Speech by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille, at
the launch of the Mayor’s Portfolio of Urban Sustainability
at the Civic Centre on 13 June 2014
Members of the external review panel for the Mayor’s Portfolio
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning, goeie môre, molweni, as-salaam alaikum, shalom.
I am thrilled to be here at the launch of the Mayor’s Portfolio of Urban
Sustainability.
The previous portfolio left a lasting legacy for the city in terms of best practice
lessons that we could learn from and turn to in the design of new projects
and programmes.
But this year, the portfolio has a special significance.
It is being launched as part of the broader programme of the World Design
Capital for 2014.
Following the theme ‘Live Design: Transform Life’, the WDC2014 has sought to
create a platform for innovation and creativity in Cape Town, bringing in
design influences, forces and actors from around the world.
While design touches all industries and all aspects of life, we have a special
interest in addressing the design challenges posed to cities.
Thus, while we fully support the multiple efforts to showcase design in other
sectors, we are especially focused on understanding what design can do for
us as an urban space and as an organisation as the City of Cape Town.
I think this portfolio speaks directly to these issues.
With its methodology considering how we balance the natural and cultural
resources of the city with the imperatives of economic and social
development, the portfolio has sought projects that encourage sustainable
development.
Sustainability is one of the foundation stones of development and every
major decision we face as a city government should begin its assessment by
asking what is in the best interests of the city according to a balance of
needs.
Our legacy for future generations, beyond the immediate achievements of
WDC2014, will be determined by the measures we take to build sustainable
thinking into our organisational DNA today.
This portfolio has drawn from the best examples of sustainable projects
selected from all departments in the City.
After a careful process of selection, formal assessment and external
consideration, we have arrived at the finished product.
I am especially grateful to the team who worked on this project and the
expert panel of judges who gave their time and effort to work with the City.
Thank you.
It is my sincere hope that these projects will become a living portfolio within
the City – a textbook of design best practice that we can use in our everyday
planning to entrench sustainability in all of our actions.
In particular, the portfolio draws attention to a few gold-star projects: those
projects that are truly outstanding examples of holistic thinking and design.
An example of one of these is the Pelican Park housing development.
This project sought to create a truly integrated community across income
levels by combining subsidised, gap and market houses in the same
development.
Furthermore, it is a model of how the needs of development and ecological
conservation can be balanced with the right kind of planning, given the
need for preservation of the fynbos in the area.
It is a model of what we want future human settlements projects to look like.
In conclusion, all of these projects are models of some kind.
They are the blueprint for what we would like the future of Cape Town to look
like.
In order to achieve this legacy, I look forward to the portfolio becoming a
handbook for project managers in the City.
And more than that, I look forward to these projects feeding into other
WDC2014 programmes.
Thank you to everyone again for their hard work and especially to the project
managers whose work is highlighted here. You are all examples of how we
make progress possible, together.
Thank you, baie dankie, enkosi.