Mission for Inner City Cape Town Launches 2025 Plans to Reignite the City

The Mission for Inner City Cape Town is a long-term, high-impact initiative working to transform Cape Town’s Inner City into a thriving, inclusive, green urban hub. Led by a coalition of civic leaders, businesses, urban designers, and government partners, the Mission’s aim is to revitalise public spaces, strengthen walkability, support independent retail, and restore public confidence in Cape Town’s historic core.

As part of its 2025 programme of work, the Mission has unveiled a suite of new placemaking interventions, along with the launch of the Walking Routes map – a practical guide highlighting safe, connected, walkable routes linking public art, retail clusters, greened spaces, landmark streets, and cultural anchors across the city centre. Here’s everything you need to know.

Highlights of the 2025 Mission for Inner City Cape Town Placemaking Project

Walking routes and way finding

By introducing highlighted routes, intuitive wayfinding, and simple visual cues, the Mission is making it easier for people to navigate the Inner City on foot and to discover more of what lies beyond the familiar workday commute. The new Inner City Walking Routes map launching this December, brings these elements together, supporting a more confident and enjoyable pedestrian experience.

Seating and greening: Creating places to rest and connect

Bree Street: What was once a blank stretch beneath the Bree Street Gallery murals has been transformed using concrete planters with integrated seating. This simple intervention introduces shade, greenery, and dwell space which invite people to pause, enjoy the art, and activate the street frontage.

Church Lane: New timber benches, painted in a red-to-plum gradient tying into refreshed bollards, street lamps which bring warmth and comfort into Church Lane. Designed to be moved as the area evolves, these benches elevate what was once a transitional lane into a welcoming, human-scale public space.

Bree Street Gallery: Public art as a civic anchor

An old electrical substation has been transformed into the Bree Street Gallery, now home to murals by leading South African artists including Kirsten Sims, Yay Abe, Xolani Sivunda, Danielle Clough, KOOOOOS, Aviwe Plaatjie, Marti Lund, Lelethu Fundakubi, and Amy-Lee Tak. The gallery brings colour, culture, and civic identity back to Bree Street, forming a key anchor in the Mission’s growing network of public-art-linked walking routes.

St. George’s Mall kiosks: Reactivating a key pedestrian corner

Two previously underused kiosks along St. George’s Mall have been refurbished to introduce new creative and culinary experiences. The Kiosk of Curiosity features a series of dioramas crafted by local artists showcasing a moment of whimsy designed to prompt passers-by to pause, notice, and engage. And next door, a new food-and-beverage concept tailored to the corridor offers fresh energy to one of Cape Town’s busiest pedestrian routes, used by more than 120 000 people daily.

Strand Street Crossing: Safety meets public design

To improve pedestrian visibility and safety at the busy Strand Street intersection, the Mission partnered with designer Heather Moore from Skinny laMinx to create a bold, joyful ground artwork marking the crossing. The design increases driver awareness while introducing a sense of playfulness to an important everyday moment in the city.

Lighting: Making evenings feel safer and more vibrant

Additional warm, human-scale festoon lighting from Litehouse, and targeted lamp upgrades, have transformed Church Lane from a dim, underused passage into a lively, welcoming evening environment. Local businesses have reported increased activity after dark, demonstrating the outsized impact that lighting can have on safety, vibrancy, and public behaviour.

Retail curation: From vacancy to purposeful tenancy

The Mission continues to support a more diverse, design-led retail mix in the Inner City by connecting landlords with independent entrepreneurs. A prime example is Ultraviolet Gallery on Shortmarket Street which was once a vacant café now reimagined by photographic artist Dylan Culhane into a gallery and framing space. This shift from vacancy to vibrancy reflects the Mission’s belief that curated retail contributes directly to street-level energy, safety, and economic opportunity.