Dedicated to connecting, sharing, and advancing knowledge, and growing expertise related to African public space.
The Centre on African Public Spaces (CAPS) is a home and a resource hub for public space advocates, urban practitioners, community groups, spatial justice activists and scholars dedicated to connecting, sharing, and advancing knowledge, and growing expertise related to African public space. Established by the City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality in response to the 2018 Africities Summit’s call for a regional knowledge-sharing platform on public spaces, CAPS is the first multidisciplinary initiative formed in collaboration with the UN-Habitat Global Public Space Programme and the GIZ Inclusive Violence and Crime Prevention Programme.
Sharing content related to public spaces.
CAPS is a central platform for sharing content related to public space, thus enabling and giving impulse for cities in Africa to learn from each other. This includes the desire to understand, develop and re-imagine definitions, meanings, purposes and approaches to public space across the multiple contexts throughout the continent. Central to this ideal is advocating for progressive policies, planning frameworks and facilitating related research, education, skills and practices to fill identified gaps.
Interact and exchange experiences with others
Showcase your work on the CAPS website and newsletter
Gain privileged access to and participation in The Forum and CAPS events
Participate in the development of CAPS’s publications by being a co-author, data contributor or reviewer
Enable city authorities to work with stakeholders to co-develop inclusive public spaces.
This workstream includes all efforts that contribute to enabling city authorities to collaboratively envision, plan, design, maintain and manage public spaces in an inclusive manner.
Workstream goals:
Enhance local authority capacity to co-create public spaces with city inhabitants:
Strategic collaborative visioning for planning, management, monitoring and evaluation of public space.
Promote piloting and implementation of multi-sectoral, community driven initiatives.
Foster a nuanced understanding of public space within the African context.
Incorporate a decolonised perspective in policy development, planning and implementation
Influence policies and by-laws that account for informal economies and support marginalised communities
Support civil society to lead, advocate for and take ownership of co-created public spaces
This workstream focuses on all initiatives that support active civil society organisations and communities to lead, advocate for and take ownership of public spaces.
Workstream goals:
Promote intercontinental and international solidarity under the globally recognised concept, Placemaking.
Leverage the ‘Placemaking Africa’ network to connect role-players involved in improving public spaces.
Partner with social movements to advocate for embedding public space across agendas.
Co-mobilise funds to catalyse existing and potential public space initiatives.
Provide tools and other resources to community groups, placemakers, public space advocates and activists to enhance their ability to advocate for and manage public spaces effectively.
Champion and facilitate cross-sectoral, transdisciplinary, context-based research and teaching
The key objective of this workstream is to create accessible cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and teaching on African public spaces.
Workstream goals:
Support African universities to co-produce cross-sectoral research with city councils and communities.
Facilitate the expansion of public space education beyond traditional fields such as Built Environment and Urban Planning to include diverse disciplines such as Anthropology, Sociology, and Climate Change.
Promote innovative teaching methodologies that are deeply embedded in community engagement and participatory learning.
Advance and support diverse forms of knowledge production including public space design competitions, photo-journalism projects, and exhibitions that highlight alternative perspectives.
Use CAPS to widely distribute research findings and insights, making them accessible to a broader audience and enhancing their impact.
Facilitate knowledge sharing based on hands-on experience of formal and informal role-players
This workstream aims to facilitate a multi-stakeholder knowledge exchange that focuses on the experience, home-grown solutions, and lessons from formal and informal public space role-players and
knowledge sources.
Workstream goals:
Co-produce and share home-grown knowledge rooted in community participation, local practices, and the experiences of urban practitioners
Host public space dialogues and events to generate and share insights widely.
Produce and distribute inspiring practices, to support effective public space development.
Use CAPS platform to host theme-based Communities of Practice aimed at interrogating and producing knowledge rooted in real-world experience and practice.
“We strongly believe in the power of collaboration and meaningful partnerships to conserve, preserve, restore, and expand urban forests, green spaces and nature-based solutions, ensuring they benefit all.”
Johannesburg Declaration 2025, 2nd regional African Forum on Urban Forests.
