urban design ISSN 0266-6480 · Welsh Communities and Urban Design, Matthew Griffiths 24 Streets and the Community, Alexandra Rook 26 Public Realm/Public Good, John Hopkins 30 Engaing

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nUrban Design QuarterlyThe Journal of the UrbanDesign Group

Winter 2003 / Issue 85

International:Expo. 02 Switzerland

Viewpoints:Re:UrbanismColour it simple (enough)

Topic: Urban Design Week 2002

Research:Licensing Reform

Case Study:Maintaining localdistinctiveness

ISSN 0266-6480

2 Urban Design Quarterly / Winter 2003 / Issue 85

UDALNEWSNew Chair of UDALMartin Bacon, Director of the CivicTrust is to be the Chairman of UDALfor 2003. As the tasks arebecoming increasinglydemanding, UDAL SteeringCommittee decided that the nextorganisation to chair UDAL wouldnominate a Vice-Chairman. Thiswould help the transition from oneyear to the next. In 2004 theUrban Design Group will take theUDAL chair; so for this year MarcusWilshere, past Chairman of UDG,will be Vice-Chairman of UDAL,becoming its Chairman in 2004.

Martin Bacon feels that the priorityfor 2003 should be raising publicawareness about urban design. Ifthe primary purpose of UrbanDesign Week is to spread theword about urban design to theoutside world then events must betailored to include the publicmore, rather than centring onprofessional issues. The regionalevents in UDW should be mademore accessible and attractive tomembers of the public. Thereshould also be more emphasis onpromoting UDAL’s objectives in theregions through for examplerunning events for local authoritiesand practitioners: a series ofregional conferences showcasingthe Placecheck methodology isone possibility being discussed.

The following objectives andactivities are likely to beprogressed this year:

Public AwarenessThe objective is to make the publicmore educated about and awareof urban design. Projects includeinvolving the public in activitiesduring Urban Design Week asdescribed above and promotingPlacecheck, a rural format ofwhich is currently being prepared.Funding is being sought for apublication covering works inprogress.

Design Quality Indicators are alsobeing investigated with CABE sothat their application can beextended to cover the publicrealm. This work could becomecomplementary to Placecheck.

EducationUDAL’s objective is to increase thenumber of practitioners equippedwith the appropriate skills. Projectsinclude the promotion of urbandesign content in professionalcourses, investigation anddevelopment of CPD availabilityand continued involvement withCABE on Urban Design skills. AnUrban Design Spring school isbeing organised together withHawksmere for next April. Held atAston University Birmingham, itwill begin on a Thursday eveningand last for the following twodays, during which participantswill work on a project.

Multi-Disciplinary WorkingThe objectives are to establish aculture of multi-disciplinaryworking. Projects include creatinga database of regional contactsof UDAL member organisations:promoting regional multi-disciplinary CPD events andidentifying regional champions forUDAL.

Other Projects A Main Streets Report is beingprogressed with a view topublication in about March2003.

A Letchworth CentenaryConference will be held on the24th and 25th October 2003with UDAL involvement. Onepossibility is to hold Placecheckson different types of space withinLetchworth. #

UDAL web site:www.udal.org.ukThe Urban Design Group providesthe secretariat for UDAL. It can becontacted by fax and phone on0207251 5529 and by email [email protected]

Eileen Adams Consultant with wide experience ineducation linking art, design and theenvironment; she leads PowerDrawing, the education programmeof the Campaign for Drawing.

Kelvin CampbellArchitect and Planner, Principal ofUrban Initiatives consultancy.

David ChapmanUrban designer with Koetter Kimand Associates.

Andrew ClarkeSenior Planner and Urban Designerat Taylor Young Urban Design.

Edward Chorlton County Environment Director andDeputy Chief Executive of DevonCounty Council.

Matthew GriffithsDirector of the Civic Trust for Walesand Associate Lecturer with theOpen University.

John HopkinsLandscape architect, Director ofLandscape Design Associates,London.

Rebecca KnightSenior Landscape Architect withLand Use Consultants.

Dr. Rob MacDonaldReader in Architecture at theLiverpool School of Art and Design,Liverpool John Moores University.

Prof. George McLean Hazel Civil Engineer, Managing Director ofMcLean Hazel Ltd, visiting Professorat the Robert Gordon University andVice-President of the Institution ofHighways and Transportation.

Neil Parkyn Architect and town planner, headof Huntingdon Associates and amember of SEEDA’s Design Panel.

Marion RobertsAcademic Subject Leader in UrbanDesign at the University of Westminster.

Alexandra Rook Alexandra Rook works for the CivicTrust in London.

Judy Ling Wong, OBE, FRSA, Director of Black EnvironmentNetwork, a pioneer organisation inthe field of ethnic participation inthe environment.

Derek AbbottArchitect and Planner involved inconsultancy, writing and teaching.

Rob CowanDirector of the Urban DesignGroup, head of the UDALSecretariat and joint projectmanager of the PlacechecksInitiative.

John BillinghamArchitect and Planner, formerlyDirector of Design andDevelopment at Milton KeynesDevelopment Corporation.

Tim CatchpoleTransport Planner and an Associateof Halcrow.

Bob JarvisCourse Director for thepostgraduate planning programmeat South Bank University, London.

Sebastian LoewArchitect and Planner, writer andconsultant, teaching at theUniversities of Westminster andReading.

Jon RowlandArchitect and Urban Designer, runsJon Rowland Urban Design.

Alan StonesUrban Designer and Chairman ofthe Urban Design Group.

Judith RyserResearcher, journalist and writer onenvironmental and design issues.

WebsitesUrban Design Group website:www.udg.org.uk The Resource for Urban DesignInformation (RUDI): www.rudi.netUDAL website: www.udal.org.uk

MAIN CONTR IBUTORS REGULAR CONTR IBUTORS

3Urban Design Quarterly / Winter 2003 / Issue 85

CONTENTS

Enquiries and change of address:Email [email protected] Administrator: Grace Wheatley70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6DGTel: 020 7250 0892/Fax: 020 7250 0872

UDG Director: Robert CowanTel: 020 7250 0872Email: [email protected]

Chairman Alan Stones

PatronsAlan BaxterTom BloxhamSir Terry FarrellNicky GavronDickon RobinsonLes SparksJohn Worthington

UDG Regional ActivitiesRegional convenors:Scotland Leslie Forsyth 0131 221 6175Northern Ireland Barrie Todd 01232 245587North Bill Tavernor 0191 222 6015Yorks/Humber Lindsay Smales 0113 283 2600North West Chris Standish 01254 587272West Midlands Peter Larkham 0121 331 5145East Midlands Nigel Wakefield 0116 252 7262South Richard Crutchley 01793 466 476South Wales Sam Romaya 02920 701150East Anglia Elizabeth Moon 01245 437646

Editorial BoardDerek AbbottJohn BillinghamMatthew CarmonaTim CatchpoleRichard ColePeter EleyBob JarvisSebastian LoewTony Lloyd-JonesJudith Ryser

Editors: John Billingham and Sebastian Loew

Editor for this issue: Sebastian Loew

Topic Editor: Sebastian Loew

Book reviews Tim Catchpole56 Gilpin Ave, London SW14 8QY

Design consultant Simon Head

Print production Constable Printing

© Urban Design Group ISSN 0266 6480

Material for publication: please send text preferably byemail to the editors at the UDG office. Images to be suppliedas high-resolution (300 dpi), eps, tif or jpeg format. Contacteditors for further details.

CoverGuildford Town CentreCourtesy V. Rose, The Civic Trust

News and eventsLeader 4Director’s Column100 Public Spaces for London 5UDG Eastern Region TourCreating Successful 21srt Century Cities 6UDAL Week’s Events: Street Life Seminar 8Winning Back Public SpacesThe Urban Skills Summit 10The Urban Summit 11

InternationalExpo. 02 Switzerland, Judith Ryser 12

ViewpointsRe:Urbanism, Rob Cowan and Kelvin Campbell 14Colour it simple (enough), Neil Parkyn 16

Topic Urban Design Week 2002Introduction, Sebastian Loew 17Designing Streets for People, Edward Chorlton 18Urban Streets, Prof. George McLean Hazel 20Child’s Play: Urban Change for Beginners, Eileen Adams 22Welsh Communities and Urban Design, Matthew Griffiths 24Streets and the Community, Alexandra Rook 26Public Realm/Public Good, John Hopkins 30Engaing the Socially Excluded in the Environment, Judy Ling Wong 34

ResearchLicensing Reform and Urban Design, Marion Roberts 36

Case StudyMaintaining local distinctiveness in urban areas, Rebecca Knight 38

Book ReviewsIdeal Cities, Ruth Eaton 40Urban design Guidance, Rob Cowan/Urban Design 41biopolis, Patrick Geddes and the City of Life, Volker M. WelterThe Modern City revisited, Thomas Deckker (ed.) 42Waterfronts in Post-Industrial Cities, Richard Marshall (ed.) 43Also Received

Practice Index 44Education Index 51Endpiece

Angelheaded Hipsters, Bob Jarvis 51

Back coverDiary

Future issues86 Suburbs87 Healthy Cities

Current subscriptions: The Quarterly is free to Urban Design Group members who also receivenewsletters and the biennial Source Book at the time of printing.Annual rates: Individuals £35 Students £20.Corporate rates: Practices, including listing in UDQ practice index and Sourcebook £200.Libraries £40 Local Authorities £100 (2 copies of UDQ).Overseas members pay a supplement of £3 for Europe and £8 for other locations.Individual issues of the journal cost £5.Neither the Urban Design Group nor the editors are responsible for views expressed orstatements made by individuals writing in this journal.


Director’s Column

The chancellor calling for higherstandards of urban design. Thedeputy prime minister committinghimself to new urbanism. After theUrban Summit, what is left for theUDG to campaign for? Quite a lot,actually. Yes, the Urban Summitwas a great occasion. The 1,600participants generated animpressive sense of commonpurpose. The government mayhave been given a new sense ofwhat is possible. But no clear senseof direction emerged.

Most people were impressed byJohn Prescott’s apparentcommitment to urban issues, even ifhe did define the Urban Summit’sremit as including ‘villages andrural areas’. The big man looksvisibly relieved to have had theunbearable burden of transportpolicy lifted from his shoulders. Afailing rail service has a timetableto benchmark its pathetic failures.The success or failure of urbanpolicy, by contrast, is harder tojudge, and for the moment we areprepared to applaud the man incharge if he seems to be doing hisbest. If the government itself isfailing to give urban affairsanything like to priority theydeserve, we put the blame on Blairor Brown rather than the amiablebruiser from Hull.

Prescott told the Urban Summit ofthe heart-rending plea of aconstituent who told him that shewanted to live where she was, butnot in the conditions that she faced.It sounded very much – if not wordfor word – like the constituent hequoted when launching the urbanwhite paper two years ago. Well,perhaps he does not get out muchthese days. It is good to hear himresponding to at least one voicefrom the real world.

The summit opened with thefamiliar double act of Prescott andRogers, each complimenting theother but saying very differentthings about the progress of theurban renaissance. To Prescott, therenaissance was well on its way,with living conditions improving allround and people flocking back tolive in the cities. To Richard Rogers,‘our inner cities are desolate. Whatever happened to the quality of lifein this country? The government has

not yet shown that it understandsthe role of towns and cities.’ Hecalled for ‘a national urban policyowned by the whole Cabinet toprovide a physical framework forall other policies’.

Prescott’s response was to call for a‘step change’ (he used the termrepeatedly, although what thechange would be towards was notquite clear) and sustainablecommunities (again undefined).Still, his passion was infectious andno one was left in any doubt thathigher-density housing was firmlyon the agenda.

It was left to one of the smallersessions, led by Richard (Lord) Bestof the Joseph Rowntree Foundation,to point out that cities are not drivensolely by housing. ‘Job markets,’Norman Perry pointed out, ‘aremore fluid than housing markets.’Will our future urban regions beplanned in the light of this, or willwe preserve the existing urbanstructures, simply using high-densityhousing to plug the brownfieldgaps left by collapsed industries?‘Better transport could help create aRandstadt in the Pennines,’suggested Professor Brian Robsonof Manchester University. It wouldbe good to see some signs thatsuch imaginative ideas on thegovernment’s agenda.

There was probably no aspect ofthe Urban Design Group’sconcerns that was not discussed inthe Urban Summit. The event willsurely be seen as some sort oflandmark on the long road tourban renaissance. The job now isto bring together the elements intoa coherent framework for urbandesign. That means – among muchelse – filling the skills gap;integrating urban design in thereformed planning system;developing good practice in urbandesign guidance; and moving thedebate about urban form on fromthe stale and easy mantras thatthreaten to suffocate us.

The Urban Summit may not havehad as much to celebrate as somepeople had hoped when it wasannounced in the Urban WhitePaper. But at least it provided abouncy springboard for the nextsteps. #

Robert Cowan

A Step ChangeAs members of the Urban Design Group, readers ofthis journal are by definition, the converted.Reaching a wider population and proselytising forthe cause of urban design has been one of theobjectives of the group and it has never been easy.Most people have never heard of urban design andeven if they have, their notion of what is means isvague. But amazingly, the situation is improving. TheUrban Summit has given an opportunity for themedia to focus on issues until recently only of limitedconcern to the wider population. “Urban Design ison the front page of the Guardian” was thedelighted observation of UDQ’s partner editor onseeing a reference to a website with the wordsurban design. There was more: a wholeGuardian/English Partnerships supplement on Citiesreborn, had articles which would not be out of placein UDQ and the above mentioned website had linksto our own and other relevant ones. Not yet thetabloids, but progress nevertheless.

A few weeks earlier the Today programme togetherwith CABE, ran a competition to find the worst and thebest streets in England. Like other ‘voting’ programmesinvolving the audience, this one must be taken with apinch of salt, but the fact that issues related to thequality of the public realm were being debated at 8am on the air, is – to use the language of the DeputyPrime Minister - a step change. In early November,The Independent ran an article on the opening of anew estate in Hampshire designed following the“woonerf” concept and discussed its advantages. Thearticle was part of the main news, not in a specialistssupplement, again a major change.

These may still be isolated incidents but theiraccumulative effect should not be underestimated.Cultural shifts are slow and they can only occur byraising awareness. The Urban Design Skills Summitalso referred to the fact that young people areinterested in and involved with their environment.Our role now is to keep the momentum going and toensure that the growing awareness results in a moredemanding public and more young people wantingto become urbanists.

Sebastian Loew

NEWS AND EVENTS


100 Public Spaces for London16 October 2002, London

Starting his talk to a full Gallery,Ricky Burdett made it clear that theMayor’s Architecture and UrbanismUnit (AUU) was purely advisoryand had no real power, though ithad influence. He emphasised thathe was not talking for the Mayorand had little idea of what theMayor’s thoughts on urban designwere. Nevertheless the small teamof five advisers led by RichardRogers feel that Londoners deservean environment of higher quality,and that the lessons of the first 12months show that such a smallteam can actually have asignificant impact if involved at theearly stages of a project. The factthat the link between the squalor ofpublic spaces or social andeconomic inequalities, and thequality of design and of theenvironment, is now recognised isat least an improvement.

The challenges for the AUU are tosuggest new forms of living athigher densities and to make thecity more liveable in order toaccommodate growth, ensurethere is sufficient affordablehousing and make developmentsustainable. The tasks of the AUUare

• To improve the quality of life bypromoting high qualityarchitecture and urban design,optimise the potential ofavailable sites and improve thepublic realm

• To masterplan hubs andbrownfields

• To rethink the developmentcorridors

• To make spaces for Londoners• To change the culture• To work together with various

stakeholders

It has also had an input on the Planfor London; it has commissionedwork on a few areas and it isspending more time working on theThames Gateway, identifying sitesfor development and influencingthe master plans for them. As partof the objective to make the citymore liveable, the AUU is lookingat 100 public spaces, about threeper borough, where value couldbe added through design over aperiod of approximately five years.The scale of the spaces should be

both metropolitan and local, andthe work would be done incollaboration with the variousGreater London Authority’s bodiesand the London Boroughs.

At the moment the AUU is workingon ten pilot sites with very differentcharacteristics, such as BrixtonCentral Square, Sloane Squareand Lower Marsh. In each casethey visit the sites, discuss with thevarious stakeholders and thendefine the project, write the briefand help in the selection ofdesigners. The choice of sites is atleast in part based on placeswhere things can happen as theteam believes that projects achievesomething whilst plans do not.What the AUU hopes to develop isa methodology to deal with thevarious spaces, not to design them.Funding for these schemes shouldcome from the Road Congestioncharge, which will provide aunique opportunity to improveLondon’s environment.

Burdett then outlined their work onsome of the pilots, starting withLower Marsh which exemplifies thedifficulties of dealing with an areaof poor quality, yet full of potential.The role of the AUU is to raise theissues and to help rewrite a brief forthe area. A second example wasthe Euston Road, an edge to theCongestion Charge area, thelocation of three main line stationsand a very poor environment forpedestrians. Gillett Square onKingsland Road was an examplewhere the developers were keen toimprove the quality of the spaceand where a brief will be preparedin collaboration with the Boroughand the developers. Burdettmentioned some more projects and

in each case suggested thatimaginative solutions had to be putforward even if they could notalways be implemented; everyarea had potential even when atpresent they appeared to beterrible.

Finally Ricky Burdett emphasisedthe importance of working withothers, the Boroughs, thecommunities, the developers; ofunderstanding the procurementsystem and of cajoling, advisingand re-directing. He also remindedthe audience that all the localissues fitted in a bigger picture andasked for people to come forwardwith additional suggestions. Alively debate followed on a varietyof the issues raised during thisrather encouraging evening. #

S. Loew

UDG Eastern Region Tour ofnew Essex Design GuideSchemes13th September 2002

Eighteen urban designers andplanners embarked on a wholeday tour organised by ElizabethMoon, Eastern Region convenor, inappropriately warm and sunnyweather. It was evident that thequality of new housing had movedforward significantly since thepublication and adoption of thenew Essex guide in 1997, thoughthere are poor schemes still beingapproved by some District Councilsthat we did not see on this trip.

The earliest scheme we saw was adevelopment of 95 housescompleted in 1998 at LittleBocking Green on a site adjacent

to the Bradford Street conservationarea in Braintree. Designed byMelville Dunbar Associates, thelayout was based on a site briefdrawn up by David Balcombe ofEssex County Council whichrequired frontages on to the nearbyriver flood plain, alleyway linksthrough to Bradford Street and amended street frontage. Thoughthe developer was nervous aboutjoining more than a proportion ofhouses together, buildings are setforward, enclosing some intimatespaces and forming a coherentstreet scene. A predominance ofcoloured rendered facadestogether with sympathetic buildingforms integrate the schemesuccessfully with the conservationarea. The density is about 35dwellings per hectare.

By contrast the town centredevelopment of 48 flats on 2-4storeys at Hart Street, Brentwood,achieves a density of 141dwellings per hectare by means ofaccommodating 1.75 parkingspaces per dwelling under a deckon which sits a communal gardenoverlooked by the perimeterhousing. Based on a site brief byDavid Stenning and Alan Stones ofEssex County Council, the HartStreet frontage is fragmented andsmall scale to harmonise with theexisting street scene, whilst the rearfrontage on to a car park at alower level is taller and morecommanding. A key street corneris marked by the tallest building inthe scheme.

At Warley Hospital, Brentwood,the redundancy of a large mentalhospital with well-treed groundsand splendid views over the GreenBelt, whose buildings are listed,prompted the District Council tocommission a design brief fromAlan Stones at Essex CountyCouncil. Countryside and Crestwill eventually complete 367houses and flats at 32 dwellingsper hectare with generous openspace. The principles of theoriginal brief are still apparent.


NEWS AND EVENTS

Less successful features are thehousing association elements,which are let down by poordetailing and parsimonious use ofmaterials, and the lower densityarea, with over-large housescrammed monotonously onto plots.

Perhaps the most successful andthoroughgoing application ofDesign Guide principles to date isthe development of 352 dwellingsat an average of 30 per hectareby six developers nearingcompletion at the former BlackNotley Hospital near Braintree.Building forms and layout arecoherent, with a linked streetsystem encompassing a series ofwell enclosed spaces of strongidentity, and good retention of treesand some of the better hospitalbuildings, all consistent with thevision of the original plan.

Finally we visited the initial phasesof the eventual 2,500 dwellingexpansion of Harlow at New Hall.The landowners commissionedRoger Evans Associates to design alinked, street-based master planthat would create real urbanquality. The first phase issomewhat disappointing. Morepromising is the next phasedesigned by Proctor Matthews,who have given Essex buildingforms, a contemporary twist.Densities of 40 dwellings perhectare are being achieved, andCABE considers these projectssignificant in that they bring urbandesign flair to green field sites forthe first time. It should bementioned that building forms andlayouts are also very much in linewith Essex Design Guideprinciples.

The lessons are that the progressthat has been achieved in Essexowes much to the determination toget a good design brief or masterplan in place at the outset, touncompromising negotiation, to themore open-minded approach ofdevelopers, and to the involvementof Essex County Council’s urbandesign team. It is alsoencouraging that PPG3 densitiesare now routinely being achieved,but disappointing that there are sofew examples of mixed use. #

Alan Stones

Creating Successful 21st Century CitiesUrban Design Group North West 26th-27thSeptember 2002

The UDG’s North WestConference was held in theCrowne Plaza, one of Liverpool’slatest new wave hotels , situated onthe waterfront between the LiverBuildings and the Princes LandingStage.

The Liverpool Vision

Chris Standish, UDG North West’sconvenor introduced the first day ofthe conference and echoed BaronIsherwoods’s foreword, “Liverpoolis a thoroughly apt host city for thisyear’s Urban Design Group NWconference, because it displays thepotential for significant growth righthere in its historic and proudheart.’’ Rob Cowan asked why doonly a few people go into theprofession of Urban Design ? Forhim Urban Design has alwaysbeen about being involved in theprocess of physical change.Despite much urban thinking thereis still ‘sub-urbia’ being created inthe city.

With these uplifting thoughts inmind delegates embarked on aseries of Liverpool urbanexperiences; from a spectacularMersey Ferry Ride to view theproposed site of the Fourth Grace,‘post- riots’ Festival Gardens Site,design fusion of old and new by‘Urban Splash’ and ‘Shed KM’and the New Rope WalksQuarter. The visits generatedheated discussions.

Nigel Lee spoke enthusiasticallyabout Liverpool’s re-emergence asa vibrant place for living, learningand playing. Good urban designmatters and the city is producing aCity Design Guide. BaronIsherwood, asked whether iconicbuildings can help urbanregeneration in Liverpool, as inBilbao Graham Marshall gave apresentation about Liverpool Visionand asked if there were ‘some darkclouds in the city’. Sir Bob Scott,Leader of Liverpool’s Capital ofCulture and Manchester’sCommonwealth Games bids,doesn’t believe in strategy but inleading with big ideas, big eventsand impossible ambitions.Liverpool has all the credentials;historical city, elegant architecture,World Heritage Status and apushy, talented creative multi-cultured population It is already aseminal centre of modern worldclass culture based on the impactof the Beatles and is becoming amajor destination again bybringing the River Mersey back tolife. Cruise Liners will return to anew entry point into the NorthWest of England. Liverpool ispushing the new slogan ‘Its Grim inthe South’.

Mike Storey, Council Leader andDavid Henshaw, Chief Executive,Liverpool City Council highlightedhow Liverpool was clearly undernew leadership andmanagement. They were proud toreport that 7,700 new jobs willbe created with the ParadiseStreet development. The citycentre population has risen from3000 to 10,000 and is expectedto reach 20,000. The ParadiseStreet Retail project will create1,000,000 sq ft of shopping; TheKings Dock Stadium on thewaterfront will attract millionsmore to the edge of the Mersey.The politicians are both proud of

The Fourth Grace Competition,involving high profile architectsRogers, Foster, Alsop andCullinan. A new cruise shiplanding stage expects to attract40 liners per year. Politiciansnow recognise that the publicrealm is the glue that bindsindividual developments together;Urban Design is the method ofbringing people together toregenerate the city.

Dinner with Sir Terry Farrell

Two after dinner speeches weredelivered. Sir Terry Farrell,reminded us that 25 years agourban design was still in its infancyas a distinct discipline. Consideringthe attention to urban design fromauthorities, clients, the press andeducational institutions, itsrelevance is now indisputable. SirTerry asked about the investment ininner city schools as the base forresettlement for real families in theurban core. Loft conversions alonewill only lead to ghettos of yuppieswith trendy bars lining the sanitisedand re-paved streets. Peter Malonereplied with a warning to allpresent: the people of Liverpool arewatching with great interest whatoutsiders are doing. Be sure toproperly communicate with them,not just signalling! And alwaysremember that the resourcefulscousers will be expecting mutualityin profitability.

Creating a successful city forthe 21st Century

Chris Standish started thesecond day of the conference byasking what was next for theUDG NW. Alan Stonesdiscussed the holistc art ofurbanism vs. the fragmentationof cities and the confusion of


urban design with urbanregeneration. He called for morecontinuity of streets, enclosureand urban design guidance.Rob Cowan reminded that 88%of development has very littleurban design input. Hequestioned the role of planningin urban design and wonderedwhat makes a successful urbanplace. There is a clear need forLiverpool to complete its UrbanDesign Guide and extend awelcome to careful developers.A real change in culture is needed.

Baron Isherwood from theNWDA highlighted urbanspaces and buildings that helikes and dislikes. He suggestedthat we need to think more aboutthe construction agenda andinclude urban design andarchitecture in the programme ofthe NWDA. New homes andhospitals will need to be built inthe future; given that poor designis paid for by everybody, it isimportant to appreciate thatgood design equalsenvironmental sustainability.Baron Isherwood echoed theoften quoted statement ‘’weshould leave the city morebeautiful than we find it.’’

David Rudkin of URBED asked,‘’why aren’t there many examplesof good 20th century urbandesign?’’ We need to rediscovermaster planning of streets, waysof turning the corner. Urbandesign can be like designing andbuilding a trellis, into which anarea can grow. Rudlin describedhow URBED are trying torediscover the layers of Bristol byseeking out pre-railway maps. In

Temple Quay a series of BottleChimneys have inspiredresidential towers. In Brighton theurban challenge is how to weavea large supermarket into theurban framework; to this end theyare tracing patterns based on theoriginal ‘saxon fields’, ‘lanes’ and‘leakways.’

The City Centre

Rod Holmes and Kate Smart, ofGrosvenor Estates, describedprobably the single mostcomprehensive masterplan forLiverpool’s city centre: ParadiseStreet development will becomethe location of over one millionsquare feet of modern shoppingspace and other facilities.Grosvenor have set out to givethe ‘Bluecoat Triangle’ adistinctive character byproposing five areas or quarters.These will comprise a new ‘homebuilding market’, a high fashiondistrict, flagship stores locatedalong a tree lined boulevard,two level shopping and leisurefacilities and landmark pavilionbuildings to be designed inassociation with Sir Terry Farrell.The success of this project willdepend on managing a largeteam of architects so that eachbuilding gets individual attention.Community participation hasbeen central from the start and allfuture consultants are expected tobe involved in this process.

Before the final workshops,Karen Padmore from The Centrefor Visual Environments,University of Salford, presented avery impressive fly through a City

of Liverpool Model. Theconference ended with fourUrban Design workshops onRegeneration led by Adam Scott,Adding Beauty to the PublicRealm led by Eira Hughes,Avoiding Planning Delays led byTony Freudmann and IconicDesign for a World ClassWaterfront led by JimChapman.This final workshopwas the most popular andprobably the most heated.

A Critical Discussion

The UDG NW Conference wasa very successful gathering ofUrban Design professionals and itposed some serious questionsabout the future of the 21stCentury City. The location of theconference within the Metropolisof ‘Man-chester-pool’ in‘Englandsnorthwest’ was mostappropriate.

However, some delegates askedwho was this conference actuallyaimed at ? Who was the UrbanDesign and Planning for ? Therewas very little ‘client-user’representation and participationin the conference. People,poverty and environmental issuesdid not feature very highly. Forsome delegates the conferencerepresented simply a selfjustification for urban design. TheLiverpool Architectural andDesign Trust, a user ledorganisation, was mentioned butnot actually represented.

What is needed is for LiverpoolCity Council, Liverpool Vision andThe European Capital of CultureBid Company to get going andproduce some fully joined upurbanism. Perhaps, for the peopleof Liverpool, a new state of the arttransport plan is much moreimportant than a ‘hollow’ FourthGrace? Unfortunately, nobody atthe conference really raised thesequestions. Is this the challenge forthe Urban Design Group NorthWest, to facilitate a major CityWide Action Plan and PublicParticipation Project ? The UDGNW is to be thanked andencouraged for setting thisbroader urban agenda here inLiverpool. #

Dr. Rob MacDonald

Urban Design Study Trips

Some UDQ readers may alreadyknow the trials and tribulations ofthe planned trip to Rome: 30people were booked on the tourbut at the last minute Ryanair – trueto its reputation - cancelled the flightbecause of a strike in Italy (whichdid not stop other airlines landing).All flights for the rest of the week-end were full and therefore the triphad to be cancelled. Afternegotiations, hotels agreed toretain only one night of payment foreveryone, and a few other fixedcosts had to be covered. As a resultall participants lost some money notall of which they can recover fromtheir insurers.

It is the first time that UrbanDesign Services has had thistype of problem and we hope itwill also be the last. But it meansthat in the future we willprobably only use regularschedule airlines, with a greatercapacity for flight substitutes. Ifwe want to make groupbookings with them we need tohave everybody’s names sometwo months in advance, whichwe rarely have. As a result theprice of our tours is likely toincrease. The alternative is to useother budget airlines with abetter record but the risk isalways there. We have alwaystried to keep costs to a minimumbut on balance, we feel thatparticipants will prefer to pay abit more and avoid the problemswe had with the Rome tour.

As a majority of the stranded Rometravellers asked for the trip to berescheduled we are planning to goin early March. The exact datesand the cost are being investigatedat the moment. The programme willbe very similar to the cancelledone. Other participants are alsowelcome to join us.

In May, Alan Stones is organisinga week long tour of Torino and thePiedmont. Details can be found onthe back page of this issue. Lateron in the year, John Billingham isplanning a visit to Copenhagenwhere the implementation of JanGehl’s ideas can be seen on theground. A Cuban trip is plannedfor early 2004. #

Sebastian Loew


NEWS AND EVENTS

Street Life Seminar hosted By TaylorYoung Urban Design18th September

A full house at The Centre for theUnderstanding of the BuiltEnvironment (CUBE) in Manchestercontributed to a lively andinteresting seminar focused on theplanning, design and managementdimensions of place making.Stephen Gleave ManagingDirector of Taylor Young took theChair for the evening.

Managing complexities

Jane Ellis, Nottingham’s City CentreManager, opened by stating herpassion for cities and city life.Nottingham City Centre continuesto be a vibrant destination for retailand evening social life. It isperceived as a city with an overtly‘cosmopolitan’ urban culture. Sheasked why ̀ continentalise` ourcities? The elusive sense of place iswhat makes them different. Inregenerating and enhancing urbanplaces we need to get the basicsright: clean, safe, active andattractive were sited as keycornerstones of successful places.Within this context Jane posed anumber of questions:

• What is the product? Why isthe place special and whatdoes it offer and to whom?

• Planned or unplanned?Planning has an important rolebut not everything can beplanned/designed for. Citiesare about spontaneity.

• Regulation or deregulation?Managers are often dealmakers and brokers of change.Flexibility is important butregulation can ensure interestsare respected.

• Manage or negotiate? Conflict isinevitable and should be usedpositively. A manager should aimto manage competing interestsrather than negotiate conflict.

• What are expectations? Whydo people use places andwhat do they want from them?Why do people come backand more importantly, whydon’t they come back?

As revenue finance is harder tocome by than capital funding shesuggests looking to the Americanmodel of Business ImprovementDistricts to secure additionalrevenue streams The tool kit formanaging a successful placeincludes both legislation andregulation but also commonsense. Faith in the value addedby well designed and maintainedplaces is important.

Challenges facing a UniqueLeisure Destination

Tim Brown, Head ofDevelopment plans for BlackpoolBorough Council stated that whilstBlackpool still retains the title ofBritain’s most visited seasideresort, numbers have droppedfrom an estimated 16 million to11million per annum since the1990s, and it has lost its positionas Lancashire’s premier shoppingcentre. One key obstacle toredressing this decline comesfrom competing demands on thetown centre.

Town centre regeneration dependson the ‘shared ownership’ of thestreets by several groups. Yet atnight, and increasingly during theday, it is seen as the preserve of theyoung clubber and drinker, whileother groups are alienated andintimidated. Through best practicethe local authority seeks to resolveconflicts. But planning policiescannot change the established usesof space, nor can they controllarge pubs or even family leisurefacilities evolving into nightclubs.Imaginative, large scaleimprovements to the public realm inorder to create a unique shoppingand leisure experience mightimprove the image of the town. Butto what extent civic design caninfluence established patterns ofbehaviour remains in doubt.

Town centre managementpractices seem to offer the mostrealistic solution to the conflicts.Public / private partnerships mayalso suggest possibilities of self-regulation. Regulating standardsof behaviour, particularly drinking,

Urban Design Week Events16th – 21st September


may seem draconian, but giventhe need to broaden the appealof the place, it may be necessary.

Designing for safer places

Stephen Kearney, ArchitecturalLiaison Officer for GreaterManchester Police discussed thecrime implications of designdecisions and the role of designin helping to create safer streets.Examples of bad practiceillustrated the factors that result inincreased levels of crime andperceptions of crime. Thesenegative factors could beovercome by designing out crimeat an early stage in the designprocess. Encouraging‘ownership’ of the public realmwas highlighted as an importantcomponent of the process. Thiswas somewhat easier in the‘street where we live’ than in thetown centre. Since busy placesare invariably safer places,designers should appreciate theimportance of mix, density andintensity of land uses. ‘FortressBritain’ should be avoided. Thekey message was that publicspaces will only be successful ifthey are designed to besympathetic, accessible, fear freeand economically viable.

The Design Process:Overcoming Barriers

Irena Bauman, Director ofBauman Lyons Architects inLeeds focused on the flaws in thedesign process of the public

realm. This was illustrated usingthe example of a bus shelter inManchester Road, Bradford. Sheargued that the modern UK cityfollows the model of the‘Reactive City’ rather than the‘Proactive City’:

• 90% of decisions are made bya minority: generally white,middle-aged, middle-classmen.

• Form follows profit on the bestreturn basis.

• The 10% of the city which isnot driven by profit, the publicrealm, is in the hands ofunimaginative and regulations-obsessed highways engineers.

• The planning system isreactive, granting permissionfor adequate rather thanexcellent schemes and notsecuring quality ofdevelopment.

• Building professionals remaindivided in terms of theireducation, culture andpractice.

• There is a gulf between theoryand practice: practitionershave no incentive to seek thesophisticated research thatexists.

Irena insisted that HighwayEngineers need to be engagedwith but their Briefs are usually‘bricks’ which define everythingand are not open to new ideas.In the case of the bus shelter,every aspect of the brief waschallenged. A more open endedbrief, a ‘sponge’ was called for,which allowed a greater range ofexperimentation. The designprocess is further complicated bythe number of people included inthe decision making process, bycontractual complexities anddifferent funding bodies.

Conclusion

Responsive, thoughtful andcreative approaches to planning,design and management arecalled in order to create morevital and vibrant places. Thecomplexity of the city providesdiffering social and physicalchallenges from place to place.People friendly places should bea common theme. #

Andrew Clarke

Winning Back Public Space17th September, London

Jan Gehl gave this year’s UDALlecture to a crowded gathering atthe RICS in London on the Tuesdayof Urban Design Week. His viewsare already well known from histhree publications - the last beingNew City Spaces, published in2000 - and also from acontribution to UDQ 83 using thesame title as the talk. He trailedthe coverage of this last bookthrough the guise of describingwhat he would not be talkingabout. He referred to thetraditional city of the meetingplace, the invaded city destroyedby the freedom for the car, theabandoned city in the Stateswhere there are more holes in thefabric for parking than fabric, andthe reconquered city such asCopenhagen where the virtue ofpublic life has been recognised.

Some cities have public spacestrategies such as Barcelona,Freibourg, Lyon and Strasbourg -but this approach is not generalenough. All cities have trafficdepartments, statistics and parkingcounts but facts about people arerarely available. More roadsequal more traffic but take outroads - such as in the States due toearthquakes or public resistanceand the city still functions andprovides better conditions forcyclists and pedestrians. Gehlreferred specifically toCopenhagen where the city centrehad changed in small incrementsover a forty year period. Whatwas a shopping centre hadbecome a meeting place. Therehad been no master plan and itstarted in one street, Stroget,which was pedestrianised in1962. There are now eighteensquares in the city centre whichwere previously used for parking.This was effected by 2% ofparking being removed each yearover a forty year period, enablingpeople to adjust to those changes.

A square invites people to stop - astreet tends to encouragemovement - but this becomesslower in a square. The opportunityto survey the changes in the use ofthe city was particularly importantin Copenhagen, as thisinformation helped future projectsto be achieved. There is now seven

times more space for pedestriansthan existed in the 1960s. Butpeople had to learn how to use thecity - they said the outdoor use ofspace could only happen in Italy - itis now more Italian than Italiancities! Outdoor life starts in Marchand they are trying to extend it toChristmas.

Gehl emphasised that there is moreto walking than walking, it is thekey to quality in cities. There arenow conferences on walking.Walking is not voluntary in thecivilised city but stopping andsitting are optional activities.People sitting are watching theworld go by - the cappucino is justa pretext - most people arewatching others, not drinking. Hedemonstrated his analysis ofnecessary, optional and resultantactivities and how these affectedthe achievement of a good or poorenvironment. This type of analysis isused in making proposals for newpublic spaces. In a number ofstudies in Edinburgh, Melbourneand Adelaide he advocatesundertaking surveys of publicspace at least every five years - asa tool for developing strategies forwalking and public life. Thesurveys involve recordingpedestrian traffic on weekdays andweekends both in winter andsummer, and also recordingstationary activities at those times.He quoted Ralph Erskine : “To be agood architect you must lovepeople.” He concluded byreferring to three approaches towinning back public space. Theusual practice is to consider thebuildings first, then the spaces, thenthe life. A better way is first the life,then the spaces, and finally thebuildings, but the best practice is toconsider life, spaces and buildingssimultaneously with thoughtfulnessand care. #

John Billingham

Top: Nottigham’s Canalbasin at Castle Wharf, alively focus in the citycentre.

Middle: Exchange Squarein Manchester busy byday and thronged by night

Bottom: Imaginativedesign creates a newlandmark. Bauman Lyonsbus shelter, ManchesterRd., Bradford.


NEWS AND EVENTS

The Urban Skills SummitLondon, 17th September 2002

Earlier this summer and as a followup to the Urban Design SkillsWorking Group’s report, CABEcommissioned the Urban DesignAlliance to undertake research ontwo subjects: how to attract youngpeople into the built environmentdesign professions, and whetherpost-graduate courses in urbandesign should be accredited orcertified. Robert Cowan andSebastian Loew undertook theresearch which involved reviewingexisting literature and consulting avariety of stakeholders, and draftedtwo papers with specificrecommendations for action. Thepapers were debated at a whole-day meeting hosted by theInstitution of Civil Engineers inLondon. Over 50 people attendedand the day was chaired by Prof.John Punter.

The morning was mostly devoted tothe first paper dealing with youngpeople, but the more general issueof skills deficit was also a subject ofdebate. Meredith Evans (Boroughof Telford and Wrekin) and KelvinCampbell (Urban Initiatives) set thescene by putting the point of viewof the employers. Two speakers,Eileen Adams (see also pp. 22-24)and Catherine Williamson, withsubstantial practical and researchexperience in working with youngpeople and the built environment,confirmed some of the paper’sfindings: young people use andenjoy the city but don’t call it the‘built environment’, which can betaught and used as a vehicle forvarious subjects in the NationalCurriculum; teachers needresources to help them as they arevery stretched; there must be a longterm commitment; the professionshave a poor image. “Youngpeople think planning is boring,architecture is elitist and they don’tknow what urban design is” (EileenAdams). A lively debate followedwith many comments, suggestionsand examples of good practicefrom the floor. At the end of themorning session Kelvin Campbelladvocated the creation ofundergraduate courses in‘urbanism’. John Punter suggestedthat if it was to attract youngsters itwould have to be renamedsomething like ‘geography andurban design’.

The afternoon session started withthree presentations on currentpractice in postgraduate urbandesign courses. Bob Jarvis’scontribution is reproduced in thisissue’s Endpiece. Two contrastingapproaches were presented byColin Fournier from the BartlettSchool of Architecture and TimBrindley from De MontfortUniversity; one compared theurban designer to the generalpractitioner in medicine, the otherto the musician in an orchestra, inorder to illustrate the generalist vs.specialist issue, but bothemphasised the problems ofteaching urban design in oneyear. Marcus Wilshere from thefloor reinforced this last point bysuggesting that “much of apostgraduate course is remedialtraining”.

The next session considered thepossibility of accrediting courses,a subject which was seen asthreatening by academics. MikeBiddulph, Kathryn Firth andMichael Hebbert were all againstit, though in a more or lessnuanced way. Biddulphpresented a Validation Templatefor Urban Design courses,prepared by the group that hechairs for the Centre for Educationin the Built Environment (CEBE).Firth warned of the danger of“boxing ourselves in” throughaccreditation and suggested thatthe issue should be revisited in afew years. Hebbert emphasisedthe role of the Civil Engineer andsuggested that UDAL was theright vehicle for bringing theprofessions together, notaccreditation of courses.

An animated debate followedaround the second paper’srecommendations; additionalpoints were made to reinforcethe importance of urban designand the difficulties surroundingthe provision of courses. JonRouse of CABE then joined themeeting. He lamented the lack ofprogress in the creation ofRegional Centres of Excellence,mentioned the importance designwill have within the new planningsystem and the need to improvethe skills of current practitionerswho are not urban designers. Healso recognised thataccreditation was not a highpriority at present.

The following are therecommendations put forward bythe two research papers, andmodified following the meeting.

On accreditation

1. The professional institutes shouldincrease their collaboration andevolve a working definition ofurban designs tasks

2. The professional institutes shouldencourage academic institutionsto increase the number of inter-disciplinary qualifications

3. The academic institutions shoulddevelop more inter-disciplinaryprojects and courses.

4. A comprehensive on-linedirectory of urban designcourses should be created withdetailed information on thecourses’ characteristics

5. Further research should beundertaken, particularly on therole of CPD in the training ofurban designers

On attracting young people to thebuilt environment professions:

1. Professional institutes shouldcollaborate more with eachother, with the Department forEducation and Skills, with theacademic institutions, and withthe schools and voluntaryorganisations in order topromote the built environmentindustry as a whole, capitalisingon the attraction of urban life.

2. Universities should increase theircollaboration with local schools,employers and voluntaryorganisations, and use nationalevents to promote the builtenvironment disciplines.

3. The DfES should recognise thevalue of the built environment asa vehicle for teaching thenational curriculum. Moreresources need to be put intohelping teachers developingrelated programmes

4. The work of voluntaryorganisations needs to bedisseminated, coordinated andgiven greater encouragement.CABE should make informationabout the various projects and

resources available on a website,which should be interactive inorder to put people with similarinterests in touch with each other.

5. All sectors of the industry –professions, universities, schools,employers, voluntary groupsand government departments –need to collaborate more. TheConstruction Industry TrainingBoard is potentially a goodmodel for this, but its work needsexpanding.

6. Further research is needed tomonitor the success of differentinitiatives in attracting applicantsto built environment courses.

The debate and the papers need tobe followed up with action onseveral fronts. The priorities arelikely to be inter-professionalcollaboration, CPD and getting theDepartment for Education andScience actively involved. Anotherissue that is likely to be on theagenda is the development of acommon foundation course for allthe built environment professions.UDAL intends to continue itscollaboration with CABE in order toreduce the skills deficit. A first UrbanDesign Spring School is beingplanned for April and it is likely tobecome an annual event. #

Sebastian Loew

Legibilities: Place, Identityand Design in the 21stCentury City

A conference in Bristol on 4thApril 2003 will examine howmaking cities legible byintegrating information, art,identity and movement systemscan enhance people’sunderstanding, experience andenjoyment of a place.

The conference is a jointinitiative of Bristol CulturalDevelopment Partnership,University of Bristol andUniversity of the West ofEngland. Keynote speaker isJoseph Rykwert, Professor ofArchitecture Emeritus at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.

For more information, pleasecontact Melanie Kelly [email protected].


The Urban SummitBirmingham 31st October-1stNovember

For months, the Urban Summit(US) had been discussed with amixture of anticipation and fear ofdisappointment. Comments in theprofessional press suggested thaturban design had been sidelinedand that many people would bestaying away. The good news arethat the Summit took place, that itwas big (over 1500 delegates)and that it was addressed by thePrime Minister (by video), hisDeputy and the Chancellor, all ofwhom mentioned the importanceof the quality of public space andits design. The not so good newsis that John Prescott’s speechseemed to be somewhat removedfrom reality such as when hementioned that tens of thousandsof people were moving into ourcities or when he listed a series ofimprovements that had takenplace.

The DPM repeatedly used theexpression ‘sustainablecommunities’ like a mantra, withoutconvincing that he really knewwhat it meant, particularly as hesaid it was what the Americans call“new urbanism”. This was one ofthe leitmotifs of the conference andthe crucial role of communityinvolvement in the urbanrenaissance was discussed inmany of the sessions. Anotherrecurrent subject was the design ofurban spaces and the quality of thepublic realm. Lord Rogers, incontrast to John Prescott, declaredthat all was not well with our citiesand as a result “the middle incomemajority leave city centres to findclean air, better schools and adecent environment to bring upchildren”. And the point was madethat the poor left behind, alsorequired and deserved betterdesigned neighbourhoods. In theplenary sessions these issues wereamplified, elaborated anddiscussed from different points ofviews. The host city, Birmingham,was heralded as a glowingexample of renaissance in whichdesign had played an importantrole. A third theme of the Summitwas the need for collaboration andpartnerships at all levels, betweenprofessionals, between sectors,between levels of governments ordepartments, between communities

and authorities. All partners had arole to play and responsibilities,and barriers between stakeholdersneeded to be eliminated.

During the bulk of the US (JohnNorquist, the Mayor ofMilwaukee, seen on bottompicture with Deputy Prime MinisterJohn Prescott, thanked theorganisers for having chosen theacronym of his country for thesummit!) several sessions weretaking place simultaneously and itwas frustrating not to be able toattend more than one at a time,since many dealt with matters ofinterest. The ‘How Do WeDevelop the Right Skills’ Sessiondealt with matters closely relatedto the Urban Design Skills Summit,reported on page 10. Thedifficulties in collaborating withcommunities was partly the resultof the skills deficit on both sides ofthe divide. The ‘silo’ mentality ofthe professions was a problem forwhich no easy solutions wereadvanced, though a commonfoundation year for builtenvironment courses seemed agood idea. Chris Brown’ssuggestion that all the professionalinstitutes should be abolished andreplaced by an Institute ofUrbanists seem to scare the RTPI’srepresentative in the audience.The creation of Centres ofExcellence heralded in the UrbanTask Force report as a way ofbroadening the skills base, hadnot materialised, though there wassome hope that Advantage WestMidlands would be launchingtheirs very soon. The skills deficitwas also mentioned in othersessions and was one of theimportant issues listed in theSummit’s conclusion.

At the beginning of the “DesigningSuccessful Towns and Cities”session, Paul Finch presented aseries of video clips with commentsby a variety of people from TomBloxham to tenants on aManchester estate. This gave thetone to the session which was bothcritical and upbeat. It indicated thebarriers existing to achieve thenecessary improvements but at thesame time showed how with visionand imagination, it could be done.The same themes reappeared: givepeople what they want, moveaway from bureaucratic narrowmindness, widen the skills base.

The work of entrepreneurs likeWayne Hemingway and TomBloxham, the painstakingdedication of Irena Bauman tohave a bus stop design accepted(see p.8), the transformation ofGateshead and Birmingham, weregiven as examples of what couldbe done. It was also suggested thatother countries were able to createmore successful and sustainablecities, partly because theyaccepted higher densities which inturn allowed for better services. Theneed to increase densities, alsomentioned by John Prescott, andthe correlation with quality designin order to avoid past mistakes,was another recurrent theme in thisand other sessions.

The PM’s comments on fixedpenalties, chewing gum andspray-paint made the tabloidheadlines. The importance ofmanaging and maintaining urbanspaces was a further subject ofdebate in more than one sessionand in particular in the one dealingwith Town and City Centres. Alsodiscussed in this session was theneed to foster and capitalise uponthe particular identity of a town

centre and like elsewhere, theneed for cooperation and forvision was repeated.

It is impossible to describe here allthe 28 sessions and over 20 fringemeetings, several of which dealtwith issues of concern to urbandesigners. Was it worthwhile? Theanswer must be yes: even ifpoliticians used the summit forspinning their policies, even if therewas sometimes too much selfsatisfaction, the majority of thedelegates must have left the summitstimulated and more optimistic thanwhen they arrived. The sheer mix ofpeople from various backgroundsand geographical regions, theenthusiasm of some of thepresenters and the presence of thegovernment higher echelons, werevery encouraging. Words such asleadership, vision, ‘can-do culture’,positive planning, collaboration,commitment, joined-up thinking,must have resonated in manypeople’s minds as they leftBirmingham. Let us hope that theywill not have forgotten them by thetime they arrive back home. #

Sebastian Loew


INTERNAT IONAL

By the time this article goes to print, everything described in itwill have vanished: buildings, temporary structures, pieces ofart, lighting installations, even gardens and landscapes. SwissNational Exhibitions take place for each generation to see atleast once. Their aim is to give Swiss citizens the opportunity toget acquainted with their country, its various nations andcultures and to reflect on its future. Unlike the British ‘universal’exhibitions – be it 1851 or 1951 – which displayed Britishachievements to the nation and the world at large, the SwissNational Exhibitions are becoming increasingly introvert andimmaterial. Even at the 1964 Exhibition there was not a singlecuckoo clock in sight. Nevertheless, pavilions were organisedthematically dealing with industry, agriculture, education orregional cultures on a single site on the shores of LakeGeneva. This time there were no flags, no yodel and noalphorn. This radical, quite self-critical and un-jingoisticapproach did not please everyone. Local authorityparticipation and sponsorship were slow to materialise.

Not the Millennium Dome

Though not planned as a millennium event, it is irresistible tocompare the Swiss Expo.02 with the Millennium Dome inLondon. Both were supposed to be temporary; both hadartistic directors who walked out under the weight ofbureaucracy. Most likely, the Expo.02 will also need somegovernment bailing out. Where they differ is in scale,locational choice, sustainability, design, treatment of themesand entertainment, popularity and effect on visitors. InSwitzerland, it would be inconceivable not to get good foodand drink and a broad variety of free shows. Also, Expo.02did not require any massive infrastructure investment, nor wasit going to impose drastic changes on the local environment.

Albeit without initial merit or foresight, Expo.02 wasdecentralised onto various sites. It took place in four differentlocations on the shores of the towns of Yverdon, Neuchatel,Bienne and Morat, situated on three lakes in the West of thecountry, linked by canals since Roman times. What couldhave become a logistic nightmare attracted many visitors to arather unknown region with beautiful landscapes ofvineyards, water and mountain panoramas. A mobile ‘site’,a refurbished gravel barge hosting a series of events, createdthe link between the ‘arte-plages’ (arts beaches) which werealso connected by catamarans and the railway. The limitedparking spaces were never full as people used publictransport instead.

The Four Sites

Each site dealt with a different theme: Power & Freedom;Instant & Eternity; Nature & Artifice; Me & the Universe.Meaning and Motion was the theme on the barge.Masterplans, key structures and the landscaping were the

outcome of design competitionswhich gave the opportunity tomany Swiss and foreign designersto contribute original ideas.

In Bienne, Coop Himmelblaudesigned three towers, symbols ofpower, on a mesh-covered floatingpiazza on the lake. In one,electronic music was responding tosounds of the surrounding nature ornoises made by visitors, the otherwas filled with Swiss flagsborrowed from where they usuallyhang; the third could be climbed toget a view of the arte-plage andthe high bridge linking the floatingexhibition island to the other parts.

Conceived by Multipack, a Frenchdesign consultancy, a floatingplatform accommodated threegigantic pebbles filled with airunder which exhibitions andperformances took place inNeuchatel. Colourful artificialreeds which reflected light at nightsurrounded the installations and thepiers linking the various areas.

Yverdon presented the most poeticdesign. Visitors could disappearinto a cloud on the lake designedby Diller & Scofidio from NewYork. 30,000 jets producedvapour on a steel structureaccessed by ramps of glass slates.The design consortium Extasiaincluding West 8 from Rotterdamand a range of Swiss architectsused mainly timber recycled fromthe intense storm of a few yearsback. It evolved from its raw stateof tree trunks to cut, planed andeven painted elements under whichthe exhibitions were housed. Muchof the walkways were covered withtimber surrounded by grass, sandand pebbled surfaces. Artificialhills made of tree trunks coveredwith soil and flowers provided thesetting for the open air shows.

While these three sites weresomewhat cut off from theirrespective cities and their artisticevents, Jean Nouvel integrated hiswinning design entirely into themedieval town of Morat. The wayJean Nouvel and his Swiss co-designers GIMM dealt with timetook the locals by surprise. Moratrepresented ‘eternity’ into whichthey incorporated many ephemeralelements. Temporary steel stairsleading to the city walls hostedspaces of displaced people

showing how Swiss abroad andforeigners in Switzerland transposetheir memories and identities.Portacabins scattered throughoutthe city accommodated exhibitionware, a disused wharf wasallocated to the military and securitytheme and vaulted rusting metalcontainers were dedicated toreligious exhibits. Shows andchildren games were placed insidea timber stack and gravel heaps. Atotally blacked out space madevisitors rely entirely on their senses.An existing park was transformedinto the garden of violence andfarming in miniature figured at thegate of the city. The most strikingfeature was Nouvel’s monolith. Thisgigantic rusty steel cube equivalentof a 12 storey building was floatingon the lake and could only beaccessed by solar energy poweredbarges. Inside it displayed LouisBrown’s circular panorama of thebloody battle between the Swissconfederates and Charles the Boldof 1476, painted at the end of the19th century, rediscovered andrestored for the occasion. It wasstunning to compare the landscapeof the panorama with to-day’slandscape of the battle at the levelbelow on the way to a cyberspacepresentation of contemporarySwitzerland with its idiosyncrasiesand contradictions.

Sustainability

Several aspects are worth retainingfrom Expo.02 and its vast range ofoften thought provoking exhibitions.Contrary to exhibitions which arestranded with white elephants suchas oversized stadia or a plasticdome, the organisers of Expo.02had a deliberate strategy toreinstate the shores of the lakes fornormal everyday use. To that endthey used recyclable orbiodegradable materials, evencardboard furniture in the temporarysystem built hotels. The structurescould either be dismantled andreutilised elsewhere, akin to NickGrimshaw’s Seville Expo pavilion(in theory as it is still awaitingresurrection in North London). Somematerials and structures had alreadybeen recycled from previousexhibitions, thus establishing adistinct design style. Everything willbe available at a final auction.Rumours have it that the Saudis areinterested in re-erecting the cloud

EXPO 02,SwitzerlandBy Judith Ryser


somewhere in the desert. The veryelegant double skinned timbersphere, the ‘palais de l’équilibre’which housed the theme ofsustainability, is earmarked as acongress venue, despite thedifficulty of adapting such structuresto new uses. After their initialresistance and objections, manylocals are now keen on the newlandscapes and envisage to retainsome of the installations.

Sponsorship

Another lesson is the imaginativeuse of sponsorship. To give just oneexample. A multinational Swissbased pharmaceutical companysponsored a pavilion called thegarden of Eden, symbolising aplace of order and harmony. Itdealt with five widespreaddiseases and possible curesthrough changing lifestyles and, ofcourse, medication. The design ofthe pavilion was didactic as wellas technologically advanced andaesthetically pleasing. Visitorspassed hologram figures whichdiscussed the five diseases andcures, stepped onto a mezzaninefrom where they were reflected ona mirror core above the tree ofknowledge which theyapproached through a sequenceof scientific explanations aboutillness, health and takingresponsibility for oneself. None ofthe company sponsored pavilionsreferred directly to their products orservices. Even their logos werealmost invisible. The Swiss oilassociation teamed up with theconfederation of the timber industry

to deal with sustainability. A largefood retailer sponsored ‘manna’which showed 360 species ofSwiss apples and the creepy-crawlies needed in good soil fororganic farming. Instead of hardselling, the impact of theirinvestment was due to the creativecontent and the design quality oftheir pavilions.

Crowd Management

Although queues were unavoidablewith 20,000 daily visitors on eachsite, great efforts were put intosigning and information on theduration of the queue with previewglimpses. Many pavilions weresemi-transparent so that visitorsgained some insight from thequeue. Entertainers tried to amusethe public and children wereprovided with opportunities to play.However, a lot more thought andideas need to go intoaccommodating large crowds andmake them an active part of suchshows. For many it was not just away of getting to see the largestamount of exhibits but also to havea great day out often with familyand friends. The design of the openspaces and the entertainmentprovided ample opportunities forrelaxation and fun. For those whowanted entertainment only, it waspossible to turn up in the lateafternoon at a reduced price, getsome idea of the exhibits and usethe restaurants, discos and theatreson the illuminated sites in theevening.

It is difficult to evaluate the successor otherwise of such an event. Itseems that those who came weretaken by the beauty of the sites andthe way they were made to reflectrather than to consume. Manystayed away as a matter ofprinciple, objecting to spending taxpayers’ money on a frivolous,expensive and in their viewenvironmentally damaging Expo,instead of behaving in a morefrugal manner more appropriate tocurrent difficult times. But all this isrelative. Why shouldn’t a richcountry invest in some collective funand introspection once in a whileand give a large amount of artistsand designers the opportunity todisplay their talents? #

Judith Ryser

From top to bottom:

Jean Nouvel’s floatingMonolith in Morat,accessible by sun-powered barge.

Neuchatel’s food pavilionloosely enclosed andlandscaped, withwheelchair access.

Yverdon’s landscaped sitewith recycled timber anddifferentiated treatment ofthe ground.

Bienne Quay withHimmelblau’s towers inthe back


V I EWPOINT

Re:Urbanism is a provocative document and not everyonewill agree with everything in it. UDQ will be publishingexcerpts from the book in this and the next few issues as away to provoking debate amongst readers. Letters will beconsidered for publication. In this issue we include anintroductory excerpt on this page and part of a chapter onspecialisms in the next.

Cities are victims of outdated thinking. Narrowreductionist thought processes linger under theinfluence of pseudo-sciences, drawing from pastphilosophies that have little relevance today.

When modernism failed to create acceptable urbanism, theconservation movement discovered meaning in old places.Old ways of thinking could not make new places, but theycould fill in the gaps in old ones. Nowadays we are verygood indeed at filling gaps. Only when we are faced withmore gap than meaning does the lack of new thinkingbecome embarrassingly apparent.

The UK’s urban design movement itself originated in anattempt to bridge a gap. The danger is that it will becomenothing more than a Polyfilla profession, providing yet onemore member of the team to fill the gap made obvious by theshifting agendas.

Urban design is not and never should be a niche profession.Urban designers are selling themselves short. Whatever theymay decide to do to ensure that urban design skills arerecognised, they must insist that urban design is themainstream. They will find natural collaborators in the smallbut growing number of other professionals – including themore enlightened architects, planners, highway and trafficengineers, landscape architects, surveyors andconservationists – who, like the activists of the Urban DesignAlliance, find common cause in urbanism.

Until then, urban design thinking – as reflected in urbandesign education, practice and debate – will continue in itsattempt to apply sticking plasters to the planning system. Thefirst aid team is enthusiastic, but blind to the possibility of acure. Like post-modern design, which sought a newhumanism but had its roots firmly in modernism, mainstreamurban design is too often limited to gestures. It has not yetlearned how to deal adequately with complex urbanenvironments: the instinct is still to act as though the aim wereto create a piece of a new town or develop a large site. Thelanguage of new-town planning may have been replacedwith a new language of urban design, but many of the habitsof thought are still the same.

The Congress for New Urbanism in the USA has written itsown new charter for cities and towns. In the UK we need togo beyond what Michael Sorkin has called a ‘softer form of

new town thinking dressed up inneo-traditional garb’. Urbanvillages, home zones and gatedcommunities risk tackling specificproblems by trying not to be part ofa city.

Too often the issues are presentedas a battle of architectural styles:the new-urbanist, traditionalurbanism of Leon Krier; or themodernist, post-urbanism of RemKoolhaas. That false polarity neatlydiverts the discussion up a fetid cul-de-sac of architecturalintrospection, in isolation from anypossible collective view.

Rationalism, scientific reasoningand abstract thought have let usdown. In the words of VaclavHavel: ‘The era of absolutist reasonis drawing to a close. It is high timeto draw conclusions from that fact.’

We need a new philosophy toguide practice and education inhow to make great cities for thetwenty-first century. Until then wewill continue to make do withnothing more than patching upwhat we have or slavishlyreproducing past forms. Without aphilosophy to underpin goodurbanism, the government will befrustrated in its attempts toimplement its other social,economic and environmentalpolicies. The failed nationaltransport policy stands as awarning. There can be no basis onwhich to plan our cities if we donot know what we want from them.

Re:UrbanismA new book written by Kelvin Campbell and Rob Cowan was launched at theUrban Summit. It calls for a new way of thinking about cities, teaching aboutthem and shaping them.


Cities are victims ofspecialisms.

Good urbanism needsurbanists with cities in theirblood. Too many youngpeople have their instinctiveunderstanding of what makescities tick drained out of themin the process of training inbuilt environment specialisms.The processes, institutions andagencies of urbanprofessionals must bereviewed and fundamentallyrestructured.

Put an architect, a planner, anengineer, a surveyor and anlandscape architect around atable. Do they now provide arounded view? No, usually theyprovide five specialist views. Eachspecialism is sustained by its ownlanguage, its value system and itsinstitute.

The Urban Design Alliance isbecoming an effective voice forthose who want to see thedisciplines learning to share thecommon ground. But naturalcollaborators are still rare. Toomany professionals simply conformto type.

Architects learn the increasinglyspecialised business of designingbuildings. Highway engineerslearn how to make the traffic flow.Planners may profess to be thegeneralists in the team, uniquelyskilled in forging collaborations, buttoo often they are merely specialistsin operating the planning system.Landscape architects resent beinglimited by their specialised role, butthey rarely get the chance to thinkmore widely. Surveyors engage inwhatever specialism suits theirparticular niche.

Despite the fact that all of thesepeople are shaping our towns andcities, few will receive any trainingin how complex urban placeswork.

Imagine if the medical professiontrained its members to bespecialists first. Some wouldbecome brain surgeons; some ear,nose and throat specialists; somepaediatricians. A few would go onto do further training in the basics ofphysiology. Such people would beable to make the proud claim that,

for example, they were not onlyexpert in brain surgery, but that theyalso understood how the bloodcirculated and what lungs were for.The idea is crazy, of course. Sucha profession would have deadbodies on its hands. But that is howthe UK’s built environmentprofessions are trained. We havedead places.

The built environment professionshave become collections ofincreasingly specialised specialists.Such specialisms are essential, buttheir practitioners fail to collaborateand their professional groupingsmake less and less sense.

Urban design, with fewexceptions, is a postgraduatecourse for the committed few. Thestarting point of urban designtraining is flawed. Professionalstrained in a particular narrowviewpoint, some over a period ofsix years, are expectedfundamentally to change theirview of the world. Urban designtraining tries to retrofit architectsand planners, drilled in anti-urban traditions, as goodurbanists. The hard disk has beencorrupted even before theprogramme can be loaded.

Post-graduate urban design coursesoperate as little more thanextensions to planning orarchitecture courses. Where bothprofessions are being taught in oneinstitution, the various departmentssquabble about whether urbandesign is a planning issue or anarchitectural one.

Trying to turn school leavers intospecialists is the wrong way to trainbuilt environment professionals.Instead we need undergraduatecourses in urbanism that willbroaden the students’ interest intoa real understanding of how citieschange and are changed, andwhat they mean for the peoplewho plan, manage, design,celebrate and live in them. Onsuch a foundation we could trainspecialists who could work withother specialists and in the realworld.

Other European countries use theterm ‘urbanist’ to describe what inthe UK are called both townplanners and urban designers.These countries do not put the

accreditation of specialist coursesin the hands of the builtenvironment professions: the statehas a larger role in that, and theuniversities have greater autonomyin deciding what and how theyteach.

The boundaries of the builtenvironment professions have theirorigins in history. They werealways at least to some extentaccidental and arbitrary. It isdifficult to move those boundariesonce they have been set, howevermuch changes in professionalpractice and social, economicand technical conditions mayseem to demand it. So theprofessions compete with eachother for territory: for any areas ofwork that more than oneprofession sees as part of its ownspecialism.

Where do the respective roles ofplanner, architect, urbandesigner, engineer, landscapearchitect and surveyor begin andend? An individual professionalthese days is likely to have arange of skills (based on his orher education, interests andexperience) that conforms hardlyat all to the remit of a singleprofession. The architect may bea brilliant designer of commercialbuildings or highly skilled atmasterplanning large sites, butthe label alone is not a guaranteeof either. How do you definearchitecture? The design ofbuildings? Tell that to the dozentypes of specialist who may bepart of the team designing abuilding of any significant size.As for the planner, whatever theRTPI becomes after its forthcomingreinvention of itself, the newprofession is unlikely to bedefined any longer by thestatutory planning system.Planners have a wide range ofskills and experience, and evennow you can not tell by the label‘planner’ what you are getting.Nor does the knowledge thatsomeone is a highway engineertell you a great deal these daysabout that person’s professionalattitudes and experience (whichis, as it happens, a change forthe better).

For an urban designer, the worldof professional labels is even moreuncertain. Urban design is a

professional skill, but it is alsosomething else as well: thecollaborative, multi-disciplinaryprocess that all the professionsconstituting the Urban DesignAlliance (among others) areinvolved in. Urban design is nevergoing to look like one of thetraditional built environmentprofessions. But with luck none ofthe others is likely to look that wayfor very long either.

The working relationshipsbetween professionals whomanage the complex processes ofurban change can no longer beunderstood in terms of simplestereotypes.

A child could detect the whiff ofprofessions that have passed theirsell-by dates. They do, in fact.Bright seventeen-year-olds whoenjoy urban lifestyles, who buybrands marketed as urban this orurban that, and who choose tolive and study in cities, alsochoose not to study subjectsrelating to the built environment.Fewer and fewer young peopleare attracted by the prospect ofjoining professions that seem notonly to lack glamour, status andgood pay, but also to make littlesense in relation to what is goingon in the urban world aroundthem.

Maps of the distribution ofgalaxies show our world at thecentre of the known universe.The reason is simple: our mostpowerful telescopes can seemore or less the same distancein every direction. So it is withthe built environmentprofessions. Professionals ofeach kind see all around themfellow professionals of their ownparticular brand. They speak thesame professional languageand meet each other atprofessional conferences. Theyread the same professionalmagazines, each of whichoffers a comfortingly parochialprofessional view.

At the outer reaches of theirconsciousness they glimpseprofessionals of other sorts: weird,semi-alien species whose world-views are impossible tocomprehend. They look away,muttering to themselves. ‘ThankGod we’re normal.’ #


V I EWPOINT

Call it age, pique , plain cussedness or the outcome of athousand cuts from someone else’s Guidelines, but am Ialone in bemoaning the demise of Good Old UrbanDesign? Time was, not beyond living memory at least,when self-professed urban designers could wield atriumphant Magic Marker, swish-swash across some whiteplains of “butchers” paper and yet still find the time for aproject review conducted amidst the breadsticks andCapri panoramas of some local Italian?

Today our first love is certainly less of a minority activity.Well, you have to admit that even this otherwisedisappointingly timid government has decreed that UrbanDesign is “important” and “necessary” to our continuingpresence on the planet; manuals, guides and good advicestrike older practitioners such as me with a volley of scattershots, bullet points and well intentioned volleys of truisms,all of which can be scavenged from the urban battlefieldand beaten into platitudes if not ploughshares. On abright morning, in the right company, Urban Design seemsurgent and exciting.

Yet where is the wisdom underneath? If the subject – or isit actually a cluster of subjects? – can be packaged up intoeasily digested caplets for oral consumption bypostgraduate students of almost any previous discipline,interest or level of competence, and degrees duly offeredto those who satisfy the course requirements, then we areback down to the level of diversion and entertainment.Harmless as such, but scarcely a professional disciplinewhich can justifiably command the respect surroundinghigh-level medicine, complex law or the design andimplementation of a major building.

So why do urban designers dumb themselves down? Whyare standards of thinking and execution so lamentablylow? The convenient, pat answer is that clients areunwilling to pay to have the job done properly, that theybelieve you can buy a town centre study for the price of amid-range Audi and are prepared to tell elected membersthat they have had the study duly done, so that the UrbanDesign box on some Best Value checklist can then beticked. “Urban Design is something we give the studentplacements to do”, boasted to me a director of one of thelargest and brightest multidiscipline consultancies inBritain.

Once Urban Design comes to be regarded as some sort ofuniversal unguent to sooth the path of the developmentindustry and of the more bullish public agencies, then itsvalue and stature are inevitably diminished. There aretimes when I see yet another scrappily drawn built formaxonometric, with shadowed trees which would do creditto Respigi’s Pines of Rome, and silently despair of theimpression this must make on intelligent punters. But why

should I have the right to inwardlygrieve? After all, almost anyoneof presentable appearance,reasonable social skills and theright postgraduate paperworkcan claim to be an UrbanDesigner, be they prospective“tailors of the urban fabric”,“pastry cooks of the urban crust”or “carpenters of the urbangrain.” Take your pick. It’s ratherharder to be admitted as acompetent hairdresser.

Lest my basket fill with sourgrapes, I remain unfashionablyoptimistic about the prospects forUrban Design in this country, butfirstly we need to step up the skilllevels of those entering a careerin this sphere. Conventionaldrawing and visualisation skillsare certainly useful, but then Irecall that Kevin Lynch, one of thegreatest urban designers ever,was hardly a prodigy with thepencil and paper, so nothing newthere. What is far more germaneis the sense of curiosity whichmakes a prospective urbandesigner keep his or her eyeswide open, trying to judge forthemselves why some placesseem to work well and,conversely, others to fail.

I long to meet more young’unswho have learnt to estimate thewidth of an urban street and itscross sectional proportion with aneasy confidence, know what adesire line is when they see onedrawn by pedestrians or can sumup what’s motoring about a towncentre from a brief acquaintance.These are skills which don’t seemto get passed on these days, forall the arrows and edgesinscribed onto innocent site plansby eager young hands. I ampretty sure that most real-lifeclients would not wish to cuddleup to an urban “node” or activelycelebrate some other aspect ofurban design arcana so belovedof the academics andprofessionals, but they do want toknow what needs doing with theirsite or to their town centre, whatother towns are up to and whatmakes their own special.

So there’s the challenge for uscrusties. Pass it on, keep the faithand be sure that the eye is brightand the (drawing) fist firm. After all,this is what has got us up – and stilldoes – all those inhospitablemornings. #

Neil Parkyn

Colour it simple (enough)Neil Parkyn gives a different view of the current state of Urban Design


TOP IC

Street Life was the theme of this year’s Urban Design Week, as usualorganised by the Urban Design Alliance. For the fifth year a full programme ofdiverse events was organised in various parts of the country, from visits tocompetitions and workshops to lectures. A few of theses are reportedelsewhere in this issue, including the Annual Lecture given by Jan Gehl to apacked audience at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The weekwas launched at Leighton House in London where Tom McNulty, the UnderSecretary, ODPM, endorsed the activities of the alliance. During the evening,most of hose present gave their support to UDAL’s Five Point Statement printedin our previous issue, by signing a giant board.

For the annual conference, UDAL went to Cardiff, a city where urbanrenaissance has been gathering momentum recently and where CABE’s sisterorganisation, the Design Commission for Wales, has just been set up. Thetiming and the location were suitable to discuss a number of questions set bythe conference organisers around the issue of Street Life, possiblyencompassed by one of them: “Is the reality of our urban life CoronationStreet or Mean Streets?”. After the introduction by UDAL’s Chairman, Tim Gale,Richard Parnaby outlined the challenges faced by the Design Commission hechairs. The main papers followed and most of them are reproduced hereafter.

A number of key themes recurred throughout: the importance ofunderstanding how people use streets; the need to redress the balance in theallocation of space for people and space for vehicles; the importance ofunderstanding the process of producing the urban realm, financing it andmanaging it; the need for community involvement in a much moresophisticated way than we have until now; and the fundamental role of theenvironment in the education and well being of children.

This last point may be a clue for next year’s urban design week which willtake place under that chairmanship of the Civic Trust; it may be the right timeto get out of the conference hall and into the public realm together with thenext generation of urbanists.

Sebastian Loew

Urban Design Week 2002


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Designing Streets for PeopleEdward Chorlton presents the result of the UDAL sponsored inquiry on the way streets are designed, managed and maintained.

A city built over 2000 years go – Pompeii – was designed for people: it hadshops, cafes, theatres, a civil forum, a stock exchange, fountains, temples,saunas, brothels, all the elements of a modern city. The detailing of its streetsdesign begs the question of whether we have progressed much since then.

UDAL’s Designing Street for People investigated the way we plan, design,manage and maintain our streets. It suggests improvements which reflectcurrent thinking in community empowerment, social inclusion,sustainability, urban renaissance and integrated transport and land useplanning. The first question asked was whether our cities are fit for thepurpose or whether too many streets are dominated by self interest, lack ofpride and indifference. The inquiry team consulted widely on these matters:it took written evidence and listened to presentations from a number ofexperts and interested parties.

The first issue identified was that a distinction should be made betweenroads – designed for motor vehicles – and streets – designed for people -, adistinction ignored by all the rules, regulations, and available guidance, alldominated by vehicles. Another perceived problem was the skills andknowledge shortage, closely linked to out of date attitudes and a lack ofintegration between the various professions involved. As a result, no oneowns the street or has sole responsibility for it, people feel powerless to makeimprovements and become fatalistic.

Several problems identified were seen as interacting in a complex anduncoordinated fashion: only 20% of people are happy with urban life;pressure on the countryside is increasing as are the demand for limited spacein urban areas and the dependence on the private car. A symptom of anunderlying disease is the forests of signs on our streets, placed without anyconsideration of place, context or function, but with a blind obedience toregulations. An analysis of the legislation shows that too many individualshave the right to intervene on the streets, and that too many pieces ofequipment can be erected on or buried in them. The legislation is confusingand disparate and leads to complex management or the lack of it.Professionals with different backgrounds, are faced with an avalanche ofrules with objectives that do not always coincide. Too many single interestsolutions lead to wasted resources, lack of local distinctiveness and streetsthat do not respond to people’s needs.

What can be done?

First of all we must recognise that not all streets are the same: residentialstreets require tranquillity and safety whilst town centres require bustle andvariety. The Design Streets for People report includes proposals under fourheadings:

• Give people ownership• Change management techniques• Review legislation, rights and funding• Provide the skills

To give people ownership means first making someone, an individual or agroup, responsible for the overall improvement and management of theneighbourhood; a central point of contact is needed for all those who actupon our streets. It requires involving the community in the identification of

problems and opportunities (for instanceusing the Placecheck methodology), andencouraging street partnerships.Community involvement is not achievedeasily: it needs careful work and honesty,and it requires a commitment to act, forinstance through street agreements.

Management Techniques

To change management techniques thereport puts forward the Street ExcellenceModel (see UDQ 81 pp. 21-23). Inaddition it suggests implementing a PublicRealm Strategy integrating the variousplans that have an effect on a street, andadopting a Street Management Codetogether with quality design guidance.Design codes can enable the integration ofbuildings and streets, giving them adistinctive and harmonious look (cf.Berlin). Management codes would helpeveryone know what can be done on aparticular street, how and when.Furthermore those professionals in chargeof design need to better understand thefears, needs or desires of people, throughlinks to other disciplines such as sociologyand psychology. And they need moreevidence on the effects of their actions inorder to adapt them to each localcircumstance.

Legislation and Funding

The review of the legislation needs tobalance the ‘right of way’ with the ‘right ofplace’; at the moment the latter isneglected. We do have the right of passage,but not the right to remain, play or bide.Unless we address this problem, our futureis one of relentless movement, and streetswhich are drive-throughs and notdestinations. Additionally currentlegislation is too complex: it needsconsolidating and simplifying. Signageneeds to be re-thought on basic principles,to increase clarity and reduce clutter.Similarly utilities –responsible for much ofthe clutter and damage to our streets –must be forced to carry out their work insuch a way that it minimises the cost tosociety rather than only minimising theirown business’ costs.


Funding is another important issue thatneeds addressing: there is substantialmaintenance backlog and over the next15 years major expenditure will beneeded. The funding mechanisms needsimplifying: at the moment there are toomany small sources of funds, which addto the complication and the waste. Newsources of revenue funding need to befound, particularly since the PFI may notbe offering value for money. BusinessImprovement Districts, ResidentialImprovement Districts or CommunityImprovement Districts may be some ofthe models that can be tried in order toencourage the community to invest intheir own environment. Finally, if goodurban design was recognised as a BestValue Indicator, it would encourageLocal Authorities to take a greaterinterest in it.

Skills Provision

The last heading of the report deals withskills and suggest the setting up of anMBA in ‘urban street management’ aimedat engineers, planners, landscapearchitects, surveyors and all otherprofessionals involved, in order to bringtogether their knowledge and skills baseand apply it to the management of urbanstreets. Additionally the report points outthe need to improve ‘Streetcrafts’ andsuggests the creation of modernapprenticeships to deliver street masonsand paviors.

To conclude, we cannot fail futuregenerations by not properly planning forthe future. The Designing Streets forPeople report gives us the tools to achievestreets that are liveable, attractive andenjoyable, providing a dramaticimprovement to our quality of life. #

Edward Chorlton

The Designing Streets for People 2002 Reportcan be obtained from the Institution of CivilEngineers, 1 Great George Street, London SW1P3AA.

Above: Pedestriancrossing in traffic calmedPompeii

Left: Streets are for people,roads are for vehicles (courtesy C. Nesbitt).

Below left: A forest ofsigns is a symptom of anunderlying disease(courtesy C. Nesbitt).

Below: Streets need aManagement Code aswell as a Design Code.


TOP IC

Urban StreetsProf. George McLean Hazel discusses the role of streets as the livingrooms of the community.

“I will return to Jerusalem, my holy city, and live there. It will beknown as the faithful city…Once again old men and women, soold that they use a stick when they walk, will be sitting in the citysquares. And the streets will again be full of boys and girlsplaying.”

Zechariah, 520 BC

Exchange Space

Why do we live in towns and cities? An image of a street café shows peoplesitting not facing each other but all looking in the same direction. Watchingpeople passing by is one of the main attractions of such a place. It is also oneof the many different levels of exchange that take place in the city. Thereforewe need to maximise “exchange space” to make a successful city. And aspeople spend money but cars don’t, we need to reallocate street space inorder to give pedestrians more exchange space.

At the moment, in many of our towns, streets are designed to facilitate themovement of cars; the pedestrian is hardly considered. This needs to changeand can be changed: Edinburgh for instance has successfully reintroducedzebra crossings and traffic lights controlled on demand, and is doubling thespace allocated to pedestrians on some streets. But change is threatening andmust be implemented gradually in order to gain the support of allstakeholders such as the shopkeepers and the public in general. So the RoyalMile in Edinburgh was at first closed to traffic for a three day festival; aspeople enjoyed it and saw the advantages of the closure, this could beextended gradually. Life in the street developed with entertainers occupyingthe space and people coming to watch them, and each other. At the sametime the turnover in the shops increased dramatically, obviously pleasing theshopkeepers. The lesson drawn from this and other examples is that it isbetter to start small and allow the project to develop, even in non-conventional ways.

An additional feature of exchange spaces is that people need seats; peoplewant to sit down either because they are tired or because they want towatch the world go by. Once rested and revitalised, they may spend moremoney; it is therefore to everybody’s advantage to provide them withplaces to sit.

Movement Space

The principle behind transport policies is to move the maximum number ofpeople and goods in the minimum space. Unfortunately many transportprofessionals have confused this with moving the maximum number ofvehicles, which is not at all the same thing. In Edinburgh, statistics showedthat 50% of the population travel to work in the city centre by car and 50%by bus. The decision was therefore taken to re-allocate road space in thesame proportion; half for the bus and half for the private car. This could beshown to be equitable and not “anti-car”.

The same principles can be applied to residential areas. D. Appleyard’s studyof a San Francisco neighbourhood in the 1960s already showed the


relationship between traffic levels andsociability: the lower the level of traffic,the more people had contact withneighbours and felt part of a community.And yet, far too often communities are cutoff by unnecessarily wide and heavytrafficked roads.

The tasks are therefore first to define aneighbourhood and its hub, then to enrichthis neighbourhood and maximise itsinternal efficiency, thus helping to developits identity, and finally to build a strongstreet life.

Key issues

In order to achieve the above mentionedtasks certain basic rules need to befollowed. First of all the reasons forproposed changes must be made clear:people often think that you aredeliberately making life more difficultfor them, and there are plenty ofexamples that reinforce that point ofview. Second, attention to detail in theimplementation of schemes is oftenlacking, therefore diminishing the overallquality. As an example, the success of apublic space can be enhanced by theintroduction of points of interest such aswater features or changes of level andtextures, carefully thought out anddetailed. Good practice can often befound more easily in other countrieswhere quality control seems higher notjust in the design of public spaces butalso in their management andmaintenance. Inspiration can be found ina number of places which are not justgood in urban design terms buteconomically successful: Brisbane’sSouth Bank and Boston’s Quincy Marketand Faneuil Hall are two of them.

Organisations are as resistant to change asthe rest of society, and this applies to localauthorities, where there is often reluctanceto adopt new practices. In order to changethe culture of the organisation, thepresence of champions can make all thedifference. #

George McLean Hazel

Top left: people-watchingat a café

Left: a change in prioritiesis needed.

Bottom left: Peopleenjoying the Royal Mileclosed to traffic.

Above: redistribution ofroad space to correspondto volume of peopletravelling.

Right: Attention to detail isnot always what it shouldbe.

Bottom: people need clearexplanations.


TOP IC

Child’s Play: Urban Change for BeginnersEileen Adams focuses on the experience of 5-18 year olds in environmental design studies

Process

The title, ‘Child’s play’ establishes a relationship between learning and play.Children learn through play. We all do. For children, play embodies the seriousbusiness of learning. The learning is self-motivated and self-directed. It involveschildren making sense of their experience, making meanings about the worldthey inhabit. It involves them in exploration, investigation and sometimes,there is an element of risk. High-level skills and capabilities are developed.Exploring how things look or how they work, and taking them apart(analysis), putting them back together (synthesis), making judgements(critique), seeing new relationships or alternatives, learning to shape andcontrol their environment, planning ahead and problem solving (designactivity), making choices, making decisions and making things happen(implementation). These are the kinds of skills involved in environmentaldesign education, primarily concerned with dealing with change.

These skills and capabilities are developed through learning and throughpractice. A key message that I wish to convey is that young people do notnecessarily learn from kits and packs, competitions, award schemes and one-off projects. They learn through cumulative experience and through practicewhich extends their experience of the environment, and which deepens theirknowledge and understanding of how we shape and control it and which givesthem opportunities to use the codes and conventions we use to visualise, plan,communicate and test ideas and proposals for change. It is particularlyimportant for educators to understand how young people are able to seethemselves as agents of change, and that they can support them to deal withthe experience confidently, creatively and responsibly.

Projects

Many thousands of projects and programmes in schools and other educationalsettings have been developed over the past quarter of a century. In the researchfor the book, Changing Places, we looked at documentation on over 200projects, but had to settle for 20 case studies. We found that the examples ofyoung people’s participation in environmental change fell into certaincategories:

• Local agenda 21 groups and youth forums• Children as researchers• Local plans and urban development plans• Urban regeneration schemes• Art / design courses in schools and other centres• School grounds developments.

The approaches taken in the first four groups are generally derived frompractices in the adult world, such as committee meetings, with agendas andvoting, or consultation using market-research type approaches, or surveysusing geographical and social science techniques.

Drawing, photography, the use of computers and three-dimensional media areused to develop perception, critical skills, design capability and communicationskills. Sometimes, young people’s ideas are realised in school grounds or small-scale neighbourhood projects.

Examples of youngpeople’s work.

Illustrations from EileenAdams (2002) BreakingBoundaries, courtesy ofKent Architectural Centre.


Partnerships

Young people do not manage all thisthemselves. They do it through developingworking relationships with teachers andenvironmental designers in a variety ofeducational settings. Much of theinnovatory work in schools in relation tobuilt environment education has resultedfrom partnerships between professionalsworking together: teachers, architects,planners, landscape architects and artists.They can help young people gain access toinformation. They can help them learn thecodes and conventions to embodyknowledge of environmental design. Theycan provide opportunities for youngpeople to become involved in live projectsand to experience at first hand the systemsthat influence environmental change, withthe resulting excitements and frustrationsthat this entails. They can motivate youngpeople to want to be involved in theexperience of environmental change andcan help them develop the necessaryconfidence and competencies to enablethem to do this.

The learning experience does not followthe traditional pattern of transmission andregurgitation of information and testing tosee if you have remembered what you havebeen told. It relies more on a generativemodel, where children and adults shareexperience of the environment, reflect onit, and critique it to see the need oropportunity for change. They then formhypotheses and proposals for change,which they test out, to anticipate thepossible impact of their ideas.

Education for participation

Roger Hart has adapted the ladder ofparticipation developed by SherryArnstein (1969) in relation to adultparticipation for projects with children.At the lower end are manipulation,decoration and tokenism, where adultsuse the efforts of young people as a gloss,for photo opportunities and PR work,pretending that they have listened to theirideas. At higher levels of collaborationand participation, the young peopleinitiate and direct projects and ‘take a

lead role in conceptualising ideas andproposals, identifying opportunities andproblems and formulating strategies foraction, the process supported by adults’(Hart 1997).

All levels of participation have someeducational value. Not all projects andopportunities will permit the same degreeof engagement. Children cannot suddenlybe involved in ways that demand highlevels of skill without having hadopportunities to gain experience anddevelop some measure of confidence andcompetence. What is learned from oneexperience needs to be reinvested insubsequent studies. The effect iscumulative and long-term, where youngpeople are able to develop the capabilitiesrequired for participation.

Design education in schools has developedfrom technical education focusedprimarily on product design, locked intostudy of material technology andproduction processes. Built environmenteducation has developed from modelsestablished by geography and ruralstudies. It has yet to be seen whether itscurrent incarnation, Education forSustainable Development, sub sectionCitizenship, will accommodateenvironmental design studies effectively.

There needs to be a perceptual shift tocreate a broader view of both design andbuilt environment education, toincorporate cultural concerns andaddress issues of how we choose to live.Built environment education shouldinclude consideration of processes andsystems, and be concerned withtransformation, adaptation, connectionsand synergies. It should be primarilyconcerned with the experience of dealingwith change and will require approachesto learning and teaching that are basedon generation of new knowledge, skillsand capabilities.

As an educator, I am interested in whatyoung people learn – in order tounderstand, to think and to take action –and I am interested in how they learn todo these things. I am interested in whythey learn, and what they use their

learning for. The starting points are howthey experience their environment, howthey are able to make sense of it, how theyrespond to it, what it means to them andhow they are able to impact upon it. I amparticularly interested in how they seethemselves as agents of change and howthey are able to deal with the process ofchange confidently, creatively andresponsibly.

Practice and policy

I believe that the strategies developed fromthe experience of working with youngpeople can transfer to other settings andsupport adults’ participation inenvironmental change. We need to adoptmore of an action research model tosupport the development of education forparticipation. To create a supportivecontext for education for participation toflourish and enable young people to beinvolved in the process of environmentalchange, we need to recognise the value ofthe work that has already been done inprojects and programmes in schools andcentres over the past twenty-five years.There needs to be a higher public profileand stronger voice for built environmenteducation in schools and clear strategiesfor development. This is not only theresponsibility of schools or teachers. Itrequires concerted and collaborative effortby national organisations, governmentagencies and other players in the field ofurban design and education. Inestablishing education for participation inschools, the main problems are:

• Clarifying the place of architecture,planning and landscape design in theschool curriculum and embedding thesewithin teaching programmes andexamination systems.

• Identifying appropriate teachers whowill have responsibility for builtenvironment education and creating acritical mass of teachers who arecompetent and confident to supportlearning in this area in both primary andsecondary schools. This will require newinitiatives in pre-service and in-serviceeducation.


TOP IC

• Repositioning built environmenteducation in the curriculum and creatingnew educational management structuresto accommodate it satisfactorily.

• Establishing partnerships betweenteachers and environmental designers,between schools and organisations tosupport long-term development.

All this implies the need for change inwhat we accept as the school curriculum,in what we understand as learningenvironments, in methods of learning andteaching and in professional roles. Itimplies different approaches to the notionof life-long learning. It implies a view ofaccess to cultural experience and socialinclusion that does not treat people asaudience or consumers, but as critics andcollaborators.

Young people need to see themselves asactive players in the scene, where they areable to influence the appearance, feel andmeaning of our towns and cities. Builtenvironment education offers newperceptions and ways of seeing the world,making meanings and creating ourenvironment anew. It enables young peopleto visualise possibilities for environmentalchange and make them real. #

Eileen Adams

References

Hart R. 1997 Children’s Participation, Earthscan,London

Adams E. & Ingram S. 1998 Changing Places,The Children’s Society.

Welsh Communitiesand Urban DesignMatthew Griffiths reflects on how people in Wales can be empoweredas actors in shaping the places where they live and work.

This paper is based on the experience of the Civic Trust for Wales in workingwith associated amenity groups. The Trust’s perspective, while partial,reflects the viewpoint of a significant and active constituency.

Perhaps our starting point should be design rather than urban design. Weshould at least qualify the use of the word “urban” in a Welsh context wherethere has been no “urban renaissance” debate; the Welsh AssemblyGovernment (WAG) has not focused on urban design issues in its planningdocuments. It is, however, seeking to promote design within the planningsystem, both through its Planning policy Wales and in its new TechnicalAdvice Note on Design (TAN). “Urban design” is missing from the index ofPlanning policy Wales, although the recent planning consultation paperDelivering for Wales signaled opportunities for the range of urban designtools to be deployed in the making of future plans.

Wales is not a heavily urbanised country. It is historically a nation of smalltowns, and very few villages; large urban areas are confined to thesoutheastern and northeastern fringes. An (urban) design agenda in Walesmust be relevant not just to ambitious city centres and waterfrontregeneration zones, but to ordinary streets and neighbourhoods. It will needto respond to the small-scale opportunity, as well as to supply master plansfor tourist honey pots.

Historic background

A positive context is set by aspects of our historical experience, as well as bysome notable schemes from the last two decades. Caernarfon is one of aseries of bastide towns master planned in the 13th and 14th centuries.Unfortunately we Welsh were excluded from residence for two hundredyears. A few centuries later, industrialisation brought planned settlementssuch as Tremadog, Morriston and Llandudno. Portmeirion and CwmbranNew Town, in very different ways, are successful and innovative case studiesin master planning communities.

Racing ahead, we can identify some imaginative schemes for arearegeneration: Swansea Marina (1982) recently matched by the revival of thecity’s Castle Square; in Cardiff, the “café quarter” at Mill Lane, and theprojects around Cardiff Bay. Barry has its own waterfront zone, wheresuccessful structural layout and landscaping is now being complemented, forbetter or worse, by the volume house builders. Caerphilly’s town centrerenewal won a Civic Trust Centre Vision award for the development of anew shopping precinct in the shadow of Gilbert de Clare’s vast castle.

Policy and constraints

The WAG is promoting a consensual approach to planning policy making,and its environment minister, Sue Essex, a professional planner, has launcheda Design Initiative which has led to the establishment of a Welsh DesignCommission, and the new Design TAN. Meanwhile, Planning policy Wales(March 2002) emphasises the role of design in promoting localdistinctiveness and social inclusion; it requires clear policies for design inunitary development plans and supplementary documents, and demandsdesign statements alongside all planning applications.


However, some issues will need to beovercome if a successful and participatoryurban design agenda is to be implemented.Local authority professionals face worseningresource constraints and recognise a lack ofprofessional skills. Sometimes projects areconfused by multiple goals and professionalcompartmentalisation. Cash and culturalrestraints hinder the development ofcommunity participation.

These problems are not universal. Someauthorities have taken advantage of largerregeneration initiatives to unlock cash forurban design. There have been successes inuniting conservation and urban designinitiatives. Larger councils, such as Cardiff,have brought professionals together withinurban design teams and make active use of arange or urban design tools, while inPembrokeshire the Quality PembrokeshireUnit includes an urban designer, planner,project manager, landscapist, buildingconservationist and ecologist. This grouphas produced a public realm design guidefor the county.

Community empowerment

The capacity of local authorities to engagewith and deliver an urban design agenda isone side of a more complex equation. Weneed to consider how communities andorganisation within the voluntary sector canbe empowered to articulate their aspirationsfor better places and to work withprofessionals to bring these about. Civicsocieties registered with the Civic Trust forWales expressed strong views about theneed for the planning system to becomemuch more accessible to the public and tocommunities. Alongside professionalthinking about methodologies ofparticipation, we need a laity literate indesign issues.

National cultural policy is relevant here.How far does it prioritise design and builtenvironment education? Comparisonsbetween policy and practice in Scotland andWales may be valid. In Scotland design hasbeen approached as part of a widerNational Cultural Strategy and placedalongside other cultural expressions, as partof the fabric of social and communal life,

Above: Cardiff Baysuccessful regeneration(photo courtesy of CivicTrust for Wales)

Left: Barry’s waterfrontzone (photo courtesy ofGlamorgan Council)

Below: Naval Dockyard,Pembroke Docks (photocourtesy ofPembrokeshire C.C.)


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Streets and theCommunityA. Rook considers the changing uses of the street, and how we canhelp people to make changes to their locality.

Introduction

A 1920s black and white photograph of East End children frolicking in thewake of a water cart shows something that you would not see today. I willreturn to this because it is children who suffer most from having their freedomof movement curtailed. What do we value from those past images and why dowe think the present, with much self-evident progress, has also been a period ofloss? Something of that loss is encapsulated in the changing use of the street.

The growth in information technology, the relative space and comfort ofour homes, and smaller families, have all contributed to a reduction in avibrant street life. We live our lives much more indoors; driving to the gymand running on a treadmill, sums up the absurdity of our lifestyle. Themultiplicity of self-policing uses of the street celebrated by Jane Jacobs,have dwindled. When Dickens walked from Camden Town to the Strand, ahuge range of activities went on before his eyes: buying and selling,mending and minding, cajoling, hassling, bribing, courting, procuring, andsimply meeting people. While our streets may not be as hectic and eclectic,they are still a theatre in which everyone can play a part. Shopping as retailtherapy is accompanied by the pleasure of people-watching and the thrill ofchance encounters.

Community Involvement

The General Household Survey, published in June this year by the Office forNational Statistics, included for the first time the concept of social capitaldeveloped by Robert Putnam in America. Five aspects of social capital orcommunity involvement are tested: civic engagement, neighbourliness, socialnetworks, and people’s perceptions of their neighbourhood. Of the nearly8000 respondents, there was a surprisingly high percentage of people (73%)who believed their neighbours looked out for each other; over 70% hadreceived a favour or granted one to a neighbour in the last six months. Socialconnectedness is a much stronger predictor of perceived quality of life thanincome or education. Similarly personal happiness is much more to do withsocial networks and trust.

Community is a much devalued concept. Perhaps one way to avoid thenostalgia and romantic sense of togetherness is to adopt Gerald Fug’sdefinition in City Making, as a capacity to live in a world composed ofdifferent people without explosive tension, to be able to interact withunfamiliar strangers and not see them as a mob, to foster negotiation ratherthan neighbourliness. Streets can also be places of protest and rioting. Theycan become no-go areas and territorial. One has only to think of Belfast andthe kerbs demarcated red white and blue, or green and orange (dependingon whether you are in the Shankhill or Falls Rd.)- a sort of ethnic doubleyellow line.

We have a lot of concern about obesity affecting 30% of the adult populationand increasingly, children. Our way of life is much more sedentary and weincreasingly communicate remotely instead of over the fence or in the street.The antithesis to this might be seen in the rising demand for places to meet, thecrowds gathering in the pubs, and spilling out into the street. This may notcompensate for the absence of community engagement in home streets but itsets up a stark contrast between city centre and residential suburbs.

within a democratic vision that placesconservation, architecture and urban designat the heart of public policy. A key role isallotted to the school curriculum.

In Wales, a new cultural policy, Creativefuture offers a holistic vision of cultural lifethat, to quote the culture minister, “cannot beparceled up separately from the rest of living.Rather it infuses everything…” It goes on toexpress an ambition for joined up thinking inwhich language, landscape and the builtenvironment are recognised alongside thearts, media and sport, and suggests that therecould be a new focus on design in children’seducation and lifelong learning.

But most of this document audits presentactivities rather than sets out an agenda thatwill make a difference. There are noproposals to give design or built environmenteducation a place in the sun within the schoolcurriculum. Design education needs to berecognised as a cultural entitlement forchildren and addressed in the context oflifelong learning if we are to create the civicawareness that takes a direct andproprietorial interest in the public realm andthe built environment. A start could be madeby exploiting the many opportunities to drawon the built environment as a learningresource, and to offer teachers materialscapable of adding richness to existingschemes of work. At the other end of thescale, there might be an architecture anddesign centre, physical or virtual; in the meantime the web is there to be exploited. There isanother agenda to be thought through foradults, and this is something that the CivicTrust for Wales, regards as an urgent priority.

There is also the need to make sure thateveryday places, especially in a nation that iseconomically weak, and has appallinglyhigh indices of child poverty, get the benefitsof creative urban design. Education forempowerment is a theme that politicians,professionals and the voluntary sector cancome together to make real. The creation ofplaces of humanity and purpose in which tolive and work and play should be a sharedand collective aspiration that is part andparcel of a sustainable, an inclusive and aconfident Wales. #

Matthew Griffiths


Roads vs. streets

The original meaning of road was ‘ariding, or ‘a journey’. It is aboutmovement and implies a destination. Thedictionary defines a road as ‘a track withan artificial surface used a means ofcommunication between one place andanother’. A street originally meant a pavedway and came to be defined as a ‘properlyconstructed metalled road in a town withbuildings on one or both sides’. Roadsconvey an image of movement, oftravelling, of getting from one place toanother, whereas a street is a place with afixed locality. Roads are for cars; streetsfor people. The idiomatic phrases “goingon the road” and “going on the street”mean quite different things. That streetsare people places is illustrated by the list ofactivities social historians such as Mayhewcatalogued: street crier, street arab, streetsweeper, street walker.

Roads and streets are the public realm andtherefore essentially democratic, the placewe can engage with others on neutralterritory, on equal terms. That is whypeople take to the streets to captureopinion. Rather less formal than statisticalsurveys, we use what we call ‘StreetTalking’ to try and engage people whowould not come to more formalconsultative events, or the dreaded publicmeeting. A similar activity for involvinglocal people, is having a ‘walkabout’ of thestudy area. It provides the opportunity notonly to point out problem areas but tohighlight those things that local peoplevalue and are proud of.

Examples

Some years ago we ran a consultation inKings Langley in Hertfordshire, againtasked with getting beyond the ‘usualsuspects’ of white, middle-aged, oftenmiddle-class, mainly women who turn outto meetings. We walked the village with agroup of young people, who showed ustheir favourite places, and made a video ofwhat these places meant to them. When itwas shown, others in the village began toappreciate places they had regarded as aneyesore, or a waste of space. They were

Top:1920’s image ofchildren playing in thestreet

Middle: people reclaimthe streets in Norwich

Bottom: Pigeon beware!A residential street in EastFinchley is not a place togather or to play.


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also surprised that many of the things theycomplained about such as dumping andlitter and dog fouling, were also thingswhich children and young people wereexasperated by.

Another benefit of the project was that itput a name to the faces. Instead of seeing agroup of noisy young people on the street,perceived as potentially hostile orthreatening, they began to recogniseindividuals, Working on housing estatesI’ve often been intrigued by people’s verydifferent experience of living in essentiallythe same environment. Once you startbeing open to encounters and saying helloto neighbours, a sense of community isfelt. In contrast, those we spoke to whofelt the estate to be a threatening place,had very few social networks there.Familiarity might breed contempt but itdoesn’t generally breed fear.

‘Outreach’, to so-called hard-to-reachgroups often takes place on the street andin the evening. As part of a consultationfor a NM pilot, we were tasked withtalking to the disenfranchised, includingstreet drinkers, using and recovering drugaddicts, young people excluded fromschool, people who were homeless or hadmental health problems. While thisinitially feels quite intimidating I’m alwayspleasantly surprised actually how easy itis. People are longing to talk, have muchto say that is observant, sometimespoignant, often blatantly obvious.

Children and streets

The social historians Iona and Peter Opiein their classic Children’s games in Streetsand Play grounds 1969, note that childrenhave always been in trouble over theplaces they congregate or play in. It isironic that we have come to fear people onthe streets rather than feeling safer becausethere are people on the streets. This bringsme back to the image of boys in the streetsof the East End. The ‘stranger danger’fears of parents are often cited as a reasonfor confining children to home andconveying them everywhere by car. In factabductions have not increased in 60 years.Indecent offending actually dropped in the

ten years between 1988 and 1998. Thenumber of children between the ages of 5-16 who were murdered also decreased inthat period, from 4 to 3 in a million. Notmuch comfort if it happens to your child,but the risk needs to be kept in proportion.

The writer HE Bates noted in the 1940sthat “there is no doubt that the WWI andthe coming of the motorcar killed foreverthe playing of street games in this country.”100 years ago there were 8000 cars in theUK, now there are over 24 million andrising. The car has effectively become aweapon of mass destruction. In the last 20years 200 000 children were killed orseriously injured- 2/3 while walking orcycling. In 2000, 135 children died and4000 were seriously injured. Accidents areclass related: children in social class 5 arefive times more likely to die in a roadaccident than children from social class 1.

Taming the car is essential if children are todevelop the freedom, confidence andability to explore the city again. Ironically18-20% of the traffic on the road at 8.50am is attributed to the school run. In thelast 10 years journeys to school by car havenearly doubled-from 16% to 30%. In1971 80% of 7-8 yr olds were allowed towalk to school; by 1990 this had droppedto 9%. However, if I want to convince youto walk to school, I would present theaccident statistics rather differently: childfatalities actually dropped between 1979-1998, from 10 to 3 per100k.

Fear for one’s children safety from thethreat of traffic contribute to the emptinessof our streets. The curb on children’sdevelopment and ability to access theenormous resource the city holds is severe.Without time by themselves, they cannotdevelop crucial cognitive and social skills.Unsupervised play is essential for thedevelopment of relationships andindependence. The Opies warn us that, ‘ ifchildren are given the idea that they cannotenjoy themselves without being providedwith the proper equipment, we need blameonly ourselves when we produce ageneration who have lost their dignity,who are ever dissatisfied and who descendfor their sport to the excitement of rioting,pilfering or vandalism’.

Above: A poorlydesigned blocked roadbecomes a wasteland

Below: A thoughtfuldesign can reclaim roadspace for differentactivities


Anecdotal evidence from Walk to School days illustrate how much lessstressful it is than driving: walkingencourages conversation andconfidences. The alternative of publictransport also has community benefitsas it involves the child in negotiatingtheir way, managing their time, takingpersonal responsibility, and makingjudgements about risk.

Some years ago I undertook a study withRob Wheway on the nature of play onthe new HAT estates. These had beenmaster planned on the premise that acommunal open space was a bad thing,roads were for access and parking onand that children would be confined to50 sq. m. back gardens. Our videoobservation showed that children werenoticeable by their absence from backgardens. They spent less than 20 minutesin the few play areas there were and themajority of their time outdoors wasspent in circling the streets, meeting oncorners, playing ball games in the roador making skate board ramps, becausethe play areas were cluttered with fixed equipment.

Home Zones

The advent of Home Zones is a smallchink in the armour of the road lobby andalso the risk adverse health and safetyindustry. Research has shown that peopleliving in quieter streets knew three times asmany of their neighbours. Home Zonesare likely to contribute to greater socialcohesion and community involvement,both in the process of designing them andin their end use. Unfortunately, those Ihave seen are wanting in the quality oftheir urban design.

We need to reclaim some of the spaceoccupied by roads for communityactivity, so children can grow up in amuch more stimulating outdoorenvironment that provides the backdropto the all important ability to be withothers. None of this is new; we just go onchoosing to ignore it. #

A. Rook

Top and middle: Busystreets are safer streets.Market day in Walsalland in Bromley.

Bottom: Children used tobe able to playunsupervised in thestreets.


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Public Realm/Public GoodJohn Hopkins draws lessons from America

There is no better way to achieve a high quality public realm than throughcarefully planned, public investment. The measure of successful planning forpublic investment in the public realm, is a sustained private market reaction -private investment in developing housing, offices, shops, and other uses thatsupport and are supported by community life. This paper describes howsuccessful urban spaces have been created in Boston, New York, and Portland,Oregon, how they were funded, and are managed and maintained. These verydifferent cities share, to differing degrees, a belief in a common futureexpressed through investment in the public realm, a recognition that civilised,community life requires a well-designed, well-funded, well-managed and wellmaintained urban environment.

Boston

Boston has continually found ways of developing parks and open spacesystems, and its public realm since the founding of Boston Common in 1640 bycolonial decree. Commonwealth Avenue, Boston Public Gardens and theCommon form a part of Frederick Law Olmsted’s extraordinary EmeraldNecklace for the Board of Park Commissioners in 1878. It extended the BackBay development through an ingenious system of flood protection, drainageand other essential infrastructure requirements, which combined with aconnected open space system linking downtown Boston with the newdevelopment areas.

It is hard to believe that the Back Bay area of Boston was a sewage filled basin.It was platted on behalf of the newly created Commonwealth of MassachusettsCommission on Public Lands with central east-west axis of CommonwealthAvenue laid out in the style of a tree-lined, French boulevard. CommonwealthAvenue is 80m wide and, therefore, large enough to have a genuine park-likefeel. The blocks were auctioned off with deed restrictions and public lawsregulating land-use and construction, and by the time the Back Baydevelopment was complete in 1886, the publicly funded venture had made aprofit of £2.24 million.

Boston Public Gardens are axially aligned with Commonwealth Avenue. Theywere laid out in the 1850s as the Boston Botanical Gardens. It is aquintessentially Victorian-style public garden, completely enclosed byornamental railings and gates and maintained to a very high standard. It is apassive garden for walking and taking delight in the horticultural displays.

Boston Common is the oldest park in the United States and remains the mostpublic of places in Boston, open and without gates or railings. It is used andviewed as the citizen’s place of play and protest. Its heavy use can make it lookslightly shabby. Even so, it is much loved.

Boston City Hall Plaza. In 1961, IM Pei produced a master plan for thecomprehensive redevelopment of the downtown, based around theproposed Government Centre. Whilst successful in macro-urban designterms - it attracted 20,000 new jobs and prompted private investment insurrounding areas - it was unsuccessful in its provision of civic space.Boston City Hall and Plaza is a reminder of the deterministic and misguidedapproach to the design of civic open space of the early 1960s. It is suitableonly as a setting for the equally monumental City Hall. It is a classicexample of a single-use, single-purpose, large-scale redevelopment project

that does not provide for or generate themix of uses and users required of the besturban spaces.

The Pei master plan also called for thepreservation of the old market/warehousesFaneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Thisproject is a classic example of private sectorentrepreneurialism harnessing public sectorsupport to create privately-owned publicopen spaces supported by retail andcommercial space. It also provides a linkfrom the City Hall to the waterfront ofBoston Harbour.

Originally a railway line, SouthwestCorridor Park was proposed as anexpressway giving access to downtownBoston. Vigorous protest against thehighway resulted in a £515 milliontransportation project that saw the existingcommuter rail and the old elevated OrangeLine combined in an underground tunnelwith the public park on top. The parkprovides a wonderful walk and cycleway tothe downtown, a series of open spaces forthe revitalised, densely populated SouthEnd, and cross-links between thosecommunities previously separated by therailway. The design responds to thecharacter and needs of the localneighbourhoods. The community is directlyinvolved in the management andmaintenance of the park.

On the opposite side of the harbour is EastBoston Piers Park. Completed in 1995, it isan example of what can be achieved interms of design, management andmaintenance in what was considered to bea ‘tough’ neighbourhood. In 1999 itlooked as though it had just been opened -little wear and tear (despite evident heavyuse) and no graffiti or vandalism. The Parkis 2.63ha in total and is predominantlypassive except for the children’s play areaand the Community Boating Facility at theharbour’s edge. The park promenadeextends 183m along the original pier withits rehabilitated granite seawalls. TheCommunity Boating Facility and jettyprovides subsidised sailing lessons and boattrips on the harbour. The park is used fullythroughout the day by old, young andmiddle-aged. Maintenance is carried out to


very high standards and events and festivalsare organised by residents and the ParkManager throughout the year. Plans arebeing progressed to extend the park andprovide active recreational facilities.

Post Office Square, in the heart of theFinancial District of Boston, is anextraordinary story of the dedication of agroup of businessmen, the support ofsuccessive Mayors and of environmentaland community groups in achieving a well-designed, well-managed park on the site ofwhat was an ugly, four-storey, concrete carpark. In brief, the above ground, multi-storey car park was demolished, and a newseven-storey one built underground with1400 spaces and a park on top. Financingwas entirely private and very complex.With its café, fountains, artworks, trees,grass and distinctive planting, the almost0.8Ha Post Office Square is extremelypopular. It truly is an ‘open space’,completely open to the public, funded,maintained and operated to exceptionallyhigh standards at no public cost. Indeed, asthe debts are paid over time, net profits willrevert to the City Council for investment inother city open spaces.

New York’s Hudson River Park

The Hudson River Park will stretch for 5miles along the western Hudson River edgeof Manhattan from its southern tip,including the 1.5 mile stretch of BatteryPark City. The Governor of New York Stateand the Mayor of New York City consultedfor over two years with government,business, unions, environmental,community and civic groups in agreeingdesign guidelines and financingmechanisms. Capital, management andmaintenance costs will be funded throughrevenues from privately developed facilitiessuch as restaurants, cafés and kiosks;sports and entertainment/education. Twoparts are already built and contributingrevenue to the Park: Chelsea Piers andBattery Park City.

Chelsea Piers was completed 1996 byprivate-sector entrepreneurs. The facilitiesinclude a Sports Centre and a sports

Top: View ofCommonwealth Avenuelinking to the PublicGardens and BostonCommon

Left: Boston’s Post OfficeSquare replaced a four-storey concrete car park.

Above: Boston City Hallplaza, uncomfortable andperceived unsafe,remains unused

Below: Plan of BatteryPark City adjacent to theWorld Trade Centre.


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medicine centre operated by a New Yorkhospital. The building on Pier 61 housestwo ice-rinks with seating for 1600. Pier 62has two regulation-sized roller skating rinksand a public park at the end, which is paidfor and maintained by the developer. Andon Pier 59 a multi-level, high-tech, golfdriving range.

Battery Park City’s planning history pre-dates the River Park Concept Plan yet itforms an important link along the westside of Manhattan. It is a prime exampleof publicly primed, private investment thathas achieved an entirely newneighbourhood, and a high quality publicrealm for New Yorkers. It is successful indesign terms because it is an extension ofthe urban grain, fabric and character ofManhattan. It has also provided fundingfor the design, implementation,management and maintenance of themagnificent riverside esplanade and seriesof well-designed public parks and openspaces. The 1.5-mile Esplanade was a keyfeature of the overall urban designphilosophy and the first open space built.It is a masterpiece of simple, appropriateand robust urban landscape design aseamless addition to the riversideenvironment that is so subtle andaccommodating that it feels like it hasalways been there.

South Cove Park is an exquisite landscapecompleted in 1988 that recreates - throughabstract composition - the look, feel andatmosphere of the pristine Hudson riveredge and floodplain, with rocks and salt-tolerant grasses and shrubs, and glades ofGleditsia trees set in meandering paths.Overlaying that, is the human culturalimprint of the riverside walk, a timberpier, and a beautiful metal look-out.

Nelson A. Rockefeller Park is an exampleof a carefully programmed and designedpark that provides a good landscapestructure, a variety of uses, and a varietyof landscape experiences. At 3ha it is thelargest park within Battery Park City andwas completed in 1992 following a UserSurvey and Community Needs Analysiswhich concluded that an intensivelymanaged, multi-use approach could fit in

with the commonly desired pastoralsetting. As a consequence, school sportswere excluded; numerical targets forsports pitches were agreed, as wererelative proportions of hard and softlandscape, and the provision of full-timerecreation staff to manage the park’sfacilities. The large central lawn canaccommodate different ball games anduses at different times.

Management and maintenance

The parks and the Esplanade are managedand maintained by the Battery Parks CityParks Conservancy, a private, non-profitorganisation. Funding comes from: theBattery Park City Authority; commercialand residential developers; and, residentswho are currently charged £180/year.

Portland, Oregon

Portland is extraordinary in that it hascreated a non-partisan regional political andallied planning system that has enabled it toachieve, through extensive publicconsultation, an agreed plan for growth to2040. In 1973 the State Legislature passedSenate Bill 100 which was the start of land-use planning in Oregon. It mandated citizenparticipation and confirmed land-useplanning as the only rational way to protectland and plan for future growth.

In 1978, an elected Metro RegionalGovernment covering three counties andtwenty-four cities - including that ofPortland - was established by public vote. ItsRegional Urban Growth Goals andObjectives were adopted in September 1991but were perceived not to be specificenough. Metro embarked on the Region2040 planning process to develop specificpolicies about land-use and transportationplanning.

Well before, in 1959, the Lloyd Center wasopened two miles from downtownPortland. It was the nation’s largest out oftown retail mall and it resulted in a 50%decrease in sales at the largest downtownstore. This spurred business, civic and

Top: New York’s BatteryPark City with housing inthe background.

Middle: Nelson A.Rockefeller Park, thelargest park withinBattery Park City, New York.

Bottom: PioneerCourthouse Square incentral Portland is afocus for civic life.


political leaders to act to maintain thedowntown. In 1960 it was decided to aligna peripheral freeway that physicallyencircled and defined downtown Portland.It not only provided a variety of accesspoints into the downtown area, it alsoallowed the removal of the riversidehighway and implementation of the TomMcCall Riverside Park in its place, linking itback with the downtown. There is a seriesof public open spaces within the PortlandCentre, three of which are classic designs ofthe period by Lawrence Halprin.

One of the key urban design changes wasthe creation of two Transit Malls for buses.These were designed primarily forpedestrians with wide footpaths, narrowcarriageways, high quality paving, trees,seats, co-ordinated street furniture,sculptures and signage. As a result,sidewalk cafés sprang up, shops orientedthemselves to the street and privatedevelopment of additional office and retailspace took place.

Pioneer Courthouse Square has been built asa focus for civic life. It is an archetype for acity square. It has a large, multi-use centralarea backed by a stepped, informalamphitheatre, plenty of places to sit, aflower stall and ubiquitous Starbucks; but italso has plenty of other stalls selling food;and you can play chess there. Sponsoredbricks part paid for the scheme.

Region 2040 – Concepts for Growth

A Metro Regional Growth Conference washeld in 1992 where it became clear that theRegion could grow by expanding the urbangrowth boundary or through increaseddensities. A third option - growth withinthe UGB but also in several targeted smalltowns outside the UGB - also emerged.Critically, all wetlands, floodplains and landover 25% slope was designated as non-buildable and, therefore, as open space orparkland. This gave rise to an over-archingGreenbelts and Urban Reserves plan, whicheffectively promoted a regional open spacesystem as a framework for urbandevelopment. In all, four developmentscenarios were modelled, each one

generated through professional, technicalstudies and illustrated. The studyrecognised that choosing was largely aquestion of optimising people’s values. Thecategories of analysis established were: landuse, transportation, air quality,employment, social stability, housing andwater, sewer and storm water provision.The recommended alternative containedtwo maps: the 2040 Growth Concept mapthat was intended for adoption; and theAnalysis of Growth Concept map whichillustrated how the concept could look.Significant recommendations included:

• A 5,665ha expansion to the UrbanGrowth Boundary with separatelyidentified urban reserves for the future

• A recommended average density for newsingle-family homes of 16 units perhectare with 20% designated as row-houses or duplexes, and with a ratio of62% to 32% single- to multi-familydevelopment

• 52% of housing to be in neighbourhoodsfollowed by 33% in corridors and stationcommunities; and 8% in city, regionaland town centres

• Intensification of land use within existingurban areas

• Open space to be 14% of the urban landarea

• One third of buildable land to mixed-useand two thirds single use

• The majority of new jobs to be in centres,along corridors and in main streets allwell-served by transit

It recognised that neighbouring cities wouldgrow significantly and supported this withthree key concepts:

• Separation of cities by rural reserves toalleviate transportation problems and toenhance community identity

• A strong balance between jobs andhousing - the better the balance the moretrips remain local

• The ‘green corridor’ highway throughrural reserves would not give access tofarms and forest land, thus protecting it.

In May 1995, Metro successfully put a £90million bond measure to the electorate inorder to fund acquisition of 2,428ha ofregional parks and open spaces inside ornear the regional Urban GrowthBoundaries; a series of local park projects;and key pieces of land to complete the 140mile regional loop trail based on a FrederickLaw Olmsted concept of one hundred yearsearlier.

Conclusions

Each and every one of us wants to live in anattractive, vibrant, safe, well-designed, well-managed and well-maintained environment.It enhances our sense of community,belonging and civic pride. The public realmis a public good deserving of public funding.We should seek ways of recoupinginvestment in the public realm by both thepublic and private sectors. Only then willwe be able to justify greater expenditure onhigh quality, durable schemes using naturalmaterials, high quality street furniture andfittings. We must also find mechanisms forensuring adequate expenditure on theeveryday management and maintenance ofthe public realm.

The following are some pre-requisites forachieving a high quality public realm:

• Political leadership and support.

• Community involvement and support.

• National, regional and locallandscape/townscape policies, strategiesand frameworks.

• Good briefing, design and standards ofimplementation.

• High standards of management andmaintenance.

• Adequate, secured, continuing revenuefunding. #

John Hopkins


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Engaging the Socially Excluded in the EnvironmentJudy Ling Wong FRSA. OBE suggests a different approach to community engagement

To dream for real

Once upon a time, somewhere back in your past, many of you dreamed ofbecoming an architect, or a landscape designer. For those of you who arefrom the privileged classes, your dream merged with reality. As long asyou had reasonable ability and put personal effort into it, you had a goodchance of succeeding. Socially excluded people are simply unable todream for real. Their reality is that most of their wishes cannot come true.They have the forgetfulness of despair - their wishes have long fallen offthe normal list which most of us carry around in our heads. Not only dothey not aspire to professions, their life experience tells them no one isinterested in them. many socially excluded people do lead ordered lives,but at the price of moving within a very limited social space. They havelow expectations. They seem to have no opinions about many lifeconcerns and to be unmotivated to transform their life circumstances.Many of them are disabled emotionally, spiritually, practically, andculturally. They are not consultable. What do they need in order that theytoo can dream for real ?

A few stories

Not long ago I was visiting a lovely nature study centre in the middle of apark. A group of wildly excited school children were there. They were bothwhite and ethnic minority children around nine years old. I asked theteacher what they were so excited about. She answered, “Oh, they have justbeen told that there are two ducks on the pond, and most of them have neverseen a live duck before. These children live mainly on a council estate withinwalking distance. However, with all the parental concerns about child abuse,none of them are allowed to play beyond the street where they live. Theyhave never been here, and after today, I am afraid none of them will be ableor be allowed to find their way back.”

A colleague of mine, who is now a well-known environmental consultant,grew up in a bleak urban area. She told me that the first tree she ever sawwas in the pavement. Although since then she has seen many wild areas ofthe world, she is nevertheless left with this doubt “Was the tree or was thepavement there first?”

A young Vietnamese woman told me that, before she was 21, her village hadbeen burnt down six times. Each time they went into the jungle, returned andrebuilt their village. Here, among our ethnic communities, are people whoknow all about spaces, with valuable building and craft skills. But, we neverask them what they know. Imagine this community let loose on self-build !

A taxi driver, taking me to a conference venue in Bath, announced gleefullythat at last he is going to retire and leave. He told me that the Council hadpoured money continuously into the central tourist areas but that just acouple of miles beyond it, where he lives it is really deprived. For him, theCity Council has no interest in what people like him want.

Coming to this conference I noticed no one balked at being surround by theGreco-Roman features of the neo-classical buildings of the civic centre ofCardiff. No one went around complaining of feeling like they were in Italy orGreece instead of the capital of Wales. The fact is that over time,

multicultural elements are absorbed intoour overall consciousness. So, a challenge -why not consider culture specific featuresin our urban or rural landscape to markthe contemporary makeup of ourmulticultural society ?

A local authority rang us up because Asianteenagers had newly been regularly usingone of the local green spaces to playfootball. Local white residents complainedthat they had “taken over”.

The Gateway Project in Wales enables abroad range of disadvantaged andsocially excluded groups to visit andenjoy historic gardens. Their extensivelist of participants is a revelation - thepartially sighted, children with terminalcancer, carers, teenage mothers withtheir babies, the elderly, those withlearning difficulties, a range ofdisabilities including those inwheelchairs, ethnic minority groups,schoolchildren from deprived inner cityareas, those who are mentally ill,women’s groups, people with arthritis...

The Sheffield Ramblers, worked withworking class primary school age childrenfrom council estates who have neverwalked on grass, their daily track beingfrom the concrete of the estates to thetarmac of their schools.

A friend came to me telling me that thelocal authority is trying to improve theenvironment of their council estate.Asked by the Council, what he wouldlike, he answered “I know I want thingsto be better, but I really cannot tell youwhat to do”.

A young people’s group, coming backfrom a first visit to the countryside, wasfired up with greening their localenvironment, because they loved how “thewonderful green of the countryside justwent on and on, forever” and they wantedsome of it where they live.

These stories point to unfulfilled potential,lack of contact with nature, neglect, lackof vision and understanding of themechanisms of social exclusion.


What do we need to do ?

We have now arrived at a time when,positively, the landscape professionsrecognise the need for consultation toinform and shape the designedenvironment. But, in relation to sociallyexcluded groups, consultation only whensomething is about to be done to anenvironment, is often too late. Over andover again groups are found to beunconsultable, yielding limited and lowquality information. This is where localauthorities and local professionals have acrucial role to play. There is a vitalforerunning piece of work to be done -building and maintaining of an ongoingrelationship to take socially excludedgroups through the stages to meaningfulconsultation:

• Outreaching without an immediateagenda, expressing a caring attitude anda commitment to building an oglingrelationship with socially excludedgroups.

• Nurturing interest, re-awakening lostagendas, and creating a sense ofpossibility - the most demandingdevelopmental work of all. Here oftenthe crunch point is the commitment ofsenior management to trainingprofessionals to work effectively withsocially excluded groups and to resourcethem to imaginatively createprogrammes of activities which arerelevant to the group they are workingwith.

• Identifying, creating and resourcingopportunities for action - recognising theenormous significance of successfulsmall scale first projects paving the wayfor progressive capacity building.

• Capacity building and networking -implementing an enjoyable programmeof awareness and skills, e.g. visits to arange of interesting examples of goodpractice, putting a group in touch withthe appropriate expertise and facilitatingthe relationship between a group and aprofessional.

Equality

Stakeholderrepresentation

Identifying andaddressing needs to createa setting for equalparticipation

Equal participation

Transparency

Information

Dialogue

Engagement

Trust

Partnership strategy

Agreement

Terms of reference / Guide

Participant professionalism

Relevant expertise andexperience

Adequate resourcing

Conduct – Valuing andrespecting each other

Partnership

Relationship of people to people

Outreach

Allocation of organisational timeand resources

Awareness and skills to addressissues and concerns and to buildrelationships

Creating a climate withinwhich participation cantake place

Relationship of people to environment

Ownership

Identity

Skills in framing wishes and ideas

Motivation to participatetransformation of local spaces

Top: Developingpartnerships demandspatience andcommitment.

Above: The right climateneeds to be establishedwell before participationexercises start.


RESEARCH

Licensing Reform and UrbanDesign Marion Roberts evaluates the effects of licensing laws on fourEuropean city centres

Introduction

This study was carried out by the Central Cities Institute at the University of Westminsterand was commissioned by the Institute for Alcohol Studies (IAS). It was prompted byconcerns over the Government’s proposed reforms to licensing legislation, the Alcoholand Entertainment Licensing Bill, recently announced in the Queen’s Speech. The IAShad been perturbed by Ministerial statements that seemed to suggest that permittinground the clock drinking would usher in a ‘continental style’ of alcohol consumption intoBritish culture. From the point of view of urban design, it should be noted that this stancehad been promoted by the protagonists for the ‘24-hour city’ who had argued in theearly 1990’s that extending licensing hours would help to encourage a wider use oftown centres throughout the whole of the day and facilitate a café culture.

Aim of study

The aim of the study was to examine more closely the management of the public realmin central city areas in continental Europe, with particular regard to the problemscommonly associated with alcohol consumption. The assumption that extendedopening hours have beneficial effects was tested with regard to their urban managerialand physical context in sample locations. Examples of effective practice in particularcities that could inform developments in England and Wales were highlighted as apositive contribution to the legislative process.

Case Study Areas

Four case study areas in northern Europe were identified. Each area was located in thecentre of a capital city in beer drinking northern Europe and was chosen on the basis thatit is a mixed-use entertainment district with a residential population. Each area, perhapsnot coincidentally, had a strong, historic urban form that was capable of regeneration.Underpinning the choices was a philosophy that the sustainability of mixed use central cityareas is a desirable goal for twenty-first century cities. The case study areas were:

• Soho and Covent Garden (the ‘West End Stress Area’) in Westminster, London• Temple Bar, Dublin • Nyhavn, Copenhagen• Hackescher Markt, Spandauer Vorstadt, Mitte District, Berlin

Temple Bar and Copenhagen were particularly interesting: Temple Bar, because it hadbeen regenerated incorporating the ideas of Jane Jacobs and Copenhagen because ofthe pedestrianisation programme, documented by Jan Gehl. It should be noted thatNyhavn is a micro-district within Copenhagen city centre, and the problems that havebeen associated with its concentration of cafes and restaurants do not apply toCopenhagen city centre as a whole.

The research team was interdisciplinary and in addition to urban design, specialists inplanning and entertainment law collaborated in the project. All the members of theresearch team visited each case study area. Interviews were conducted with relevantofficers and agencies. The urban design aspects of the study were explored by plottingdrinking establishments in each area and preparing figure ground plans and streetsections of key parts of each neighbourhood. A literature review of both academicarticles and of the Irish, Danish, German, and English press was also carried out.Unsurprisingly, we found that licensing and urban management regimes are complexand at times contradictory.

To dream for real, people need to :

• Have a sense of their own potentialthrough acquiring knowledge and skills.

• Have a sense of possibility and personalpower through having connections tonetworks of expertise and power.

• Have access to a critical minimumamount of resources to take action andgain experience.

• Have faith that they are included insociety’s future plans.

Beyond consultation to partnership

Working together involves learning forboth sides. For example, alongsideconsulting client groups, professionals needto build their ability to read the messageswhich bleak environments have shouted atresidents for years in order to set thecomments in context. Partnerships aroundthe public space agenda demands enormouspatience and commitment, as it takes timeto absorb the many different sectoralconcerns which feed into it.

The diagram is intellectually obvious, but inorder to be effective, it needs to bespecifically expanded to address the manycomplexities which I hope the storiesillustrated. Those who acquire theawareness and skills to work with sociallyexcluded groups will know that there is noset formula but you have truly arrivedwhen in any scenario, you find that “Thesituation always tells me what to do, loudand clear!” One last word - fun isinevitable in any community project whenyou are doing it right. Make an essentialcontribution to society, to a vitally neededsocial cohesion, and enjoy yourselves. #

Judy Ling Wong

NB. BEN is established to enable full ethnicenvironmental participation. It uses the word“black” symbolically, recognising that the blackcommunities are the most visible of all ethnicgroups. We work with black, white and otherethnic communities.


Clash between Entertainment and Other Uses

All four areas had similar problems caused by aconcentration of bars, nightclubs andrestaurants, especially in relation to noise,crowds, litter and social disorder. Each localehad experienced a conflict betweenentertainment and residential interests. In TempleBar and Soho/Covent Garden these problemswere acute, whereas in the Spandauer Vorstadtand especially in Nyhavn environmental andplanning controls reduced these conflicts, butnowhere were they completely effective. The‘West End Stress Area’ in London was unique interms of its size and the number of visitors whichpassed through it each night.

Extended Hours not the Solution

We concluded that relaxing licensing hoursalone was not sufficient to change a drinkingculture. If one aspect of the regulation of licensedpremises is changed, others must also bereviewed as they function in a complicatedinterrelation. Hours themselves are not the mostimportant issue; it is how licenses and licensedpremises are controlled, managed and regulatedthat is critical. To this extent the proposedlicensing reform bill is over optimistic. Extendinghours alone will not create the solution to thecurrent problems experienced in many Britishtowns and cities of excessive noise and disorder,nor will it create a different drinking culture.

Importance of Holistic View

In Ireland, Denmark and Germany innovativesolutions have been adopted for themanagement of mixed use areas. These includeplanning and environmental regulations whichlimit the size and concentration of premises,pro-active policing which works with licenseesand managers to promote responsiblestewardship, strong noise control measures,voluntary associations of licensees working toimprove waste management and cleaning,speedy and effective sanctions againstbreaches of licensing controls, positive policiestowards pavement seating and licensingstakeholder forums where different interestgroups can meet. All of these might serve asexamples of best practice to alleviate theproblems associated with the night-timeeconomy in England and Wales.

Street sections (left to right): Berlin –Oranienburgerstrasse;Copenhagen – Nyhavn;London – Old Compton St; Dublin – Essex Street East.

Top: Residentialcourtyards in theHackescher Höfe aregated off for residentsonly after 10pm. This onehas an art gallery.

Above: Old ComptonStreet, Soho at night.

Observations relevant to Urban Design

In addition to a conflict of uses, other aspects ofour study are highly relevant to urban design. Thenarrowness of the streets in Temple Bar and theeastern portion of Soho contribute to the problemsof accommodating the large numbers ofpedestrians who emerge, inebriated, from barsand clubs in the early hours of the morning. Theurban morphology of mainland European blockscan also assist in protecting residents, especiallywhen, as in Copenhagen and the HackescherHöfe in Berlin, inner residential courtyards can bephysically gated at night. Noise in the streetemerged as a contentious issue, with Britishenvironmental protection legislation falling farbehind our mainland European counterparts,although it should be noted, in Berlin exceptionallicenses relating to beer gardens, underminedtheir stricter controls. Aspects of the buildingregulations also support our culture of verticaldrinking. This is apparent in our assumed‘occupancy ratio’ of three persons to one squaremetre of floor space in clubs and bars whichexceeds the Danish regulations by 50%, meaningthat by Danish standards, our licensed premisesare overcrowded even when operating normally.

Conclusions: Problems with ProposedLegislation

On the basis of our study we are concerned thatthe Bill currently passing though Parliament doesnot give local authorities sufficient controls over theconcentrations of licensed premises within theirjurisdiction. Evidence from mainland Europesuggests that the most liveable city centres, suchas Copenhagen’s, have more regulation ratherthan less. We have major concerns about acontinuation of the clash between entertainmentand other uses; consequent problems with noiseand disorder; the resourcing of local authoritiessuch that they can deal with the challenge ofimplementing new licensing arrangements andthe weakness of our current environmentallegislation. From an urban design point of view,we are concerned that the current move towardsde-regulating drinking will undermine attempts toestablish vibrant and liveable mixed useneighbourhoods in the centres of British towns andcities. We would urge readers of this article toraise the issue of over-concentration with their MPsin order to amend the Bill before it becomes law. #

Marion Roberts


CASE STUDY

Maintaining local distinctiveness in urban areasRebecca Knight describes the development of character assessment for Oxford

`Character assessment at all scales provides a promising new methodology. It willallow us to understand the historic environment better as a totality, and in betterintegration with the natural environment.’ Power of Place (2000)

Although now a well used tool in rural areas, character assessment in urban areashas been slow off the mark. The importance of assessing townscape character hasrecently been brought to light in publications such as ̀ By Design’ which describesthe first of the seven objectives of Urban Design as

“To provide character in townscape and landscape by responding to andreinforcing locally distinctive patterns of development, landscape and culture.”

In order to respond to, and reinforce, locally distinctive patterns of development,townscape and culture, we must first identify and understand what these are.

Good Practice in Urban Character Assessment

Winchester City and its Setting

In 1998 Hampshire County Council, in partnership with the Hampshire GardensTrust, the Hampshire Wildlife Trust, Winchester Preservation Trust, Winchester CityCouncil and the former Countryside Commission, employed consultants toundertake a seamless townscape and landscape assessment of the city ofWinchester and its setting, and to develop an holistic characterisationmethodology. The study identified landscape and townscape characteristics andattributes of the city and defined those characteristics that are essential to thehistoric fabric of the city, its setting and approaches, and its relationship with thewider countryside.

This was a pioneering study as it applied the character assessment approach toboth rural and urban areas. The study showed that Winchester’s distinct sense ofplace is formed by the rich characteristics of the townscapes and landscapes of thecity, and their inter-relationships. It also illustrated how the whole is greater than thesum of its parts. For this reason it is considered vital that any proposals are assessedin the context of the whole city and its setting.

Oxford City in its Landscape Setting

In 2001, the Countryside Agency, in partnership with Oxford City Council,commissioned a character assessment of the whole of Oxford City and its setting,in recognition of the importance of the city’s landscape and townscape and thechanges that it faces. This study took the Winchester work forward, building onand refining the methodology, to ensure the outputs would assist in securing thelong-term protection and enhancement of the historic urban environment.

Land Use Consultants led the study with support from Oxford Archaeology and theRural Community Council for Berkshire. The study took a two tier approach,classifying the landscape of the whole of Oxford and its setting into character typesand character areas at 1:25,000 followed by a classification of the urban areawithin the administrative boundary at a scale of 1:10,000. The classificationwithin the city was based on underlying physical influences, land use, historicevolution and cultural influences. The analysis of each character area providedinformation on underlying physical characteristics, street and block pattern, 3D


massing (the scale and density of buildings),enclosure and street proportions, roofscapeand skyline, characteristic building materialsand boundaries, scale and distribution ofopen space and its interaction with built form,presence of visible historic components,habitats and biodiversity, land use, cultureand vitality, views and visual sequences.

The study also identified important views(towards the city’s ̀ dreaming spires’) to ensurethat these are conserved and enhanced in thefuture by, for example, planning the locationand design of new buildings and/ormanaging tree planting.

Potential Uses of Urban CharacterAssessment

The Character Assessment of Oxford in itsLandscape Setting has been embraced byOxford City Council as they review theirLocal Plan. The work will be used tosupport development control decisions andjudgements on aesthetic and designconsiderations and as a framework formore detailed urban design strategies,public realm strategies, greenspacestrategies, urban tree strategies andConservation Area Appraisals.

It is hoped that the assessment will also beused at a more local level, by residents andcommunity groups, to promote localdistinctiveness around Oxford and may beused as a framework for initiatives such as`Placecheck’. Placecheck is a simple andpowerful tool to identify the positive andnegative qualities of a place, and can beeasily used by both professionals and localresidents.

Character assessment is proving to be aninvaluable tool for informing and guiding newdevelopment in urban areas. It may be usedto demonstrate the potential effects of aproposed development on the surroundingtownscape and to support evidence atPublic Inquiry.

Top left: Street proportionsmake an importantcontribution to townscapecharacter.

Bottom left: Characteristicssuch as 3D massing,enclosure and visualsequences were recordedfor each area.

Above: ̀ Character areas’within Oxford -identification of important`viewcones’ into and outof the town or city isimportant in conservingand enhancing theseviews.

Right: Diagram showingspatial morphology of theHistoric Core.


BOOK REV I EWS

Ideal CitiesUtiopianism and the (un)builtenvironmentRuth Eaton, 2002Thames & Hudson £39.95

Utopia, an exhibition on utopian thought wasshown at the Bibliothèque Nationale deFrance in 2000 and then travelled to NewYork. Ideal Cities is not the catalogue of thatexhibition but seems to be closely related to itas many of the exhibits are reproduced in thebeautifully illustrated book, which would makea very attractive Christmas present. The textaims to be a chronological history of thesearch for the ideal city form, but becomes bynecessity, a more general history of ideasabout city form, in the style of the Kostof booksfrom the same publishers. Indeed the authoroccasionally strays from the subject toencompass wider themes.

The ideal city model, often drawn, describedand discussed but never built, always impliesa criticism of the status quo – mostlyconsidered to be chaotic or simplyunsatisfactory. It is also an attempt to bringorder and to tame nature. As a result, theideal city form is almost always based onrigid geometry, with either the circle reflectingthe universe or the grid in a square, thepreferred design.

The history starts in Babylon, continues inclassic antiquity and in the Middle Ages,makes a detour through the Middle East andChina, and really explodes in theRenaissance. Until then, the search for anideal city is closely related to a religious orcosmological view of the word, a longing fora Paradise lost or a New Jerusalem. In the

15th Century the role of thearchitect evolves into anincreasingly intellectual one andthe city becomes an objectivespace worthy of analysis. Thesearch for an ideal orderpermeates the arts, and urbandesign is part of this search, but itis also influenced bytechnological change, not least inwarfare. Thus one of the fewideal models built in 1593,Palma Nova, “fulfilled mostsuccessfully… typically utopiancriteria: protection from theoutside world and a certainhermetism regarding time andspace” (p.60). By then ThomasMore’s Utopia had beenpublished, offering an idealsociety model rather than aspecific design. NeverthelessMoore describes the physicalcharacteristics of his ideal towns.

Eaton’s history continues bytravelling to the New Worldwhere the colonial masters“civilised” the natives andcontrolled nature through urbandevelopment. With theEnlightment, the search for utopiachanged from backward lookingto faith in progress and the future,but the advent of the IndustrialRevolution divided the utopians intwo camps; those believing thattechnological change wouldresult in the ideal society, andthose who wanted to return to apre-industrial paradise, a split that

The Need for a Methodology

There is currently no consistency or widelyaccepted methodology for the way in whichcharacter appraisals of urban areas areundertaken. Best practice should beestablished as soon as possible anddisseminated widely across the relevantprofessional disciplines.

A meeting was organised by the CountrysideAgency to present the results of the Oxfordstudy to an audience of landscape architects,architects, planners and urban designers toencourage discussion around the subject ofcharacter assessment in urban areas. Fourclear messages emerged:

(i) Many different disciplines are alreadyundertaking character appraisals in theurban context, but there is no consistent useof terminology or methodology.Practitioners would find it helpful to have astand-alone methodology for characterappraisal of urban areas that draws onexperience from recent studies. It shouldbe presented as a ‘tool kit’, as characterassessments always need to be tailored toindividual places.

(ii) The enormous amount of work oncharacter assessment and localdistinctiveness undertaken in the ruralcontext by the Countryside Agency andScottish Natural Heritage could form astarting point for developing amethodology for character assessment inthe urban context.

(iii)An agreed methodology for characterappraisal of urban areas would beextremely valuable in standardisingapproaches used as part of landscapeand visual impact assessment, highwaysappraisals, Conservation Area appraisals,urban design strategies and ̀ Placecheck’.This is critical if character appraisal is tosupport expert evidence at Public Inquiries.

(iv) It would be valuable to develop a nationalclassification of our towns and cities,parallel to the Countryside Agency’s`Countryside Character Initiative’, toidentify urban types at the National level. Itcould form a consistent national frameworkfor more local assessments of individualtowns and cities and their settings. #

Rebecca Knight


continued into the 20th Century.A substantial chapter is devotedto the last hundred years duringwhich utopian ideas led toauthoritarian regimes andinhumane environments, even incases where the motives weredecent: “instead of theinconvenience of filth andconfusion, we have now got theboredom of hygiene…Just milesupon mile of organized nowhere,and nobody feeling he is“somebody living somewhere”(A. van Eyck quoted p.218 ). Thelink between the ideal city andthe control of society is madethroughout the book and isnowhere clearer than in this lastperiod.

Readers will not find much that isnew in this text; its interest lies inthe grouping of themes, the linksbetween various currents ofideas, and the wonderfulillustrations. #

Sebastian Loew

Urban Design GuidanceRob Cowan/Urban DesignGroup Thomas Telford,£25.00

Now that urban design hasmoved from the margins to themainstream of government policy,the new role for the Urban DesignGroup is becoming clearer.Advocacy has given way toinstruction, promotion to research.The success of advocacyhowever has exposed some ofthe unresolved rituals of urbandesign practice. One such ritualhas been an accepted processfor urban design guidance.Whilst we use words like‘framework’ or ‘masterplan’ in aloose and somewhat cavaliermanner, we seem to understandwhat we mean (although a recentbrief calling for a ‘masterplanframework’ left me somewhatbemused). The move from thisrather Olympian elitism to the spitand sawdust of the local authorityplanning process has meant thatalthough we all use the samewords and phrases we do notnecessarily understand eachother. We are a professiondivided by a common language.This publication is very well timedand its importance is summed up

in the first few pages where aseries of definitions not onlyclarify the different forms ofguidance, but also show theirrelationship. It gives usefuldistinctions between Frameworks,Design Briefs and Masterplans.This takes in the more visionaryoverview of the Urban DesignFramework, where the layers ofan area are uncovered andexplored, to the more focusedand financially detailedrequirements of the Masterplanthat are required to deliver andimplement a project.

How Frameworks, Briefs andMasterplans fit into the local planprocess is set out in a clear andunderstandable way. Guidancecan have SupplementaryPlanning Guidance status, but likeall additions to legal documentsthe discontinuities are oftenfudged. The issue is whetherSupplementary PlanningGuidance is a good enoughvehicle for urban designguidance, or whether suchguidance should be fullyembedded into the local planand be the progenitor for thevisionary aspect so missing in ourcurrent planning process. Myview is that urban designguidance in the form ofFrameworks, Briefs andMasterplans can help set theagenda for the local plan ratherthan just illustrating it.

This publication also exploresDesign Codes and Statementsidentified as extensions of briefsor Masterplans where a degreeof prescription is required. Theyshould be more fully integratedinto the design guides that manylocal authorities have asdevelopment control tools. Butguidance needs to go hand inhand with a change in thedevelopment control process.Application procedures thatcontinue the adversarialenvironment implicit in ourplanning process needs tochange. This issue could haveusefully been explored in thispublication. How can localauthorities accommodate urbandesign guidance? Most councilsare ill-equipped in terms of skillsand resources. If we are to useguidance to help us move to amore appropriate design

brokering process and to raise thequality of planning applications,new application procedures needto be explored.

The other aspect that could havean impact is the quality andnature of the design team.Urban Design Guidance requiresan integrated approach.Flexibility is the key. AFramework is a dynamic conceptthat should be robust enough todeal with market and otherchanges. We are starting toinclude urban designers,landscape architects, propertyand other specialists in manyframeworks and Masterplans.Bringing on board a range ofpeople, both professional – likeartists, gender specialists, socialanthropologists – and community– including developers andlandowners – can help. As theGuidance suggests: “the qualityof the public involvement willplay a major part in determiningthe usefulness of the guidance.”

The book is usefully set out as aseries of checklists. These rangefrom the mundane, such as whatis the purpose of any guidance,to items on programming andappraisals. In this way weexplore the various componentsof the guidance process fromvision documents, policy review,site appraisal to feasibility andrisk. It is interesting howimportant the diagrams thataccompany guidance havebecome. Urban designdrawings encapsulate enormousamounts of information.Illustrations in this publicationdemonstrate that arrows, circlesand hatching take on newmeanings. The language we usefor urban design diagrams is asfuzzy as the glossary of terms.Each designer’s work reflects anindividuality that is both excitingand confusing.

This publication is a usefuladdition to the toolbox ofguidance and complements thecurrent stable of governmentadvice. It almost overcomes theimpenetrability of the publishers’format, and the illustrations helpa lot. Nevertheless the questionremains. Do the procurers ofsuch guidance, the localauthorities, developers,

landowners, and communitieshave the skills and resources, ifnot to carry out the tasks set out inthe checklists, then to manageconsultants to carry out suchguidance? This guide certainlyhelps that management process –but it also reinforces the need fordesign abilities to help envision,to encapsulate information, tolayer data, to make it accessibleand to make it look good. #

Jon Rowland

biopolisPatrick Geddes and the Cityof LifeVolker M. Welter, 2002MIT Press, £27.50

Unlike other books on Geddes,biopolis is not a biography but anexamination of Geddes’ ideas,bearing in mind his initialdiscipline – biology – whichinformed his lifelong concern withevolution and ecology. Welter, alecturer in Architectural History atthe University of Reading, alsoexplores Geddes’ interest in theGreek concept of ‘polis’, the cityas a cultural and spiritualphenomenon.

In the foreword by Ian BoydWhyte, Geddes is described asa polymath difficult to understand;this is why Welter’s reassessmentof Geddes’ work is timely andrelevant to the current challengesof planning and urban design. Inhis introduction, Welter explains


BOOK REV I EWS

how Geddes’s famous analyticaltriad, Place-Folk -Work,corresponds to the geographical,historical and spiritual aspects ofthe city. He considered that thethird, spiritual aspect had so farbeen neglected and thereforedecided to make the biologicaland the spritual aspects ofplanning, the two main themes ofhis book. Eight chapters take usthrough a detailed analysis of theinfluences and theories thatformed Geddes’s exceptionallyholistic approach to cityplanning, urban design,architecture, sociology andconservation. Only in a laterchapter, the author describesspecific schemes inspired byGeddes, whose ideas receivedmuch greater recognition incontinental Europe than in Britain.

biopolis rightly emphasises thatGeddes’s education underThomas Huxley encouraged himto think and see organically, as afield naturalist, go beyond themainly rational and materialistthinking of Marx and Darwin,and ultimately move towardslinking science and religion.Unlike Marx, Geddes held thatman should not attempt to riseabove nature, but to adapthimself to his environment throughwork. In Pioneers of BritishPlanning, Helen Meller criticisedGeddes for his non-politicalstance, but accepted that hecompensated for this by his acutepowers of observation. Later,suffering from temporaryblindness, Geddes evolved atactile thinking device, a diagramto create thought structures relatedto planning, such as Folk-Work-Place and his notation for lifeActs-Deeds-Facts-Thoughts.Welter stretches Geddes’sconcern with individuals ratherthan with the Marxist’s notion ofclass. The influence of Plato andKropotkin on Geddes are alsomentioned.

It is Geddes’s fascinatinginterpretation of the valley sectionthat shows both his idealistic andscientific approaches towardsresolving the town and countryconflict. His concern with the hill-top ‘polis’ led him to compareEdinburgh and Athens, and toestablish his Outlook Tower justbelow the former city’s castle:

visitors to it descended throughfloors devoted to Edinburgh,Scotland, language and theworld. As a result Geddes iscredited with the idea ofintroducing the concept of‘region’ into the emergingdiscipline of planning.

The second part of the bookcovers the city and history,metaphysical aspects of urbandesign, the city and spiritualityand finally, the temple of the cityand its cultural acropolis.Surprisingly Welter presentsBruno Taut’s highly formal andeven megalomaniac plan for thecity crown, as having similaritieswith Geddes’s acropolis.Otherwise Geddes’s concern forhistory was practical asexemplified in his work involvingconservative surgery. Much lesswell known and possiblyspeculative is the link Welterclaims Geddes had with somefascinating but eccentric secularor quasi-religious temple projectsbetween 1880 and 1920. Thebest known examples in Britainare Townsend’s HornimanMuseum and his Whitechapel ArtGallery. Geddes also workedwith Frank Mears on the HebrewUniversity and Great Hall atMount Scopus in Jerusalem,illustrating his ideas on a culturalacropolis.

The epilogue to this complexbook suggests that Geddes’sconcept of region, history andspirituality could well have beenthe genesis of the CIAM 8 ‘Coreof the city” concept in 1951.Even though biopolis is not easyto read, and not withoutrepetitions, it reminds us howfarsighted Geddes was. Hisvision, enthusiasm and energymake him as relevant to today’surban designers, planners andarchitects as he was a centuryago. #

Derek Abbott

The Modern City RevisitedThomas Deckker (ed.)£27.50

This books acts as a reflectionand record of the The ModernCity Revisited conference held inMarch 1999. Each chapter, ofwhich there are ten, is theproduct of a different author witheach reflecting the individual’sinterest and passion. In total thebook is the culmination of thework of twelve authors whichcreates both the book’s strengthand weakness, diversity.Personally the diversity inherentin such a collection is positiveespecially if the reader views theworks as a spring board forfurther research rather than adefinitive review of each subject.

Issues addressed not only jumpbetween different periods ofmodern history but assortedgeographical locations andpolitical structures with eachchapter representing a differentcorner to turn as one progressesthrough the modern city. Manyof the issues addressed in theirhistorical context have clearlessons today for individualsand groups working within thecity and as such The ModernCity Revisited would be a usefuland enjoyable read for manyinvolved in the builtenvironment.

At the outset Michael Sorkin citesLe Corbusier’s famous sketch ofthe ‘City of Three Million’ as arecurring image at the 1999conference, which isunsurprising at any such eventand no doubt the case, but heomits to highlight another themethat clearly runs through most ofthe book, that of the importanceof civic leadership and politicalgame playing in urban planning.

Most chapters in each of thebook’s three parts (alternativevisions, vision versus reality, and

the decline of modernism) alludeor directly note the power ofpolitical will in realising urbanplanning proposals andnowhere is it more clearlyhighlighted than in John Allen’stext on ‘Lubetkin and Peterlee’.In itself this relatively shortreview adds a significantcontribution to the history of‘what happened?’ in the BritishNew Towns programme (1946)and lessons drawn havesignificant bearing on today’sprogramme for urbanrenaissance. Lubetkin andPeterlee highlight thecomplexities of achieving localownership/ civic leadershipand as Allan rightly quotes onPeterlee: ‘There was no easiertown to imagine as a visual andsocial unity, both because of thesite and because of the miners.But it was denied. Wheneverwe were faced with a technicalobjection we answered it; butofficial sabotage we couldn’tmatch. Honestly, even when Ispeak about it now, it aches’.Lubetkin’s statement acts as thekey to Deckker’s book and stillhighlights a fundamentalquestion.

The strength of this particularsection does however highlightone of the book’s weaknesses.Several chapters focus onhistorical dating and placing ofevents and actions rather thanon why they occurred. This maylead to slow reading, eventhough most pieces present anintriguing snapshot of themodern city in history in variousparts of the world. CatherineCooke’s ‘Cities of Socialism’and Deckker’s ‘Brasilia’ provideespecially exciting reviews andprovide significant food forthought.

As a whole The Modern CityRevisited is a densely writtendocument that attempts to coverconcepts, proposals, events,


changes and disappointmentsthat could never be completelygiven justice in one singlebook. But this is no bad thing!The work acts as a taster ratherthan definitive text and oneseriously interested in learningmore about the history anddevelopment of the modern citywill be stimulated to lookthrough the bibliographies andgo further. The snapshot natureof the work will however causeproblems for a new reader inthe field of architecture andurban planning since it requiresa reasonable backgroundknowledge of recent history inurban development.

Overall Deckker hassuccessfully tied together aseries of disparate andsometimes opposing texts intoone useful and enjoyable bookto read. #

David Chapman

Waterfronts in Post-Industrial CitiesEdited by Richard MarshallSpon Press£35.00

Not Baltimore and Bostonagain, surely? No, Bilbao,Havana, Las Palmas de GranCanaria and Shanghai. A newgeneration of cities which havenot hitherto been covered inany publication on waterfrontredevelopment of note to date.

This book has been put togetherby Richard Marshall, AssistantProfessor in Urban Design at theGraduate School of Design atHarvard, who in 1999 wasinvolved in the organisation ofa conference on ‘Waterfronts inPost-Industrial Cities’ hosted inBoston. Eight cities wererepresented at this conference.Four of them were firstgeneration waterfrontredevelopment cities, namelyAmsterdam, Genoa, Sydneyand Vancouver. The other fourare the second generation citiesmentioned above.

The book is made up of fourthemes or ‘meditations’. Acomparison of two cities by theauthor frames the context of

each meditation and a series ofreflective essays follow eachcity comparison.

The first theme is ‘Connection tothe Waterfront’ where the authorprovides a comparison ofwaterfront developments inVancouver and Sydney. In thelatter, as in many cities, theconnectivity of the physical fabricwith the water suffered from theinsertion of roads between thecity and harbour, and there is theissue of connecting through,under or over such large elementsof infrastructure. The reflectiveessay is by Rinio Bruttomesso,Professor of Urban Design at theSchool of Architecture in Venice;it focuses on complexity (ratherthan connectivity) and the needfor the plurality of functions tomake waterfront redevelopmenta success.

In the second theme, ‘Remakingthe Image of the City’, theauthor deals with relationshipsbetween the renewal strategiesin two of the second generationcities, namely Bilbao andShanghai, and their riverwaterfronts. In both cities thewaterfront has become thestage for a new expression ofcity aspirations, a new identity,and the quality of the waterfrontenvironment is crucial. Thereflective essays come fromMartin Millspaugh on thesubject of (you can not excludeit) Baltimore (he was in chargeof redevelopment there from1965 to 85) and from AlfonsoVegara with a further view onBilbao, now famous for itsGuggenheim Museum andCalatrava bridge.

In the third theme, ‘Modern Portsand Historic Cities’, the authorlooks at the issue of the conflictbetween port functions andurban development, particularlywaterfront housing, and whetherand how these two separatefunctions can co-exist. He doesso by comparing Genoa, acase of enlightenedrelationships between the PortAuthority and Municipality, andLas Palmas de Gran Canariawhich is somewhat more thenorm. The reflective essay looksat port and city relations in SanFrancisco and (you can notexclude it) Boston and iscompiled by the author inassociation with Anne Cookfrom the former city and AldenRaine from the latter.

The final theme is ‘Waterfronts,Development and WorldHeritage Cities’. Here theauthor looks at the balancingact between preservation andnew development on thewaterfronts of two heritagecities, namely Havana (alreadylisted as a World Heritage Cityby UNESCO) and Amsterdam(about to be listed). Havana,being second generation, hasnot yet been prone to thecommercial developmentpressures which have alreadybeset Amsterdam and so manyothers of the first generation,and yet it is a city desperately inneed of maintenance, repairand modernisation. Thereflective essays come fromBarry Shaw of LDDC fameabout London Docklands andAlex Krieger from Harvardabout Boston.

This book is a useful addition tothe plethora of literature onwaterfront redevelopment thathas accumulated over the years.In presentational terms it is not inthe same class as ‘The NewWaterfront’ by Breen and Rigby(the locus classicus of waterfrontliterature) but it does well tohighlight the stories of four citiesnot hitherto covered, comparingthem with those of the well-established breed. #

Tim Catchpole

Also Received

The UDQ has received thefollowing two books which havenot been fully reviewed as theyare considered to be of marginalinterest to most readers.

Times Square Roulette:Remaking the City IconLynne SagalynMIT Press£41.50

Large tome about the recenttransformation of Times Square,the Piccadilly Circus of NewYork, a process which has taken20 years including publiccontroversy, non-stop litigationand seemingly interminabledelays, but which has culminatedin a successful outcome duringthe Giuliani era. The author isbased at the Columbia UniversityGraduate School of Business.620 pages, copious illustrations.#

Modernity and Community:Architecture in the IslamicWorldThames & Hudson£16.95

This book provides details andillustrations of the winners of theAga Khan Awards forArchitecture in 2001. Theawards – for excellence in Islamicarchitecture – were begun in1977 and have been presentedevery three years since, the 2001awards being the eighth round todate. The winning schemesinclude refurbishment projects inIran, a social centre in Turkey, achildren’s village in Jordan and aneco-hotel in Malaysia. CharlesCorrea has written the forewordand Kenneth Frampton theintroduction. Neatly produced,well illustrated. #

Tim Catchpole


PRACT ICE INDEX

Acanthus Ferguson MannRoyal Colonnade, 18 Gt George Street,Bristol BS1 5RHTel: 0117 929 9293Fax: 0117 929 9295Email: [email protected]: www.acanthusfm.co.ukContact: George Ferguson

Specialisms: Registered architects andurban designers. Masterplanning, newbuildings, historic buildings, urbanrenewal, feasibility studies, exhibitiondesign and inspiration.

Ainsley Gommon Architects1 Price Street, BirkenheadWirral C443 24ZTel: 0151 647 5511Fax: 0151 666 2195Email: [email protected]:www.ainsleygommonarchitects.co.uk

Specialisms: Architecture, Urban Design,Masterplanning and LandscapeArchitecture, conservation of historicbuildings, community projects andenvironmental improvements.

Allen Pyke AssociatesUrban Design, Landscape Architecture,Environmental ConsulancyThe Factory 2 Acre Road,Kingston upon Thames Surrey KT2 6EFTel: 020 8549 3434Fax: 020 8547 1075Email: [email protected]: Duncan Ecob

Profile: innovative responsive committedcompetitive. Process: strategy frameworkmasterplan implement. Priorities: peoplespaces movement culture.Places: regenerate infill extend create

Babtie GroupSchool Green, Shinfield,Reading, Berks. RG2 9XGTel: 0118 988 1555Fax: 0118 988 1666Email: [email protected]: Bettina Kirkham Dip TP BLD MLIPaul Townsend BSc (Hons)CEng MICE MCIT MIHT

Specialisms: A truly ‘one-stop’consultancy of landscape architects,architects, urban designers and plannersspecialising in town and landscapeassessment, urban design frameworks,regeneration visions and strategies,quality public space design, integratedstrategies of public consultation.

James Barr Chartered Surveyors& Planning Consultants1-7 Princes Street, Manchester M2 4DFTel: 0161 839 8839Fax: 0161 839 8840Email: [email protected]: Alan MitchellAlso in Glasgow Tel: 0141 300 800contact Graeme Hill and LondonTel: 020 7462 6940 contact: SimonChapman

Specialisms: Planning consultancy;economic development and regenerationstrategies. Provision of funding adviceand application to a range of sources;environmental consultancy and adviceincluding EIA.

Barton Willmore PartnershipBeansheaf Farmhouse, Bourne Close,Calcot, Reading, Berks RG31 7BWTel: 0118 9430000Fax: 0118 9430001Email:[email protected]: Clive Rand DipTP DipLA MRTPLMLI Chris Odgers BA(Hons) DIPUPDipUD MRTPI

Specialisms: Urban design from conceptthrough to implementation. Complexand sensitive sites, comprehensive andinnovative Design Guides, UrbanRegeneration, Brownfield sites, andMajor urban expansions.

Alan Baxter & AssociatesConsulting Engineers75 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6ELTel: 020 7250 1555Fax: 020 7250 3022Email: [email protected]: www.alanbaxter.co.ukContact: Alan Baxter FIStructE MICE MConsE

Specialisms: An engineering and urbandesign practice with wide experience ofnew and existing buildings and complexurban issues. Particularly concerned withthe thoughtful integration of buildings,infrastructure and movement, and thecreation of places which are capable ofsimple and flexible renewal.

The Beckett CompanyArchitecture and Urban DesignBeauchamp Lodge73 Coten End, Warwick CV34 4NUTel: 01926 490220Fax: 01926 490660Email:[email protected]: Roger Beckett D.Arch, Dip TP,Dip Urban Design or Sarah Grierson BAHons, Dip LA

Specialisms: Waterside Regenerationand Community Collaboration – ourpartner led approach to the creation andrepair of places turns the vision into acoherent reality.

The Bell Cornwell Partnership Oakview House, Station RoadHook, Hampshire RG27 9TPTel: 01256 766673Fax: 01256 768490 Email: [email protected]: www.bell-cornwell.co.ukContact: Simon Avery

Specialisms: Specialists in urban andmaster planning and the coordination ofmajor development proposals. Advisorson development plan representations,planning applications and appeals.Professional witnesses at Public Inquiries.

Bell Fischer Landscape Architects160 Chiltern DriveSurbiton, Surrey KT5 8LSTel: 020 8390 6477Fax: 020 8399 7903Email: [email protected]: Gordon Bell DipLA ALI

Specialisms: Landscape architects withspecialisms including urban design,urban regeneration and environmentalplanning throughout the UK andoverseas. Quality assured practice.

bennett urban planningOne America StreetLondon SE1 0NETel: 020 7208 2082Fax: 020 7208 2023Email: [email protected]: Mike Lowndes

Specialisms: Development planning,urban design, conservation andmasterplanning – making places andadding value through creative,intelligent, progressive, dynamic andjoyful exploration.

Biscoe & Stanton ArchitectsStudio 2 10 Bowling Green LaneLondon EC1R OBQTel: 020 7490 7919Fax: 020 7490 7929Email: [email protected]: Henry Shepherd

Specialisms: As commercial andresidential architects, we are especiallyinterested in meeting the challenges ofdesigning on urban sites, with mixeduses and higher densities; experienced inexisting buildings and new construction.

Blampied & Partners Ltd.Areen House 282 King Street,London W6 OSJTel: 020 8563 9175Fax: 020 8563 9176 Email: [email protected]: www.blampied.co.ukContact: Clive Naylor

Specialisms: Architecturalmasterplanning, urban design tourism,education, commercial expertise UnitedKingdom and Overseas.

Chris Blandford Associates1 La Gare51 Surrey Row, London SE1 0BZTel: 020 7928 8611Fax: 020 7928 1181Email: [email protected]: www.chris-blandford-assoc.comContact: Chris Blandford and Philip BondsAlso at Uckfield

Specialisms: Landscape architecture,environmental assessment, ecology,urban renewal, development economics,town planning, historic landscapes,conservation of cultural heritage.

Directory of practices,corporate organisations andurban design coursessubscribing to this index

The following pages provide aservice to potential clientswhen they are looking forspecialist professional adviceon projects involving urbandesign and related mattersand to those consideringtaking an urban design course.

Those wishing to be includedin future issues should contactthe UDG office70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6DGTel: 020 7250 0892Fax: 020 7250 0872

Arup ScotlandScotstoun House, South Queensferry,Edinburgh EH30 4SETel: 0131 331 1999Fax: 0131 331 3730Email: [email protected]: www.arup.comContact: Gavin Dunnett

Specialisms: Multidisciplinary consultingengineering practice in Aberdeen,Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow.Transport and Environmental Planning,Infrastructure Planning and Design, Civiland Building Engineering.

Atkins plcWoodcote Grove, Ashley RoadEpsom, Surrey KT18 5BWTel: 01372 726140Fax: 01372 740055Email: [email protected]: Nicola Hamill (BA Hons)MAUD MLI

Specialisms: Multi-disciplinary practiceof urban planners, landscape designers,transport planners, urban designers,architects and environmental planners,specialising in master plans,development frameworks and concepts,development briefs, environmentalassessment, environmentalimprovements, town centre renewal,traffic management and contaminatedland.

Michael Aukett ArchitectsAtlantic Court77 Kings Road, London SW3 4NXTel: 020 7376 7525Fax: 020 7376 5773Email: [email protected]: www.michaelaukett.comContact: David Roden RIBA

Specialisms: Architectural, urban designand masterplanning services.Regeneration and developmentframeworks for mixed use, commercial,retail, residential, leisure, cultural,transport and business parkdevelopments.

Aukett Associates2 Great Eastern Wharf,Parkgate Road, London SW11 4NTTel: 020 7924 4949Fax: 020 7978 6720Email: [email protected]: Nicholas Sweet

Specialisms: We are a multi-disciplinarydesign group offering architecture,urban design, engineering, landscapearchitecture and interiors. We operatethrough 14 European offices andspecialise in large scale commercial,mixed use masterplanning.

Austin-Smith:LordArchitects Designers PlannersLandscape Architects5-6 Bowood Court Calver RoadWarrington Cheshire WA2 8QZTel: 01925 654441Fax: 01925 414814Email: [email protected] in London Cardiff & GlasgowContact: Andy Smith

Specialisms: Multi-disciplinary nationalpractice with a specialist urban designunit backed by the landscape and corearchitectural units. Wide range andscale of projects providing briefing,concept development, masterplanning,design guidance, implementation andmanagement.


Trevor Bridge Associates7-9 St Michaels SquareAshton-under-Lyne, Lancs OL6 6LFTel: 0161 308 3765Fax: 0161 343 3513Email: [email protected]: Trevor Bridge Dip LA DA FFB MI Hort MLI

Specialisms: Landscape Architecture,Urban Design, Environmental Planning,Ecology, expert witness. Landscape forhousing, industry, urban renewal,environmental improvement, visualimpact assessment, masterplanning andimplementation.

Broadway Malyan Architects3 Weybridge Business ParkWeybridge, Surrey KT15 2BWTel: 01932 845599Fax: 01932 856206Email:[email protected]: www.broadwaymalyan.comContact: David Moore

Specialisms: A multi-disciplinary practiceproviding the highest quallity services inmasterplanning, urban regeneration andfunding. Planning, architecture,landscaping, interior design andsustainable/energy efficient design. Wealso have offices in london, Reading,Southampton, Manchester, Lisbon,Madrid and Warsaw.

Brock Carmichael ArchitectsFederation House, Hope Street, LiverpoolL1 9BSTel: 0151 709 1087Fax: 0151 709 6418Email: [email protected]: Michael Cosser

Specialisms: Masterplans anddevelopment briefs. Mixed-use andbrownfield regeneration projects. Designin historic and sensitive settings.Integrated environmental and landscapedesign skills via BCA Landscape.

Colin Buchanan & PartnersNewcombe House,45 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3 PBTel: 020 7309 7000Fax: 020 7309 0906Email: [email protected]: Kevin McGovern BA (Hons) DipTP MRTPI AMTS

Specialisms: Planning, regeneration,urban design, transport and trafficmanagement and market research fromoffices in London, Edinburgh, Bristol andManchester. Specialism in area basedregeneration, town centres and publicrealm design.

Building Design PartnershipPO Box 4WD 16 Gresse StLondon W1A 4WDTel: 020 7462 8000Fax: 020 7462 6342Email: [email protected]: Richard Saxon BArch (Hons)(L’pool) MCD MBIM RIBA

Specialisms: Planning policy and arearegeneration studies. Developmentframeworks for mixed-use, commercial,residential, sports, leisure, educationaland industrial development. Transportand public realm design. Internationalpractice with offices in London,Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow, Belfast,Dublin, Grenoble, Berlin, Frankfurt,Madrid.

B3 Burgess Partnership LimitedCastle Buildings, Womanby StreetCardiff CF10 1RGTel: 029 20 342688Fax: 029 20 384683Email: [email protected]: www.b3.co.ukContact: Paul Vanner

Specialisms: Architecture, planning,urban design, site appraisals, masterplans, context studies, urban frameworks,development briefs and implementationstrategies. Offices in Cardiff, Basingstoke,Newtown and Newcastle upon Tyne.

Burns + Nice70 Cowcross StreetLondon EC1M 6EJTel: 020 7253 0808Fax: 020 7253 0909Email: [email protected]: www.burnsnice.comContact: Marie Burns BA (Hons) MAUDDipLA MLI MIHT FRSA or Stephen NiceBA (Hons) MAUD Dip LD MLI MIHT

Specialisms: Urban design, landscapearchitecture, environmental andtransport planning. Masterplanning,design and public consultation forcommunity led regeneraton includingtown centres, public open space,transport, infrastructure and commercialdevelopment projects.

Burrell Foley FischerYork Central, 70-78 York WayLondon N1 9AGTel: 020 7713 5333Fax: 020 7713 5444Email: [email protected]: www.bff-architects.co.ukContact: John Burrell MA AADip RIBA FRSA

Specialisms: Urban regeneration andArts and Cultural buildings – Museums,Galleries, Theatres, Cinemas.Redevelopment of Redundant EstateLand, Urban housing. New settlements.New design in Historic Contexts.Waterfront buildings and strategies.Innovative Urban Design and Planning.

Business Location Services Ltd2 Riverside House, Heron WayNewham, Truro, Cornwall TR1 2XNTel: 01872 222777Fax: 01872 222700Email: [email protected]: www.bls.co.ukContact: Russell Dodge BSc(Hons) MRTPI

Specialisms: BLS provides a multi-disciplinary approach to town planning,urban regeneration, grant funding,economic development and propertyconsultancy.

Philip Cave Associates5 Dryden Street Covent GardenLondon WC2E 9NWTel: 020 7829 8340Fax: 020 7240 5800Email: [email protected]: www.philipcave.comContact: Philip Cave BSc Hons MA (LD) MLI

Specialisms: Design led practice withinnovative yet practical solutions toenvironmental opportunities in urbanregeneration, town centre projects,urban parks, community art, publicparticipation. Large scale site/masterplanning through to small scale detaileddesign, from studies to constructedprojects. Specialist expertise inlandscape architecture.

CDN Planning Ltd77 Herbert Street,Pontardawe, Swansea SA8 4EDTel: 01792 830238Fax: 01792 863895Email: [email protected]: www.cdnplanning.comContact: Kedrick Davies DipTPDipUD(Dist) MRTPI

Specialisms: Urban design, planningand development. Integration of land-use planning and urban design.Collaborative and community working toenhance the environment. Feasibilitystudies and design.

Chapman Robinson Architects LtdCommercial Wharf 6 Commercial St,Manchester MP15 4PZTel: 0161 832 9460Fax: 0161 839 0424Email: [email protected]

Specialisms: Involved in the regenerationof Manchester, acting as design teamleader for a multi-discipline teamimplementing the public realm, andadvising the City of Liverpool on UrbanDesign. The practice specialises in UrbanDesign and Regeneration projects,alongside the conventional architectualservices.

Chapman Taylor96 Kensington High StreetLondon W8 4SGTel: +44 (0)20 7371 3000Fax: +44 (0)20 7371 1949Email: [email protected]: www.chapmantaylor.comContact: Adrian Griffiths and PaulTruman

Specialisms: Chapman Taylor are aninternational firm of architects and urbandesigners specialising in mixed use citycentre regeneration projects throughoutEurope.

Civic Design Partnership22 Sussex StreetLondon SW1V 4RWTel: 020 7233 7419Fax: 020 7931 8431Contact: Peter J. Heath Architect and Town Planner

Specialisms: Led since 1990 by architectand town planner Peter Heath, thepractice undertakes all aspects of publicrealm projects throughout the UK forpublic and private sectors. RecentLondon projects include proposals for thesetting of Parliament, regeneration inFulham and pedestrianisation, plans forTrafalgar and Parliament Squares. Inaddition to the integrated services ofplanning and design, specialisms includelighting strategies, product design, streetfurniture manuals and design guides.

CIVIXExton StreetLondon SE1 8UETel: 020 7620 1589Fax: 020 7620 1592Email: [email protected]: www.civix.co.ukContact: Daniel Bone MA DipArch RIBAMRTPI MAPM

Specialisms: Urban design, developmentplanning and project managementdevising town centre appraisals, urbandesign frameworks, site developmentbriefs, design guide-lines, masterplansand management strategies forimplementation.

Clarke Klein & ChaudhuriArchitects5 Dryden Street, London WC2E 9NWTel: 020 7829 8460Fax: 020 7240 5600Email: [email protected]: Wendy Clarke

Specialisms: Small design-led practicefocusing on custom solutions forarchitectural, planning or urban designprojects. Emphasis on research anddetailed briefings to explore the potentialfor appropriate and innovative urbandesign proposals.

Richard Coleman ConsultancyBridge House, 181 Queen Victoria StLondon EC4V 4DDTel: 020 7329 6622Fax: 020 7329 6633Email: [email protected]: Lewis Eldridge

Specialisms: Independent advice onarchitecture, urban design, conservation,historic buildings, design assessments,commissioning of architects, planningissues and how most effectively toapproach the local and national bodiesinvolved in these fields.

Colvin & Moggridge 6 Seymour Place, London W1H 6BUTel: 020 7724 2417Fax: 020 7724 2757Email: [email protected]: Martin Bhatia (London) /Michael Ibbotson (Glos) 01367 860225

Specialisms: Long established practice oflandscape architects with expertise in fullrange and complexity of projectsincluding planning and design of publicand private space in towns and cities.

Conservation Architecture & PlanningWey House, Standford LaneHeadley, Hants GU35 8RHTel: 01420 472830Fax: 01420 477346Email: [email protected]: Jack Warshaw, BArch Dip TPAADipCons ARB RIBA RTPI IHBC

Specialisms: CAP connect urban designand conservation of good places. CAPare government approved. CAP’s clientscover all sectors nationwide. CAP accepthistoric areas, regeneration, topicstudies, buildings, settings, new design,conservation solutions and expertwitness commissions.

DEGW plc Architects & Consultants8 Crinan St., London N1 9SQTel: 020 7239 7777Fax: 020 7278 3613Email: [email protected]: www.degw.comContact: Lora Nicolaou

Specialisms: Development planning andbriefing. Masterplanning and urbandesign. Strategic briefing and spaceplanning. Architecture and interiors.

DNA Consultancy LtdDulwich House24 North Malvern Road, MalvernWorcestershire WR14 4LTTel: 01684 899061Email: [email protected]: www.marknewey.co.ukContact: Mark Newey

Specialisms:Urban design practiceproviding a responsive and professionalservice by experienced urban designersfrom both landscape and architecturalbackgrounds.


DPDS Consulting GroupOld Bank House, 5 Devizes Road,Old Town, Swindon, Wilts SN1 4BJTel: 01793 610222Fax: 01793 512436Email: [email protected]: www.dpds.co.ukContact: Les Durrant

Specialisms: Town planning,environmental assessments, architecture,landscape architecture and urbandesign: innovative solutions inmasterplanning, design guidance anddevelopment frameworks.

Melville Dunbar AssociatesThe Mill House, Kings Acre, Coggeshall,Essex CO6 1NNTel: 01376 562828Email: [email protected]: Alan Stones

Specialisms: Architecture, urban design,planning, master planning, new towns,new neighbourhoods, neighbourhoodcentres, urban regeneration,conservation studies, design guides,townscape studies, design briefs.

Eardley Landscape Associates25 Achilles Rd London NW6 1DZTel/Fax: 020 7794 9097Email: [email protected]: www.EardleyLandscape.co.ukContact: Jim Eardley BA BLA FLI

Specialisms: A landscape designpractice with particular interest in the useand design of urban spaces, withparticular experience of landscape andvisual impact assessments, landreclamation and expert witness.

Eaton Waygood Associates8 High Street, Stockport, Cheshire SK1 1EGTel: 0161 476 1060Fax: 0161 476 1120Email: [email protected]: Terry Eaton BA (Hons) Dip LD

Specialisms: Environmental artistsconcerned with the fusion of art andpublic space in urban regenerationincluding sculpture, lighting andlandscape architecture.

EDAW Planning1 Lindsey Street London EC1A 9HP also at Glasgow and Colmar, FranceTel: 020 7700 9500Fax: 020 770 9599Email: [email protected]: Bill Hanway BA M Arch AIA orJason Prior BA Dip LA ALI

Specialisms: Part of the EDAW Groupproviding urban design, land use planning,environmental planning and landscapearchitecture services throughout the UKand Europe. Particular expertise inmarket driven development frameworks,urban regeneration, masterplanningand implementation.

ENTEC UK LtdGables House Kenilworth RoadLeamington Spa Warwicks CV32 6JXTel: 01926 439 000Fax: 01926 439 010Email: [email protected]: www. entecuk.co.ukContact: Nick Brant or Roger Mayblin

Specialisms: Urban design, landscapearchitecture and development planningcombined with broad based multi-disci-plinary environmental and engineeringconsultancy. Related expertise in sustain-able development, ecology, archaeology,urban capacity studies, transportation,risk assessment, contaminated land reme-diation, air and noise quality assessment.

Roger Evans Associates59-63 High StreetKidlington Oxford OX5 2DNTel: 01865 377 030Fax: 01865 377 050Email: [email protected]: Roger Evans MA (UD) RIBA MRTPI

Specialisms: A specialist urban designpractice providing services throughoutthe UK and abroad. Expertise in urbanregeneration, quarter frameworks anddesign briefs, town centre strategies,movement in towns, master planningand development economics.

Farmingham McCreadiePartnership65 York Place, Edinburgh EH1 3JDTel: 0131 525 8400Fax: 0131 525 8484Email: [email protected]: Donald McCreadie

Specialisms: Fully integrated multi-disciplinary practice which specialises indelivering a high quality service inMasterplanning, Urban Design,Landscape Design, DevelopmentPlanning, Architecture, SustainableDesign and Energy Efficient Buildingsand transportation – from inceptionthrough to implementation andmanagement.

Terry Farrell and Partners7 Hatton Street London NW8 8PLTel: 020 7258 3433Fax: 020 7723 7059Email: [email protected]: www.terryfarrell.comContact: Maggie Jones

Specialisms: Architectural, urban design,planning and masterplanning services.New buildings, refurbishment,conference/exhibition centres, artgalleries, museums, studios, theatres andvisitor attractions: offices, retail, housing,industry, railway infrastructure anddevelopment.

FaulknerBrownsDobson House Northumbrian WayNewcastle upon Tyne NE12 0QWTel: 0191 268 3007Fax: 0191 268 5227Email: [email protected]: Andrew Macdonald BA(Hons)Dip Arch (Dist) RIBA

Specialisms: Architectural designservices from inception to completion:Stages A-M RIBA Plan of Work.Expertise in transport, urban design,masterplanning, commercial and leisureprojects. Interior and furniture design.CDM-planning supervisors.

Faulks Perry Culley and RechLockington Hall, Lockington,Derby DE74 2RHTel: 01509 672772Fax: 01509 674565Email: [email protected]: www.fpcr.co.ukContact: Tim Jackson

Specialisms: Integrated design andenvironmental practice of architects,landscape architects, urban designersand ecologists. Specialists inmasterplanning, urban and mixed useregeneration, development frameworks,EIA’s and public inquiries. 45 yearsexperience of working extensivelythroughout the UK and overseas.

FIRA Landscape Ltd.Jewellery Business Centre,95 Spencer Street, Birmingham B18 6DATel: 0121 523 1033Fax: 0121 523 1034Email: [email protected]: Sue Radley

Specialisms: The practice, formed in1976, has a tradition of quality andexcellence. Specialisations include urbandesign and townscape improvements,healthcare projects including landscapetherapy, major office headquarters andlight rail transportation.

Fitzroy Robinson Ltd46 Portland Place, London W1N 3DGTel: 020 7636 8033Fax: 020 7580 3996Email: [email protected]: Alison Roennfeldt

Specialism: Fitzroy Robinson is aninternationally established firm ofarchitects who work primarily, thoughnot exclusively, in the workplace, retail,hospitality, residential andmasterplanning sectors.

4D Landscape DesignPO Box 554, Bristol, BS99 2AXTel: 0117 942 7943Fax: 0117 914 6038Email: [email protected]: Michelle Lavelle

Specialisms: Our design decisions arenot based on any systematisedapproach, rather a considered responseto the client, brief, site and budget. Weendeavour to create spaces that makepeople feel special.

Framework Architecture andUrban Design140 Burton RoadLincoln LN1 3LWTel: 01522 535383Fax: 01522 535363Email: [email protected]: Gregg Wilson

Specialisms: Architecture and urbandesign. The fundamental approach ofthe practice is charactised by itscommitment to the broader builtenvironment. Work is born out of aninterest in the particular dynamic of aplace and the design opportunitiespresented.

GillespiesEnvironment by DesignGLASGOW Tel: 0141 332 6742Fax: 0141 332 3538Email: [email protected]: Brian M EvansMANCHESTER Tel: 0161 928 7715Fax: 0161 927 7680Email: [email protected]: Fraser TealOXFORD Tel: 01865 326789Fax: 01865 327070Email: [email protected]: Paul F Taylor

Specialisms: Urban design, landscapearchitecture, architecture, planning,environmental assessment, planningsupervisors and project management.

GMW PartnershipPO Box 1613, 239 Kensington HighStreet, London W8 6SLTel: 020 7937 8020Fax: 020 7937 5815 Email: [email protected]: www.gmw-architects.comContact: Terry Brown

Specialisms: Land developmentappraisals. Urban planning andregeneration strategies. Formulation ofdevelopment and design briefs includingpackaging to suit appropriate fundingstrategies. Master plan design studies.Architecture and design managementskills relevant to project partnering,framework agreements and multi-disciplinary teamwork.

Greater London Consultants127 Beulah Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8JJTel: 020 8768 1417Fax: 020 8771 9384Email: [email protected]: Dr John Parker Dip Arch ARIBADipTP FRTPI FRSA

Specialisms: Town planning,architecture, urban design andconservation related to: traffic schemes,pedestrians, townscape, security, towncentres, master plans, marinadevelopment and environmental impactassessment.

Halcrow Group Ltd44 Brook GreenHammersmith, London W6 7BYTel: 020 7603 1618Fax: 020 7603 5783Email: [email protected]: www.halcrow.comContact: Asad A Shaheed BA ArchMArch

Specialisms: Award winning urbandesign consultancy, integratingplanning, transport and environment.Full development cycle coveringfeasibility, concept, design andimplementation.

Halpern PartnershipThe Royle Studios, 41 Wenlock Road,London N1 7SGTel: 020 7251 0781Fax: 020 7251 9204Email: [email protected]: www.halpern.uk.comContact: Greg Cooper DipTP DipUDMRTPI

Specialisms: Multi-disciplinary practicefocussed on producing urban design,planning and architectural solutions forthe metropolitan areas.

Hankinson Duckett AssociatesLandscape Studio, Reading RoadLower Basildon. Reading RG8 9NETel: 01491 872185Fax: 01491 874109Email: [email protected]: Ian Hankinson Dip ArchMoira Hankinson B Sc(Hons) DipLD FLIBrian Duckett B Sc(Hons) M Phil MLI

Specialisms: An environmental planningconsultancy with landscape architects,architects and ecologists, providing acomprehensive approach which addsvalue through innovative solutions.Development planning, new settlements,environmental assessment, re-use ofredundant buildings.


GL Hearn PlanningLeonard House, 5-7 Marshalsea Road,London SE1 1EPTel: 020 7450 4000Fax: 020 7450 4010Email: [email protected]: David Beardmore

Specialisms: Masterplans anddevelopment briefs for new communitiesand brownfield sites; urban designframework studies; fine grain studiesaddressing public realm design andimprovement. Specialists in retail andeconomic regeneration.

Holmes Partnership 89 Minerva Street, Glasgow G3 8LETel: 0141 204 2080Fax: 0141 204 2082Email: [email protected]: Harry Phillips

Specialisms: Urban design, planning,renewal, development and feasibilitystudies. Sustainability and energyefficiency. Commercial, industrial,residential, health care, education,leisure, conservation and restoration.

Huntingdon Associates Ltd50 Huntingdon Road, London N2 9DUTel: 020 8444 8925Fax: 020 8444 9610Email: [email protected]: Neil Parkyn MA Dip Arch RIBADip TP (Dist) MRTPI FRSA

Specialisms: Civic Design, public realmplanning, feasibility studies,development briefs, masterplanning, siteassessment and technical reports,backed by 30 years of experience in 15countries.

David Huskisson Associates17 Upper Grosvenor RoadTunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2DUTel: 01892 527828Fax: 01892 510619Email: [email protected]: Rupert Lovell

Specialisms: Landscape consultancyoffering master planning, streetscape andurban park design, landscape designand implementation, estate restoration,environmental impact assessments andexpert witness. Quality assured practice.

Hyder Consulting Ltd29 Bressenden PlaceVictoria London SW1E 5DZTel: 020 7316 6000Fax: 020 7316 6138Email: [email protected]: David Wilson

Specialisms: Urban design andregeneration expertise within a multi-disciplinary infrastructure engineeringconsultancy. Specialists in strategicplans, streetscape and public open spacedesign and implementation, impactassessments, consultation and actionplanning. 80 offices in 23 countries.

Hyland Edgar DriverFurzehall Farm, Wickham Road,Fareham, Hants, PO16 7JHTel: 01329 826616Fax: 01329 826138Email: [email protected] Website: www.heduk.comContact: John Hyland

Specialisms: Hyland Edgar Driver offersinnovative problem solving, driven bycost efficiency and sustainability,combined with imagination andcoherent asethetic of the highest quality.

Intelligent Space68 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3JTTel: 020 7739 9729Fax: 020 7739 9547Email: [email protected]: Elspeth Duxbury

Specialisms: Planning analysis andsupport, pedestrian modelling, GIS andspecialists in retail and urbanmasterplanning.

Koetter, Kim & Associates (UK) Ltd71 Kingsway, London WC2B 6STTel: 020 7404 3377Fax: 020 7404 3388 Email: [email protected]: www.koetterkim.comContact: David Chapman

Specialisms: KKA is pre-eminent in theplanning movement of new urbanism,which seeks to enhance the sense ofplace, historical context and culturalcontinuity in the city.

KPF13 Langley Street, London WC2H 9JGTel: 020 7836 6668Fax: 020 7497 1175 Email: [email protected]: www.kpf.co.ukContact: Marjorie Rodney

Specialisms: Architecture, urban planning,space planning, programming, buildinganalysis, interior design, graphic design.

Landscape Design Associates17 Minster PrecinctsPeterborough PE1 1XXTel: 01733 310471 Fax: 01733 53661Email: [email protected]: Robert TregayOxford Tel: 01865 887050Fax: 01865 887055Email: [email protected]: Roger GreenwoodExeter Tel 01392 411 300Fax: 01392 411 308Email: [email protected]

Specialisms: Urban design, urbanregeneration, developmentmasterplanning, public realm strategiesand town centre appraisals. developmentbriefing, design guidance, designenabling and community initiatives.

Land Use Consultants43 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JDTel: 020 7383 5784Fax: 020 7383 4798Email: [email protected]: www.landuse.co.ukContact: Mark Lintell

Specialisms: Urban regeneration,landscape design, masterplanning,sustainable development, land useplanning, EIA, SEA in UK and overseas.Offices in London, Glasgow, Bristol.

Latham ArchitectsSt. Michael’s Queen StDerby DE1 3SUTel: 01332 365777Fax: 01332 290314Email: [email protected]: Derek Latham Dip Arch RIBADip TP MRTPI Dip LD MLI IHBC IHI FRSA

Specialisms: The creative reuse of landand buildings. Planning, landscape andarchitectural expertise. Town and citycentres, national parks, conservationareas, listed buildings, combining thenew with the old. Master planning,development proposals, EIAs.

Levitt Bernstein Associates Ltd1 Kingsland Passage, LondonTel: 020 7275 7676Fax: 020 7275 9348Email: [email protected]: www.levittbernstein.co.ukContact: Patrick Hammill

Specialisms: Levitt Bernstein areacknowledged leaders in the fields ofurban renewal, housing and buildingsfor the arts and winners of manyawards. Services offered include UrbanDesign, Master Planning, FullArchitectural Service, Lottery Grant BidAdvice, Interior Design, Urban RenewalConsultancy and Landscape Design.

Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Ltd14 Regent’s Wharf, All Saints StLondon N1 9RLTel: 020 7837 4477Fax: 020 7837 2277Email: [email protected](also Newcastle upon Tyne & Cardiff)Contact: Nick Thompson BA BPI MA(UrbDes) MRTPI

Specialisms: Independent planningconsultancy, analytical and creative.masterplans, heritage/conservationstudies, visual appraisal, urbanregeneration, residential, town centres,sunlight/daylight studies.

Liz Lake AssociatesWilliam Robinson BuildingsWoodfield TerraceStansted Mountfitchet, EssexCM24 8AJTel: 01279 647 044Fax: 01279 813 566Email: [email protected]: www.lizlake.com Contact: Matt Lee

Specialism: Urban fringe/brownfieldsites where we can provide an holisticapproach to urban design, landscape,and ecological issues to provide robustdesign solutions.

Arnold Linden: Chartered Architect54 Upper Montagu St, London W1H 1FPTel: 020 7723 7772Fax: 020 7723 7774Contact: Arnold Linden RIBA Dip Arch Dip TP

Specialisms: Integrated regeneration,through the participation in the creativeprocess of the community and the publicat large, of streets, buildings and places.

Livingston Eyre Associates 35-42 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3PDTel: 020 7739 1445Fax: 020 77729 2986Email: [email protected]: Laura Stone

Specialisms: Landscape architecture,urban design, public housing, health,education, heritage, sports.

Llewelyn-DaviesBrook House 2 Torrington PlaceLondon WC1E 7HNTel: 020 7637 0181Fax: 020 7637 8740Email: [email protected]: Simon Gray

Specialisms: Architecture, planning, urbandesign, development and masterplanning;urban regeneration, town centre andconservation studies; urban design briefs,landscape and public realm strategies.

David Lock Associates Ltd50 North Thirteenth Street Central MiltonKeynes Milton Keynes MK9 3BPTel: 01908 666276Fax: 01908 605747Email: [email protected]: Will Cousins DipArch DipUD RIBA

Specialisms: Planning, urban design,architecture, land use and transportationplanning. Urban regeneration, urbanand suburban mixed use projectsincluding town and city centres, urbanexpansion areas, new settlements andhistoric districts. Strategic planningstudies, area development frameworks,development briefs, design guidelines,masterplanning, implementationstrategies, environmental statements andpublic inquiries.

Derek Lovejoy Partnership8-11 Denbigh Mews, London SW1V2HQTel: 020 7828 6392Fax: 020 7630 6958Also in Edinburgh Tel: 0131 226 3939and Birmingham Tel: 0121 329 7976Email: [email protected]: Jo Hammond

Specialisms: Specialist internationalmasterplanning, planning, landscapearchitecture and urban design practice,creating value by offering acomprehensive, imaginative andsustainable approach to public andprivate urban regeneration projects.

Lyons + Sleeman + HoareNero Brewery, Cricket GreenHartley Wintney, Hook, HampshireRG27 8QATel: 01252 844144Fax: 01252 844800Email: [email protected]: Colin Darby BSc DipTPDip Urban Design MRTPI

Specialisms: Architecture, planning,master planning, urban design –commercial practice covering broadspectrum of work – particularly design ofbuildings and spaces in urban andhistoric contexts.

MacCormac Jamieson Prichard9 Heneage Street,Spitalfields, London E1 5LJTel: 020 7377 9262Fax: 020 7247 7854Email: [email protected]: www.mjparchitects.co.ukContact: David Prichard DipArch (Lond)RIBA

Specialisms: Range from majormasterplans to small bespoke buildings.We have designed acclaimedcontemporary buildings for historiccentres of London, Cambridge, Oxford,Bristol and Durham. In Dublin, ourBallymun Regeneration masterplan wonthe Irish Planning Institute’s PlanningAchievement Award.

Macgregor SmithThe Malthouse, Sydney BuildingsBath BA2 6BZTel: 01225 464690Fax: 01225 429962Email: [email protected]: Jan Webb, Practice Manager

Specialisms: A broad based landscape/urban design practice with considerableexperience of masterplanning, detaildesign for construction, EIA work andurban regeneration studies, withparticular emphasis on high qualityprestige landscape schemes.


Andrew Martin AssociatesCroxton’s Mill Little WalthamChelmsford Essex CM3 3PJTel: 01245 361611Fax: 01245 362423Email: [email protected]: www.amaplanning.comContact: Andrew MartinRichard Hall

Specialisms: Strategic, local andmasterplanning, urban design, projectcoordination and implementation,development briefs and detailed studies,historic buildings, conservation andurban regeneration and all forms ofenvironmental impact assessment.

Mason Richards Planning 155 Aztec West AlmondsburyBristol BS32 4NGTel: 01454 853000Fax: 01454 858029Email: [email protected]:www.masonrichardsplanning.co.ukContact: Roger Ayton

Specialisms: Sustainable strategies forresidential and commercialdevelopment: brownfield regeneration,site promotion, developmentframeworks: detail design andimplementation: development guides,design statements and plan enquiries forpublic and private sector.

Matrix 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJTel: 020 7250 3945Fax: 020 7336 0467Email : [email protected] Contact: Matt Lally

Specialism: Matrix Partnership providesa fully integrated approach to urbandesign - combining planning,architecture and landscape. Work isfocused on masterplans, regenerationstrategies, development briefs, siteappraisals, urban capacity studies,design guides, building codes andconcept visualisations.

Tony Meadows Associates40-42 Newman Street London W1P 3PATel: 020 7436 0361Fax: 020 7436 0261Email: [email protected]: Tony Meadows

Specialisms: TMA specialise in resolvingthe urban design implications oftransport infrastructure projects,enhancing the existing and integratingthe new in an appropriate andcontemporary way.

Miller Hughes Associates LtdOld Post Office Mews, South Pallant,Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1XPTel: 01243 774748Fax: 01243 532214Email: [email protected]: www.miller-hughes.co.ukContact: David Aplin

Specialisms: We are committed to thedelivery of urban solutions whichrecognise cultural diversity andmaximise social and economic benefitswithin a connected community.

Willie Miller Urban Design & Planning20 Victoria Crescent RoadGlasgow G12 9DDTel: 0141 339 5228Fax: 0141 357 4642Email: [email protected]: Willie Miller Dip TP Dip UDMRTPI

Specialisms: Conceptual, strategic anddevelopment work in urban design,masterplanning, urban regeneration,environmental strategies, design anddevelopment briefs, townscape auditsand public realm studies.

Moore Piet + Brookes33 Warple MewsWarple Way London W3 ORXTel: 020 8735 2990Fax: 0208 735 2991Email: [email protected]: Peter Piet

Specialism: Regenerating the publicrealm environment to enhance thequality of people's lives: strategies,masterplans, community participation,design guides, imaging and legibility.Implementation of town centre,streetscape, park, waterway,environmental and business areaimprovements.

Murray O’Laoire Architects Fumbally Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8 Tel: 00 353 1 453 7300 Fax: 00 353 1 453 4062 Email: [email protected] Website: www.murrayolaoire.com Contact: Sean O’Laoire

Specialisms: TRANSFORM is MurrayO’Laoire Architects’ urban and designplanning unit. This multi-disciplinaryunit synthesises planning, urban design,architect and graphic design to produceinnovative solutions in comprehensivemaster planning, urban regeneration,strategic planning and sustainabledevelopment.

MWA PartnershipTweskard Mews, 313 Belmont RoadBelfast BT4 2NETel: 028 9076 8827Fax: 028 9076 8400Email: [email protected]: John Eggleston

Specialisms: The planning and design ofthe external environment from feasibilitystage through to detail design,implementation and future management.

Nicholas de Jong Associates39 Sydenham Villas Road, CheltenhamGL52 6EETel: 01242 511071Fax: 01242 226351Email: [email protected]: www.dejong.uk.comContact: Nicholas de Jong

Specialisms: Landscape planning andurban design.

NJBA Architects & UrbanDesigners4 Molesworth Place, Dublin 2Tel: 00 353 1 678 8068Fax: 00 353 1 678 8066Email: [email protected]:http://homepage.eircom.net/~njbrady1Contact: Noel J Brady Dip ArchSMArchS MRIAI

Specialisms: Integrated landscapes,urban design, town centres and squares,strategic design and planning.

NOVO Architects2 Meard St., London WIV 3HRTel: 020 7734 5558 Fax: 020 7734 8889Contact: Tim Poulson

Specialisms: Urban design andmasterplanning, creative and innovativedesign solutions for brownfield and othercomplex sites to realise single or mixeduse development opportunities.

Terence O’Rourke plcEverdene HouseWessex Fields Deansleigh RoadBournemouth BH7 7DUTel: 01202 421142Fax: 01202 430055Email: [email protected]: Terence O’Rourke DipArch DipTP RIBA MRTPI

Specialisms: Town planning,masterplanning, urban design,architecture, landscape architecture,ecology and environmental assessment.Urban regeneration, town centre studies,new settlements and complex urbandesign problems.

PMPWellington House, 8 Upper St. MartinsLane, London WC2H 9DLTel: 020 7836 9932Fax: 020 7497 5689Email: [email protected]: Tessa O’Neill

Specialisms: Medium sixed practicespecialising in retail and urbanarchitecture, interior design and projectmanagement.

Pollard Thomas & EdwardsArchitectsDiespeker Wharf 38, Graham Street,London N1 8JXTel: 020 7336 7777Fax: 020 7336 0770Email: [email protected]: www.ptea.co.ukContact: Stephen Chance

Specialisms: Masterplanners, urbandesigners, developers, architects, listedbuilding and conservation areadesigners; specialising in inner citymixed-use high density regeneration.

Pringle Brandon10 Bonhill Street, London EC2A 4QJTel: 020 7466 1000Fax: 020 7466 1050 Email: [email protected]: Alison Anslow

Specialisms: Offices, hotels, workplacedesign.

The Project CentreSaffron Court14b St Cross StreetLondon EC1N 8XATel: 020 7421 8222Fax: 020 7421 8199Email: [email protected]: www.theprojectcentre.comContact: Mark Templeton

Specialisms: Multi-disciplinaryconsultancy providing quality servicesincluding landscape architecture, urbandesign, urban regeneration, streetlighting design, planning supervision,traffic and transportation, parking,highway design, traffic signal designand road safety audits.

PRP ArchitectsFerry Works Summer RdThames Ditton Surrey KT7 0QJTel: 020 8339 3600Fax: 020 8339 3636Email: [email protected]: Peter Phippen

Specialisms: Multi-disciplinary practiceof architects, planners, urban designersand landscape architects, specialising inhousing, urban regeneration, health,special needs, education and leisureprojects.

Quartet DesignThe ExchangeLillingstone Dayrell Bucks MK18 5APTel: 01280 860 500Fax: 01280 860 468Email: [email protected]: David Newman

Specialisms: Landscape Architects,architects and urban designers with wideexperience of masterplanning, hardlandscape projects in urban areas andachieving environmental sustainabilityobjectives.

Randall Thorp 105/7 Princess St. Manchester M1 6DDTel: 0161 228 7721Fax: 0161 236 9839Email: [email protected]: Pauline Randall

Specialisms: Masterplanning for newdevelopments and settlements,infrastructure design for newdevelopments and urban renewal,design guides and design briefing,public participation and public inquiries.

Random Greenway Architects3a Godstone Road,Caterham, Surrey CR3 6RETel: 01883 346 441Fax: 01883 346 936Email:[email protected]: R Greenway

Specialisms: Architecture, planning andurban design. New build, regeneration,refurbishment and restoration.

Anthony Reddy AssociatesDartry Mills, Dartry RoadDublin 6Tel: 00 353 1 498 7000Fax: 00 353 1 498 7001Email: [email protected]: www.anthonyreddy.comContact: Tony Reddy / Brian O’Neill

Specialisms: Architecture, planning,urban design, project management.Masterplanning, DevelopmentFrameworks, Urban Regeneration, TownCentre Renewal, Residential, and MixedUse Development.

RMJM83 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NQTel: 020 7251 5588Fax: 020 7250 3131Email: [email protected]: www.rmjm.comContact: Bill Grimwade

Specialisms: International architects andurban designers with a strong trackrecord in the masterplanning, designand implementation of majordevelopments and individual buildings.


John Rose AssociatesThe Old Pump House, MiddlewoodRoad, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1SHTel: 01625 873356Fax: 01625 859459Email: [email protected]: Colin Parry

Specialisms: We have an enviablerecord of success including: developmentappraisals and strategies. Developmentplan representation and review. Planningappeals, enforcement and negotiation.Urban design, master planning andconservation. Urban capacity studies.

Rothermel Thomas 14-16 Cowcross St., London EC1M 6DGTel: 020 7490 4255Fax: 020 7490 1251Email: [email protected]: Anne Thomas

Specialisms: Urban design,conservation, historic buildings,planning, architecture. Design input in collaboration withdevelopers/architects. Expert witness atplanning inquiries.

Jon Rowland Urban Design65 Hurst Rise Road, Oxford OX2 9HETel: 01865 863642Fax: 01865 863502Email: [email protected]: www.jrud.co.ukContact: Jon Rowland AADipl MA RIBA

Specialisms: Urban design, urbanregeneration, development frameworks,site appraisals, town centre studies,design guidance, public participationand master planning.

RPS Planning Transport &Environment118 Southwark StreetLondon, SE1 OSWTel: 0207 928 1400Fax: 0207 928 5631Email: [email protected]: Colin Pullan 71 Milton Park, AbingdonOxon, OX14 4RXTel: 01235 838 200Fax: 01235 838 225Email: [email protected]: Jonathan Dixon Fairwater House, 1 High St, Wroughton, Swindon, SN4 9JXTel: 01793 814 800Fax: 01793 814 818Email: [email protected]: Mike Carr

Part of the RPS Group providing a widerange of urban design services includingmasterplanning, regeneration,architecture, and environmentalplanning throughout the UK and Ireland

RTKL-UK Ltd22 Torrington PlaceLondon WC1E 7HPTel: 020 7306 0404Fax: 020 7306 0405Email: [email protected]: www.rtkl.comContact: Gregory A Yager

Specialisms: Multidisciplinary practice ofurban designers, planners, architectsand environmental designers withexpertise in urban regeneration, mixeduse developent, urban residential design,master and corporate masterplanning.

Scott Brownrigg & TurnerLangton Priory Portsmouth RoadGuildford Surrey GU2 5WATel: 01483 568686Fax: 01483 575830Email: [email protected]: Stephen Marriott

Specialisms: Value added and design ledapproach to architecture, planning,urban design and interior architecture.Experienced in large scale commercialmixed use masterplans with the resourcesand ability to realise our concepts.

Scott Wilson3 Foxcombe Court, Wyndyke Furlong, Abingdon Oxfordshire, OX14 1DZTel: 01235 849 710Contact: Louise Thomas / Ken JoresEmail: [email protected]

International multidisciplinaryconsultancy, also in London, Edinburgh,with 12 offices in UK. Integrated designservices-masterplanning, urban design,landscape architecture, architecture,town and environmental planning,tourism and leisure, plus transportation,railways, airports, ports environmentand cad flythrough.

Sheils Flynn LtdBank House High Street, Docking,Kings Lynn PE31 8NHTel: 01485 518304Fax: 01485 518303Email: [email protected]: Eoghan Sheils

Specialisms: Creative urban designtaken from conception toimplementation. Award winning towncentre regeneration schemes, urbanstrategies and design guidance.Specialists in community consultationand team facilitation.

Shepheard Epstein and HunterPhoenix Yard 65 King’s RoadLondon WC1X 9LNTel: 020 7841 7500Fax: 020 7841 7575Email: [email protected]: George Georgiou

Specialisms: The provision of servicesrelated to architecture, planning,landscape architecture and the CDMregulations.

Sheppard Robson77 ParkwayCamden Town, London NW1 7PUTel: 020 7504 1700Fax: 020 7504 1701Email: [email protected]: www.sheppardrobson.comContact: Nick Spall

Specialisms: Planners, urban designersand architects. Strategic planning, urbanregeneration, development planning,town centre renewal, public realmplanning, new settlement planning,tourism development. Associated officesacross USA.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Inc.30 Millbank London SW1P 3SDTel: 020 7798 1000Fax: 020 7798 1100Email: [email protected] Chicago, New York, Washington,San Francisco, LA, Hong KongContact: Roger Kallman

Specialisms: International multi-disciplinary practice. Master Planning,Landscape Architecture, CivilEngineering and Urban Design. Urbanregeneration schemes, business parkmaster plans, university campus,transportation planning. Associatedservices: environmental impactassessments, design guidelines,infrastructure strategies.

Smith Scott Mullan Associates378 Leith Walk Edinburgh EH7 4PFTel: 0131 555 1414Fax: 0131 555 1448Email: [email protected]: Eugene Mullan BSc Hons DipArch ARIAS RIBA MSc UD

Specialisms: Architects and urbandesigners dedicated to producing highquality design solutions for our clients.Particular experience of working withcommunities in the analysis, design andimprovement of their urban environment.

Soltys: Brewster Consulting87 Glebe Street, Penarth Vale of Glamorgan CF64 1EFTel: 029 2040 8476Fax: 029 2040 8482Email: [email protected]: www.soltysbrewster.co.ukContact: Mr Simon Brewster

Specialisms: Assessment: design:planning, UK & Ireland. Expertiseincludes urban design, master plans,design strategies, visual impact,environmental assessment, regenerationof urban space, landscape design andproject management. Award winningdesign and innovation.

Space Syntax11 Riverside Studios28 Park St, London SE1 9EQTel: 020 7940 0000Fax: 020 7940 0005Email: [email protected]: Tim Stonor MSc DipArch RIBA

Specialisms: Spatial masterplanning andresearch-based design; movement,connectivity, integration, regeneration,safety and interaction. Strategic designand option appraisal to detailed designand in-use audits.

TACP10 Park Grove, Cardiff, CF1 3BN Tel: 029 2022 8966Fax: 029 2039 4776Email: [email protected]: Gareth D West, Hilary F Morgan

Specialisms: An inter-disciplinarypractice in Cardiff and Wrexham withan associated office TACP Design inLiverpool. A range of in-housedisciplines and consultancy servicesincluding architecture, landscapearchitecture, highway design andplanning, reclamation, urban designand conservation architecture, planning,quantity surveying and interior design.

Taylor Young Urban DesignChadsworth HouseWilmslow RoadHandforth Cheshire SK9 3HPTel: 01625 542200Fax: 01625 542250Email:[email protected]: Stephen Gleave MA DipTP(Dist) DipUD MRTPI

Specialisms: Urban Design, Planningand Development. Public and PrivateSectors. Town studies, housing,commercial, distribution, health andtransportation are current projects.Specialist in Urban Design Training.

Tetlow King GroupLone Barn Studios, Stanbridge Lane,Romsey, Hants SO51 OHETel: 01794 517333Fax: 01794 515517Email: [email protected]: Melvyn King MA (UrbanDesign) MSAI MCIOB FRSA

Specialisms: Multi disciplinary practiceincorporating urban design,architecture, town planning andlandscape. Specialising in urban designstrategies in Master Planning andDevelopment Frameworks for both newdevelopment areas and urbanregeneration.

WynThomasGordonLewis Ltd21 Park PlaceCardiff CF10 3DQTel: 029 2039 8681Fax: 029 2039 5965Email: [email protected]: Gordon Lewis

Specialisms: Urban design, townplanning, economic development,architecture and landscape architecturefor public and private sector clients.Regeneration and developmentstrategies, public realm studies,economic development planning, masterplanning for urban and rural locationsand brownfield land redevelopment.

John Thompson and Partners77 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6BPTel: 020 7251 5135Fax: 020 7251 5136Email: [email protected]: John ThompsonMA DipArch RIBA

Specialisms: Multidisciplinary practice,working throughout the UK and Europe,specialising in architecture, urban designand masterplanning, urbanregeneration, new settlements andcommunity consultation; addressing theproblems of physical, social andeconomic regeneration throughcollaborative interdisciplinarycommunity based planning.

Tibbalds TM2Long Lane Studios, 142-152 Long Lane,London SE1 4BSTel: 020 7407 8811Fax: 020 7407 8822Email: [email protected]: Andrew Karski BA (Hons) MSc(Econ) FRTPI

Specialisms: Multi-disciplinary practiceof architects, planners, urban designers,landscape designers, tourism specialistsand interior architects. The firm providesconsultancy services to institutional,public sector and corporate clients.


Todd Architects & Planners 41-43 Hill Street, Belfast BT1 2PBTel: 028 9024 5587Fax: 028 9023 3363Email: [email protected]: Mrs Paula Gibson

Specialisms: Architecture, urban design,project management, interior design,planning supervision

Turnbull Jeffrey PartnershipSandeman House 55 High StreetEdinburgh EH1 1SRTel: 0131 557 5050Fax: 0131557 5064Email: [email protected]: Geoff Whitten BA(Hons) MLI,Karen Esslemont BA(Hons) MLI Dip UD

Specialisms: Award winning design ledLandscape Architect practice. Expertise:Landscape architecture, urban design,masterplanning. Landscape design andimplementation; environmental/visualimpact assessment; urban regeneration;environmental strategies

Stuart Turner Associates12 Ledbury Great LinfordMilton Keynes MK14 5DSTel: 01908 678672Fax: 01908 678715Email: [email protected]: www.studiost.demon.co.ukContact: Stuart Turner Dip Arch (Oxford)Dip UD (PCL) RIBA

Specialisms: Architecture, urban designand environmental planning, the designof new settlements, urban regenerationand site development studies forcommercial and housing uses.

Tweed Nuttall WarburtonChapel House City RoadChester CH1 3AETel: 01244 310388Fax: 01244 325643Email: [email protected]: John Tweed B Arch RIBA FRSA

Specialisms: Architecture and UrbanDesign, Masterplanning. Urbanwaterside environments. Communityteamwork enablers. Design guidanceand support for rural village appraisals.Visual impact assessments and designsolutions within delicate conservationenvironments.

Urban Design Futures97c West BowEdinburgh EH1 2JPTel: 0131 226 4505Fax: 0131 226 4515Email: [email protected]: www.urbandesignfutures.co.ukContact: Selby Richardson DipArchDipTP MSc ARIAS MRTPI

Specialisms: Innovative urban design,planning and landscape practicespecialising in masterplanning, newsettlements, urban regeneration, townand village studies, public space design,environmental improvements, designguidelines, community involvement,landscape design and management.

Urban Initiatives35 Heddon Street London W1B 4BPTel: 020 7287 3644Fax: 020 7287 9489Email: [email protected]: www.urbaninitiatives.co.ukContact: Kelvin Campbell BArch RIBA MRTPI MCIT FRSA

Specialisms: Urban design, transportation,regeneration, development planning.

Urban Innovations1st Floor Wellington Buildings2 Wellington Street, Belfast BT16HTTel: 02890 435 060 Fax: 02890 321 980Email: [email protected]: Tony Stevens and Agnes Brown

Urban Innovations provides specialisedurban and building design services to alimited range of top quality clients whoneed confidential, creative and lateralthinking applied to their projects. Thepartnership provides not only feasibilitystudies and assists in site assembly forcomplex projects but also provides fullarchitectural services for major projects.The breadth of service provided includeskeen commercial awareness, which isessential to achieving creative solutionsand for balancing design quality withmarket requirements.

Urban Practitioners70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJTel: 020 7253 2223Fax: 020 7253 2227Email: [email protected]: Antony Rifkin

Specialisms: Specialist competitionwinning urban regeneration practicecombining economic and urban designskills. Projects include W. EalingNeighbourhood Regeneration Strategy,Plymouth East End Renewal Masterplan,Walthamstow Urban Design Strategy.

Urban Splash Projects Ltd56 Wood Street Liverpool L1 4AQTel: 0151 707 1493Fax: 0151 798 0479Email: [email protected]: Jonathan FalkinghamBill Maynard

Specialisms: Property development andinvestment. Project management,implementation and construction.Architecture, interior design and graphicdesign. Multi-discipline urbanregeneration specialists concentrating onbrownfield regeneration projects.

URBED (The Urban and Economic Development Group)41 Old Birley Street HulmeManchester M15 5RFTel: 0161 226 5078Fax: 0161 226 7307Email: [email protected]: David Rudlin BA MSc

Specialisms: Urban design andguidance, masterplanning, sustainability,consultation and capacity building,housing, town centres and urbanregeneration.

Vincent and Gorbing Ltd Sterling Court Norton RoadStevenage Hertfordshire SG1 2JYTel: 01438 316331Fax: 01438 722035 Email: [email protected]:www.vincent-gorbing.co.ukContact: Richard Lewis BA MRTPI

Specialisms: Multi-disciplinary practiceoffering architecture, town planning andurban design services for private andpublic sector clients. Masterplanning,design statements, characterassessments, development briefs,residential layouts and urban capacityexercises.

West & PartnersIsambard House 60 Weston Street,London SE1 3QJTel: 020 7403 1726Fax: 020 7403 6279Email: [email protected]: Michael West

Specialisms: Masterplanning forachievable development within (andsometimes beyond) the creativeinterpretation of socio-economic,physical and political urban parameters:retail, leisure, commercial, residential,listed buildings, expert witness evidence,statutory development plan advice.

White ConsultantsStudio 1Mill Lane Studios, 10 Mill LaneCardiff CF10 1FLTel: 029 2064 0971Fax: 029 2066 4362Email:[email protected]: Simon White MAUD Dip UD(Dist) (Oxford Brookes) Dip LA MLI

Specialisms: A qualified urban designpractice offering a holistic approach tourban regeneration, design guidance,public realm and open space strategiesand town centre studies for the public,private and community sectors.

Whitelaw Turkington LandscapeArchitects354 Kennington Road London SE11 4LDTel: 020 7820 0388Fax: 020 7587 3839Email: [email protected]: Ms L Oliver-Whitelaw

Specialisms: Award winning, design ledpractice specialising in urbanregeneration, streetscape design, publicspace, high quality residential andcorporate landscapes. Facilitators inpublic participation and communityaction planning events.

Denis Wilson PartnershipWindsor House37 Windsor StreetChertsey Surrey KT16 8ATTel: 01932 569566Fax: 01932 569531Email: [email protected]: Les Rivers

Specialisms: DWP provides acomprehensive transport andinfrastructure consultancy servicethrough all stages of developmentprogression, from project conception,through planning, to implementation andoperation. Transport solutions fordevelopment.

CORPORATE INDEX

Broxap LimitedRowhurst Industrial Estate ChestertonNewcastle-under-Lyme Staffs ST5 6BDTel: 01782 564411Fax: 01782 565357Email: [email protected]: Mr R Lee

Specialisms: The design andmanufacture of street furniture, cycle andmotorcycle storage solutions anddecorative architectural metalwork incast iron, mild steel, stainless steel,concrete, timber, Duracast™polyurethane, plastic and recycledplastic.

Island Development CommitteePO Box 43 St. Peter Port GuernseyGY1 1FH Channel IslandsTel: 01481 717000Fax: 01481 717099Email: [email protected]: W Lockwood

Specialisms: The Island DevelopmentCommittee plays a similar role to a localauthority planning department in the UK.

NEP Lighting Consultancy6 Leopold BuildingsUpper Hedgemead RoadBath BA1 5NYTel: 01225 338 937Fax: 01225 338 937Email: [email protected]: Nigel Pollard

Specialisms: Lighting strategies anddetailed designs which co-ordinate streetand architectural lighting to achievecohesive urban nightscapes. ‘NEP’brings together the art and science oflighting.

St George North London Ltd81 High StreetPotters Bar Hertfordshire EN6 5ASTel: 01707 664000Fax: 01707 660006Contact: Stephen Wood

Specialisms: London’s leading residentialdeveloper.


EDUCAT ION INDEX

University of the West ofEngland, BristolFaculty of the Built EnvironmentFrenchay CampusColdharbour Lane Bristol BS16 1QYTel: 0117 965 6261 x3206Fax: 0117 976 3895Contact: Richard Guise

MA/Postgraduate Diploma course inUrban Design. Part time 2 days perfortnight for 2 years, or individualprogramme of study. Project basedcourse addressing urban design issues,abilities and environments.

Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot Watt UniversitySchool of ArchitectureLauriston Place Edinburgh EH3 9DFTel: 0131 221 6175/6072Fax: 0131 221 6154/6006Contact: Leslie Forsyth

Diploma in Architecture and UrbanDesign 9 months full-time. Diploma inUrban Design 9 months full time or 21months part-time. MSc in Urban Design12 months full-time or 36 months part-time. MPhil and PhD by research full andpart-time on and off-campus.

University of GreenwichSchool of Architecture and LandscapeOakfield Lane Dartford DA1 2SZTel: 020 8316 9100Fax: 020 8316 9105Contact: Richard Hayward

MA in Urban Design for postgraduatearchitecture and landscape students, fulltime and part time with creditaccumulation transfer system.

Leeds Metropolitan UniversitySchool of Art, Architecture and DesignBrunswick Terrace Leeds LS2 8BUTel: 0113 283 2600Fax: 0113 283 3190Contact: Edwin Knighton

Master of Arts in Urban Design consistsof 1 year full time or 2 years part time orindividual programme of study. Shorterprogrammes lead to Post GraduateDiploma/Certificate. Project basedcourse focusing on the creation ofsustainable environments throughinterdisciplinary design.

University College LondonDevelopment Planning UnitThe Bartlett 9 Endsleigh Gardens, London WC1H 0EDTel: 020 7388 7581Fax: 020 7387 4541Contact: Babar Mumtaz

M Sc in Building and Urban Design inDevelopment. Innovative, participatoryand responsive design in developmentand upgrading of urban areas throughsocially and culturally acceptable,economically viable and environmentallysustainable interventions.

London School of EconomicsCities Programme, Houghton Street,London WC2A 2AETel: 0207 955 6828Fax: 0207 955 7697Contact: Michelle Langan

We run a MSc in City Design and SocialScience which can be studied full timeover a 1 year period or part-time over 2years. The course is designed for socialscientists, engineers and architects.

University of Newcastle upon TyneDepartment of ArchitectureClaremont Tower, University of NewcastleNewcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RUTel: 0191 222 7802Fax: 0191 222 8811Contact: Tim Townshend

MA/Diploma in Urban Design. Jointprogramme in Dept of Architecture andDept of Town and Country Planning. Fulltime or part time, integrating knowledgeand skills from town planning,architecture, landscape.

Oxford Brookes UniversityJoint Centre for Urban DesignHeadington Oxford OX3 0BPTel: 01865 483403Fax: 01865 483298Contact: Jon Cooper

Diploma in Urban Design 6 months fulltime or 18 months part time. MA inUrban Design 1 year full time or 3 yearspart time. MPhil/PhD by research (fulltime and part time).

Sheffield Hallam UniversitySchool of Environment and DevelopmentCity Campus Howard St.Sheffield S1 1WBTel: 0114 225 2837Fax: 0114 225 3179Contact: Debbie French

MA/PGD/PGC Urban DesignFull and Part-time. A professional andacademic programme to improve thebuilt environment, enabling a higherquality of life and economic growth bysustainable development.

South Bank UniversityLondonFaculty of the Built Environment Wandsworth Road London SW8 2JZTel: 020 7815 7353Fax: 020 7815 7398Contact: Dr Bob Jarvis

PG Cert (Design and Physical Planning)a one year part-time project basedurban design programme in a planningcontext. Includes European basedproject. Flexible timescale for CPD. Canbe extended to PGDip or MA in townplanning (RTPI accredited).

University of StrathclydeDept of Architecture and Building ScienceUrban Design Studies Unit131 Rottenrow Glasgow G4 0NGTel: 0141 552 4400 ext 3011Fax: 0141 552 3997Contact: Dr Hildebrand W Frey

Urban Design Studies Unit offers itsPostgraduate Course in Urban Design inCPD, Diploma and MSc modes. Topicsrange from the influence of the city’s formand structure to the design of publicspaces.

University of Westminster35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LSTel: 020 7911 5000 x3106Fax: 020 7911 5171Contact: Marion Roberts

MA or Diploma Course in Urban Designfor postgraduate architects, townplanners, landscape architects andrelated disciplines. 1 year full time or 2years part time.

Angelheaded HipstersThe discourse that is “urban design” is dominated by academics andprofessionals, speaking conventional tongues of abstraction andconsidered judgment. The “Urban Design Skills Summit” was noexception: agendas, syllabi and research were reported, but little washeard of the experience of learning. My paper Milord, I am from aforeign country partly written in the form of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl offereda personal voice, describing those extra-curricula moments where insighttranscends technical “skills” and remembers those:

who on the corner of New Conduit and Purfleet in the fading Novemberfenlight mists at 5pm, between the Whisky-a-go-go and L’année dernier àMarienbad – wonder on this moment and everyothereveryday like it, andhow the are made,

and so were sent on the last cold steam trains, unbriefed and unpreparedto understand secondary shopping streets and country market towns in thesnow, to seek clues in places,

to plunge into the black and white darkness of the Quayside and the barebulb paper stacked smoke dark Bremen Line offices and urine yards andfrom that cut up spread to diagram the connections of the city,

whose collages and postcards of Carnaby Street and alleyways and vasttin sheds by the by-pass and cathedrals at sunset was refused a mark,except by committee,

and walked with Pete in three wild days: clear wind, cliff beating stormsand fog from Blyth past boarded coffee bars and amusement halls toShields; their report: Not Quite Summer on not quite Bredon was not thelanguage of professional work and would get them nowhere,

who sat on the tea room hardbacked benches, turning Houghton leSpring’s image map into a wondrous mind warped distorted swirl – moreRevolver than Image of the City – and lay there long haired, starry eyedand laughing in the corners,

who sat all those lunchtimes eating pasties on the footsteps of warmemorials, deliberately not revising because they knew even then that thereal subject of planning was everyday life – even though they had nowords for it,

who were told their thesis on LSD and the city would not work and wentback to wander in demolition’s debris behind the Jewish Cemetery, sawthe tides creep up the ferry steps and the snow melting in the gutters andthe market giving way to the Mart and turned all this to a secondhandtheory of constant change,

whose seminar paper began with a drive-by Durham and ended strollingin a twittern in Chichester and asked who was a stranger here and whohad more time than money and was stopped as being irrelevant,

but who came back to turn: those all night drives and mists and running fora bus and waiting on the corner, climbing staircases in daylight andblindfolded and with bags of shopping... each footfall, to fragments of atheory that was never written, checking each wordnormal and all the timea nightschool poet making the night roads into science fiction chanting,

who, years later, speechless at the convention, could only utter theirnames: Boulevards of Coma and Allées of Despair, knowing such listscould never be that sublime moment when the sun touched some magicalalignment and the snow suddenly slipped across the avenue in theabandoned parklands,

who, back in their offices, confronted a babel of incomprehensible codes,everyday rhetorics and technical neologisms, listened to Dave and Chrisand Keith and Andrew and Hugh and Pete talking about special placesand every night and wrote it up, and wrote it again in the first persontelling tales and true stories of love and money and unbuilt dreams andforgotten unnamed local government officers that still raises the question “I didn’t know urban design was like that”.

Bob Jarvis

ENDP I ECE : BOB JARV IS

Urban Design Quarterly / Winter 2002 / Issue 85

Unless otherwise indicated, all LONDON events are held at The Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, London EC1 at 6.30pm. All tickets purchased at the door from 6.00pm £4.00 non-members, £2.00 members, £1.00 students.

Wednesday 15 JanuaryRe:Urbanism Launch – A Challenge for the Urban Summit (book published Nov 2002)This book/lecture is a call for change – focusing on complex urban areas as the new frontierRob Cowan and Kelvin Campbell

Wednesday 19 FebruaryJoint Event with the ICE:A Step in the Right Direction:The London Walking PlanDavid Rowe – Transport for London & Speaker from Transport 2000

Wednesday 19 MarchImpact of Shopping Centre RenewalRoger Evans – Roger Evans Associates &Andrew Ogg, British Council of Shopping Centres

Wednesday 16 AprilPaddington Basin – Talk and Site VisitGraham King – City of WestminsterMeet at Paddington Station at 6.30pm

STUDY TOURS

March 2003Historical Urban DesignStudy Tour to Rome Further details and booking form in UDQDetails: UDSL 01235 833797 or email [email protected]

24 May – 1 June 2003Study Tour to Piedmont Piedmont: Turin, the Langhe and Ligurian hill townsPrice: £575Contact: Alan Stones 01376 562828More information on tthis page, right.

Updates and further events can be found on www.udg.org.uk

D IARY OF EVENTS

Urban Design GroupStudy Tour to Piedmont24th May—1st June 2003

Turin is a city with a Roman history and a baroque plan. Its surroundingsinclude the royal palace of Stupinigi, Juvarra’s baroque pilgrimage churchof Superga and the pioneering modern Fiat factory of the 1920s atLingotto converted by Renzo Piano into a concert venue, conference andexhibition centre.

We shall also be visiting a group of medieval planned towns in theLanghe area: Asti, Alba, Bra and Mondovi. The tour concludes with thestunning Ligurian hill towns of Baiardo, Apricale, Dolceaqua and Triora.

The price of £575 includes rail travel from London, coach travel to the hilltowns and eight nights’ accommodation in tourist class hotels. Furtherinformation is available from Alan Stones, Fullerthorne, Church Street,Kelvedon, Essex CO5 9AH, phone 01376 571351 or e [email protected]

Documents

urban design ISSN 0266-6480 · Welsh Communities and Urban Design, Matthew Griffiths 24 Streets and the Community, Alexandra Rook 26 Public Realm/Public Good, John Hopkins 30 Engaing