Brixton opens Putney Road to the community
The Brixton community hosted open streets – an event that asked community members to look at streets differently, not just paving for cars, but for foot and bicycle traffic as well.
Every once in while its best to celebrate and enjoy all that your community has to offer, and few communities really heed this call, especially those ‘Brixtonites’. On June 16, the Brixton community closed Putney Road off to cars, and hosted its second annual open streets event.
Read more: How Brixton’s hidden history mirrors modern struggles
Organiser of the event Ann Simmons said this was their first open streets for the year, and the hope is to host such events regularly. “The idea behind open streets is for people to think about streets in a different way,” she said. “The thing with cars is that we forget that everybody uses streets and cars just become the dominant feature.”
Though is the second time Brixton hosted such an event, it has taken place globally for over two decades, in an effort to reimagine streets, and promote aspects such as walking, and the use of bicycles. It’s all to raise awareness of what else roads can do, and not just be a space dominated by cars.
Attending the event were both locals and visitors to the suburb. With a church donating tables and selling tea, there was also magwinya (vetkoek) donated by a neighbour, while others brought popcorn to share and braaied boerewors rolls. The day also included people quilting.
Simmons would ideally love to host about three of these events a years. “The more you do such events, the more people will come out and enjoy the day together.”
The event coincided with a sister event held in the Cape Town suburb of Mowbray along Sydney Road, which was hosted by a former Brixton resident who recently moved down to the city.
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