The local, citizen-driven initiative and NPO Open Streets was selected as a winner in the prestigious Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) challenge. The award places mobility innovation in Cape Town on the global map. Open Streets was one of 10 award recipients selected from over 100 submissions from more than 30 countries in this inaugural year of the award. The winners were announced at the WomenMobilizeWomen Conference, which was part of the International Transport Forum, held in Leipzig, Germany, in May.

Marcela Guerrero Casas, Managing Director and co-founder, accepted the award for Open Streets Cape Town, but also, she explained, on behalf of the city’s administration and other partners who are working to encourage residents to claim streets as public spaces.

“Winning the TUMI award will help to scale our programmes and to bring even more inspiration to Cape Town as an innovative city — and particularly in terms of mobility innovation. Open Streets is growing as an organisation, thanks to international recognition like the TUMI award, but also from countless individuals and groups in Cape Town. In particular, we thank the City of Cape Town, and especially the Transport and Urban Development Authority, for its continued support for the work we do,” said Guerrero Casas.

Open Streets seeks to create a new mindset around urban mobility, to create shared spaces that embody respect and help bridge the social and spatial divides in Cape Town. It does this through a programme of year-round activities, including advocacy campaigns, Open Streets Days and the Street Indaba, among others. With the award, the organisation hopes to scale its activities, increase knowledge exchanges with other cities and convene local groups to expand and deepen discussions on how to improve and change the status quo of the city’s streets.

Open Streets also builds connections with communities in Langa, Mitchells Plain, Bellville and Woodstock, through its mobility-related advocacy programmes and activities.