Deputy Mayor Champions City Improvement Districts

The City of Cape Town’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews, addressed leading stakeholders in the built environment at the Western Cape Property Developers Forum Conference that was hosted at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Wednesday, 4 June 2025.

Gathered under the theme of building investor-friendly city centres through strong public-private collaboration, the forum drew together developers, civic leaders, and urban management professionals to examine strategies for driving investment and sustainability across the city and the province.

In his address, Alderman Andrews positioned Cape Town’s growing City Improvement District (CID) model as an exemplary example of how coordinated, trust-based partnerships between government and property stakeholders can drive urban renewal, improve service delivery, and rebuild confidence in the public realm.

‘CIDs are living partnerships. It is through the CIDs that the City administration is saying to our communities and private sector ‘We trust you. We are ready to work with you. Let us shape the streets, the safety, and the systems together,’ said Alderman Andrews.

Cape Town currently boasts more than 50 active City Improvement Districts, spanning commercial, residential, and mixed-use areas with five new districts being added each year.

The CIDs deliver tangible improvements to safety, cleanliness, social development, and infrastructure coordination. Crucially, each is underpinned by integrated municipal support and accountable, transparent governance structures.

‘You cannot build a successful CID in a vacuum. You need a functioning municipality first, one that delivers on its mandate and enables others to do the same. In Cape Town, our CIDs work because the public sector is already pulling its weight. That’s why this model is flourishing,’ said Alderman Andrews.

While CIDs have faced challenges in other parts of the country, often due to weak inconsistent billing systems and a lack of trust, Cape Town’s success shows what is possible when government delivers effectively and is open to co-governance.

‘CIDs in Cape Town are not a desperate attempt to fill a vacuum left by government. They are a strategic supplement to a city that is already delivering, already coordinating, already listening,’ he said.

Several success stories were highlighted, including that of the Sea Point CID, which recently coordinated a multi-agency intervention to assist vulnerable children off the streets.

‘CIDs are not only about clean streets or safer spaces, but also about civic renewal, and rebuilding the relationship between the state and the street. Through this model we are showing what is possible when citizens and government work together,’ concluded Alderman Andrews.