Open Space: Public Bo-Kaap Market by the City of Cape Town with Yes & Studo

​From 23 to 26 October, the newly completed Bo-Kaap Market will open to the public. Located at the top of Wale Street, the market celebrates one of Cape Town’s most culturally significant neighbourhoods and introduces a new chapter in how public space and informal trade can coexist with heritage and tourism.

​The site at Pentz Street and Yusuf Drive has been carefully redesigned into a series of timber and steel trade platforms that step up the slope to form a public court and living stair. The mature trees have been preserved, creating a shaded, park-like atmosphere where vendors and visitors can meet. The market provides a safe, accessible and vibrant space for small local traders to operate and for residents and tourists to experience authentic Bo-Kaap life.

​Implemented for the City of Cape Town through its Economic Growth Directorate and designed by Yes & Studio with TKLA, Bergstan Engineering and Turner & Townsend, the project builds on years of collaborative work to unlock dignified, sustainable spaces for economic opportunity.

​The Bo-Kaap Market will be showcased as part of Design Week South Africa, inviting the public to visit anytime from 23 to 26 October to experience how design can strengthen community, heritage and local livelihoods.