Behavioural Change; How Blue Rock Village is setting a new trend and changing minds

We are all faced with the decision of how to travel to work each day. Should we walk or cycle to work and lessen our carbon footprint, or do we drive a car and emit considerable pollution? Do we decide to drive alone to work or school, or do we create a lift club?Should we make use of public transport?

Each decision, from transport to purchasing of goods, affects our environment. We need to think more carefully about our routines and decisions and whether we can reduce our impact on the environment as much as possible. Here’s how Blue Rock Village is making a difference and encouraging residents and community to lessen their impact on the environment.

Blue Rock Village is the first Car-Free Village in Africa, the Village is considered as a world class development as it up holds environmental standards which are in the core of its building philosophy. The village Car Free Living concept doesn’t necessarily mean a village without cars, however residence encouraged to have a lifestyle without one. All vehicles are removed from living areas and are tucked away in underground parking, increasing pedestrian space to more than 40%. The village will have one ring road which will serve the whole village, the ring road will be pedestrian dominated giving less drivability to vehicles and less CO2 emissions created.

Blue Rock Village embraces the LIVE-WORK-PLAY ethos, which will assist in creating less environmental foot print as that of a conventional eco-estate. Integrating Living-Working-Playing together eliminates the hustle of being stuck in traffic while traveling to work or school and back, it provides a simple solution of life. It has become evident that people generally search for work close to where they stay or search for office space in an environment that is walkable, compact and dense. Blue Rock Village will consist of a 40 000 sq. Lifestyle Centre (a bevy of restaurants, boutique stores, cafe shops, entertainment, academies), The Dollar House (High-end Corporate Office), Wellness Centre, and a 5 Star-Hotel and Conferencing Centre including a 10 000 sq. lifestyle street for exhibition, festivals, fresh market products and product launches. All of this will be situated among the luxury apartments on offer.

This allows for greater flexibility as far as proximity to food and entertainment, commuting distance which is a few minutes away compared to 2 hours spent traveling from home to work (Cape Town CBD during peak hours).

Cities such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam are amongst the most pedestrian-friendly cities in the world. The inhabitants of these cities have realised that carbon-free ways of traveling indeed contribute greatly to their health and lifestyle. These people choose to ride bicycles or walk to work as opposed to journey by car.

Blue Rock Village is set to be the largest-ever investment in the Helderberg history, phase one of Blue Rock Village; Giovanni is envisioned to begin construction in September and the rest of the project to start in 2017.

I would like to LIVE-WORK-PLAY at Blue Rock Village, wouldn’t you? it is as much about a mindset change than anything else.