skills2_greencape_resilience-report_interactive_20190806-0832617fda3704f4.pdf

This case study describes a design thinking workshop for primary school learners in Cape Town, conducted by the University of Cape Town’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking (d-school) in partnership with GreenCape and the City of Cape Town (CoCT). The initiative aimed to build resilience by equipping youth with human-centred problem-solving skills to address real-world challenges, specifically focusing on water conservation during a drought crisis.

• Cape Town is collaborating with 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), an initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation, to develop a roadmap for increasing the city's resilience against physical, social, and economic challenges.
• Design thinking is utilized as a tool to build resilience because it is an empathetic, human-centred approach that views constraints as inspiring and encourages collaboration, experimentation, and rapid prototyping to create solutions responsive to community needs.
• On 18 August 2017, a design thinking workshop was held at Cape Town City Hall for 180 Grade 6 learners from Wesfleur Primary School in Atlantis. The workshop focused on 'saving water at home and school' as part of the CoCT-initiated Green Water Design and Innovation Programme.
• The workshop's learning objectives included increasing awareness of complex real-world problems, fostering empathy for affected users, introducing the design thinking process (including rapid verbalization and sharing of ideas), and promoting collaborative peer work.
• Grade 6 students proposed several themes for water conservation interventions, including water catchment, purification, the use of technology for conservation, leak detection, penalties for wastage, the appointment of water ambassadors, education, and incentive-based competitions.
• Facilitators identified three primary lessons from the workshop: focusing on complex issues with easily understood impacts, targeting an older youth cohort (ideally Grades 10-12) who possess a better balance of maturity and creativity, and expanding the experience to include exploration of real-life urban innovation.
• The ResilientAfrica Network (RAN), headquartered in Uganda, uses design thinking through Resilience Innovation Labs (RILabs) to build resilience in sub-Saharan communities. In South Africa, the SARILab at the University of Pretoria focuses on sustainable income generation and reducing the impact of chronic diseases like HIV and AIDS in South Africa, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). skills2_greencape_resilience-report_interactive_20190806-0832617fda3704f4.pdf. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Skills2_GreenCape_Resilience-Report_Interactive_20190806.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. skills2_greencape_resilience-report_interactive_20190806-0832617fda3704f4.pdf. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/assets/Skills2_GreenCape_Resilience-Report_Interactive_20190806.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=skills2_greencape_resilience-report_interactive_20190806-0832617fda3704f4.pdf |url=https://greencape.co.za/assets/Skills2_GreenCape_Resilience-Report_Interactive_20190806.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendskills2greencaperesiliencereportinteractive201908060832617fda3704f4pdf, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{skills2\_greencape\_resilience-report\_interactive\_20190806-0832617fda3704f4.pdf}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/assets/Skills2_GreenCape_Resilience-Report_Interactive_20190806.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }