The University of Cape Town is uniquely sited amid some of the Cape’s most treasured landscapes. Upper Campus nestles against the foothills of Table Mountain National Park, and the university grounds encompass forested slopes, dams, rivers, and wetland precincts—integral components of the Liesbeek River catchment and other waterways that drain the slopes of the mountain. Recognising the ecological fragility of this setting, UCT has committed itself to being a good neighbour through stewardship of shared aquatic ecosystems. Through its Campus Wild UCT / Khusela Ikamva initiatives, dam precinct restoration programmes, and coordinated clean-ups of riparian corridors (in partnership with organisations like Friends of the Liesbeek), the university works to conserve water habitats, protect riverine vegetation, and restore channelised or neglected waterways. These efforts reflect UCT’s sense of responsibility to maintain healthy rivers, wetlands, and blue-green infrastructure for both biodiversity and the wellbeing of neighbouring communities.

1. Friends of the Liesbeek 2024 Annual Report

UCT plays a role in community research, outreach and citizen-science activities around the Liesbeek River. For example, in 2024 FoL assisted two UCT urban planning master’s students with interviews and a field visit in the lower reaches of the Liesbeek. They also hosted community days, carried out monthly clean-ups (including in Observatory), ran a Mandela Day planting activity with corporate sponsors, planted well-established trees to maintain the riparian corridor, and participated in citizen science via nocturnal surveys and frog/reptile monitoring in the Liesbeek wetland area using apps like iNaturalist. Jessleena Suri was appointed Project Coordinator (also completing a PhD at UCT) for the Liesbeek Maintenance Project (LMP), reinforcing UCT’s involvement.

2. Black River Syndicate — Futures Workshop, Jan 2024

In January 2024, the African Centre for Cities (UCT) launched the Black River Syndicate, an urban living lab oriented around the Black River and its eastern tributaries. The kickoff included a two-day “Futures Workshop” with stakeholders including local community members, grassroots organisations, academia, professional associations, and local government. The workshop used participatory games to explore current vs preferred futures for the Black River catchment, eliciting ideas and values for how shared aquatic systems might be cared for and restored. This is concrete community engagement work around a catchment shared by many neighbourhoods.

3. Kusela Ikamva Sustainable Campus Project

Khusela Ikamva is a five-year research project aimed at catalysing a more sustainable campus through energy, carbon, water, waste, and community-based initiatives, which are tested as living labs on campus.

Surveying, workshops, focus groups, stakeholder engagement around water behaviour

In 2024, Khusela Ikamva conducted several workshops, focus groups, surveys of students, staff and other campus stakeholders to understand perceptions, behaviours and acceptance around water use, conservation, reuse on campus. These engagements feed into design of water-management interventions, living labs etc.

Green Precinct / Constructed wetland / stormwater / greywater reuse planning

UCT is in planning / consultation phases for a green precinct on Lower Campus including constructed wetlands and sustainable drainage/water treatment features, and stormwater / greywater reuse. These are in development with Future Water and other units. While not all deployed in 2024, planning, feasibility, and early installations / designs were part of the work in 2024.

“Flush and go or flush and grow” water-sustainability installation + survey (October 2024 Plaza Display)

As part of Khusela Ikamva, UCT ran a water-sustainability installation titled “Flush and go or flush and grow, which one are you?” at the UCT Plaza. The installation encouraged students and staff to reflect on water use, particularly human waste and recycling/draining practices, and collected feedback via a QR-linked survey to gather experiences and ideas around saving water. This is a public, behavioural engagement tied to water.

4. Pathways to Water-Resilient South African Cities (PaWS) project involving University of Cape Town (UCT), funded by DANIDA Fellowship Centre (Denmark)

  • The full title of Phase 2 is “PaWS 2.0 – Harnessing blue-green infrastructure to achieve water-sensitive futures”.
  • Lead institution: University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
  • Partner institution: University of Cape Town (South Africa)
  • Period: From 1 November 2022 to 31 December 2025 for the current phase.
  • Funding: Approximately DKK 4,999,591 for this phase.
  • The project is part of DANIDA’s “Window 2” research funding stream (countries with targeted development cooperation) for “Water management and sanitation” thematic area.

Objectives and approach

  • The primary aim is to identify opportunities for—and generate knowledge on—the functioning of a network of urban stormwater infrastructure, especially converting monofunctional, often-degraded stormwater ponds into multifunctional blue-green infrastructure (BGI) that provide a wider range of ecosystem services (flood control, water supply, water quality improvement, biodiversity, urban liveability).
  • The project emphasises a living laboratory approach: a real-world urban environment (in this case the area of Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats) where infrastructure retrofits are designed, implemented and monitored in collaboration with residents, city stakeholders and civil society.
  • Key components include:
    • Retrofitting existing stormwater detention ponds with nature-based solutions (for example infiltration swales, sand-bag walls) to enhance infiltration, improve water quality, and support aquifer recharge.
    • Engaging multiple stakeholders (city government, consultants, NGOs, community residents) from the design stage to ensure co-creation and local relevance.
    • Generating outputs in the form of a “toolkit” or compendium of case studies to guide scaling of BGI practices in South African cities.
    • Exploring policy and governance “leverage points” that enable the scaling and replication of blue-green infrastructure across cities.

UCT’s role and engagement

  • UCT’s Future Water Institute leads the South African side of the PaWS project, with Associate Professor Kirsty Carden as South African principal investigator.
  • UCT hosts the living laboratory at a stormwater pond site in Mitchells Plain (Fulham Road) as part of the project.
  • The campus/community engagement includes: designing the physical interventions, monitoring hydrology and water quality, engaging with local community and stakeholders to understand governance, biodiversity and design implications.

Key achievements and outputs to date

  • The project has progressed through its second phase (2019-2025) and is wrapping up its six-year living-lab component.
  • It is producing a compendium/toolkit of case studies and designs for nature-based stormwater infrastructure in urban South African contexts.
  • The work has raised awareness of the potential of under-utilised urban infrastructure (such as stormwater ponds) to become multifunctional assets for water resilience, biodiversity and community benefit.

Relevance and implications

  • The PaWS project aligns with UCT’s broader sustainability and “living lab” ambitions (for example under the Khusela Ikamva Sustainable Campus Project).
  • The project contributes to knowledge generation and practical demonstration of how water-sensitive design, blue-green infrastructure and community engagement can be integrated into urban water systems, which is especially relevant for South African cities facing water scarcity and infrastructure challenges.
  • By including multiple dimensions (hydrology, biodiversity, governance, community engagement), the project offers a holistic model for sustainable urban water management rather than purely technical interventions.