University Estate is a mainly residential suburb of Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

 located at the foot of Devil's Peak

Devil's Peak (Cape Town)

Devil's Peak is part of the mountainous backdrop to Cape Town. When looking at Table Mountain from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, or when looking at the standard picture postcard view of the mountain, the skyline is from left to right: the spire of Devil's Peak, the flat mesa of Table Mountain,...

 to the east of the city. University Estate has the postcode 7925.

Relation to other suburbs

University Estate is bounded by the De Waal Drive to the south, the Eastern Boulevard

N2 (South Africa)

The N2 is a National Route in South Africa; it is the main highway along the Indian Ocean coast of the country. The N2 starts in Cape Town in the Western Cape and runs through the cities of Port Elizabeth and East London in the Eastern Cape and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal to end at Ermelo in...

 to the north, and Mountain Road to the west. To the south lie the slopes of Devil's Peak within the Table Mountain National Park

Table Mountain National Park

Table Mountain National Park, previously known as the Cape Peninsula National Park, is a national park in Cape Town, South Africa, proclaimed on May 29, 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, and in particular the rare fynbos vegetation...

, to the north lie Woodstock and Salt River

Salt River, Cape Town

Salt River is a mainly industrial suburb of Cape Town located near Table Bay to the east of the city. It is named after a river of the same name, this being a continuation of the Black River. The name Salt River is a translation of the Dutch "Soutrivier"...

, and to the west lies District 6

District Six, Cape Town

District Six is the name of a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. It is best known for the forced removal of over 60,000 of its inhabitants during the 1970s by the apartheid regime....

 ( Walmer Estate). Pedestrian access to Devil's Peak is possible via stairs to De Waal Drive on Kylemore Road and a short walkway on the median between the highway's inbound and outbound lanes. Upper Woodstock and Salt River are reachable from two pedestrian bridges across Eastern Boulevard.

Demographics

Under the Apartheid Group Areas Act

Group Areas Act

The Group Areas Act of 1950 was an act of parliament created under the apartheid government of South Africa on 27th April 1950. The act assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid...

, University Estate was classed as an exclusively "white" area. Until the early 1990s when F.W. de Klerk's government repealed the Act in June 1991, the suburb was indeed inhabited solely by whites, a large number of the residents being from the Portuguese immigrant community. Over the following years the suburb became popular among wealthier families from previously excluded racial groups.

Commerce

Since the suburb is zoned almost exclusively for residential use, there are few businesses in the area. Exceptions include 88 Roodebloem Road (a small factory complex adjacent to Eastern Boulevard), a small number of guest lodges scattered throughout the area and some low-impact home businesses. The Cape Town City Council

Cape Town City Council

The City Council is the legislative body of the City of Cape Town. It is composed of 221 councillors elected by a system of mixed member proportional representation. 111 councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting, one from each of the 111 electoral wards of the City, while the other 110...

 has also approved the rezoning of and subsequent development plans for the premises of the old Rocklands site, but in early 2010 has had to intervene due to unauthorized demolition of the villa.

Recreation

University Estate has a number of open spaces which are popular among children and dog owners. The play park at the intersection of Rhodes Avenue and Haig Road has see-saws, swings, a merry-go-round, a slide and a jungle gym, which attract younger children. Older children also socialize in this play park, but also make greater use of the undeveloped "quarry" field just south of the factory complex where they sometimes also ride around on quadbikes. Dog owners tend to prefer this "quarry" field or the field at the eastern end of the suburb for walking their pets, or may simply walk around the streets.

The "quarry" field and the open areas between the merging highways on the eastern side are also used by "Bergie

Bergie

Bergie is a term used for a subsection of homeless people in Cape Town, South Africa. The word originates from the Afrikaans berg meaning "mountain" - the term originally referred to the homeless people who sheltered in the forests of the slopes of Table Mountain...

s" (as homeless people are commonly known in Cape Town) as their "home".

External links

• http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionswc/university-estate.htm
• http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20050510071306821C759281&set_id=