CityLift

‍Services: Urban Strategy and Visioning, Research, Project Facilitation and Management, Design, Communication.

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As part of a seasoned consortium of urbanists, designers, and economists, Our Future Cities collaborated on the CITYLIFT masterplan for the Foreshore area of Cape Town. The plan calls for the removal of the elevated freeways, their replacement with an at-grade road, and the lifting of the city grid over and above it towards the harbour. This would create a dense, vibrant, and green new city district at the harbour's edge, which would serve as a 'grand urban balcony' offering the public views of the ocean, harbour, and Table Mountain.

The plan consists of three components: an extension of the city to the harbour (on upper levels), sub-surface strategic underground mobility systems, and a new linear park.The first step entails demolishing the Foreshore Freeway Bridge, lowering the working freeway to the ground, and then gradually lifting the city up over this, creating a raised ground that extends the grid of the city at a height of approximately 7 to 10 metres above the existing ground level – lifting it above the moving public transport and cars below.

This would enable the CBD to expand, delivering a brand-new city district with more mixed-use space for commercial, residential, and cultural facilities. Underneath the elevated city ground would be constructed a four-lane road in both directions, with dedicated BRT bus lanes, parking and other services infrastructure to support the developments above, and a future interface with the harbour.‍

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Images of the scale model created can be found here.

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