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Cape Town will shut Bree Street to cars every Sunday until the end of the summer season under a new pedestrianisation pilot project.
The context: A number of cities around the world have scaled up their car-free street projects after finding they boost local businesses. On Montreal’s Mont-Royal Avenue, for instance, the vacancy rate of commercial premises fell sharply in the years after it was pedestrianised. London aims to deliver similar benefits to restaurants and retailers along Oxford Street.
The latest: Bree Street, which was recently ranked the 11th “coolest” street in the world by Time Out magazine, will be closed off to cars every Sunday until March 2025, as will Shortmarket Street.
The project is being driven by Young Urbanists, a local non-profit organisation, and the City of Cape Town. It’s also supported by the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) and last-mile delivery company Green Riders.
The aim is for residents to “not just re-imagine but participate in breathing new life into streets and reclaiming [Bree Street] for all to enjoy,” Young Urbanists said in a statement.
“We’ve been wanting to try a regular pedestrianisation for some time now,” Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said. The pilot project will “make a space and welcoming space for families to enjoy the city on foot… I hope that the Cape Town public will support this experiment and I invite everyone down to enjoy a pedestrianised Bree Street every Sunday.”
The city’s mayoral committee member for urban mobility, Roberto Quintas, said: “We are extremely excited about these activations, which prove an alternative way that road and street networks can act as a cardiovascular system for the City of Cape Town’s economy and as a drawcard adding to the overall health of the living organism that is the city… and how our residents and visitors can enjoy it.”
The local ward councillor, Ian McMahon, added: “We have previously had successful one-off events before, but I’m excited to see this ‘car-free open street day’ experiment, that will happen weekly, giving it time to build momentum. It’s very exciting.”
The city’s draft integrated transport plan calls for a shift to public transport and walking, partly in an effort to tackle heavy road congestion.
