Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay
UTTE’s LIFT (Local Infrastructure for Transformation) initiative in Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay, sets out to unlock the long-term potential of one of Cape Town’s most spatially and economically divided neighbourhoods. In collaboration with U-TT, OKRA and the City of Cape Town, we developed a masterplan for the lower third of the Imizamo Yethu township – an underutilised and geologically sensitive area just across the road from affluent Hout Bay suburbs.
The LIFT masterplan builds on the Imizamo Yethu existing social capital, rich cultural life, and landscape character. It integrates new green infrastructure, stormwater management systems, urban agriculture, and fire-resilient planning into a coherent green framework, connecting schools, housing, river systems, and recreational corridors.
The design principles are rooted in climate-responsive, landscape-led urbanism. Green-blue corridors manage runoff and reduce erosion. Pedestrian avenues, public terraces, and urban farming create layered, multifunctional open spaces that enhance connectivity and identity. Safe community hubs are strategically placed in fire-protected zones to serve as emergency shelters and social anchors.
With capacity for 1,000 new homes and an integrated network of amenities, this plan is not just a response to urgent needs—but a proactive vision for inclusive, climate-resilient, and democratic urban development.
Artist’s impression of the Imizamo Yethu project in Hout Bay.
Design approach for Imizamo Yethu
Drawing on the lessons previous projects taught us, delivering in Imizamo Yethu will involve:
- Extensive mapping and community engagement.
- Building compliant structures incorporating residential and commercial opportunities.
- Increasing density.
- Optimising services.
- Providing shared community facilities
- Public open space and landscaping to improve the quality of the environment.
- Developing renewable energy solutions.
- Offering skills development opportunities.
- Creating food farms.
Elevation of Imizamo Yethu, showing the 130 new homes, commercial facilities, a community centre and public open spaces.
Site plan of Imizamo Yethu, showing the 130 new homes, commercial facilities, a community centre and public open spaces.
Cross sections of the project.
Unit layouts showing the terraced approach of the units, complete with a rooftop garden for the upper units.
Imizamo Yethu by numbers
Total m² for entire project
Commercial facilities
Multi storey housing units
Community Centre
Million Rand development cost
Total m² for public open space
Imizamo Yethu in photographs
The first phase of our Empower development stands out like a beacon of hope that there is a way out of South Africa’s housing crisis. We are now busy replacing another 69 of Khayelitsha’s traditional one-storey shacks with high quality, multi-storey Empower homes.
Empower Upgrade Model: IY Housing Development
Using our flexible core-and-shell design approach, we have designed modular, fire-resilient homes that cascade down the hillside, integrating with the natural topography and enabling safe, permanent housing for hundreds of families. Each unit is designed for thermal comfort, natural ventilation, and privacy, while the broader site plan enhances pedestrian access and reduces erosion through terracing.
This development does more than provide safe housing—it begins to shift the settlement pattern down the hill into safer areas and establishes a new urban edge that bridges the divide between IY and neighbouring wealthier suburbs. Its positioning and architectural quality challenge the long-standing physical and symbolic boundaries that have defined this area.
By linking climate-conscious design, dignified living conditions, and socio-spatial integration, this Empower project plays a key role in a broader strategy to make Cape Town’s urban fabric more just, connected, and resilient.
Service providers for Imizamu Yethu
