Urban renewal is too often measured by the number of roads resurfaced, buildings erected or private investments secured.
Yet one of the most transformative forms of infrastructure remains persistently undervalued — arts and culture.
Cities are not renewed by concrete alone. They are revitalised when people are inspired to gather, perform and reclaim public spaces.
The most successful cities understand that cultural life is not merely an outcome of development; it is a driver of development itself.
Increasingly, global research supports this proposition.
Unesco argues that culture is a fundamental pillar of sustainable urban development because it strengthens social cohesion, stimulates economic activity, preserves heritage and enhances the attractiveness and competitiveness of cities.
These findings reinforce what many South African communities already know through lived experience — culture changes places because it changes people.
Few South African examples illustrate this better than Cape Town’s central business district and Makhanda during the National Arts Festival.
Though different in scale and character, both demonstrate how arts and culture can reshape urban environments, stimulate local economies and redefine a city’s identity.
Cape Town’s CBD represents one of the country’s most compelling examples of culture-led urban regeneration.
Over the past two decades, sections of the inner city have evolved from areas once associated with urban decline into thriving mixed-use precincts where commerce, creativity and public life intersect.
This transformation has certainly been supported by investment in commercial property and public infrastructure, but equally important has been deliberate investment in cultural infrastructure.
Neighbourhoods such as the East City precinct have become home to galleries, theatres, design studios, creative agencies, restaurants and live music venues.
Greenmarket Square remains an enduring cultural marketplace, the Company’s Garden continues to host civic and cultural activity, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa has established Cape Town as one of the continent’s leading destinations for contemporary African art.
These are not simply aesthetic improvements.
They represent strategic investments in the creative economy.
In SA, research by the South African Cultural Observatory has consistently shown that the cultural and creative industries contribute billions of rand to the national economy, sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs and support sectors ranging from tourism and hospitality to digital innovation and manufacturing.
If Cape Town demonstrates the value of sustained cultural investment, Makhanda offers perhaps SA’s most remarkable example of the catalytic power of a major cultural event.
Each year, the National Arts Festival transforms the Eastern Cape town into one of Africa’s leading cultural capitals.
Theatres, churches, schools, galleries and public spaces become stages for artistic expression, and thousands of performers, technicians, producers, audiences and tourists converge on the city, creating an atmosphere unlike anywhere else in SA.
Accommodation establishments operate at near-full capacity.
Restaurants extend operating hours. Local transport services experience increased demand. Informal traders find new markets.
Young people gain temporary employment in hospitality, event management, technical production and customer service.
Creative practitioners from across the country exchange ideas, build professional networks and generate future opportunities.
The festival does far more than entertain. It temporarily reimagines the entire city.
Importantly, the National Arts Festival also contributes to something less easily measured but equally valuable — civic identity.
Makhanda becomes synonymous with creativity, intellectual exchange and artistic excellence.
For a municipality that continues to confront significant socio-economic challenges, the festival projects a powerful alternative narrative, one centred on innovation, talent and possibility.
Yet comparing Cape Town and Makhanda also reveals an important lesson.
Cape Town benefits from a permanent cultural ecosystem.
Museums, galleries, theatres, music venues and creative businesses operate throughout the year, continuously generating economic and social activity.
Makhanda experiences an intense cultural renaissance during the National Arts Festival, followed by quieter periods in which much of that economic momentum inevitably slows.
This observation should not be interpreted as criticism of the festival. On the contrary, it highlights the immense opportunity that already exists.
Imagine if the creative energy generated each July became the foundation of a year-round urban development strategy.
The festival has already demonstrated that culture attracts audiences, investment and international attention.
The next challenge is ensuring that its impact extends beyond 11 days into all 12 months of the year.
Such an approach aligns with growing international thinking around culture-led development.
Rather than viewing festivals as isolated events, cities increasingly position them within broader strategies for economic diversification, tourism development, youth employment and urban renewal.
SA should embrace this thinking more deliberately.
Investment in culture is investment in jobs, but, most importantly, it is an investment in hope.
Infrastructure should never be understood only as bridges, roads and buildings.
Theatres, museums, galleries, libraries, festivals, public art programmes and creative hubs are equally vital pieces of civic infrastructure because they build the social and economic fabric that allows cities to flourish.
SA’s urban renewal agenda should therefore evolve beyond bricks and mortar.
Every municipality seeking regeneration should ask not only where new buildings will be constructed, but also where artists will perform and where heritage will be celebrated.
Together, Cape Town and Makhanda make an undeniable case.
Urban renewal is not only about constructing places where people can live and work. It is about creating places where people want to belong.
They are among the very foundations upon which meaningful, inclusive and sustainable urban renewal is built.
Andile Nduna works for the department of sport, recreation, arts and culture, and writes in his personal capacity