‘Wetopian’ experiences to excel and facilitate alliances between citizens and policy makers comes to Cape Town

The Open Design Afrika (ODA) Festival 2019, Cape Town’s most dynamic design-led innovation festival, returns on 18 October with the Castle of Good Hope as the main hub for events and workshops, along with citywide activations. This year, it brings to Afrika the concept of ‘Wetopia’ – a new form of 21st century activism and democracy that demonstrates, investigates and develops exciting experiences to stimulate different collaborations between policy makers and civil society.

“When you work in a ‘Wetopian’ way, new alliances often accelerate real change. This means bringing everyone to the table in their different roles as activists, artists, politicians, city makers, civil servants, entrepreneurs and all other citizens”, explains Joke Quintens, former Genk (Belgium) deputy mayor, policy maker and expert on participatory policies. Quintens was the first to conceptualise ‘Wetopia’ and she will be collaborating with ODA as one of the main curators, travelling to South Africa for the launch.

She points to a great example of the ‘Wetopian’ way of working from her own city Marseille in France – ‘Coco Velten’, an alliance of activists who transformed an abandoned building into an exciting new ecosystem that houses 120 homeless people alongside over 40 businesses.

The Wetopia concept will be brought to life in Afrika through the launch of a new ODA brand called ODA Wetopia Academy, which will include three chapters: the Wetopia City and Community Activations and Interventions; Wetopia Inspiration Days; and Wetopia Learning Programme for Policymakers. The first of its kind, the ODA Wetopia Academy will officially launch at the Open Design Afrika Festival, an event focused on collaboration, sharing new ideas and cross-cultural experiences for people from all walks of life to connect and learn how to build a more inclusive and prosperous future together.

This festival is sponsored by the City of Cape Town, who say of the festival:
“As a UNESCO City of Design, the City of Cape Town is proud to host Open Design Afrika – an event which continues to provide a platform for local creatives to showcase their design capabilities while also positioning the Mother City as a forward-looking and innovative destination. The creative industries are some of the fastest growing sectors in the world and are a growing contributor to the local economy. ODA is one of the events which continue to build on the legacy of Cape Town being named World Design Capital 2014 and I am pleased that our local talent get to showcase their work on a globally-recognised platform,” said the City of Cape Town’s Executive Mayor Dan Plato.

ODA Wetopia Community Workshops – 19-20 October, 2019

The first ODA Wetopia Community Activations on 19-20 October 2019 will kick off the start of a yearlong community programme. With core participation from two Cape Town communities, they will use storytelling, song making and other creative tools to unite for a common goal and gain key skills to help shape new community narratives as their compass to help build better communities together.
“Afrika has a number of successful Wetopian-like projects in which diverse groups collectively work towards positive change in their communities. I have been fortunate enough to work on some of these projects in Cape Town, like that of Open Streets Cape Town and the Langa Cultural Precinct, and believe this model of collaborative planning and action will aid and leverage the potential of a culture of collaboration that already persist and together build on solutions that are uniquely Afrikan,” says Marco Morgan, Project Manager of ODA Wetopia Academy.

ODA Wetopia Inspiration Day: Monday, 21 October

The ODA Wetopia Inspiration Day will be a full day of talks, panel discussions and active dialogues between the audience, field experts, policymakers, city makers, thought leaders and citizens. Taking place at The Castle of Good Hope and free to the public to attend, expect to see a great selection of local and international ‘Inspirators’ who will each share a successful ‘Wetopian’ project from their city or country. Three exciting panel discussions will feature social entrepreneurs and change makers who are creating significant change through their community and social interventions.
MC’d by ODA co-founder, Abbas Jamie, festival goers can look forward to hearing from the likes of Nonhlanhla Joye, creator of an innovative growing system for vegetables using plastic bags; and Brazilian graffiti artist and activist, Mundano. Other Inspirators that you can see and hear in action at the ODA Wetopia Inspiration Day will include Joke Quintens (Belgium/France); Julia C. Kamuiru from Living Lab University of Nairobi (Kenya); Kevin Kimwelle from Indalo World (SA/Kenya); Sander van Bussel from Human Rights Tattoo (Netherlands); Michael Uwemedino from Human City Project (Nigeria); Abigail Mbalo from 4roomed Ekasi Culture (SA); Karidas Tshintsholo from Khula (SA); Sihle Tshabalala from Quirky 30 (SA); Siyanda Sopangisa from Khayelitsha Canoe Club (SA); Lauren Dallas from Future Females Cape Town (SA); BRAVE Rock Girl (SA) and Xolisa Bangani from Ikhaya Garden (SA).

ODA Wetopia Master Classes: Wednesday, 23 October

Another Wetopia-themed public festival event will be the ODA Wetopia Master Class Day, an educational day aimed at civil servants, citizens, policymakers, city makers, change makers, social designers and entrepreneurs. Classes to expect on the day include interactive games designed to break down power dynamics, as led by ICLEI Africa (Local Governments for Sustainability), the world’s leading association of cities and local governments dedicated to sustainable development. There will also be classes which explore the topic of ‘adaptive leadership’ hosted by the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership, and on ‘resource efficiency through industrial symbiosis’ led by GreenCape. While free to participate, the ODA Wetopia Master Classes must be booked in advance via the website as limited spaces are available.

ODA Wetopia Seminars: Saturday, 19 October and Wednesday, 23 October

Forming part of the ODA Wetopia programme this year is a series of seminars exploring Cape Town as a ‘democratic common’; a theory that views cities as ‘common houses’ for the people who live there and where social life is built, the varying needs and interests of different people and groups are discussed and conflicts are managed. Hosted by Civic Action for Public Participation, the three seminars span over two dates and are titled “How local legislation can support and nourish public participation”; “Community land trust, community co-operative… innovative legal entities for managing commons good and community asset”; and “Design: Time of Uncertainty Democracy”. Participation is free and registration details can be found on the Open Design Afrika website.
Other events on the festival programme to look forward to is the ODA Family Makers Weekend, which will feature the ODA Festival Makers Market, the Makers & Shakers of the Greater Good 2019 Collection Expo, and a series of workshops and fun experiences for all.

More information on ODA Wetopia Academy and the ODA Festival can be found on the festival website www.opendesignafrika.org and further festival news and updates will be shared to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.