The CityWalk Initiative is one of dala’s oldest ongoing initiatives. The CityWalk is an investigative journey, an exuberant exploration as well as humbling and cautionary tale, an allegory on the infinite complexities of spaces and timings in the city of Durban KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was initiated and has been running since 2001 and is experimental, oral, visual and informal in nature.

Art, architecture, and indeed all cultural expression can function as a medium through which our society is able to articulate and conscientise its citizens around social issues as well as build skill and self-development, and within the context of this initiative, draws attention to ‘other’ marginalized realities of beauty and sadness. Durban is a rapidly growing city responding to the challenges of a post apartheid South Africa. It is within this dynamic urban context that the CityWalk Initiative exists. Many of the projects dala has worked on, has stemmed from the philosophy of the CityWalk: that of a people-centred, grounded approach to creative city making. For example, Cascoland 2008; spaza-de-move-on and the Young Artists’ Project 2009.