Events 21 3988967833

Charles Wilson Regenerating Places - an Urban Panel Perspective

What we said in 2003


•found Leicester to be a great historic city which could do much more to make that quality part of its very positive image;•considered that the damage done to the city by 1960s highway engineering was profound but that the willingness of all parties now to address the problem was heartening;•urged the partners to keep their nerve by confronting as soon as possible the problem of the ring road – the humanising of which is essential for the office core to work, for the riverside to come back to life, for All Saints to be reconnected and, above all else, for Leicester to perform to its full potential;•saw no merit in superimposing the concept of a retail circuit on the town centre but believed that the identified civic buildings do have the potential to house new uses which can reinforce the economic vitality of the centre;•endorsed the view of the public that the Market Place is the right place for the market but felt that increased flexibility [e.g. of stall layout] could help the market respond to changing circumstances;•raised grave concerns about the quality and nature of the proposed extension of the retail centre at Shires West and urged the city and development partners to redesign the scheme to take account of those concerns and thereby to create a truly quality expansion of the city’s retail offer;•welcomed the engagement of elected members in the regeneration process and accepted their invitation to discuss this paper with them.

What is the urban panel

� 10 years old

� multi-disciplinary membership

� established by CABE and English Heritage

� now supported by English Heritage


Currently 17 panel members Panel members are unpaid but receive expenses – renewable 3 year term

� 4 architects

� 3 architect planners

� 3 engineers

� 2 historians

� 1 landscape architect

� 1 planner

� 1 member involved with community participation in design

� 1member involved with design management issues

� 1 property developer


The Panel’s remit


� engage with Government policy and best practice as it

relates to urban regeneration and the historic environment

� guide English Heritage on related urban issues

� provide useful strategic advice to public and private bodies

with an interest in places where significant changes to the

built environment are being planned

� Generally undertake four 2 day visits per year

How are visits organised ?


� Receive detailed brief in advance

� Day 1Receive briefing from host

Visit area and relevant locations

Dine with participants and local decision makers /opinion formers

� Day 2Further visit/s

Open discussion with host

Closed panel session

� Report stageDiscuss with host at draft stage

Issue report

Where has the panel visited?


� 2000: Bath/Bristol; Norwich; Newcastle; Walsall;

� 2001: Liverpool/Chester; Southampton; Lincoln; Sheffield; Nottingham;

� 2002: Exeter/Plymouth; Cornwall – Hayle, St Austell, Cornish Mining WHS bid;

� 2003: Blackpool/Preston; York; Gloucester; Leicester; Colchester;

� 2004: Stoke on Trent; Gateshead ; Brighton ;

� 2005: Swindon; Bradford; Black Country;

� 2006: Peterborough; Milton Keynes; Harlow; Letchworth;

� 2007: Hereford; Worcester; Dover/Folkestone; Liverpool/Wirral;

� 2008: Weymouth/Portland; Yarmouth/Lowestoft; Chatham;

� 2009: Margate; Luton; Coventry; Halifax;

� 2010: Torquay; Northampton;

� 2011: Gosport; Bishop's Stortford/Hitchin; Lincoln; Bournmouth;

What topics has the panel covered?


Aim for 3 or 4 topics/issues per visit

�Many shopping schemes

�Masterplanning and town/city development topics

�Coastal town issues

�Post industrial regeneration

�New towns

�Heritage destinations

Starters for 10


• What makes this place tick? Which institutions, industries or individualshave made it a distinctive place?

• Has its geography, geology or topography had a profound influence on its form? How?

• How well is it connected to other places and what influence does this have on it today?

• Which institutions, industries or individuals will drive the local economyover the next decade? If the answer to that is retail, where will the customers earn their living?

• Over the past decade has the population grown or shrunk, aged or got younger? Do you know why?

Starters for 10


• The development and nature of town extends way beyond political time cycles. Encourage incremental long term thinking.

• Do local people/organisations have a role in informing decisions at key design stages? What do you see as the role of the community and voluntary sector in the success of the regeneration of your area?

• Resilience is a key characteristic of people who are good survivors and of sustainable places. How would you judge the level of resilience of your community and of your local built environment and infrastructure?

• Treasure and enhance the best of existing built and natural assets. Ignore green spaces at your peril.

• Thinking realistically about the answers, should you be planning for a future urban expansion or focussing on managing decline gracefully?

Images of Place


J M Gandy & Soane

Images of Place


Lancaster – traditional historic town

Images of Place



Images of Place

Hebden Bridge – Denis Thorpe


Images of Place

Images of Place


Image of place


Basildon

[from Government New Town Publication]

Image of Place


Not everything is timeless!


Image of Place

Image of Place


We must avoid developments that are

“designed for nowhere and found everywhere”

(Lord Falconer)

Quentin Hughes - Liverpool


• As well as a sense of place, we need a sense of time history and perspective

Kurt Rowland


The shape of Towns• “Industrially produced objects have a limited life and

are eventually [now rapidly] by new, more efficient objects, but the townscape by its very nature is slow to change. Any mistakes in its design are difficult to eradicate and may spell misery for a generation or more.What is worse they may through the damaging effect on the human organism so stifle or permanently distort the normal exercises of the senses that improvements are neither demanded nor initiated”

1966

Urban Panel Visits


• Coventry

• Peterborough


600 years

60 years

?Coventry – speed of change











Peterborough


Poly-role place

Historic Town - Cathedral City – Market Town

Peterborough


• Rapid population rise

1921 35,500

1961 62,300

1981 134,300

2001 157,400

• Between 1971 and 1991 Peterborough's population grew by 45.4%

• 1300 Houses per year up to 2021

Poly-role place

Also a New Town & a Growth Area

Peterborough


A city where car is king

Peterborough


And where shopping comes a close second

Visit summary


• Issue 1

Cathedral Close

Oasis in heart of city

Permeability

Development potential

Lack of conservation plan

Visit summary


• Issue 2

Lack of characterisation study to inform future

Visit summary


• Issue 3

Shopping – dangers of monolithic obliteration

Visit summary


Issue 4

Connectivity

Train station /multi storey car

parks / dual carriageway is the

barrier between centre and west

Peterborough

Visit summary


Issue 5 Townships Hampton Township

Peterborough


• Panel conclusions

• Recognised Peterborough at a critical stage• Admired the historic city core and visually dominant role of the cathedral• Acknowledged the growth area challenge, and the ambitions of PCC

• Advocated a reinforcement of relationship between cathedral & city informed by conservation plan• Recommended a characterisation study of the historic core and a refinement of the plans for shopping extensions• Urged a reconfiguration of the of the relationship between the City and Station, and strongly supported the need for a new Station

• Emphasised a need to create convincing urban entities and meet 21stC aspirations within the townships• Expressed support to PCC & URC in setting demanding requirements for future growth and stressed that pressures for rapid delivery should not deflect from wider appreciation of the place, its position within the New Towns Movement and the experience of the former development Corporation

Places are more than achieving housing targets


• Dr. Liam Fox MP when objecting to the Bristol growth proposals likens 9,300 houses to the town of Clevedon. Perhaps an imprecise comparison, but startling nevertheless

•Clevedon, 9300 households, 22,000 population

•1 secondary school, 6 primary schools

•1 leisure centre, 1 swimming pool

•7 places of worship

•6 pubs

•3 supermarkets, 2 post offices, lots of shops

•9 restaurants, 14 places to stay

•1 hospital, 3 doctors’ surgeries, 3 dental surgeries, 4 vets practices

•1 library, 16 community meeting places, 1 youth club, 21 sporting and leisure clubs

•1 park, 1 pier, 150 allotments

•And around 100 bus stops


1 Urban structure

2 Urban grain

3 Density and mix

4 Scale: height + massing

5 Building Type

6 Frontages

7 Details + materials

8 Public realm + landscape

What shapes places?

Urban Design Principles


1 Character + distinctiveness

2 Continuity + enclosure

3 Quality of the public realm

4 Connectivity + permeability

5 Legibility + identity

6 Adaptability + robustness

7 Diversity + inclusiveness

8 Integration + efficiency


Just a few

personal thoughts

to finish with....

We have to recognise it isn't that easy


• pressure for outputs - pressure

of electoral cycles - pressure of

markets

• Responding to community

needs

• New planning regimes

• A need to adopt the best

solutions, and the rejection of

‘second best’

• A need to respond to the

‘genius locii’ of the area

• A real need to provide

leadership

We live in world of pressure

But we have to…..


change aspirations

and raise ambition

&

expand capacity

Start making places like themselves not

like everywhere else!


Or we get this….


I have learnt from my mistakes and I am now able to repeat them almost

exactly

Peter Cook

We have to be making places for them


It will mean creating places which belong…


• Working with the grain

• Respecting the landscape

• Improving public realm

We hope they will be places which have joy


…& use the landscape potential


…and also think about public places


Aiming for

this…. Not this…..


….and places that people can make work

better



And keep listening to the other guy!

Documents

Events 21 3988967833