SUNDAY BREE
This is a Young Urbanists Project
STREET EXPERIMENTS AFRICA
New ways to make streets safer
Cape Town
Tactical Urbanism
Street experiments are temporary, low-cost interventions that explore new ways of using streets and public spaces. They aim to make streets safer, more inclusive, and vibrant by reimagining their design using tactical bollards, yellow cones, barriers, removable concrete curbs, and other tools to redefine street layouts. These experiments often involve temporarily closing streets to cars, narrowing roads, adding pop-up bike lanes, or transforming large intersections into protected areas or shared spaces for pedestrians and other uses.
In Cape Town, the Bree Street Sunday Experiment is our example of the first type. From October 27, 2024, until March 2025, Bree Street has been closed to vehicles every Sunday, transforming into a car-free space where pedestrians and cyclists take centre stage. Notably, this initiative did not require a formal events permit, as it was classified as a non-event by the City. This significantly reduced the costs of implementation, allowing us to carry out the weekly experiment along Bree Street—from Wale to Strand—and including Shortmarket Street between Bree and Long, for a six-month period.
Supported by the City of Cape Town and Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, the experiment offered a unique opportunity to reimagine one of the city's most iconic streets as a space for people rather than vehicles. It was not designed as a commercial or entertainment event, but as a calm, inclusive environment where everyone could feel welcome. Our street ambassadors, the Green Riders, served as marshals, while we activated the space with support from local businesses, communities, our networks, and friends from afar—all in line with the non-event nature of the programme.
In Cape Town, the Bree Street Sunday Experiment is our example of the first type. From October 27, 2024, until March 2025, Bree Street has been closed to vehicles every Sunday, transforming into a car-free space where pedestrians and cyclists take centre stage. Notably, this initiative did not require a formal events permit, as it was classified as a non-event by the City. This significantly reduced the costs of implementation, allowing us to carry out the weekly experiment along Bree Street—from Wale to Strand—and including Shortmarket Street between Bree and Long, for a six-month period.
Supported by the City of Cape Town and Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, the experiment offered a unique opportunity to reimagine one of the city's most iconic streets as a space for people rather than vehicles. It was not designed as a commercial or entertainment event, but as a calm, inclusive environment where everyone could feel welcome. Our street ambassadors, the Green Riders, served as marshals, while we activated the space with support from local businesses, communities, our networks, and friends from afar—all in line with the non-event nature of the programme.
Street Experiments Africa is a new tool being developed in partnership with civil society, the private sector, and government to reform how we test new road designs—enabling quicker results and better data to inform budget decisions. The goal is to pilot two types of street experiments on Bree Street in the City of Cape Town, before expanding to other parts of the city and eventually across the country.
Read more around Street Experiments Tools. Join the WhatsApp Group for Street Experiments Africa.
MEDIA Watch on Newzroom Afrika around what is an experiment aligned with the LSDF, eNCA on as series of coverage on the experiment. Read on the experiment IOL, The Progress Playbook and Good Things Guy.
COLLABORATIONS Driven by Young Urbanists Activation Partners Active Mobility Forum, The Maak, CCID, Langa Bicycle Hub Funding and Supporting Partners are Mayor's Office and Urban Mobility of the City of Cape Town Academic Partners, University of Cape Town, Print Partners Hotink Photography and videography by Solly King, New Streets SA, Maya Bogaurt and The Maak partners.
NEXT STEPS To showcase the impact of the weekly Sunday Bree Street Experiment, announce a new type of street experiment coming soon, and share our upcoming plans for Langa, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. We will also be releasing the Street Experiments Toolkit to enable others to replicate and adapt these interventions in their own communities.
We Advocate for Infrastructure, not paint. Fueled by Young Urbanists and the Bicycle Mayor of Cape Town
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