Stirling Skills Symposium: Red Team

Stirling Skills Symposium Red Team . If the Place is for the People, People will use the Place


Delivering Better Places for Stirling City Centre

Design Skills Symposium Scotland 2011The Tolbooth, Stirling. 27 September - 29 September

Architecture & Design Scotland, with Stirling Council and Historic Scotland delivered the second annual Design Skills Symposium in Scotland, with support from the Scottish Government (APD), Improvement Services, the Key Agencies Group and the Academy of Urbanism.

Over the two and a half days, 100 delegates explored the issue of ‘Delivering Better Places’ through hands-on design sessions, seminars and masterclasses. Working together in facilitated groups they focused on three areas within Stirling City:

City Centre : Red GroupsThe study area stretches between the castle and the Thistle Shopping Centre. It includes: the esplanade, the Top of The Town, the back walk, the historic town centre streets and the King’s Street area, the vacant and underused spaces a couple of blocks off the historic street axis (including empty historic buildings, underused playspaces and vacant sites). It also includes strategic assets such as the Tolbooth, the former tax office and Municipal buildings.

Eastlands : Blue GroupsThe study area includes the spaces around the rail station, the connections over the railway, the river edges and the MOD lands and its hinterlands, particularly in terms of public access opportunities and future development potential.

City Spine : Green GroupsThe study area includes the area of the A872 from the Craigs Roundabout through the Thistle Centre, bus station, rail station area, the former swimming pool, the current Tesco site off Wallace Street and finally the area around the Causewayhead Roundabout.

PREFACE

Further information about the Skills Symposium can be found at www.designskillsscotland.co.uk


Collaboration

This short summary report brings together the conversations and ideas generated from the four groups of delegates who were asked to look at delivering better places within Stirling’s City Centre. On the last day of the conference these groups agreed to collaborate on a complementary series of stories and ideas which could form part of an overall narrative for how the city centre might develop.

The four groups within this newly branded ‘The Red Team’ each focused on a key placemaking element within the emerging story:

• The Castle and its historic surroundings

• The Street(s) leading down to the station

• The Gateway from the point of arrival at the station

• The Links which bridge between these and the other groups

Each of the following sections summarises their rough notes from the event and provides a flavour of the wide range of exhibits which the groups used to develop their thoughts.

Purpose

Experiencing techniques of collaboration and exploration within and between groups remained a priority throughout the Skills Symposium. The main aim was not the slick presentation of solutions. However, a number of creative themes and pragmatic suggestions did emerge which this short document seeks to capture and share with the City of Stirling.

INTRODUCTION


‘City of Surprises’

The historic centre around Stirling Castle is currently an organic set of disconnected and underused spaces. Promoting these secret places not yet discovered would showcase the whole historic centre, create a legible place that people want to spend more time in, and enrich the heritage value of Stirling.

‘Chapters in a Book’

We propose that the historic centre around Stirling Castle is treated like the chapters in a book. Each part, the Castle, the Street, the Gateway, is a part of the history of the place. To get the whole experience you need to read the whole book – and the font, character, and identity of that book, and those places, are important to the whole experience. This story comes not only from history but also from the experience of the authors, those people who are part of the current narratives of Stirling.

CASTLE : Story

STRENGTHS

strong identityprovides a focushistory/heritagelisted building

landform/viewsevent space setting

people

WEAKNESSES

one/single functionrisk to new users

listed buildinglimited time in outside space

stealing the focus from Stirlingconnections to town

dead at nightpositionweather

OPPORTUNITIES

international brandlots of visitors 380,000connections to town

role of esplanadepromote park and ride

discount community usagenight time activityseasonal lighting

space to sit and enjoy viewslandscape/rock climbing/trails

THREATS

single use approachlack of a coordinated approach

opposition to changelisted building restrictionsroad restrictions/parking

finance/money/investmentpoliticians

risk

Castle : Swot Analysis


CASTLE : Ideas

‘Castle as a Starting Point’

Supporting Stirling’s people and places needs to focus on a number of factors, including land form and views, history and heritage, space and events, and a strong identity. To be a successful total place the people who use the spaces need to be involved: using local knowledge and networks to take ownership and foster stewardship and pride. Such a Forum would involve a wide range of stakeholders in preliminary discussions to gain long term commitment to concepts in principle – and how to take control and get things done.

TIMEFRAME CASTLE PROJECTS PURPOSE

SHORT TERM remove esplanade parking incrementally allow public/event spacepublic open spacedrop off points

improve important viewpointspeople and community development

MEDIUM TERM stop cars coming to the castlepark at city centreget the shuttle bus up for freearrivals, destinations and trailsseasonal trails linked to festivalsgreen networkseasonal lightingdeclutterStirling Forumcastle as a starting point

infrastructure improvementspromote what Stirling has to offerpedestrian friendlystakeholder engagementcommunity ownership

LONG TERM diverse use of bowling greenconnect green with hospital usesmall scale mixed useevents in car park and environsenvironmental landscape and lighting

reinvigorated hospital/bowling greenbringing life and capturing potential


STREET : Story

‘Broken Routes’

How many places is the City Centre? The streets connecting the Castle with the Gateway are distinctive but disjointed broken routes, with a series of existing assets which are not connected. This raises a number of key placemaking questions, particularly around the issue of time : who, when, for how long?

Placemaking Questions

• Who is using it?

• When are they using it?

• How long are they using it?

• What can you see from where?

• Where’s the food?

‘Bringing Life’

We propose using the idea of time as a way of creating interaction between different users and bringing life to the ‘no mans land’ between the Castle and the Gateway. This involves linking new possibilities, introducing new groups, reorientating routes, creating community cohesion, and communicating and marketing these.


STREET : Ideas

‘A Civic Heart’

Connecting these assets and users will need functions to be linked and journeys created which recognise who uses what, when. The delivery of a civic heart will need the active involvement of local people and businesses, input from the local authority, and from housing providers – as well as those key to tourism such as Historic Scotland and the coach companies. This stakeholder involvement will need to extend to the design character, stewardship, and maintenance of the places created.

TIMEFRAME STREET PROJECTS PURPOSE

SHORT TERM shared surface on section of Spittal Street focus on schoolcafé and hotelgarden

improve important viewpointspeople and community development

MEDIUM TERM regeneration of garden/plazaextending boundariesspill out onto streetreduce barriersimprove lightingkiosks for rentcoach company travel place

infrastructure improvementspromote what Stirling has to offerpedestrian friendlystakeholder engagementcommunity ownership

LONG TERM small-scale artisan shops/restaurants- local produceremove tax office buildingnew hotel frontage

reinvigorated hospital/bowling greenbringing life and capturing potential


GATEWAY : Story

‘Beginning of the Story’

The Gateway by the Station should be the beginning of the Stirling story. These disjointed areas need to become useable public spaces which prioritise pedestrians and promote the development of a new civic hub. The Gateway should be the first positive impression of the city and create a sense of arrival. It should create a sense of place with a sense of pride. The station should be inviting and engage with the wider community: the outcome from a visionary exercise with stakeholders.

‘What Stirling has to Offer’

We propose to show that there is more to what Stirling has to offer by creating a place that provides an introduction to the city. A people friendly environment where people wish to linger, with obvious connections into the city centre. A place that is part of the bigger picture.


GATEWAY : Ideas

TIMEFRAME GATEWAY PROJECTS PURPOSE

SHORT TERM dress back of building projection of what view could becommunity events garden tree planting screen decluttered pedestrian barrierstrial increase of pedestrian surface areaevents/multi function space temporary road closures for eventsstreetscape pilotsnew signage and information pointsheritage maps and signagerelocate farmers markettemporary coffee shoppromotional event

declutterdefine routesraise awarenesschange perceptionimprove orientation

MEDIUM TERM reduce traffic access and speedrelocate/reduce size of taxi rank remove roundabout at stationcontinual surface from station and bridgepedestrianised core/raised table water featurefurther tree planting

high quality road/plazaboulevard route to/from gateway

LONG TERM cover over expresswayconnect to bus stationregenerate back ‘frontage’ reduce traffic furthercreate redeveloped street high quality hotel redevelopment high quality frontage redevelopment

enliven/activate streetGateway destination in its own right

‘Incremental Change to the Experience’


LINKS : Story and Ideas

‘A Place to Go’

There are almost 400,000 visitors a year to Stirling Castle, of which less than 20% visit the rest of the city centre. The City of Stirling needs to become somewhere to go in its own right.

KEY AREAS MAKING CONNECTIONS PURPOSE

SHORT TERM heritage/connecting trails/green networkimprove garden asset – quick wincommunity events, festivals, marketspedestianise a clear central spacestrengthen arcade llnks to stationdifferent users (local and tourist)nightime activity/24/7 activitypublic transport usage, trolley busesre-use of vacant shops and buildings – start upsdemolish and create new public square (focus)reduce dominance of coaches – even removeopening up views/clear views to the castleesplanade gathering place – people firstremove 60’s blight/Exchange Sqreinforce best frontages/Exchange Sqresolve espanade management/ownership

legible entrance to city centrecreate central public spaces

MEDIUM TERM a new pedestrian bridgereengineering/redesigning roadrail stations and links/entrance to the city centrecover rail trackscreate formal open space in front of the stationlinear park (eg Madrid)

link with city centre/neighbourhoods

LONG TERM relationships between work, leisure, and mallgreen network high quality hotel redevelopment high quality frontage redevelopment

linking the station and city centrereduce dominance of roadopen views to spine


REFLECTION

‘Delivering Better Places’

Three important approaches were consistently highlighted by the participants in this exercise as being central to the delivery of better places:

1. The participation of all those who manage and use the centre of Stirling.

2. The incremental phasing of small interventions which deliver early wins.

3. The integration of Stirling’s town centre assets into a single destination.

Very few of the ideas explored required major investment. Rather, they focused on the need for collaboration and for making the best use of the assets and resources available.

These outputs will hopefully inform Stirling City’s conversations and reflections on realising the potential of a truly unique and distinct place – and contribute to future actions.

Sam CasselsFacilitator: The Red Team

Stirling Skills Symposium: Red Team

Documents

Transcript of Stirling Skills Symposium: Red Team