The making and re-making of Platteklip precinct as heritage of Cape Town
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Date
2024
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Universty of the Western Cape
Abstract
Platteklip precinct, one of the sites along the slopes of Table Mountain, has been layered with histories of communities over several hundreds of years, and it continues to be used by people as they believe in the spiritual value of the water from the mountain flowing down the gorge. In the early 2000s Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) launched a significant heritage intervention, trying to transform this into a heritage precinct through tourism. The motivation behind this was to generate an income for the National Park which can be seen as the basis on which heritage was made. This thesis attempts to critically analyze these interventions by TMNP to make the Platteklip precinct a heritage of Cape Town. I discuss the way that this has been done, the format it took, the decisions that were made, as well as the ideas to carry this forward. I also look at additional interventions that might be made to create a culture of heritage in the precinct. As part of my research, I explore archival material on the history of the Platteklip precinct, the history of TMNP and locate the interventions in the area in broader studies on the making of heritage.
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Keywords
Platteklip precinct, heritage intervention, Cape Town, tourism, table mountain national park