Rashiq Fataar

The late-2025 cabinet announcement that South Africa would begin formal dialogue with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 2036 or 2040 Olympic Games marks an important moment in South Africa’s pursuit of major events. Three decades after Cape Town’s bid for the 2004 Games (lost to Athens), the bidding process, the hosting model and the Games’ global appeal have shifted.

Rashiq Fataar is an urban practitioner and is the founding director of Our Future Cities (OFC) — an urbanism consultancy and think tank based in Cape Town. For more than a decade Fataar has worked collaboratively with government, business and citizens on projects to shape cities, communities and spaces to become more future-focused, innovative and inclusive.

Some of the posters used to promote films produced by the Good Hood Stories campaign. (Images: South African Cities Network and Our Future Cities) The Good Hood Stories campaign comes at a time when cities are the sites of contagion, unemployment, inequality, crime and, more recently, deep socioeconomic and political unrest. Amidst it all, ordinary citizens are silently, and without reward, innovating and collaborating to make their cities better places.