Reimagining Heritage Institutions for a new era

If everything rises and falls on leadership, then social norms and behaviours rise and fall on the institutions upon which they rest.

Institutions are humanly devised structures, rules and norms that shape and constrain behaviour. They are reinforced through policies and practices that persist over time. Before democracy, South African institutions were not neutral spaces of opportunity; they were instruments of control. Schools, cultural centres, and even urban planning were designed to reinforce separation.

Neighbourhoods such as Naledi, Mapetla, Moletsane, and Phiri were carved out along ethnic lines, deliberately weakening unity and limiting resistance. As far back as 1917, Jan Smuts told Parliament: “…a practice has grown up in South Africa of creating parallel institutions... giving the natives their own separate institutions on parallel lines with institutions for whites...” Institutions carried enormous weight, shaping what people could access, where they could live, and even how they could dream. Soweto, once a symbol of division is today celebrated as a hub of resilience and creativity, though for many, the remnants of its engineered past remain etched in memory.

Today, institutions continue to serve as landmarks that shape behaviour and influence social norms. The challenge we face is how to reimagine those institutions that once held painful experiences and were even architecturally designed to elicit certain emotions transforming them instead into spaces that inspire, unite, and drive change.

Heritage institutions, museums, archives, cultural centres, and historic sites hold enormous potential to become engines of transformation. They can tell our stories with honesty, foster dialogue across generations, and spark innovation that allows young people to move forward while still acknowledging the past. Globally, we see institutions being redefined. When they place community development at their core, they preserve history while also opening doors to future opportunity.

Access to the right institutions can determine whether an idea grows into a sustainable business or remains just a dream. In the face of the triple threat of unemployment, poverty, and inequality, we urgently need more spaces that foster creativity and innovation spaces that can help realign society and shift the needle toward meaningful change.

• In South Africa, Constitution Hill stands as one of the most striking examples of reimagining an institution. Once a prison complex where political prisoners, including Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, were incarcerated under oppressive laws, it symbolised injustice, exclusion, and brutality. Today, that same site has been transformed into a living museum and the home of South Africa’s Constitutional Court, the highest guardian of democracy and human rights.
• Station F, Paris – A former railway depot turned into the world’s largest startup campus, now home to 1 000+ startups with accelerators, co-working, and investor access, boosting France’s tech reputation.
• iHub, Nairobi – Once just an office building, it became East Africa’s tech hub, central to Kenya’s “Silicon Savannah” and innovations like M-Pesa.
• Silicon Roundabout, London – A neglected East London area transformed into a leading European startup ecosystem with co-working spaces, labs, and strong government backing.

These centres show how spaces once defined by decline, neglect, or different purposes have been reimagined into entrepreneurial engines. They now fuel job creation, attract investment, and serve as models for how physical spaces can shape economic futures.

The lesson is clear: institutions matter not only because they hold history, but because they shape possibility.

This Heritage Month is commemorated under the theme “Reimagine our heritage institutions for a new era.”

Heritage is not only what we inherit but also what we build for future generations. By empowering entrepreneurs and rethinking how we preserve and grow our collective legacy, we are shaping a new era of heritage that is inclusive, innovative, and global in outlook.

Entrepreneurs who struggle in isolation need spaces that offer, mentorship, and access to a vibrant community. They benefit from programmes that open markets, platforms that connect them with investors, and networks that showcase their businesses to the world.

Institutions need to impact change; they need to foster creativity and address societal issues for a better future.

This is what it means to reimagine institutions for a new era. South Africa’s past shows the danger of institutions designed to divide. Its present, with initiatives like 22 On Sloane, demonstrates the promise of institutions built to connect, empower, and inspire. Heritage is not only about looking back at what we inherited, it is also about how we choose to build for the next generation.

As we mark Heritage Day 2025, the question is not only how we remember the past, but how we design the future. Our institutions, whether cultural or entrepreneurial, must be more than monuments. They must be engines of unity, platforms of innovation, and spaces where the next generation sees itself not as excluded by history but empowered to create it.

Bernadette Bule, Business and Partnerships Manager at 22 On Sloane.

*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL

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