The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Management, Alderman Grant Twigg, recently visited Philippi Village with Subcouncil 13 Chairperson, Alderman Rhoda Bazier and officials. This site is an integrated Community Development Hub in the heart of Philippi.
The Philippi Village currently has 90 tenants who operate small businesses, NPOs and NGOs. The facility also consists of a container walk shopping centre, business centre, amphitheatre and various social zones.
The site visit resulted from a previous visit by the Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato and Alderman Twigg following a request from the Philippi Village leadership for an opportunity to share their vision for the future of the village and partnership with the City of Cape Town.
‘I am excited to see what the Philippi Village achieved. This initiative is ground-breaking as it provides guests, tenants, community and staff with a safe, integrated development space. Their community centred approach, working with all stakeholders especially within the neighbouring informal settlement, shows their commitment to community development and response to needs of the community,’ said Alderman Twigg.
The process for this development started two years ago with a community mapping activity, where they had mapped tenant needs and the homes surrounding their space to get a better idea of who the neighbours were, what their needs were, what skills and resources they have which the Philippi Village Team could learn from. This process helped the staff to better understand who made up the community, how better to respond to their needs and how to include them in this process. From this exercise, they have worked with the community to reimagine what their space could look like.
Given this engagement and consultations, they secured some funding to realise the needs identified by the stakeholders and community.
Future projects include:
- Sound Studio
- Five-a-side football pitch
- Skate park
- BMX pump track
- Indigenous plant park
- Micro Farm
- Kids play park
- Multisport court
- Wellness studio
‘Rising from the ruins of the old cement factory, this urban space is becoming a community hub. It is a home for community living in Philippi, a place for professionals and entrepreneurs within Philippi providing much needed space for them to grow their companies, while at the same time, providing the community of Philippi with access to the local services offered by the entrepreneurs and broader use of the safe and secure facilities. Following this site visit, the City will now look at how best to collaborate with the Philippi Village in the future,’ said Alderman Twigg.