Langa’s informal trading spaces and food networks, are a defining feature of the area’s economic and cultural fabric. With a longstanding presence established in the1980s, traders at Langa’s Smiley Market (where sheep heads are prepared and sold) have developed their own spatial systems for workflow, trade and customer engagement—despite lacking formal infrastructure.

SCAPE Magazine, vol.112, THE 100, 2025 , lists Nicola Chidyaonga, our brilliant Candidate Landscape Architect, as one of THE 100 leaders in the industry!

Yes& Studio is shortlisted for the Scape Awards 2024 in both the categories of Landscape Architecture Firm of the Year & Emerging Design Firm of the Year!

SCAPE Magazine, vol. 100, 2024, The One Hundred, lists Amy Thompson as one of the 100 notable leaders in the industry in the category of Landscape Architecture!

Informal settlements are a global urban phenomenon representing the most prevalent form of city making. In Cape Town, South Africa, there are approximately 146,000 households in 437 informal settlement pockets, many of which were established before democracy but still do not have recognised tenure or access to basic services.

Europe is an informal settlement, situated between the N2 and Klipfontein Road in Gugulethu. The Europe Informal Settlement waterpoint project is the result of years of work supported by the Rotary Foundation; and was undertaken by the Rotary Club of Newlands, The Rotary Club of Noon Gun and the Rotary Club of Weert, Netherlands.

Amy Thompson was the winner of the Scholars’ Prize in Architecture in 2021–2, spending three months in Rome. Amy reflects on the research conducted during her residency, which was focused on the Nasoni (drinking fountains) in Rome and how they impact the community. She considers how her time in Rome helped strengthen her understanding of space, in turn supporting her projects in South Africa as Director of Yes& Studio, and her ongoing work at Europe, a settlement in Gugulethu.

Landscape architects Yes& Studio team up with architectural planters Plantr for Boxwood Property Fund to introduce a green public realm intervention to Cape Town’s Long Street in the form of custom planters-cum-street furniture.

An interview with Amy Thompson, winner of the Scholars’ Prize in Architecture, in which she speaks about the work she has produced during her residency at the BSR from April–June 2022, ahead of the June Mostra.

The water fountains of modern Rome persist to offer a seemingly egalitarian access to drinking water across the city. These fountains and the nasoni are ingrained within the urban fabric of Rome, configured upon a largely hidden order of hydraulic infrastructure. How are you developing this project?

Utopian visions of just and sustainable cities often conjure images of plentiful urban farms, planted roofscapes and sumptuous home and community gardens, where owners and residents can reap the rewards of their tended patch and fully supply their household needs. These images speak to curing the food crisis, preventing food deserts and creating healthier urban populations and are undoubtedly evocative. 

As the pandemic started to spread across the globe, we watched nervously to determine the fate of our public spaces. With the disease spreading so quickly in dense areas, we worried that we would see the end of compact cities, increased decentralisation and the demise of public space. But unexpectedly, in the midst of the pandemic, we have been offered a glimpse of what public space can be. Streets with fewer cars, less congestion and cleaner air, roads that you can safely walk, cycle or even play on, and importantly, an overall increased appreciation for green open spaces.