Bree Street one of Cape Town’s most well known, food streets was transformed into an Open Street this past weekend January 18^th 2015. Open Streets is an international concept to create and re-imagine our streets, and what they mean to all the people that use them. Here is a view from Crush’s lense at this amazing initiative…

Open Streets is done in friendly and fun way and invites people from all walks of life to participate. Whether you want to participate in a yoga session, check out the street art, score a goal in the soccer nets or voice a social message, it’s all done here. See the activities on foot or on participate by cruising through on self-propelled wheels like skateboards (www.africaskate.com), rollerblades, bicycles (facebook.com/BicycleCapeTown). There was also a  wide array of spontaneous urban interventions by 100in1 Day Cape Town (www.100in1day.co.za).

Apart from a feeling of overall happiness one gets from strolling down the middle of a street like Bree Street, Open Streets generates local entrepreneurship, respect for fellow citizens and a new perspective from a street view that is generally inhabited by racing vehicles.

Retail outlets that were open on the day and were involved in the fun included:

Barnet Fair, Bocca, Cafe Frank, Wild Olive, Cape Heritage Hotel, Dahon, God’s Army Bookstore, Hard Pressed Café, Honest Chocolate, Iracema Boutique, Issi on Bree, Keenwa Restaurant, La Parada, Medsport, Merry Pop Ins, Odyssey, Orinoco, Palma, Paul Smith, Puma, Revolution Cycles, Rivets & Rockets, Sarah Ord Interiors, Skyhook,, South African Market (SAM), Vida e Caffe, Saben Spectacle Co, Borage, Kauai, Shalom, Kids Nursery & Aftercare, Clarke’s, Friends of Design Academy, I Love My Laundry, Orphanage, Robert Sherwood Design and Thornton Whites.

Next stop for Open Streets in Cape Town is Langa. See you there!

For more information check out the Open streets website or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.