Urban planner and cycling enthusiast Phano Liphoto is helping to launch a new car-free community initiative in Joburg.

"Imagine if we could transform city streets from being transit corridors for cars, buses and taxis into vibrant shared public spaces?" asks Phano Liphoto, an urban planner and passionate cyclist.

"Imagine places in the inner city where people can walk and play and connect, where they can cycle and skate?"

Liphoto has an MPhil in civil engineering focusing on transport studies from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and works for a community advocacy group called Young Urbanists, which believes the roads should be equally shared. It promotes cities for people rather than cars, and champions active mobility - walking, rollerblading, cycling, skateboarding - as well as safe cycling infrastructure and better public transport.

"If we want Jozi to work, we must start with its streets. Because once you change the street, you change the city. And once you change the city, you change the country."

Now Liphoto and Young Urbanists are partnering with Jozi My Jozi and the City of Joburg to do Main Street Sundays - a car-free community day in Marshalltown when Main Street will be closed to traffic and open to people.

"I grew up in Jozi and remember always being fascinated by how cities worked...