The local, citizen-driven initiative and NPO Open Streets was selected as a winner in the prestigious Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) challenge. The award places mobility innovation in Cape Town on the global map. Open Streets was one of 10 award recipients selected from over 100 submissions from more than 30 countries in this inaugural year of the award. The winners were announced at the WomenMobilizeWomen Conference, which was part of the International Transport Forum, held in Leipzig, Germany, in May.
Marcela Guerrero Casas and Rebecca Campbell accepted the award for Open Streets Cape Town, but also, they explained, on behalf of the city’s administration and other partners who are working to encourage residents to claim and reimagine streets as public spaces.
“Winning the TUMI award will help to scale our programmes and to bring even more inspiration to Cape Town as an innovative city — and particularly in terms of mobility innovation. Open Streets is growing as an organisation, thanks to international recognition like the TUMI award, but also from countless individuals and groups in Cape Town. In particular, we thank the City of Cape Town, and especially the Transport and Urban Development Authority, for its continued support for the work we do,” said Guerrero Casas.
Open Streets seeks to create a new mindset around urban mobility, to create shared spaces that embody respect and help to bridge the social and spatial divides in Cape Town. It does this through a programme of year-round activities, including advocacy campaigns, Open Streets Days, the Street Indaba, among others. With the award, the organisation hopes to scale its activities, as well as to increase knowledge exchanges with other cities and convene local groups to expand and deepen discussions on how to improve and change the status quo of the city’s streets.
Open Streets is also proud to be part of the Cape Town chapter of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and look forward to using its channels to broaden and deepen knowledge of how creativity can build a more creative, integrated and vibrant city through transport and mobility.
Ricky Mabee from Mitchells Plain Alive, said of the award: “This award is a great opportunity to shed light on the positive impact that Open Streets has had in our community and the enormous potential it still holds. Residents of Mitchells Plain are eager to see a more regular programme that can show the real potential of our streets and that maximises the wealth that exists in our community.”
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