Non-Motorised Transportation for Revitalising the City Centres of South Africa

Abstract

City centres (CBD) of the South African cities are on the wane. It is alleged that the CBDs are losing their attractiveness and vibrancy and gradually becoming redundant. So, arguments have emerged that augmentation of the non-motorised transportation can contribute to the revitalise the CBDs. Therefore, using the case study of Bloemfontein city, the objective of the study is to examine the challenges of non-motorised transportation in the cities of South Africa and explore how the use of non-motorised transportation can revitalise the city centres. The study was conducted by use of a survey research method. Findings revealed that the CBD is accessible by privately driven vehicles only, and is lacking adequate facilities for pedestrians and bicycling facilities are non-existent, which cause accessibility challenges including parking and congestion and social challenges in terms of lack of use of central public spaces and community interaction. The study argued that augmentation of non-motorised transportation by improving pedestrian facilities and creating bicycle movement facilities as well as (re)designing street scrapes that would integrate them with public, social and touristic spaces, will enable higher peoples’ movement in the CBDs, usage of the public spaces, and community interaction, which plausibly would revitalise the central areas of the cities of South Africa.