Accomplishments

Accomplishments

During our time in Monwabisi Park, there were several different items we worked on.  Many of these are in the form of a report, or a proposal.  All of our writing was presented to the VPUU in order to offer our ideas and creativity for the Monwabisi Park redevelopment effort.  The Monwabisi Park Redevelopment Framework is an overview of all of our work, as well as the work of some other project teams. The VPUU will be able to use this as the foundation of an appeal to the City of Cape Town for funding of the redevelopment effort in Monwabisi Park, similar to the framework for Khayelitsha Sections C & TR.

Monwabisi Park Redevelopment Framework

The Monwabisi Park Redevelopment Framework is a compilation of all of our work, along with some of the work by other teams and previous project years. Although not a complete Framework (due to our own time and knowledge limitations), it was presented to the VPUU to help in the redevelopment process of Monwabisi Park by providing suggestions, recommendations, and specific data.

Storm-Water Management

Storm-water management is an important aspect of urban planning and our redevelopment efforts.  There is currently a huge issue of flooding after storms where water can last for days before completely disappearing.  We analyzed storm-water management on both a macro and micro scale especially focusing on the redevelopment seed by the Indlovu Centre and examined various options for handling water drainage.

Redevelopment Seed Proposal

This concept was originally developed by WPI students in the 2008 Cape Town Project Center, and has been developed with help from numerous organizations in the area. This is a detailed plan for the creation of a “redevelopment seed” in C-section of Monwabisi Park.  It includes the Indlovu Center, as well as a small area behind the Center enclosed by two roads.

Mew Way Sidewalk Proposal

The area along Mew Way and Monwabisi Park is the most traveled route in the park, yet it has no formal walking area.  The dirt path is very inconsistent and is prone to flooding after storms.  By implementing a sidewalk, we hope to improve pedestrian safety, increase business for spaza owners, and enhance pedestrian flow.

Lighting Proposal

The vast majority of crime within Monwabisi Park occurs during the night.  Of the few high mast lights installed, each of them helps to effectively deter crime within their lighting area.  Our lighting proposal plans to install high mast lights to cover the entire park and to make the environment at night.

Roads Proposal

In co-operation with our co-researchers, we cataloged the most important pathways throughout the park and then analyzed them to determine the best road design based on current conditions and consequences of the redevelopment process.  The roads proposal seeks to reduce shack relocation to a minimum while allowing for a road structure that makes sense in the long-term redevelopment process.  Because of this, the road structure we propose follows a more natural design rather than a rigid, rectangular block design.

Topographic Model

We constructed a 3D model which is a representation of the topographic contour lines in C-Section of Monwabisi Park.  It served to be a useful visual aid during the planning process especially with storm-water management and landscape orientation.  The model has been left in Cape Town  for others to use and learn from.

More Information

A comprehensive list of resources we used during our project work can be found on our Project Resources page.