UCT Sustainability and the SDGs 2022 - Magazine - Page 19
Community engagement
activities were held with residents, including the painting of a
large mural to tell the story of stormwater management and
Building an environmentally sustainable campus
together
the design and planting of an indigenous knowledge garden
to support local plant biodiversity on the site.
UCT is working towards building an environmentally
sustainable campus with students and staff who are ecoconscious. This entails outreach and engagement activities
with students and staff to get them to re昀氀 ect on what it means
to live sustainably, what a sustainable campus looks like and
what they need to change in their own everyday behaviours.
Two outreach campaigns took place in 2024:
•
“Flush and go or 昀氀ush and grow, which one are you?”
Flush and go or 昀氀ush and grow?
As part of the outreach campaign, designed
to get students and staff thinking, a toilet was
placed in the middle of a student plaza. The
display aimed to encourage a different level
of thinking regarding everyone’s daily water
practices. Image by Lerato Maduna
conceptualised and led by students and staff in the
Future Water Institute;
•
the Sustainable Campus Guided Walking Tour, initiated
by the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI).
The living laboratory, which forms part of the PaWS project, is situated in a stormwater pond in Fulham Road, Mitchells Plain.
Both projects were designed to encourage re昀氀ection
and ultimately get participants to adopt more sustainable
behavioural practices long-term. The initiatives form part of
Khusela Ikamva (Secure the Future) – a R10 million 昀椀ve-year
Research and Innovation
Launched in 2019 and due for completion in 2025, the
initiative transformed a neglected stormwater pond into a
long campus project, created to support the environmental
Co-creating water-resilient cities
sustainability ambitions of UCT’s Vision 2030. The initiative
blue-green infrastructure testbed: retro昀椀tting it to improve
The Pathways to Water-Resilient South African Cities (PaWS)
includes leading research, feasibility studies and proof-of-
in昀椀ltration, enhance water-quality, engage nearby communities
project, led by UCT’s Future Water Institute in partnership
and develop multifunctional urban water systems.
concept living labs on campus.
with international collaborators, operated a six-year “living
The initiative also aimed to drive home the importance of
laboratory” in a stormwater detention pond in Mitchells
developing sustainable water practices – a priority for the
pathways, biodiversity co-bene昀椀ts, and governance models
Plain, part of a socially and environmentally vulnerable area
university. It sought to gather students’ experiences around
that can be scaled across cities. As it wraps its 昀椀nal phase,
in Cape Town known as the Cape Flats. The project takes
PaWS will provide critical evidence and design approaches
water use and their views on UCT’s water-related initiatives.
place in an area situated above a key groundwater aquifer
toward water-sensitive, equitable urban water systems in
As part of the project, several co-creation and engagement
and often underserved by conventional urban infrastructure.
South Africa.
38 - Sustainability and the SDGs 2024
The
research
focused
on
hydrology,
water-quality
Sustainability and the SDGs 2024 – 39
