Century City, Cape Town

Century City is a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is a mixed-use development, which includes entertainment, residential, retail, and commercial components.^[2]

Century City
Suburb of Cape Town
The main Canal within Century City, with Table Mountain in the background
Coordinates: 33°53′30″S 18°30′30″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Area [1]
• Total	2.62 km2 (1.01 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	4,239
• Density	1,600/km2 (4,200/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	15.9%
• Coloured	10.1%
• Indian/Asian	19.9%
• White	49.6%
• Other	4.5%
First languages (2011) [1]
• English	69.6%
• Afrikaans	15.7%
• Xhosa	2.9%
• Zulu	1.2%
• Other	10.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	7441
PO box	7446
Area code	021

The neighborhood is located 10 km to the north-east of Cape Town CBD, along the N1 freeway, and is traversed by numerous waterways, wetlands, and canals.

Development

Canal Walk's exterior from the main canal

Development began under Monex Development in 1997 and continues under the new owners, Rabie Property Group.^[3] Century City's original developments were the Ratanga Junction theme park and Canal Walk shopping centre. When it was opened in October 2000, Canal Walk was the largest shopping mall in Africa and the Southern Hemisphere in lettable area at 141,000 m².^[4]

The Ratanga Junction theme park closed in May 2018 after many years of financial problems. The site was redeveloped and was replaced by Ratanga Park (a recreational park),^[5] as well as numerous residential developments.^[6]

Canal Walk

The Canal Walk shopping mall is a major development within the suburb. It is the largest mall in Cape Town^[7] and the third largest in Africa,^[8] with over 400 stores,^[8] over 8,000 parking bays,^[9] a wide variety of restaurants, and an arcade.^[10]

Conservation

Built on a wetland area, Century City needed to comply with conservation measures. Intaka Island is a 16 hectare wetland area within the development. The wetland naturally cleans the water in the canals in the high-density development area.^[11][12]

Criticism

There were concerns that Century City would cause decentralisation from the Cape Town central business district (CBD), but thanks to the city improvement district (CID) and urban renewal efforts spearheaded by the Cape Town Partnership (CTP), this has not happened.

This development thus remains another commercial node in the Cape Town metropolitan area while the city centre remains vibrant. More recently, the development has been criticized for causing traffic problems. Measures have been taken with an aim to improve congestion during peak hours.^[13]