At the request of the City of Cape Town and with the support of the French Agency for Developpment (AFD), Les Ateliers is organizing a flash international urban planning workshop in Cape Town in order to find innovative solutions to tackle the implementation challenges of their Municipal and District Spatial Development Frameworks. During this 5 days flash international workshop, 15 international and local participants will take part in a collective and strategic work that can contribute to enable the local and metropolitan ambitions for Cape Town.

Cape Town is one the South Africa's capital cities, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest with more than 4.5 millions of inhabitants. Its spectacular natural landscape including dramatic mountains and a long coastline has molded its development, as well as the historical heritage of the apartheid that stubbornly results in a segregated city and a sprawling urban form.

In response to Cape Town’s spatial, social and economic challenges, the City has comprehensive and ambitious planning tools but a number of specific circumstances are obstacles to their proper implementation. Therefore, the workshop's goal is to collect and share innovative ideas and international references to help the City of Cape Town move towards a seamless process of implementation of Cape Town’s ambitious policies.

This raises questions about how to address the tension between the dream and actual reality on the ground.

How to connect with other institutions in order to share the responsibilities and build long term relations?

How can the government improve participatory processes to better respond and support the needs of different actors in the city?

How do we ensure sustainable urban development in an area marked by encroachment like Philippi?