Contexts: national guidance, local issues Graham Paul Smith: Urban Design

gpsmith@brookes.ac.uk

Urban Design Summer School

Birmingham, June 2011.

Oxford, Green Rd Roundabout A40, A420 London Road and the Eastern By-Pass Road

Connection as a bad

cars are –- driving is fun

the joy of the open roaddriving cars … causes danger

and connections across the road delay mebest to separate cars from pedestrians

1908 Mr. Toad is very rich and thus able to

indulge his impulsive desires, such as punting, house boating and hot air balloons, and his penchant for Harris tweed suits. He is, however, conceited, self-centred and lacking in basic common sense. His reckless interest in motor cars led to an episode in which he stole a motor car and subsequently crashed it.

www.wdccduckman.com/toad3.htm

Powered by a 2.9-litre, four-cylinder engine with a two-speed transmission, the Model T was simple and reliable, but surprisingly fast for its day. Top speed was around 45mph, with fuel

economy of around 40mpg depending on how the car was driven.

Even today, a Model T is a very comfortable drive and will cover long distances with ease, although its foot-operated transmission and braking on the rear wheels means it takes some

getting used to.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/2753506/Ford-Model-T-reaches-100.html

The Model T did not have a modern service brake. The right foot pedal applied a band around a drum in the transmission, thus stopping the rear wheels from turning. The previously mentioned parking brake lever operated band brakes on the outside of the rear brake drums. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_T_Ford

Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927

And of course, if traffic is like water, it builds up a pressure, it spills over, it becomes uncontrollable, we have to make it easy …to avoid this pressure

And of course journeys are continuous, they can’t be broken up, we have to make it easy … consistent and connected.

… but where people live they should

… and of course, bikes didn’t exist in the 80s …

Connection as a good

…users of the environment have choiceswhen they move it is not like water

their journeys may have different stages, they can stop and start,

they may employ many modes

Connections to the city as a whole

To achieve high permeability to and through the site from the city as a whole, we must connect it via the largest possible number of direct links to the system of main streets: those carrying through traffic linking the various parts of the city. So begin by finding the nearest main streets beyond the boundaries of your site, marking them on a detailed plan to a scale of not less than 1:10,000.

© graham paul smith: urban design 2011

A proposal for the Land at BartonA proposal for the Land at Barton

This ‘tissue mapping exercise’ is to give form to the development area, using a place which is familiar, to enable a debate about design ideas. This exercise is not a design, it is relatively ‘artless’ but it does have the ‘look’ of a place.

The tissues use a simple Ordnance Survey base. It is a ‘cut & paste’ exploration and not a developed design.

© graham paul smith: urban design 2011

© graham paul smith: urban design 2011 Northway, Sunderland Avenue, Oxford © graham paul smith: urban design 2011

© graham paul smith: urban design 2011

© graham paul smith: urban design 2011 © graham paul smith: urban design 2011

© graham paul smith: urban design 2011

To establish ‘connection’ between new and existing areas of housing How many connections are enough ?

- No less than the number of existing (severed) roads … ?

traffic on a road which can seem such a continuous phalanx, is made up of many individual journeys, each one of which is amenable to change

Contexts: national guidance, local issues Graham Paul Smith: Urban Design

gpsmith@brookes.ac.uk

Urban Design Summer School

Birmingham, June 2011.

© graham paul smith: urban design 2011

So about 3,000 to 5,000 vpd leave the Ring Road, 17100; 16500; 16100;  15600 16100;  16400; 16500at Marsh Lane?  Oxfordshire Traffic Flows 2009