Urban Migration

During a recent city walk through the inner city streets of Cape Town, an interesting discussion was sparked. Led by Creative Cape Town and the Cape Town Partnership, our tour of public art and public life brought us to a scene I witness regularly in Harrington Street. The daily migration of street traders, carting their temporary structures upwards of a kilometer through the city streets to their assigned plots. The discussion was about access to land, distribution of opportunity, and the micro scale urban migratory patterns occurring everyday in our city.

In order for the traders to successfully negotiate the route to the more pedestrianized inner city from the storage facility in Harrington Street, rickety heavy laden carts are first hauled to the middle of the roadway to negotiate the equally strong camber. I look on nervously hoping the cart will not veer out of control into parked vehicles - how many bags of chips and cigarettes will replace a smashed headlight or broken side mirror on a Range Rover?

To my surprise, each trader sets out on this journey alone. Every morning and every evening. No assistance, no camaraderie and no women traders in sight. The conditions are very disheartening and I can only hope that the role out of cycle lanes in our city will also take into consideration other non motorized transport such as these carts. Of course a more sustainable solution would involve accessible storage facilities adjacent to the trading sites to ensure that women, the elderly and everyone less physically capable would be able to trade informally should they wish to do so.

Storage and the daily hauling of goods is an integral part of the discussion around decisions to use non motorized transport. What other migratory patterns within the city should inform the design of the streetscape and manner in which we design shared services?
Stop.
Not for a moment am I sending out a heartfelt call for a designer to design "the-ultimate-store-all-repurposed-airport-trolley" although perhaps there is space for ACSA to be involved here. What is concerning and where perhaps the solution process should begin is in understanding why traders are not assisting each other in this daily commute. The networks of commonality and community of struggle in my observation are not well functioning in this situation and may be poorly served by another designed object.


Lets learn the story, haul trollies, understand the commute, and come to terms with the challenges are facing this community and others who migrate daily in our city.