Working to build a liveable world
Maybe we wake up and there ‘it’ is. Purpose. The force that drives us. Makes our eyes light up, hands fly-flap and voice rise as we talk passionately about our ‘thing’. At times, this purpose is murky, clouded by the endless shopping list of competing issues. And at other times,...
I was recently invited to deliver a keynote address at the World Urban Forest Forum held in Washington D.C, USA. Initial puzzlement at why Cape Town would be invited – a treeless biome – turned to curiosity. And a whole level of new thinking around urban forests and resilience –...
The following excerpts are from a recently completed research report. The full report is available at the end of the post. Background An invitation was made to City of Cape Town officials to participate in the Urban Mistra Futures Programme hosted by the University of Cape Town, African Centre for...
Founders Garden, a Western Cape Government Department of Transport and Public Works flagship project has been in the works since 2010 when the Cape Town Central City Regeneration Programme was approved by the incoming DA Provincial Cabinet. Renewed interest in the project due to the invitation to submit comments on...
“Rising temperatures will cause more death than all infectious diseases” the Guardian Newspaper reported on 4 August 2020. As the world battles to get a handle on COVID, it doesn’t really need competition for headlines. However, if the study is correct, “the growing but largely unrecognized death toll from rising...
By Tamsin Faragher – First published in TOPOS (2012) A city is not a city without its life-blood, people. In the ‘bad old days’ of South African history, some people were given rights and others were denied rights. Some rights allowed some people into the City and others not. It...
OVP Landscape Architects The West Coast Fossil Park is a national heritage site. It is the site where 50 years ago, a five million-year-old fossil was uncovered at a phosphate mine. When the mine’s mining potential was exhausted, the land was transferred to a trust in the 1980’s. The decision...
Women have played a significant role in the struggle for South Africa’s freedom. Today’s dangers and battles are those against unseen threats that manifest in the extreme weather resulting from climate change and the underpinning structural economic inequality. This blogpost reflects on a recent Institute of Landscape Architecture of South Africa webinar that focused on the impacts of climate change on women.
Bishops Court, Cape Town The Upper Liesbeek River Park is one of Cape Town’s best kept secrets. Hidden just below Kirstenbosch, the park has been developed over the last ten years by Dr. Joan Parker, a resident living in the area. Through her vision work, the park has gone from...
Jeppestown, Johannesburg KWPCREATE The Gilfillan Park project brief was to upgrade an existing park located within the dense, crowded city precinct of Jeppestown, Johannesburg. The original park was well-used by a wide range of users, primarily from underprivileged backgrounds living in adjacent apartments. The design seeks to create a community...
Thank you Tamsin. So important to share your vision.
Thank you so much for sharing so practically and vulnerably Tamsin. I have friends going through cancer treatment and it's…
Hello! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. At this stage, I don't believe that anything is off…
Why aren't we considering planting the White Stinkwood Tree in the townships on the Cape Flats? It grows quickly, is…