EMPOWER LAB EMPOWER LAB EXHIBITION

This is a Young Urbanists Project

Empowering Communities through Private and Civil Sectors

Cape Town, South Africa

City Lab Exhibition

Presented at Decorex Cape Town from 6 to 9 June 2024, the Empower Exhibition was a collaborative project led by Young Urbanists and Urban-Think Tank Empower, with core funding from Blok and support from the Active Mobility Forum. The exhibition showcased real-world interventions in mobility, housing, and public space, each based on live or piloted projects already underway in South African cities.

A highlight of the exhibition was the Urban Design & Mobility Forum, hosted in partnership with the City of Cape Town and Young Urbanists South Africa. Held within the exhibition space, the forum brought together officials, designers, and civil society in a seating area built into a modular parklet. This structure reflected the very street infrastructure being tested on the ground, creating a tangible link between policy discussion and physical design.

The Design for Impact section of the exhibition included eight key interventions. These ranged from components of the Safe Passage Programme, such as safe-hit bollards and concrete kerbs already installed on Bree Street and Albert Road, which improve cycling safety and support employment through Green Riders, to a modular public parklet developed with Flatrock Studio that challenged the use of public space for private benefit. In Khayelitsha, a sculptural precast concrete playground created with Stonecast and Jeffrey James showed how public furniture can function as both a safety barrier and an imaginative play space.

Also featured was the TwistBlock walling system by Start Somewhere and VPUU, in use in Gugulethu, which demonstrates low-carbon, fast-build construction that supports local job creation. Additional installations included housing and infrastructure prototypes in Khayelitsha by Urban-Think Tank Empower, the Little Angels community centre in Hangberg, a Safe Passage project in Tshwane that created loadshedding-resilient intersections, and a pedestrian crossing artwork in Sea Point by Blok, Our Future Cities, and Al Luke that uses visual cues to promote safer street design.

Importantly, the modular playground elements first presented in the exhibition were later installed on Lerotholi Avenue in Langa, where they remain in daily use and will form part of a series of planned weekly road closures launching later this year.

The Empower Exhibition demonstrated what becomes possible when urgent urban needs are met with collaborative, design-led solutions that are ready to implement and scale.

The Empower Exhibition demonstrated what becomes possible when urgent urban needs are met with collaborative, design-led solutions that are ready to implement and scale.

The Empower Exhibition, supported by the Active Mobility Forum, was a standout feature at Decorex 2024, bringing the concept of a “city lab” to life. The project showcased how collaborative urban design and innovative mobility interventions can reshape public space, demonstrating the impact of public-private partnerships in building safer, more inclusive cities.

Download the 2024 Decorex pamphlet

COLLABORATIONS Partnership between Young Urbanists and Urban-Think Tank Empower Powered by Blok Decorex Photography Solly King Curated by Roland Postma and Benjamin Kollenberg Graphic and exhibition design by Henk Esterhuizen

SPECIAL THANKS TO Bielle Bellingham from Decorec, Benjamin Kollenberg and the team from UTTE, ctive Mobility Forum, SDI Trust, City of Cape Town, City of Tshwane, Green Riders, Rook Bicycles, Start Somewhere, Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU), Flatrock Studio, Masakhe, Jeffrey James, Stonecast, Citycon Africa, Our Future Cities, Al Luke, and the School for Little Angels

NEXT STEPS We are exploring opportunities to establish a permanent city lab in the Cape Town CBD or other South African city centres, and support the rollout of additional pop-up interventions.

We Advocate for Infrastructure, not paint. Fueled by Young Urbanists and the Bicycle Mayor of Cape Town

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