, but think about it for a minute. Industry will move close to an area where the majority of the work force lives. A much bigger harbour can be built and more work provided. Canals running from the flats can connect with town and a regular ferry can transport commuters to town to add another option to public transport. Poverty stricken neighbourhoods can be completely redesigned and converted to waterfront Marina's with medium density habitation, with enough beautiful green spaces. There should also be space for neighbourhood rowing boats and catamaran clubs. Grand ideas like these will turn Philippi into a sought after address and Grassy Park the new Crystal Towers at Century City. The old harbour can still be used in a minimized capacity and areas converted to cater for cruise ships to do regular trips to East Africa and all the islands. Most of the remaining land can be used for extensive top end developments like the V&A Marina, to fund the project and especially the newly developed Cape Flats.
Well it's a mere fantasy...don't know if the topography would allow for this to be remotely possible. Nice idea to connect the whole city. From Somerset West, the Northern `burbs and the city bowl.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/2617115631_a8a70e2545_b.jpg
This is very "Cape Town"

^^I totally agree, it would fix in perfectly in Capetown.

With the new port in PE and the widening of the Durban harbour, I do not see the harbour being moved. They'd rather expand capacity in Saldanha and use that port to handle containers as well.

A new plan/structure/idea doesn't need to cost a lot of money, seeing as it will be hard to justify the cost & finance it anyway. More arty farty stuff would be cool, and well as development of the more smart industries (creatives, light manufacturing, IT etc)

Do you guys think the Hertzog Boulevard Civic Centre station will eventually continue all the way until Adderley Street?? Using the open grass areas before the station?

The green area to the left of the purple in this graphic

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p210/rfataar/MainTransportHubSmall.jpg?t=1270566937

From andrewboraine.com

A fountain in Washington. Would be nice for the Grand Parade?

http://www.andrewboraine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IMG_6689.JPG

Mo,

Re: Civic Station – I hope so. I’m convinced that the IRT stations are too small. In ten years time they won’t be able to handle the demand (hopefully).

Re: Fountain – Yes!

Roeland Street, the road to parliament, should be upgraded. I like briker’s tree-lined boulevard idea.


http://lh6.ggpht.com/_TU3KabZg8Nc/S5Vsf9g940I/AAAAAAAADBA/2LJwnNWgUY8/P1090442.JPG

From andrewboraine.com

A fountain in Washington. Would be nice for the Grand Parade?

http://www.andrewboraine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IMG_6689.JPG

Well how about re-opening the historic moat around the parade. That would have been awesome

Apartments for Bo-Kaap?

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1270477565-ly2-03-fachada-poniente-528x369.jpghttp://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1270477576-ly2-05-fachada-poniente-528x350.jpg

That looks schweet! :colgate:

I love the look of those! Perfect development to uplift the area as well.

Yeah definitely. Those would look amazing in the area.

I like. Those would be very "sympathetic to the surroundings," as they say.

I know Cape Town is not famous for its rivers but that's no excuse for some of the shocking bridges that have been erected across the river next to the N2 near Raapenberg Road (Black River? Liesbeeck? - shocking that I'm not sure on this). We need decent bridges and walkways. We need to pay attention to the details. No more cookie cutter development.

Also, something seriously needs to be done about Sir Lowry Road. As a boulevard entering the city centre, it fails on every level apart from the actual provision of road on which to drive.

I can see where you going with this Mo, but that type of gentrification will never fly for the area.

But there are already flats very similar to that.

Why wouldn't it fly?

Ok let me play Devils Advocate for a moment. What would the City's goal be for such a gentrification of the area, pretty or not? Also let me ask: is it really sympathetic to the history and fabric of the area?

Long Time since I last posted here, but my some of my thoughts on the city,

* Create a few proper canals/fountains through the central city/forshore
* Open the columborg site up for mixed use development
* Increase the density of any suburb from the N2/M5 to green point to between 5000-10000 (bo kaap is currently the higest with about 9000 i think but much of that area is 2000 or under) excluding large green or open areas (ie the liesbeek parkway area or similar large parks)
* Hurry up with what ever we are going to do in District 6 (its a sensitive process but nothing is happening atm)
* Develop a Metropolitan cycle network (as is been done) that is intergrated into local networks and connect these networks to trains and BRT/buses via intermodel facilities that cater specifiically to NMT users (such as cycle repair points, cafes, storage, showers, change facilities, groceries,bike hire) -Im currently working on an idea related to this for the woodstock area for my 3rd yr final project.
* Build a Large Art museam dedicated to only Modern, Post Modern, Contempory art and Post colonial art of Africa
* Make something cool on the VA pier and preferably make it a visual land mark
* Pedestrianise/public transport half the inner city streets and make the bulk of the rest one ways by giving over the other half to pedestrians/one ways
* develop radial corridors of construction and concentric rings of construction where in general walk up 3-4 floor buildings become the norm (but be sensitive to special areas that shouldnt be treated as such) connected to the IRT system
* Consider adopting a Curbita like abroach to waste management
* Construct a small but expandable modern atheltics stadium with a full ring of seats (the old green point stadium might be fine even with only half the seats)
* Develop the many green open spaces in the greater city into public spaces

Yeah those are my thoughts not all origninal, I have others but I cant remember right now

pictures of your ideas! :) ? please

Love or hate him. Every city needs a Calatrava.

- A city the size of Cape Town really needs commuter trains, the real deal and not just light rail. Considering the number of people who take Cape Town's minibus taxis, this should be way up on the priority list. Use the GO Transit commuter trains - they work quite nicely for us, and don't require highly-raised platforms, and with diesel engines no need for electrification.
- The Culemborg Goods Yard at the N1/N2 intersection is an ugly thing, get it out of there if you can. And why does every South African city have a big friggin' rail yard right in the middle of it?! I'm a railfan myself, but those don't belong in the middle of a modern city IMO.
- Cape Town needs a building, something iconic that right with Table Mountain just screams out where it is, like the Empire State Building in New York, the CN Tower in Toronto and the Opera House in Sydney. (And in place of those rail yards and goods yard would be an ideal place to put it.)
- District Six IMO would be a perfect place to put medium-density housing (row houses, walkups, et cetera) and a college or university for disadvantaged students. And also set up a couple museums there, one for art and the other for music, and showcase lots of the musicians who once lived in District Six. Mo Rush's apartments would look very right there, too.
- Clean up the moat around the Castle of Good Hope and clean up the Fort itself. The moat has no use except for decoration now, so make it as nice as you can - fountains, blue bottom, you get the idea.
- Why is the space across the street from Town Hall a bleeping parking lot? Bury the lot and put a park above it, and hook it up to the town hall and local buildings through tunnels.
- Rebuild the Train station move the Taxi rank beneath it, not above it. Something like this, perhaps:

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/5144/stationdesign1.jpg

- Keep up the good work on tearing down the shacks in Khayelitsha and replacing them with good homes. In a nation as wealthy as South Africa, people living in shanties is sad and pathetic at the same time. Perhaps one way to do that is a handful of big high-rises, with small but well-laid out apartments that are perfectly livable for singles, couples or small families, maybe like this:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1857/towerdesign13.jpg

- Cape Town really needs a dedicated cruise ship port. It really does. Its too beautiful a city to go to waste IMO, and I'm sure plenty of tourists would think the same if such a port existed. Preferably right on the V&A Waterfront where it would belong.
- Move Ysterplaat AFB someplace else. The runway is too short for many airplanes, and its in absolutely the wrong place. If any planes were flying there, the first time one botches a takeoff or landing, it's gonna demolish a bunch of homes.

WOW...I like your ideas Mann! I think the current harbour should move...it makes no sense where it is now. It's too small and a bit of an eyesore. It's location is amazing though!Great cruiseliner harbour and yacht marina.
the N1 and N2 should go underground, we are really tight on space...not my original idea, but I think it's an excellent idea.

Probably said it before, but Athlone Towers site should be our first major pilot high density affordable housing site involving major construction and design companies testing out various heights and solutions.

^^ really like that Idea but feel that something special should be done with the old turbine hall, ie make it into a major community facility (not sure exactly what Art centre would be great cos this city really needs something major modern and contemporary in that field but I think that using a turbine hall might be to tate modern so maybe something else, hmm what about a University) But the rest of the surround as high density is a great idea. Just nothing to modernist (we dont want to have to pull it down in 10 years)

WOW...I like your ideas Mann! I think the current harbour should move...it makes no sense where it is now. It's too small and a bit of an eyesore. It's location is amazing though!Great cruiseliner harbour and yacht marina.
the N1 and N2 should go underground, we are really tight on space...not my original idea, but I think it's an excellent idea.
Apart from the container terminal near Paarden Eiland, I wouldn't say the port is an eyesore. A cruiseliner terminal is a great idea though. I like the fact that we have working harbour on our doorstep. It definitely adds to the city's vibe.

Great ideas Man2000. I agree with you with regards to the station precinct. The whole area needs to be opened up, it so dark and damp and dreary, considering that it is the oldest part of the city. Also in my opinion, they really stuffed up with the Grand Parade. Re-open the old moat around it and put the small foot bridges back. Turn one section into a permanent market but control the stuff that must be sold. Get rid of the we don't work but we will loiter there the whole day element. For the Grand Parade have little stalls like they have at the link at Cavendish.

District 6 is not too far from Cape Tech so no need for a College, but some museums dedicated to the history of the area would suffice. Since the area is such a prime location, no factory manufactured Century City-esque development allowed please.

Rio's Port Area. Would be nice if we did something similar along our Harbour.

http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/PopArte/foto/0,,20623242-FMM,00.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pb00HrJrIxA/Sws65zWo6EI/AAAAAAAABRA/baSZlPTGCsQ/s1600/23_MHG_porto-rio-simula%25C3%25A7%25C3%25A3o.jpg

How about a Century City Convention and Exhibition Centre.

You could use the site as you enter currently used for a Driving Range. Opposite the pods.

A hotel, lots of exhibition space, bridge to Canal Walk.

ANYTHING but that damn driving range please. What a waste of space. Eish. I guess maybe they don't want to hide Canal Walk from the highway?

By the way, any development on the whole connecting Canal Walk to the Waterfront via canal thing, or is that just a pipe dream at this point?