Cape Town: The city wants to remind the local community of District Six as other residents and stakeholders of the first workshop. It will host the art murals at City facilities along with the historical Chapel Street in District Six.
The workshop will be observed on Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Lydia Williams centre for Memory in District Six. The representatives from the Urban Planning and Design Department of the City of Cape Town will collaborate with the residents on themes and ideas for the proposed murals to be painted on city owned facilities along the Chapel Street.
Reportedly, the project built on the District Six Public Realm Strategy finalised in year 2022 in collaboration with the District Six community, stakeholders and interested parties. The murals form a part of the Chapel Street to upgrade the project in order to facilitate the pedestrian movement between Trafalgar Park, New Hanover Street and the CBD.
Considering this, Deputy Mayor and Member of the Mayoral Committee for Spatial Planning and Environment – Alderman Eddie Andrews said that they will be hosting three workshops in the coming weeks.
Andrews desire to encourage the public and in particular the current and former residents of District Six as well as the friends of District Six, to attend at least one of the workshops. These will be interpreted with the community through a brief to artists.
However, the intention for these murals is to inspire and educate those passing through the historic area. As this is a great opportunity to contribute to a very visual and striking project.
The Chapel Street links Trafalgar Park through the remaining portion of District Six to the new restitution areas and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The section to be upgraded will stretch from the intersection with Searle Street to Russel Street and from Russel Street to New Hanover Street.
Alderman Andrews further stated that the upgrade includes hard and soft landscape interventions to promote pedestrian safety, encourage social interaction and enhanced the overall well-being of the residents by creating a public realm that is safe and inviting.
Notably, the design also focuses on creating a pedestrian centred environment along with Chapel Street. This further includes interventions such as traffic calming measures, narrowing the road itself and widening the sidewalks.
Additionally, to the planting of trees to lure people outside where they can interact with the visitors and each other and their neighbourhood too. The murals to be applied to the city buildings will be a great addition to the project and Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews therefore encouraged the residents to please participate in the workshops.