The East City Design initiative aims to create an environment in the East of the City, where the Central City meets District Six, and where design, media, ICT entrepreneurship and creativity thrive.
Creative Cape Town is driving this initiative as a proactive exercise that makes very strong economic development sense and positions us to compete in the knowledge economy. The initiative is referencing models like 22@ in Barcelona, where a forward-thinking urban planning ordinance passed in 2001 has encouraged the upgrading of languishing buildings and public spaces with the aim of driving economic and social innovation. Closer to home, Tshwane’s Innovation Hub – with its ICT infrastructure, support programmes, networking groups and buy-in to that city’s vision of becoming a world-class Smart City – is an inspiration.
Ideally, the East City Design initiative would foster all of the following:
- Incubators: Subsidised studio spaces for emerging designers and access to technical resources, such as rapid prototyping facilities.
- Showrooms and exhibition spaces: Places where the public could buy or comment on new products and initiatives.
- Broadband: Fast and subsidised or, even better, free.
- Affordable housing: Helping postgraduates and emerging professionals become residents of the City.
- Open communication: An environment where networking and information-sharing is commonplace.
The East City Design District initiative looks at the area between the Grand Parade and the Good Hope Centre. Some of Cape Town’s most exciting (and, in some cases, under-utilised) heritage buildings are here: The Castle, City Hall, the Granary, the District Six Museum, the Drill Hall (now the Cape Town Central Library).
Cape Town design organisations already settled in this area include The Cape Craft and Design Institute and the Cape Town Fashion Council, as well as several small fashion and interior designers’ studios, ICT firms, sound studios and film-related companies. Recently, Charlie’s Bakery took over the building which used to house the much-loved old Jewish bookstore and created a frosted-cupcake landmark next to the Harrington Street parking lot. Live music venue The Assembly draws the crowds at night.
The success of an innovation hub rests in the triple helix: a close, sustainable relationship between industry, educational institutes and government. This relationship builds on the strengths and resources in all facets of the design sector, drawing on as wide an involvement as possible from parties interested in innovation. The objective is to create a community, with all the amenities that attract and stimulate designers, entrepreneurs and geeks: cafés, parks, resource centres, IT infrastructure. The traditional “silo mentality” stifles innovation. This “design hub” has the potential to improve quality of life, grow the economy and initiate sustainable economic and social solutions for the City.
To know more the project download the proposal on PDF here (1.1MB).
East City Design Initiative Walkabout | Creative Cape Town
September 16th, 2009
[...] Cape Town will be hosting a special walking tour of the East City as part of its support of the East City Design Initiative (ECDI). The ECDI is a project to initiate a design precinct in the central city. The design precinct would [...]
East City – two good, one bad | Andrew Boraine
January 27th, 2010
[...] an upgrade in 2010), the complex is set to become the heart of the Cape Town Partnership’s East City Design Initiative. The entrance to The Fugard in Caledon Street, off Buitenkant Street Rehearsal space on the second [...]
Breakfasts at Bird Cafe | Creative Cape Town
February 19th, 2010
[...] design body have been stalled for various reasons. The work around World Design Capital and the East City Design Initiative is necessitating a great deal of engagement in the next few months with the design community. For [...]
Sm(art) opening | Andrew Boraine
March 14th, 2010
[...] of our current projects is the East City Design Initiative (ECDI). The East City is that curious and quirky part of the city centre that lies between Adderley [...]
Creating Spaces for Creatives | Andrew Boraine
May 2nd, 2010
[...] to learn from Toronto for our own Creative Cape Town projects, such as the East City Design Initiative , Imagine City Hall , and Creative [...]
La Mouette Restaurant, fine dining in Sea Point | Cape Town Independent Restaurant Reviews | biting restaurant reviews...
May 20th, 2010
[...] Closer to home the Cape Town Partnership initiative to encourage a creative community in the East City, may also offer restaurateurs affordable rental [...]
The ECDI Symposium | Creative Cape Town
May 24th, 2010
[...] part of the East City Design Initiative (ECDI), being managed by Creative Cape Town, a symposium was held on 11 and 12 May. ECDI has as its vision [...]
Noxolo Victoria Cacambile
June 8th, 2010
this is really going to cultivate the young minds of Designers, it will also be a place put on map to inspire and introduce design idealogies to tourists. So i guess that designers should be more “African” to just capture our essence of Mzantsi.Also not forgetting to be diverse as well coz thats wat we’re uniquely known for.
Cant wait……Noxy from CPUT.
alexis scholtz
June 25th, 2010
At the recent ECDI Design Symposium, one of the things that stuck out was the disconnect between manufacturing and design sectors. A greater awareness for how the two should be cultivated to work together towards compliment each other’s growth, what policy directives would help to boost these industries and sectors.
Similarly, there was remarkably little attention paid to sustainability and “green design”. The national government has recently hosted a summit which was a milestone for engaging in the discussions around locating the barriers and the opportunities for this transition.
This is important, although greater advocacy from important sectors, like that of design, needs to happen if national government is to take this transformation seriously and if it is to make it a strategic policy imperative which would create favorable market conditions.
Despite its many challenges, a sector risk analysis will reveal that Cape Town will put itself at risk by not embracing more sustainable design technologies and manufacturing and production techniques. However, in this lies the opportunity for us to create opportunities an differentiate ourselves from markets who are not embracing clean technologies or in technologies which require less resources to be produced.
It is time for design to deepen its understanding of its contribution to the economy and for the power it yields to inform our design principles in order to facilitate a transformation to a more sustainable economy and city.
An interesting article : http://www.polity.org.za/article/how-realistic-is-a-green-economy-2010-06-07
Creative Cape Town Interns | Creative Cape Town
June 28th, 2010
[...] month the Creative Cape Town team says goodbye to Stuart Denoon-Stevens, who has been working as a Creative Cape Town Staff member n the East City Design Initiative, on a draft Development and Contextual Framework Plan. This will provide the Cape Town Partnership [...]
Storming the ramparts:How the Castle of Good Hope can become part of city life | Andrew Boraine
July 12th, 2010
[...] specifically, the Castle needs to become part of the East City Design Initiative and the Creative Cape Town programme. The Castle is located right next to the Grand Parade, the [...]