Our Future Cities

We are an urbanism practice, consultancy, and think-tank working today for better cities of tomorrow. Led by @rashiqfataar

[Rashiq Fataar @RashiqFataar]

Is blogging very 2010? Why I’m writing about cities (and other things) again.

Join me on Substack.

https://t.co/xGkbXUPZHS

[Rashiq Fataar @RashiqFataar]

After several years of observing, photographing and researching Cape Town's St George's Mall, I'm pleased to have published some of these reflections in the latest edition of Atlantis Magazine.

The article explores how public space is shaped not only through design, but through the everyday practices of the people who use it.

"The story of St George's Mall shows that civicness cannot be guaranteed by design or infrastructure alone, but must be continually enacted through practices of use, adaptation and resistance."

Learn more: https://t.co/V315jc5fGK

[Rashiq Fataar @RashiqFataar]

I recently joined the EduCatalyst Africa podcast to discuss a question I've been thinking about for years:
Why do we continue to build cities around cars when walking is the foundation of almost every journey?

We explored how the design of streets, crossings, public transport and public space shapes students' safety, independence and access to opportunity—and why designing for young people ultimately creates better cities for everyone.

One point I keep coming back to:
"We are not asking for an urban revolution. We are asking for the city to fit people and how they are already moving."

Thanks, Nneka, for an engaging conversation.

Listen here: https://t.co/hT1mGBqLwo

[Rashiq Fataar @RashiqFataar]

New Report: An Olympics in Cape Town & across South Africa?

Our new @capetown2040 report shares 10 lessons from the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Milano Cortina showed how a Games can connect a major city, mountain towns, historic centres, existing venues and new development districts across a wide region, without losing the Games experience.

We experienced it in the fans crowding stations and shuttles, families watching cross-country skiing in Tesero, Milan’s city centre becoming part of the Games, the cauldron at Arco della Pace drawing crowds after dark, and the Arena di Verona becoming a ceremonial stage.

The report asks how a future Games could adapt to Cape Town, the Western Cape and South Africa, while accelerating mobility, housing, public space, culture, regional development and civic life.

Read the report: https://t.co/icWF8rDiVX

[Our Future Cities @ofuturecities]

It was followed by a screening of @SACitiesNetwork Good Hood Stories Season 4’s film and Rotterdam perspectives from @Veldacademie ,with Carina van der Beek, Otto Trienekens and Céline Janssen responding to the work from their own city context.

[Our Future Cities @ofuturecities]

Our CEO @rashiqfataar recently delivered the lecture: “What Design Can’t Do. But Can Placemaking?” in Rotterdam at the Independent School for the City.

It explored Cape Town’s history and #placemaking through the lens of Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain and Gugulethu.

[Cape Town 2040 @capetown2040]

We are excited to be in Athens to meet with OAKA, and learn more about their ongoing work across the Olympic Park, 22 years after the dream Games that were #Athens2004

@HellenicOlympic

[Our Future Cities @ofuturecities]

Using local and international case studies, Rashiq Fataar showed how the method helps read what is working, identify what is missing, and guide decisions around access, activity, maintenance, management and long-term care.

#precincts #placemaking #placedevelopment #southafrica

[Our Future Cities @ofuturecities]

Why do some precincts fail and others thrive?
At the South African Facilities Management Association Conference 2026, @RashiqFataar shared the OFC Great Places Performance Method, for assessing and improving how facilities, precincts and public spaces perform as places.

[Rashiq Fataar @RashiqFataar]

Join me in #Rotterdam for the talk and film screening: What Design Can’t Do: But can #placemaking

Register here: https://t.co/JEBAYewHL9

More below:

In Cape Town, where the legacy of apartheid's structural design deeply divides and persists, can community-led placemaking truly bridge the gap? This evening features a film screening and lecture by urbanist Rashiq Fataar, CEO of Our Future Cities, a South African-based urbanism practice and think-tank operating at the intersection of policy, the public realm, and urban development. The session questions the limits of design when facing deep social injustice, centring on a screening of Good Hood Stories Season 4. Hosted and produced by Fataar, this short film tracks resident-led tactical urbanism in the historically marginalised, high-crime townships of Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, and Mitchells Plain on Cape Town's periphery.
Following the film, Fataar will deliver a short lecture titled "What Design Can’t Do." Drawing on 15 years of work, the talk moves past global design trends, where tactical urbanism is so often driven by property developers and private funding, to focus on the everyday questions he and Our Future Cities have grappled with on the ground. How does the nature of placemaking change when it is stripped of private investment and formal backing? Is it actually a form of urban design, or an entirely different category of work? Are we genuinely building the essential 'soft infrastructure' that communities need to survive when formal systems fail? And how do we honestly connect temporary, bottom-up interventions to the drivers of urban development?

[Our Future Cities @ofuturecities]

We partnered with @VandAWaterfront to bring together Ramon Marrades (@placemaking_eu), Jennie Kovalcik, @RashiqFataar & local placemakers.

Key idea: #placemaking is shifting from short-term interventions into driving long-term impact on a city & community level.

@PlacemakingX

[Rashiq Fataar @RashiqFataar]

In Baku this week, at the World Urban Forum #WUF13 Good Hood Stories Season 4 will be screened, followed by a second screening in Rotterdam this June.

The 2 short films reflect on resident-led #placemaking in #Khayelitsha, #Gugulethu, and #MitchellsPlain, as well as re-blocking efforts in KuGompo City, showcasing local innovation on the global urban stage.

Thank you to our clients, the @The_DHS and @SACitiesNetwork, as well as the project teams and partners who made this work possible: @Afesis1983 , @OfficialBCMM @mplainonline iThemba Walkways, Paint Communities, LightUp Collective, People's Environmental Planning.

#WUF13 #GoodHoodStories #Placemaking #UrbanDevelopment #Housing #Urbanism #SouthAfrica #KuGompoCity #CapeTown

[Our Future Cities @ofuturecities]

Between GCRO’s workshop on spatial transformation, time in Village Deep, conversations with Standard Bank Gallery, and walking Sandton on foot, one point stood out: Gauteng’s challenges remain profound, but so too do the opportunities for regeneration and place-based investment.

[Our Future Cities @ofuturecities]

Our April trips to Gauteng combined client engagements, conferences, workshops, new project conversations, reconnecting with old peers, and movement between Johannesburg and Pretoria on the Gautrain. A few reflections.

[Anita Chen @amanitahalo]

i mapped all the subway rides that happen in a day!
it uses real train time tables and the mta's hourly origin-destination data. riders take the combination of scheduled trains that get them to their destination fastest.
see here: https://t.co/tiB6iMpxpa

[Andy Boenau @Boenau]

You love to see a vibrant plaza.

[Architecture Hub @archpng]

Boston buried its old elevated highway — and gave the city this space back.

[Alvaro Foncea Román @alvarofoncea]

LA BICICLETA EN LA GRAN CIUDAD (DE OCCIDENTE)

🟢 El 19% de los viajes de Berlín ya se hacen en bici.

🟢 La cuota modal de la bici se ha multiplicado por 27 en Paris (1990-2023).

[Ulrich Janse van Vuuren @UlrichJvV]

No car day. I took the train to downtown Johannesburg for the first Main Street Sunday, experiencing our inner city Joburg on foot without traffic, celebrating public space, community and art with the amazing people of Jozi. 🫶🤩💛

[Our Future Cities @ofuturecities]

Great to see some of our team on the train to support @BafanaBafana at Cape Town Stadium 🇿🇦

[Metrorail W/Cape @MetrorailWC]

Goodluck @BafanaBafana .

Let’s show the boys our full support as they push for victory! 🙌🔥

Trains will be operating across all corridors after the game, so you can enjoy every moment stress-free.

Cheer loud, enjoy the game, and let us take care of your journey back home