Architect profile
living conditions of those who live in it.
It may be appropriate in some situations,
but we should learn from it and other
situations may call for other solutions.
Which cities are you inspired by,
and how important are precedents in a
more globalised world?
All of the many cities covered on URB.IM
show groundswell paths of innovation,
which highlight how similar global
challenges in the developing world are. Yet
while we can and should look for answers
in precedent elsewhere – this is in essence
the innovation of URB.IM, to build this
discussion platform accessibly across the
global South – we equally must develop
and contextualise a discourse of ‘best
practice’ within local settings. Not doing
so is problematic, whether it is the BRT or
any other initiative.
Spatial design also deals with lots of
complexity, the fullness of which is often
difficult to grasp by those who would fund
or implement projects. Communication
is therefore also a part of inclusivity and
accessibility, and communication of good
design is as important as good design in
many ways. Sao Paulo for example has an
accessible urban design guideline for the
city that everyone can access and engage.
Unfortunately architects and other spatial
designers who forefront social content are
usually not equally adept at marketing.
Other platforms such as URB.IM, Future
Cape Town or Designing_SouthAfrica can
help greatly with that and with building
platforms for governmental and nongovernmental interactions. We need to
find ways to make good design and good
design incentives less opaque for different
stakeholders (including government
officials) and for people generally. AD
About Future Cities
Future Cities NPO is an independent
nonprofit organisation committed to
building a democracy around the future
of cities. Their network is made up of
Future Cape Town, which is the founding
movement and their base, along with Future
Johannesburg, Future Lagos and Future
London.
They achieve their aim by:
• Creating platforms for dialogue and action
about the future of cities
• Inspiring people to become active citizens
• Promoting city to citizen engagement
• Empowering young people in the area of
urbanism
• Building a voice for more liveable, inclusive
and sustainable cities
Future Cape Town was started by Rashiq
Fataar in July 2010, in the period after South
Africa’s successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA
World Cup, initially as a means of
stimulating a broader debate and
questioning the future direction of the city.
Under the tagline “inspiring a more liveable
city”, Future Cape Town was born as a social
media account on Twitter, which began
to challenge this status quo by prompting
and asking tough questions about the ways
in which the city would progress, in the
process encouraging other citizens to do the
same.
In late 2013, Future Cape Town welcomed
Future Johannesburg, Future Lagos and
Future London, and became a registered
nonprofit, Our Future Cities NPO.
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