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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2009

  • Work on this object began.

2013

  • Work on this object ended.

2016

2025

  • You found it!

Sheffield Road Upgrade: Community Mapping

This is a Project. It is dated 2009–2013.

Sheffield Road is an informal settlement situated on a road reserve set aside for future extension, near the busy N2 freeway in the Philippi township of Cape Town. Residents suffer from problems such as overcrowding and severe winter floods. With the Sheffield Road Upgrade, Sheffield Road residents used Shack/Slum Dwellers International’s community-mapping tool to draw the settlement, enabling them to plan and prioritize improvements. The most urgent need residents identified was sanitation. The city consulted with the community on where to place new taps, drains, and toilets, re-blocking a portion of the settlement and repositioning shacks. Brick thresholds protect the structures from flooding and new safe courtyards provide open space for play and washing.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/420778987/ |title=Sheffield Road Upgrade: Community Mapping |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>