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    UrbaN

    DesiGN

    122

    Spring 2012

    Urban Design Group Journal

    ISSN 1750 712x 5.00

    temPorary

    UrbaNism

    URBANDESIGNGROUP

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    News

    UDG News

    The Annual General Meeting o the Urban

    Design Group will take place at 6.00pm on

    Wednesday 20th June 2012 at The Gallery, 70Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ. I you

    would like to stand or election to the UDG

    Executive Committee as a ull or correspond-

    ing member, please contact the UDG Oce by

    6th June.

    UrbaN DesiGN Lit Pitch 100comPetitioNI you happened to get into a lit with a VIP,

    possibly a Secretary o State or Environment

    and Housing (or the equivalent), and had

    three minutes to tell them what urban design

    is, and why it mattered, what would you say?

    We are inviting entries and you will need to

    provide justication or what you are saying,

    without simply making assertions. Please

    avoid jargon, and use no more than 300

    words. The deadline is 1st June 2012 by email

    to [email protected]. There will be

    a 100 prize or the best entry; and ame or

    anyone shortlisted.

    besPoke iNsUraNce scheme orUrbaN DesiGN PracticesWhile the risk o incurring a liability may

    seem remote, it is generally accepted that a

    proessional engaged in any kind o design

    work should maintain Proessional Indem-

    nity insurance (PI). Clients expect to see it in

    place and the cover gives peace o mind, butat what cost? There are dierences between

    policy wordings, and care is needed to ensure

    the correct wording is selected, but beyond

    that, and the choice o appropriate limits

    and excesses, PI cover is largely bought on

    price. The problem has been that the urban

    design discipline has not been recognised by

    the UK insurance market as distinct rom, and

    crucially presenting a lower risk prole than,

    related elds like architecture and town plan-

    ning. Thanks to the discussions by Amanda

    Reynolds, mysel and underwriters, there is

    now a solution available. The results speak

    or themselves. Pilots with a couple o UDG

    members have shown savings o between

    35% and 40%. We can usually obtain a quote

    rom a copy o the renewal orm, so minimal

    additional input is needed to see whether

    such savings would apply to any particular

    practice, large or small. O course, the word-

    ing chosen is appropriate or the proession

    (it is RIBA compliant) and it is oten possible

    to include additional protection, like legal ex-

    penses cover. A small percentage o the pre-

    mium is passed to the Urban Design Group,

    so our on-going good work is supported while

    improving the practices protability. Please

    get in touch or more inormation.

    Robert Huxford

    view rom thechair

    Championing excellent design quality in pub-

    lic realm projects is a notion that could easily

    be overlooked by local authorities given

    current economic pressures. It is hearten-

    ing to see the promotion o design quality in

    the public sector projects or the recent UDG

    Awards, and a fagship public realm project

    come to ruition through the eorts o one

    local authority.

    The fagship project is the transorma-

    tion o Exhibition Road in London, sitting

    within the Royal Borough o Kensington and

    Chelsea, and the City o Westminster. This

    street connects Hyde Park to the heart o

    Kensington and Chelsea, the Natural History

    Museum, residential properties and other

    high prole places, including the Royal AlbertHall.

    The proposal to re-pave the route as a

    single surace was brave and controversial.

    It is now complete and being embraced

    by pedestrians. Car users negotiate warily

    across unamiliar diagonal patterned paving,

    rather than kerb-and-channel and yellow

    paint.

    While not a shared space or surace the

    carriageways, parking spaces and pedestrian

    areas (though not cycle lanes) are separate

    and subtly delineated the uniying paving

    pattern and increased pedestrian space gives

    greater condence to people to ully occupy

    and meander across the carriageway at will.

    The over-scaled diagonals track across

    pedestrian areas, carriageways and parking

    spaces, comortably dominating the eld

    o vision at ground level, while the central

    lighting shats create strong verticals, suc-

    cessully refecting the classical and modern

    columns on the museums and a new Imperial

    College building.

    The reduced carriageway does appear to

    conuse a ew drivers, slowing their move-ment, and the overall impression is one o an

    extended piazza, vastly improving the set-

    tings o some o Londons most popular build-

    ings as well as encouraging people to walk

    urther along the street just or pleasure.

    Are there any criticisms? Most o the

    obvious problems are easily solved by adding

    stu more benches, cycle stands and motor

    bike parks or instance. A more dicult issue

    is the lack o trees and the amiliar under-

    ground services excuse does not make sense

    with such a wide road and existing trees beg-

    ging the question.

    But these points notwithstanding, the

    high quality transormation o this well-

    known street into a genuine place is clearly

    a triumph or Kensington and Chelsea in

    particular, as the instigators o the change.

    We can only hope that the project points the

    way or more public sector-led public realm

    projects at all scales and various locations

    around the country.

    Amanda Reynolds

    UDG Update

    cun upn

    Urban Design is ree to Urban Design Group

    members who also receive newsletters andthe directory at the time o printing

    UDG of

    Tel 020 7250 0872/0892

    Email [email protected]

    annul p

    Uk nddul 40 Uk udn 20

    innnl nddul 50rgnd pn n un

    dgn 80

    P 250 (including a listing in the UD

    practice index and on the UDG website)

    edun 100 (including a listing in the

    UD practice index and on the UDG website)

    Ll u 100 (including two

    copies oUrban Design)Uk l 40

    innnl l 50

    Individual issues oUrban Design cost 5

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    Contents

    This issue has been kindly supported by

    Speirs + Major

    CoverRoskilde Festival 2008, Agora in the camp-

    ing area. Photograph by Carsten Snejbjerg,

    ROCKPHOTO

    Future IssuesIssue 123 Localism

    Issue 124 Urban Design in the Middle East

    updateKevin Lynch Annual Lecture by Christopher

    Alexander

    Urban Design Graphics

    William H Whyte Film night

    Urban Design and Public Space

    Urbanized Reviewed

    Readers Reply 6

    Design Council Cabe The civic economy 7

    The Urban Design Library #4 8

    The Urban Design Interview Ludovic

    Pittie 9

    vIewpoIntReections on an urban design education,

    Catherine Kedge

    Dark City, Mark Major

    topIC: temporary urbanIsmIntroduction, Irena Bauman

    When people take charge, Henning

    Thomsen 6

    Urban lie or everyone temporary meas-

    ures as a planning method, Tina Saaby 9

    Citizens as urban co-producers, Peter Schultz

    Jrgensen and Jes Vagnby

    A tool towards adaptable Neighbourhoods,

    Cany Ash 6

    Stepping Stones: A new approach to

    Community-Led Regeneration, John

    Harrison 9

    Temporary Urbanism its relevance and

    impact on teaching urban design, FlorianKossak

    awards event 2012Awards Overview

    Student Award Runners up Dongni Yao, Ral

    Furulund

    Student Award Winner Iain Brodie 6

    book revIewsAn Introduction to Sustainable Transporta-

    tion, Preston L. Schiller, Eric C. Bruun and

    Jerey R. Kenworthy 8

    Swinging City, a cultural geography o London

    1950-1974, Simon Rycrot 8

    Cities or People, Jan Gehl 9

    Eco Architecture, The work o Ken Yeang,

    Sara Hart 9

    Shanghai New Towns, Searching or commu-

    nity and identity in a sprawling metropolis,

    Harry den Hartog (Ed)

    Triumph o the City, Edward Glaeser

    Biophilic Cities, integrating nature into urbandesign and planning, Timothy Beatley

    The Principles o Green Urbanism, Steen

    Lehmann

    praCtICe Index eduCatIon Index 8

    endpIeCeLandmark decisions, Joe Holyoak 9

    Contents

    dIary oFevents

    Unless otherwise indicated, all LONDON

    events are held at The Gallery, 70 Cowcross

    Street, London EC1M 6EJ at 6.30 pm. Tickets

    on the door rom 6.00pm. 3.00 or ull price

    UDG members and 7.00 or non-members;

    1.00 or UDG member students and 3.00

    or non-member students. For urther details

    see www.udg.org.uk/events/udg

    wednesday 25 aprIL 2012t u dig

    With the global nancial crisis biting hard,

    temporary urbanism comes to the ore. This

    event, led by UDG Patron Irena Bauman, ea-

    tures many o the contributors to edition 122

    o the journal and we hope to be welcoming

    speakers rom Denmark.

    wednesday 23 may 2012G Cii

    Housing Minister Grant Shapps has revived

    interest in Garden Cities as a model or new

    development in the 21st century; but how

    well does Ebenezer Howards concept are

    in the modern era? Speakers include Patricia

    Craggs on Letchworth Garden City. Please

    check the UDG website or details o a UDG

    visit to Letchworth earlier in May.

    tuesday 12 June 2012Lcl ahii:

    H C Qli t

    What should local authorities be doing to

    raise the quality o the areas or which they

    are responsible? This event showcases local

    authority best practice as exemplied by

    entries or the Urban Design Public Sector

    Award over the past two years, including

    the latest developments in quality measure-

    ment, planning guidance through to political

    leadership.

    wednesday 20 June 2012u dig G aGm

    Chi Chic e

    The Urban Design groups annual general

    meeting will take place rom 6pm, ollowed

    at 6:30pm by a speaker personally selected

    by out-going Chair Amanda Reynolds. The

    evening will also see the ocial launch o the

    Urban Design Awards 2012-13

    wednesday 11 JuLy 2012u dig Lcli

    What does localism mean or urban design?

    Has localism been at the heart o urban

    design right rom the start? What are the

    best ways o involving local people positively

    in the uture o their community? This event

    will eature contributors to issue 123 o the

    journal.

    UrbanDesign122

    Sprig 2012

    Urba Desig Group Joural

    ISSn 1750 712x 5.00

    Temporary

    Urbanism

    URBANDESIGN

    GROUP

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    Update

    Urban Design Spring 2012 Issue 122 Issue 122 Spring 2012 Urban Design 3

    eader

    u dig G

    CHAIRMAN Amanda Reynolds

    ATRONS Irena Bauman, Alan Baxter,

    ir Richard MacCormac, Dickon Robinson,

    Helle Sholt, Lindsey Whitelaw and John

    Worthington

    oc

    rban Design Group

    0 Cowcross Street

    ondon EC1M 6EJ

    el 020 7250 0872/0892

    mail [email protected]

    Website www.udg.org.uk

    eiil b

    John Billingham, Matthew Carmona,

    Tim Catchpole, Richard Cole, Alastair Donald,

    Tim Hagyard, Joe Holyoak, Liezel Kruger,

    Sebastian Loew, Jane Manning, Malcolm

    Moor, Judith Ryser, Louise Thomas

    ei

    Louise Thomas (this issue) and

    Sebastian Loew

    [email protected]

    [email protected]

    Book Review Editor

    Richard Cole

    dig

    trockenbrot (Claudia Schenk and Anja Sicka)

    www.trockenbrot.com

    Printing Henry Ling Ltd

    Urban Design Group ISSN 1750 712X

    aiig qii

    Please contact UDG oce

    mil lici

    Please send text by email to the

    editors, images to be supplied at a

    high-resolution (180mm width @300dpi)

    preerably as jpeg

    n this issue we see interesting examples

    of temporary urbanism in many forms, set

    up by different types of people. At its more

    conventional this verges on short-term cultural

    animation in urban spaces, which is well

    understood by designers but only sporadically

    ound or experienced in most towns and cities;

    at the other end of the spectrum is the hippy

    developer with a keen eye for acquiring and

    managing free space without squeezing the

    prots too hard, and a messy enthusiasm for

    other people.

    In times when new investment and

    developments are in doubt and many places

    are quietly closing down shop-by-shop,

    he idea of temporary places and ventures

    means less risk, less nancial commitment,

    and potentially more fun. These engaging

    places can also be undertaken by anyone.

    t is this aspect that urban designers need

    o understand better; like localism, does

    his temporary approach warrant the urban

    designers involvement at all? The underlying

    hemes in these articles from England and

    Denmark are reminiscent of the issues raised

    n Urban Design issue 108 (Autumn 2008) on

    In Between Spaces. A richness, diversity and

    passion emerge when there are no rules and

    regulators, permanent or top-down.

    save tHe date18-20 October 2012: This years Annual UDG

    conference is being held in Oxford, marking

    the 40th birthday of the Joint Centre for Urban

    Design (JCUD), Oxford Brookes University.

    Running from Thursday to Saturday in the

    city centre and at the JCUD, the topic will be

    the value of urban design. We will shortly

    be inviting members to host workshops and

    posters. The programme will include a JCUD-

    led urban design master class on a live project

    in Oxford, alumni workshops, walking tours on

    public spaces, modern and inll development,

    and perspectives on urban design from leading

    gures in the development industry.

    Louise Thomas

    temporary rICHes ki Lch alLc: Chihal23 November 2011, The Gallery,London

    Christopher Alexander commanded a ull

    house. He was a pertinent speaker or the

    Kevin Lynch Lecture o the Urban Design

    Group. John Worthington kicked o the dia-

    logue with Alexander in ront o an audience

    seated in cabaret style or greater convivial-

    ity and participation. Alexander illustrated

    his approach to architecture as intuition

    and intent with his Eishin Higoshino High

    School and College Campus in Tokyo built in

    the late 1980s. Intention enables Alexander

    to discover things, whereas upside-down

    thinking assists him in creating a harmoni-

    ous relationship between his projects, theirneighbourhoods, the character o the existing

    sites and nature.

    He adopts a thoughtul, slow, gradual,

    but also an intuitive and instinctive approach

    to making spaces as a builder. With his own

    company he is erecting physical things in

    layers o increasingly larger components.

    He does that in contrast to mass production

    whose monolithic units are unable to adapt,

    thus unable to connect to human eelings

    which, or him, explains the ailure o mass

    housing over decades.

    He gets inspiration rom X-rays o em-

    bryos between 11-15 days which show chang-

    ing chemical processes, generating jelly o

    dierent colours and consistency during this

    early period o ormation. Observing these

    processes o DNA reveal how parts o the em-

    bryo transorm into solid state. Similarly, he

    nds it essential to transorm his ideas into a

    liveable place through continuously process-

    ing impressions in interaction with others. He

    chooses his partners during long conversa-

    tions or their simplicity and humbleness.

    He uses techniques grounded in traditional

    vernacular processes. This is what he calls

    world system A as opposed to world systemB which produces egocentric Big Bang

    architecture. He captured the generative

    grammar o world system A early on in his

    Notes on the Synthesis o Form (1964),A Pat-

    tern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construc-

    tion (1977), and The City is Not A Tree (1965).

    Interestingly, they are experiencing a revival

    like other alternative ideas on cities o that

    time, namely Jane Jacobs Death and Lie o

    Great American Cities (1961). He develops

    his experiences urther in his Nature o Order

    Books published in the noughties and in a

    orthcoming tome.

    He bases his work on organic whole-

    ness and scalable sel sustaining systems.

    The Oregon experience illustrates how he

    promoted the long-term empowerment o

    people and use o local materials instead o

    masterplanning. He codied a community

    based approach to campus planning, which

    has been adopted in part by various cities. He

    continues to work with what he calls instruc-tions, instead o masterplans and working

    drawings, an anathema or urban designers.

    During the discussion some wondered how he

    dealt with development control and is able

    to obtain planning permits, no mean eat or

    a $10 million campus on 9 ha o open land.

    Others showed sympathy with his approach

    outside established design rules. Some noted

    though that his pictures included detail

    drawings and the odd section.

    Costing projects in their totality beore

    commencement is essential or Alexander.

    Costing - and probably cost approval - ena-

    bles him to realise projects within budget

    and in time without modication. This still

    gives him the reedom to modiy and rene

    the spatial conguration o buildings when

    implementing the project.

    His work method consists o walking

    the site, taking measurements and notes on

    existing conditions, and agging landmarks

    and relevant characteristics beore conceiv-

    ing a project o buildings with landscaped

    spaces between them, integrated into their

    surroundings. He works with 3D models and

    voids, some o them ull scale, resting on skil-

    ul calculations, based on a cost plan. Thisenables him to produce workable buildings

    by resorting to the simplest solutions.

    He aims at an integrated and benign

    scale, sensible or architectural imagination.

    For him, scale and parameters arise rom

    discussions with the client which determine

    heights and massing, not gross density but

    always in a holistic context. Size does not

    matter to him as such. What counts is that

    every part ts and that they ocus on each

    other, thus intensiying the harmony o build-

    ings and the layout overall. He continues to

    rene and adapt well beyond the completion

    o the buildings during their use. For the Ei-

    shin campus he adapted Japanese decorative

    (vernacular) styles which were modied dur-

    ing construction to adjust to their surround-

    ings. In such splendour o ordinariness users

    enjoy the buildings and the organic continuity

    between them and their surroundings.

    Perhaps British urban designers will take

    a lea out o Alexanders book when they

    enjoy the reedom o building high quality

    developments on green eld sites opened up

    by the Localism Act.

    Judith Ryser

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    Update Update

    Urban Design Spring 2012 Issue 122 Issue 122 Spring 2012 Urban Design 5

    Urbanizeda il i

    Urbanized is the cinematic delight one might

    expect o Gary Hustwit, the director o this

    third in a trilogy o studies in design, ollow-

    ing Helvetica(modernism in a typeace), and

    Objectifed(industrial and product design).

    Each deals with a dimension o designs

    intimate relationship with daily lie. Here, we

    look at design interventions in cities through

    the eyes o their inhabitants.

    Urbanized is a review o how urban de-

    sign practice is responding to the global orc-

    es driving city development. Ricky Burdett

    provides the opening: a graphic commentary

    about the enormity o the shit in human cir-cumstances that is unolding in our lietime.

    Soon we join a history trip o city planning

    and development, complete a world tour o

    mega cities, and meet a star cast o urban

    practitioners o Rem Koolhaas, Jan Gehl, Sir

    Norman Foster and more. On the way, we

    meet Enrique Pealosa,the Mayor o Bogota,New Yorks City planner, and a kaleidoscope

    o worlds citizens. Are you breathless yet?

    Hustwits subjects make the case or a

    collaborative orm o urban design in which

    citizens make cities: where they dont, cities

    ail. Pealosa pedals along Bogotas high

    grade cycle routes next to the unmade road

    or cars, telling us this is democracy in ac-

    tion; Stuttgarts green campaigners clash

    with police as they attempt to halt the High

    Speed Rail Plan; migrants choose between

    the bathtub and the water heater in the

    cost-constrained development o their social

    housing. The voice or the suburbs is given to

    a weighty man telling us he likes his swim-

    ming pool; we are invited to note that he evi-

    dently doesnt make daily vigorous use o it.

    Herein lies the rub. The lm takes politi-

    cal positions through its subjects; it polemi-

    cises and we consume. I highly recommend

    the documentary because it is provocative

    and, moreover, it is beautiul. However, or

    the genre to work, the provocations demand

    a response, so here is my opening contribu-

    tion to the discussion it demands.

    First, the alluring cinematography runsthe risk o reducing its subjects to urban

    design as travelogue. We tend to see the poor

    and dispossessed o the worlds cities in a

    kind o slum dog millionaire hyper-reality.

    Second, by putting urban design at the heart

    o the discourse, the lm leads us to believe

    that proessional and technical interventions

    can resolve deep structural economic, social

    and political issues. Third, the lm advocates

    a compact, sustainable urbanism against

    urban sprawl. For another view, read Robert

    Bruegmanns brilliant Sprawl: A Compact

    History(University o Chicago Press, 2005).

    Watch this lm, buy the DVD, and let the

    arguments begin.

    The Design Trilogyis available as a

    limited-edition box set.

    Michael Owens

    u dig plic Hlh18 January 2012, The Gallery,London

    The World Health Organisation denes health

    as a state o complete physical, mental and

    social wellbeing and not merely the absence

    o disease and inrmity. In the UK today, a

    quarter o the population is obese, and 5 per

    cent have Type 2 diabetes. The list o health

    related concerns is long: widespread vitamin

    D deciency and rickets due to inactive

    indoor liestyles and poor diet; ear o crime,

    injury or death in a trac accident; loneli-

    ness, depression and suicide; and, depend-

    ency on health and social services, rather

    than amily and riends. These are interre-

    lated issues where urban design has a role to

    play, as this event undertaken with PlanningAid or London (PAL) explored.

    Following an introduction by PALs

    Alison Borden, there were short two minute

    presentations: past UDG Chair Duncan Ecob

    o Devereux dealt with biophilia - using

    natural materials, daylight, water, vegeta-

    tion and natural ventilation to bring benets

    to mental, emotional and general wellbe-

    ing. Stephan Bradley Architects displayed a

    paraplegic, sports and conerence acility in

    Nottwil, Switzerland, integrating a lake and

    pasture with sympathetic interior design.

    The Falcon Close project was presented on a

    small street based community in Oxord de-

    veloping ideas to improve their environment,

    communal allotments and orchard. Medical

    Architects described the development o a

    signicantly landscaped major health acility

    on Edge Lane in Liverpool.

    Three longer presentations ollowed:

    Janice Morphet o UCL asked can health

    outcomes be delivered through spatial

    planning?. She had surveyed local planning

    authorities initiatives including calm streets,

    health and work, crime and anti-social be-

    haviour. She concluded that there was little

    evidence yet o health outcomes through

    spatial planning, and core strategies were

    passive in this area.

    Martin Willey o NHS London Healthy

    Urban Development Unit (HUDU) described

    work to improve collaboration between the

    planning and health sectors. HUDU publishes

    Delivering Healthier Communities in London,which reviews health issues and design

    approaches.

    Fast ood is a major concern or Waltham

    Forest, and Gordon Glenday, Head o Plan-

    ning Policy and Regeneration reported on

    the success o their Supplementary Planning

    Document in reusing the opening o 23 pro-

    posed hot ood takeaway shops (HFT), and

    appeals successully upheld. Only three HFTs

    have been given planning permission, and

    environmental health checks on A5 uses had

    led to the closure o twelve premises.

    Improving public health requires concert-

    ed eort across many dierent areas. Major

    issues include the management o the publicrealm (litter control and maintenance), which

    research shows have a bearing on community

    cohesion, and trac speeds, which inuence

    walking and cycling, air quality, the survival

    o local acilities, community ties, density

    and so on. A UDG initiative on public health is

    to provide clarity on what can be done.

    Robert Huxford

    u digGhic eciCici

    November 2011, The Gallery,ondon

    his presentation had a wider message about

    resentation in urban design. Bally Meeda o

    rban Graphics covered the importance o

    raphic design and the need or close work-

    ng between graphic and urban designers.

    arly urbanists such as Unwin and Abercrom-

    ie were masters o the graphic technologies

    their time and artists in their own right,

    ut this was in a pre-computer era. From

    he 1990s onwards graphics has become a

    pecialist discipline.

    With eective communication the

    merame in which a message takes to be

    nderstood can be shortened. Methods arevailable to convey conceptual, analyti-

    al, technical and perceptual inormation.

    With the increased role and importance o

    raphics comes a need or integrity too. Can

    ood graphics make bad urban design look

    etter? Some developers clearly think so as

    hey now approach graphic design companies

    with ready-made schemes to be given the

    wow actor eg the walk-through visuals and

    omputer generated images, but missing out

    he design process in the middle.

    Janine Tigou oDesignhive spoke about

    the importance o a clear story in order to

    communicate with your audience. Two case

    studies illustrated the potential. In Victoria,

    London a y-through visualisation dramati-cally enabled cluttered and trac dominated

    streets to be calmed and swept clear. This

    clearly makes a quick impression and is

    the type o visual that major developers

    are demanding. A second visualisation, the

    Helix Residential Towers, was ocussed on

    the street in response to a specic plan-

    ning concern; the visual was instrumental

    in persuading members o a committee o

    the potential public realm and streetscape

    benets o a development.

    The ollowing discussion touched upon

    hand-drawing and the thought processes

    involved, and it was anticipated that there

    would be more gaming inuences, but at

    present there is no model or this in urbandesign. The danger is that graphics might

    be exploited as a marketing device dispens-

    ing with the need or proper urban design.

    Graphic artists and urban designers must

    continue to work together with a healthy

    respect or each others roles.

    Tim Hagyard

    willi H whFil igh

    January 2012, The Gallery,ondon

    he Urban Design Group had prepared a sot

    anding or its members at the start o the

    New Year with a lm night, popcorn and all,

    ttended by a ull house. Preceded by a short

    nimation lm about human movements by

    yan Larkin sponsored by the National Film

    oard o Canada in 1968, the UDG screened

    he documentary on The Social Lie o Small

    Urban Spaces produced by William H Whyte

    n 1979 as a companion to his book on the

    ame subject published in 1980.

    What came to mind immediately is howrelevant Whytes observations and critical

    conclusions about urban spaces and their

    uneven use in New York, are today and in

    other places. Time-lapse cameras and his

    team recorded how twenty-three plazas

    were used rom morning to evening, during

    weekdays and weekends. They plotted where

    people congregated, what they were doing,

    how long they stayed in one place, and how

    they moved through the public realm. Whyte

    interpreted their behaviour and how it was

    inuenced by the urban design o these pub-

    lic squares. Looking also at the layout and

    surrounding buildings, he identied reasons

    why some public spaces were used intensely

    while others were deserted. He concluded

    that bespoke urban design led to both lively

    and dead spaces.

    So what made the success o popular

    public places? Contrary to current abstractcriteria, the research team ocused on

    tangible issues. They ound that places to

    sit were crucial or lie in plazas, as well as

    their proximity to busy streets at the same

    level or situated slightly above or below.

    Water, trees, a presence o ood and drink

    and spontaneous entertainment, sometimes

    public art, all encouraged a wide variety o

    people to make intensive and continuous use

    o spaces whose capacity was sel-levelling.

    Whyte was proud that many o his urban

    design recommendations - albeit some-

    times a little too categorical and prescrip-

    tive - ound their way into New York planning

    by-laws. His work has certainly contributed

    to uphold the quality o New Yorks public

    realm.

    Judith Ryser

    Konza Technology City,

    Kenya

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    Urban Design Spring 2012 Issue 122 Issue 122 Spring 2012 Urban Design 7

    Design Council CabeReaders Reply

    Cig ilg h ciicc

    The Compendium or the Civic Economy

    (2011) by Indy Johar and Joost Beunderman

    o 00:/ sets out twenty ve international case

    studies, which explore emergent trends in

    how places are being shaped and organisa-

    tions developed to t societys changing

    needs and ambitions.

    In the past year, we have seen growth in

    this civic economy. The Peoples Supermarket

    in London or Manchesters FabLab or DIY

    product development show how places can

    oer people dierent ways to participate in

    the daily economy. Community-owned wind

    turbines or the Monster Store, an out-o-

    school learning programme modelled on NewYorks Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store, show

    how this could reinvigorate key inrastruc-

    tures. Recently we have seen development

    o the ertile ground needed to make urther

    progress. The Localism Act, combined with

    planning reorm and other government

    initiatives such as the Portas Reviewo High

    Streets, have all played a part in creating the

    conditions or urther civic economy growth.

    In January 2012, Prime Minister David Cam-

    eron, who provided a oreword or the Com-

    pendium, launched the new Cooperatives Bill

    at Hub Westminster, itsel a prime example o

    the civic economy in action. The Bill will sim-

    pliy 17 existing pieces o legislation to make

    it easier or entrepreneurs to innovate and

    make better use o existing physical assets.

    By better understanding the kinds o

    actors in this new economy, urban design-

    ers, planners and others can harness the

    entrepreneurial spirit to revitalise places and

    spaces.

    deFInInG tHe CIvIC eConomyWe dene the civic economy as comprising

    people, ventures and behaviours that use

    innovative practices rom the traditionallydistinct spheres o civil society, the market

    and the state. Founded upon social values

    and goals, and using deeply collaborative

    approaches to development, production,

    knowledge sharing and nancing, the civic

    economy generates goods, services and

    common inrastructures in ways that neither

    the state nor the market economy alone have

    been able to accomplish.

    Long beore the current economic crisis,

    the outlines o a proound economic and cul-

    tural shit have been visible and chronicled

    by a wide range o observers since the late

    1990s (at least). At its core this shit is rooted

    in an increasing overlap between traditionally

    distinct domains in the economy:

    A reorming state and public services,where the co-production o public goods

    and services between users and providers

    is becoming an established principle.

    An increasing number o values-drivenprivate sector companies moving beyond

    traditional corporate social responsibility

    to put social opportunities and ecological

    concerns at the core o operations, along-

    side a prolieration o hybrid business

    models that build on and bend traditional

    ownership structures.

    An increasing recognition that innova-tive working practices in and between

    organisations based on the use o new

    social network technologies collaboration

    tools and creative approaches to sel-

    organisation, and tapping into both global

    and local connections can create better

    outcomes.

    A widespread trend amongst the publicat large to be directly involved in the (co-)

    creation o cultural and other products ei-

    ther in digital or physical spaces through

    the established third sector or, just as

    oten, in new ad-hoc groups or networks.

    wHat does tHIs mean ForpLaCes?Such trends have the potential to transorm

    how places are shaped. This is particularly

    important now that much o the regenera-

    tion and place-shaping practices o the past

    decade or so have run out o steam. Not only

    has the property boom zzled out, but more

    undamental doubts have been raised about

    some o the key tenets o what was known as

    the urban renaissance.

    Not all regeneration projects genuinely

    looked beyond bricks and mortar; many

    localities relied heavily on public sector ex-

    penditure; town centres proved narrowly de-

    pendent on the consuming (and debt-laden)

    public; the public retained sceptical about

    their ability to actually inuence area change;

    and risk-averse, routine-driven approaches to

    regeneration resulted in a creeping homog-

    enisation o places. As the impact o the

    recession and its atermath continues to a-

    ect places across the UK, choices need to be

    made about how localities can best support a

    genuine recovery, particularly in the context

    o scarce resources.

    re-ImaGInInG exIstInG assetsA key lesson is that ertile ground or the civic

    economy needs not be built anew or rom

    scratch: the civic economy requires no ex-

    pensive business parks or physical inrastruc-

    ture. Instead, it is about rediscovering the

    resources that already exist, whether physi-

    cal or human, and growing them. Thereore

    we need a shit in ocus that starts with such

    existing assets, and values them as seedbeds

    or a low-cost, low-barrier-o-entry innova-

    tion economy. Urban designers and others

    that shape places should take a primary role

    in identiying how assets, both physical and

    social, can be activated into new perspec-

    tives or places.

    Opening up underused buildings and spac-es to local entrepreneurial initiative should

    not be seen as a recession-time-only

    phenomenon but as part o a healthy

    approach to regeneration and a start-up

    economy: permanently maintaining a

    diversity o space typologies (in terms

    o ownership, unit size, rental levels and

    lease types) is crucial to make sure that

    local ventures can have access to aord-

    able and exible space and thus to the

    wider market at all stages in the economic

    cycle. Developers and landowners should

    be helped and incentivised to maintain or

    create these conditions both or vacant

    buildings and new development projects

    through, or example, planning gain

    conditions

    Enabling more creative and participativeuse o underused space depends on mak-

    ing clear what the pathway to re-occu-

    pation looks like. Much o this requires

    testing in practice, and seed-unding

    communities to take manageable risks in

    taking on local challenges. This may actu-

    ally be a very eective way o using scarce

    public money and o kick-starting change

    without comprehensive masterplans

    Despite the pressure to make savings,localities need to retain and attract thoseindividuals capable o providing leader-

    ship or the civic economy. Many o the

    case studies in the Compendium could

    only happen through creative collabora-

    tions across the organisational silos o

    planning, economic regeneration, com-

    munity development and education or

    care through genuinely opening up to

    local civic entrepreneurs inside or outside

    established organisations, and nding new

    ways to invite them and work with them to

    shape better places.

    Rachel Fisher and Joost BeundermanThe Compendium for the Civic Economywas

    commissioned by Rachel Fisher, Head of Policy

    and Communications, Design Council Cabe and

    Laura Bunt, NESTA

    Lii Lcli

    n the conclusion to his review oNonplan:

    n Experiment in Freedom in issue 120 o

    Urban Design, Karl Krop implies a link be-

    ween that publication o 1969 and the latest

    on-planning initiative, which hides behind

    he mask o Localism. In suggesting that a

    enuine experiment in reedom would give

    eal control to Parish, Town and City Councils

    not merely planning powers but scal and

    nancial reedoms he may have in mind

    ur experience o making plans or small

    ettlements in France in the 1990s. These

    ave both planning and scal powers, andt certainly was an invigorating demonstra-

    on o localism when the elected Municipal

    Council (or a settlement and nearby hamlets

    2,500 souls surrounded by orests and

    gricultural land) would meet on a Thursday

    ight to make decisions so that the ollowing

    ay the communal public works department

    with a total workorce strength o three)

    ould go out and change the road signs on

    on-departmental roads.

    However the big deect with this system

    s that our lives are not constrained within

    he medieval boundaries o parishes or com-

    munes. In recognition o this reality, or the

    ast three decades France has been trying

    with little success to assemble larger units

    or plan making just the opposite o what

    eems to be happening in this country now.

    Certainly in a country with 37,000 communes

    i.e. planning authorities, this problem was

    more acute than in England. Three decades

    o eort to amalgamate communes has met

    with mixed success (Cahiers rancais 362,

    2011). Their scal and other responsibilities

    have been amalgamated into 2,599 Etabliss-

    ments publics de coopration intercommu-

    nale (EPCI). Since 2000 in order to provide a

    degree o planning strategy which meets the

    way that contemporary housing and labour

    markets work, the French have introduced

    a voluntary planning scheme or groups o

    communes. The Schma de Cohrence Ter-ritoriale (SCOT) usually covers the conurba-

    tion around a large or medium sized city or,

    in more sparsely populated areas, linked

    networks o settlements.

    Beore its practical (i not virtual) extinc-

    tion CABE recognised the same problem that

    People are travelling much urther nowadays

    in their daily lives, which means that the way

    in which we plan and design our towns and

    cities and rural areas will need to change. It

    invested considerable resources in investi-

    gating possible solutions to what was initially

    called Strategic Urban Design (StrUD). The

    results o this work, which had begun to high-

    light some interesting directions and even

    question some conventional wisdoms o ur-

    ban design, have since been entombed in the

    national archive under the title Large Scale

    Urban Design presumably StrUD sounded

    too much like an early English expletive.

    In its work CABE used a number o case

    studies ranging rom Cambridge Futures via

    the Emscher Landschaspark to the Jeddah

    Strategic Framework, to demonstrate a range

    o solutions to the challenge o large scale

    urban design. Among those selected was the

    SCOT or Montpellier. This plan, covering 31

    communes centred on the city o Montpel-

    lier, ranges rom strategic decisions which

    are conurbation-wide or such matters as

    the protection o the natural environment

    through specic boundaries, to urban de-

    velopment or all o the settlements, to site

    bries or key projects.

    However a glance at any plan included

    in this SCOT reveals that a large area to the

    south east is omitted rom consideration. For

    example the plan (let) not only shows this

    gap in the coverage, but also what a short

    length o Mediterranean littoral has been

    included in the SCOT. Questioning o the

    planning ocers responsible or the work re-

    veals that six communes had withdrawn romthe SCOT in 2004 - two years ater the initial

    boundaries had been established. It was

    suggested that this democratic decision was

    the result o reluctance on the part o these

    relativity wealthy communes to share their

    tax base with the rest o the conurbation. Not

    including in the plan those communes which

    cover a large proportion o coastline with

    all o its environmental management issues

    and an international airport, really begs the

    question o the ecacy o the SCOT. It clearly

    demonstrates how local democratic planning

    without a higher level o eective planning

    can rustrate any attempt to resolve larger

    scale issues.

    Ivor SamuelsreFerenCesCahiers franais 362 , 2011 Les collectivits

    territoriales :trente ans de dcentralisation , la

    Documentation franaise

    www.montpellier-agglo.com/nos-grands-projets/

    schema-coherence-territoriale accessed 21

    November 2011

    www.webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.

    uk/20110118095356/www.www.cabe.org.uk/strud/

    examples/montpellier accessed 21 November 2011

    Montpellier SCOT

    Limits to the expansion of

    built up areas

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    Urban Design Spring 2012 Issue 122 Issue 122 Spring 2012 Urban Design 9

    Interviewibrary

    th u digIi: Licpii

    wh i c j h lg h

    h?

    I lead a team o twenty Landscape Architects

    and Urban Designers at Mouchel. I joined in

    October 2005 as a Senior Urban Designer

    and have climbed the corporate ladder with

    increased responsibility in the direction o

    the team and technical delivery over the last

    three years.

    C ci h h h l

    l c ig

    h i ?

    I studied Urban Engineering at the Engineer-ing School o the City o Paris (Ecole des

    Ingenieurs de la Ville de Paris, EIVP). I had a

    choice o numerous schools, but there was

    something endearing, magical and mysteri-

    ous about cities, which made me chose the

    EIVP over the Naval Academy or other civil

    engineering schools. During the completion

    o my masters, I did a number o internships

    abroad in management, civil engineering, in-

    rastructure design and project management.

    Ater two years as a project manager or the

    Urban Utility Centre at Brooklyn University, I

    joined the New York oce o EarthTech (now

    part o AECOM) as an engineer. Ater working

    as a highways engineer, I started to work also

    as an architect, becoming the intermedi-

    ary between architects and engineers on a

    number o projects. Following work ocused

    on the reconstruction o Lower Manhattan

    and the World Trade Centre site, I completed

    several masterplans and studies. I then ac-

    tively sought to ormalise my career in Urban

    Design ater working on its ringes or several

    years.

    wh f ciig ?

    It provides a good balance between the crea-tive and analytical parts o the brain. Seeing

    projects built and recognised is an accolade

    that validates the excellence I strive or. The

    our awards that we received last year were

    a big boost not just in condence, but also

    made me eel that I had made the right ca-

    reer choice. What is exciting or me is making

    a dierence to the lives o others, on a small

    or large scale.

    wh hi h i

    ill ig?

    The most important skills are enabling dia-

    logue, listening and analytical skills to rame

    the evidence into solutions that will ultimate-

    ly be endorsed by the community.

    wh l li ig i

    i?

    The international market expansion in the

    eld provides a unique range o opportu-

    nities. I could be working at the OECD on

    International Development projects with the

    World Bank, heading my own company or

    the urban design department o a consult-

    ing company. I denitely will remain in urban

    design but Im not sure yet where it might

    lead to

    a ig, h l

    l?

    Yes and no. I cant hide the act that the work

    o Baron Haussmann, Robert Moses, Jane

    Jacobs and Jan Gehl has had an inuence

    on me. However, I cant say that I have a role

    model per se. What I denitely had was a

    great mentor in David Orr.

    I c ig

    ch

    , h l ch?

    I really enjoyed the southern part o Exhibi-

    tion Road I thought the scheme really shonethere as it represented a great canvas that

    responded well to the local range o activities

    (cas, restaurants and land uses around it).

    wh i i ci

    h?

    New York. Paris. Stockholm. Bordeaux. Man-

    chester. There is a long list, depending on the

    mood and who youre there with, but no one

    clear avourite.

    wh i h lc h?

    My hometown! Just joking cant really think

    o a most loathed place!

    wh ic l gi ud ?

    It might sound cheesy but Id say ollow your

    heart. I would also advise on using prece-

    dents and case studies careully, making sure

    the transerability o the legal, economic and

    social context can justiy their use. Everyone

    appears to have jumped on the shared space

    bandwagon, but without always understand-

    ing that the highways code, insurance and

    legal context in Europe is quite dierent to

    here; but Im glad to see steps taken towards

    addressing the misconceptions around it byDT and others.

    wh hl h u dig G

    ig i h ?

    I was pleased with the Urban Design Group

    taking the lead in setting out a orm o pro-

    essional accreditation. I still eel awareness

    raising should continue, de-mystiying what

    urban design is and the role o an urban

    designer not so much as an academic path

    but in proessional participation and continu-

    ous development.

    Fill, h l li i

    i ud?

    Good question - Id suggest Peter Rowlinson,

    Service Director Planning and Regulation

    Services at Rochdale MBC.

    th u digLi # Hannah Arendt: The Human

    Condition (University of ChicagoPress, 1958)

    What are we doing? The conditions o man-

    ind are something that we rarely theorise. It

    s very ashionable to study the compression

    space and time, sel and identity, mobility

    nd migration, production and consumption,

    modernity and post-modernity, language

    nd meaning. But very ew philosophers or

    olitical theorists take the time to observe

    nd analyse what it means to be human. To

    nderstand the lie o both man and men

    s the task Hannah Arendt set hersel in The

    Human Condition.

    Arendt (1906-1975) is probably best

    nown or her writings on totalitarianism

    The Origins o Totalitarianism, 1951) and her

    ighly objective and unsentimental reporting the trial o a leading Nazi Adol Eichmann.

    When the Human Condition was published in

    958, she described it as a reconsideration o

    he human condition rom the vantage point

    ur newest experiences and our most recent

    ears. Her subject was not her contemporar-

    es but inhabitants o the Modern Age the

    eriod rom the enlightenment to the First

    World War. She argued that events during her

    etime such as the use o the atomic bomb

    nd space exploration were giving rise to a

    ew imagination.

    As well as a signicant impact on social

    hought, the book has had a limited but

    evertheless important impact on writers on

    rchitecture and urbanism. For example, the

    rchitectural historian Kenneth Frampton

    ays that he never recovered ater reading

    Arendt in the 1960s. Her categories inspired

    his anthology Labour, Work and Architecture.

    The interest o many urban writers is

    motivated by Arendts belie in the polis as

    a space o human action. Wherever you

    go, you will be a polis. These amous words

    expressed the conviction that action and

    speech create a space between the par-

    ticipants which can nd its proper location

    almost any time and anywhere: It is the

    space o appearance in the widest sense o

    the word, namely, the space where I appear

    to others as others appear to me where men

    exist not merely like other living or inanimate

    things but make their appearance explicitly.

    The space o appearance the arena in which

    man is active and conscious o his actions

    among men - inspired the theorist-historian

    George Baird. Richard Sennett, too, is much

    taken by Arendts polis as a orm o urban

    lie in which speech is open and ull, seeing

    it as a way to engage with the modern ear

    o exposure in cities. He highlights her idea

    o natality: ones birth is not ones ate, but

    rather natality is the birth o will to makeonesel over again as an adult.

    What Arendt provides is a method or

    looking at lie, or the totality o human exist-

    ence, which deals with both humanity and

    the man-made world (human artice) and

    how they interact. She writes; The real-

    ity and reliability o the human world rests

    primarily on the act that we are surrounded

    by things more permanent than the activity

    by which they were produced, and potentially

    even more permanent than the lives o the

    authors.

    At a time when there is considerable

    conusion over - not to mention a blurring o

    boundaries between - the concepts o public

    and private, Arendts work is especially use-

    ul. She describes the signicance o man as

    a public being and the distinction between

    what we do privately to survive (labour);

    what we do collectively as a result o the act

    that we live in close proximity to each other

    and thereore interact in the general running

    o our day to day lives (work); and, what we

    do collectively as a matter o choice as an

    act o democratic participation (action).

    The Human Condition is Arendts en-

    couragement to look again at the concept opublic lie rom rst principles. Man is, by his

    very nature, a social being, but the public

    is a eature o society that is not naturally

    reproduced, but is reliant on autonomous

    individuals who choose to exercise their

    judgment about the progress o society. She

    describes historically the importance o the

    potentialities o action that are generated

    by urbanisation, by men living close to one

    another. Talking about the public realm she

    says that unless it is the scene o action

    and speech, o the web o human aairs and

    relationships and the stories engendered by

    them, it lacks a raison dtre. She continues;

    without being talked about by men and

    without housing them, the world would not

    be a human artice but a heap o unrelated

    things to which each isolated individual was

    at liberty to add one more object; without the

    human artice to house them, human aairs

    would be oating, as utile and vain, as the

    wanderings o nomad tribes.

    In this single paragraph she manages to

    capture the relationship between the public

    realm as a political entity and the public

    realm as a physical thing and their interde-

    pendence. Her insight is particularly useul

    in our age where what passes or public lie is

    not really public at all according to Arendts

    denition.

    Today, institutions such as government

    sponsored agencies, local authorities and

    even central government itsel are substi-

    tuted or the public. Public pools, libraries

    and public events are generally government

    organised or institutionally directed activi-

    ties designed to create a sense o our social

    obligations and responsibilities. The issue o

    public and private is oten emptied o any

    real content and reduced to the administra-

    tive question o who pays. Our culture has

    become enveloped by proceduralism, risk

    aversion and supercial accountability. As aresult our understanding o public lie is oten

    reduced to little more than the management

    o liability, an all embracing insurance policy

    that oten prevents us rom acting in the pub-

    lic realm rather than acilitating it.

    Arendt does not talk specically about

    buildings and places, but she does address

    themes which those o us who do, have a

    great diculty dealing with. The question o

    how we as individuals and society are condi-

    tioned by the world we have already made

    is at the heart o all contemporary discus-

    sions about planning and place-making. Men

    are conditioned beings because everything

    they come in contact with turns immediately

    into conditions o their existence.

    Penny Lewis, course leader for the MastersCourse, Scott Sutherland School of Architecture

    and the Built Environment, Aberdeen

    read onSennett, R (1990) The Conscience of the Eye

    (Norton, New York)

    Baird, G (2003) The Space of Appearance (MIT

    Press)

    Sofskey, W (2008) Privacy: A Manifesto(Princeton

    University Press)

    Listening to the community

    Reclaiming the Streets

    project: Townsend Street

    Design consultation

    workshops

    Mason Street

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    Viewpoint Viewpoint

    0 Urban Design Spring 2012 Issue 122 Issue 122 Spring 2012 Urban Design 11

    reFLeCtIons on an urban desIGn eduCatIonCatherine Kedge provides this warning: this article does not containa CAD masterplan

    had twenty years experience in humanesources management when I decided toake an undergraduate degree in Urbannd Environmental Planning at Londonouth Bank University. There was noarefully thought-out career plan; I wantedo make a change, but was not sure whatwanted to do. My manager at the timedvised against leaving with the (probablyound) advice that, no-ones going toay you to ponce around in art galleries.istening to the radio one morning, a

    working from home perk I could enjoylong with the wearing of pyjamas duringonference calls, I heard an interview with

    woman described by the interviewers a town planner. I never did catch hername, but as she talked, it started to dawn

    n me that the work she was describingwas what I wanted to do. All the things Iwas interested in seemed to be in the jobdescription architecture, conservation,

    rt, social issues, politics, economics,history, geography, construction.Manpower planning versus urban

    lanning which would you choose? Ihanded my notice in before I had filled

    ut my UCAS forms: there really was noarefully thought-out career masterplan.

    A few months into the undergraduateourse, it dawned on me that the career

    described by the interviewer as townlanner was really that of an urban

    designer - not a field of work I had evenheard of before. But the undergraduate

    course allowed me plenty of opportunityto explore this field, with urban designunits throughout the course and thechance to specialise for the final semesterdissertation. We looked at places wherewe lived, researching their history,considering potential futures anddeveloping the skills to describe placesand spaces and understand how peopleand activities affect them. We put ourdesign skills to the test with projectsin Brick Lane, Bankside and BoroughMarket. When I decided to stay on andtake my Masters degree in Planning Policyand Practice, it was with the knowledge

    that I could again take an urban designspecialism for the final project anddissertation.

    mIddLesex HospItaLThe project work took place around theMiddlesex Hospital site in London, whichhad recently seen the collapse of the Candybrothers NoHo Square development plansand was the subject of much speculationand rumour as to its future. It was threeacres of prime development land inthe centre of London with some prettybruised and upset neighbours determinedthat they did not want New York Livingimposed on their area.

    We visited the site as a class group,in twos and threes and on our own whentime allowed. We had maps, some of ushad sketch books and HB pencils, but

    mainly we had our digital cameras heldto our faces. We came back to class for acharrette day where ideas were swapped,rough designs drawn up and discarded andeventually presented. And they were great,huge fun, innovative, some practical,some pure fantasy. And at this stage, theneighbours would have hated them.

    As individual work progressed wehad regular studio days and some one-to-one tutorials. Hints and suggestionswere given, tailored to the direction ourwork was taking with the intention ofpushing us to look a bit further, pointerstowards useful books and alternative

    design techniques. We started to look atthe practicalities how much floorspacecould you get on the site, how to balancethe developers need for maximum returnwith a wish to create a place where peoplewould want to spend time? For me, myenjoyment of trying to understand newsurroundings by observing the peopleand activities of a place (a trait I generallykept quiet about for fear of being accusedof nosiness) was validated and givendirection when I was introduced to JaneJacobs sidewalk ballet as part of anoptional Place, Performance and SocialUsage unit. This unit included a studyof movement through public placesand required a bit of movement on ourpart. Terrifying for someone whose lastexperience of public choreography wascountry dancing with the Girl Guides, but

    ultimately enjoyable and rewarding. Theinteraction of people and place became theunderpinning of my design ideas.

    noHo: no wayThe people who objected to the NoHodevelopment were not resource or time-rich middle-class NIMBYs who did notwant to share their area - most of themcared deeply for the history of the placeand wanted to see something built thatadded value to the area and would survive

    as long as the Georgian town houses andthe Victorian pubs already there (albeitprobably changing over time and quitepossibly not being used as originallyintended). They understood the geniusloci of the area, the character or spiritwhich made it unique. I put down mycamera - people are more willing to engagewith you if you dont look like a councilbin inspector - stopped just watching andtalked to people.

    The attempted imposition of theNoHo Square name had deeply offendedpeoples sense of history and belonging.Many that I spoke to were alienated bywhat they considered bland computergenerated designs and d isplays, andthe photoshopped impressions of thecompleted scheme which seemed to showlittle relationship to the surroundingstreets or people who used them.Eventually, it was the conversations I hadwith people around the hospital site thatbecame the basis for my vision. My brieffor the area was presented in poster style,bright colours and small pictures thatmeant you had to stop and look closely.

    I would like to think that the people Ispoke to would have approved, or at leastbe willing to use it as a starting pointfor a development that wouldnt be animposition on their area.

    CAD is a valuable, even essentialtool, but people struggle to engage withthose aspirational masterplans in softshades of grey, blue and green whichthey know will often bear only a limitedrelationship to the finished project. Theyinvoke either indifference or panic, bothresponses caused by the uniform stylingand lack of intimacy or connection. Laterduring the summer, I watched from amezzanine coffee bar as a team of planningconsultants set up a public ex hibitionon the floor of a shopping centre below.Out came the display boards coveredwith CAD drawings of big grey blocks

    and grassy green squares, a table full offeedback forms and some free chocolatebars. The consultants stood in front oftheir exhibition in black business suits andsmiled. Passing shoppers glanced over, butno-one went near them, not even for freechocolate.

    The urban design projects undertakenduring my undergraduate andpostgraduate courses have taught me somevaluable lessons. I am confident enoughnow to know that my work wont suffer

    if I turn off the computer, put down thecamera and just stand, walk, watch andtalk to really learn an area and meet itspeople before I try to design for it. I dontneed display boards and glossy leaflets(although they have their place) to engagewith an area and present my ideas. And Ihope that the result of putting what I havelearnt during this project into practice willhelp me to produce design proposals thatwill draw people in and not be met withindifference or distrust.

    Catherine Kedge, London South BankUniversity student, 2007-11

    Scenes from Fitzrovia area

    and site visit

    MA project work showing

    the vision and design brief

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    Viewpoint Viewpoint

    2 Urban Design Spring 2012 Issue 122 Issue 122 Spring 2012 Urban Design 13

    We carefully plan our cities by day to workor the people that use them. Each street,quare, park and building is designed

    within a strict planning framework toalance its utility, diversity and aesthetic

    harmony. Identifiable districts andneighbourhoods emerge, voids between

    uildings become places for people, anduildings become landmarks or part of therban grain.

    Once darkness falls however our citieshange and become revealed through

    multiple layers of light provided by aariety of hands. Publically owned streetnd landscape lighting vie with pr ivaterchitectural lighting, retail frontages,dvertising and security lighting, often

    reating a chaotic scene, in which carefullyonsidered daytime planning strategiesre liberally reinterpreted or ignored.

    The delicate architecture of the localhurch, clearly articulated in sunlight,

    disappears next to the overstated lightingf the neighbouring hotel and the vivid

    displays of light and colour of commercialnterests; office interiors, concealedehind reflective glass by day, are now onhow; and, previously welcoming greenpaces become scale-less and isolated.

    Whilst the city can be an excitinglace at night, it can also be incoherent,

    disorientating, de-humanising - evenhreatening. So how do we address therban environment once darkness falls?hould we allow a free-for-all where

    different layers of light randomly collide,r exercise control? If we masterplan

    places by day, should we not alsomasterplan them by night? What are thekey considerations in planning urban lightand meeting the requirements of thosewho use cities after dark?

    vIsIon & perCeptIonThe first consideration is vision: the needfor artificial light arises from this basicrequirement to see. Historically, whilstcities like London and Paris had organisedpublic lighting systems well before the19th century, in general lamps wereportable - you took your light with you.With the development of industrialisedlighting systems towards the end of the19th century (first using gas and then

    electricity), we were suddenly freed to uselight on a seemingly limitless basis. Whilstthe initial reason for introducing light intothe urban realm was to facilitate visionafter dark, the reasons have since becomemore numerous and complex.

    The second human factor is perception how we feel. During the day the builtenvironment is visually intelligible butat night it often is not, because normalvisual clues like direction, scale andspatial relationships can disappear orbecome distorted. This can make peoplefeel disorientated and, consequentially,uncomfortable, even fearful. Using light tomake space more legible and to aid way-finding helps put people at ease. This isoften best achieved through illuminatingvertical rather than horizontal surfacesand, in an urban context, illuminating key

    routes, meeting points, visual boundaries,vistas, landmarks and thresholds.

    neGatIve assoCIatIonsDarkness is often seen as a negative inurban environments, perhaps due to aninnate fear of the unknown or culturalconditioning. The modern city is filledwith light: our quest to vanquish the nighthas virtually expelled all darkness fromour urban lives and disconnected us fromnature. Yet darkness has a very positive

    and important role to play in cities: itprovides intimacy, peace, privacy andrelaxation and so should be an integralpart of city life.

    saFetyLighting is critical in supporting safety,helping to manage the conflict betweenpeople and vehicles and define changesin level and obstructions. Making thecity safe after dark involves consideringhow much light is applied and where.Good vertical illumination at the kerbsideis more important to a driver seeing apedestrian than high levels of light in themiddle of the highway. Whilst safety isabout vision, security is about perception.Good lighting supports surveillance both casual and CCTV. However, therelationship between light and crime iscomplex. Various studies have attemptedto link improved and brighter lighting to adirect reduction in crime, but there is littlehard evidence to support this. Crime isoften a question of opportunity, which canarise during the day or night. Lighting canhowever certainly reduce the fear of crime

    by helping people to feel safe and securethrough providing good recognition and alegible environment.

    CHaraCter & IdentItyAnother role for lighting is to createcharacter and contribute to place-making.The importance of making places forpeople rather than simply creating spaceis a well-established principle of urbandesign. It is perhaps surprising how littleattention is given to this once the sun goesdown. Handling light properly, and in acontextual manner, takes considerableunderstanding and experience and goesfar beyond the specification of fixtures.Understanding how light should fall ona surface to in order to effectively defineform, activate materials, reveal colour andenhance texture is critical. Light can also

    create an identity for a place experiencedon the ground, as well as transferredaround the world via photographsand other visual media. Good lightingtherefore adds considerable value bycontributing not only to place-makingbut also to identity and branding. As aresult, engaging good lighting designerson public realm projects is becomingincreasingly important to creating highquality experiences of cities.

    aCCessIbILItyLighting also supports accessibility extending the use of the built environmentinto the hours of darkness for as manypeople as possible, including thosewith disabilities and special needs.Lighting can be used to assist those withvisual impairments by, for example,preventing glare and avoiding strongcontrasts; ageing eyes and the changingdemographic of many cities will make thisan important consideration in the future.Light can also become an integral part ofcity way-finding and visual informationsystems from simply using marker-lights or beacons to supporting materialand colour systems, to integration withenvironmental graphics and digital media.

    sustaInabLe soLutIonsThe final and key consideration is to createsustainable solutions in terms of reducingenvironmental impact, supporting socialneeds and reinforcing the night-timeeconomy. Light is a very visible form ofenergy use - we can clearly see when weare wasting light and, as a result, wasting

    energy. Unoccupied buildings with theirlights left on and light pollution overour cities are well reported, but less wellknown is the issue of over-illumination.The US Department of Energy estimatesthat over-illumination wastes around 5per cent of the total estimated annualconsumption of oil in the US. Over-illumination is a major issue that arisesfrom lighting areas too brightly, usinginappropriate light sources, directingfixtures incorrectly and not maintainingand controlling them properly; this in turnleads to light trespass and light pollution.Whilst a reduction in the view of the nightsky is often cited as the main problem,light nuisance and light trespass are moreproblematic, creating unwanted impactson bio-diversity and human health andwell-being. Over-lighting can also play

    havoc with our circadian rhythms ourbodies are simply not physically attuned tothe almost constant presence of light.Adopting a truly sustainable approachto the after-dark city involves balancingenvironmental needs with the positivesocial and economic benefits that lightcan bring. Apart from the ability to extendworking hours, the night-time economyis now a valuable feature of any urbancentre, bringing people into the city toenjoy late night shopping, entertainment,

    dining and the benefits of urban livingafter normal working hours. This isparticularly important in the northernhemisphere where a good part of thenormal working day takes place during thehours of darkness.

    dark CItyCombined with our understanding ofhuman vision and the benefits of darkness,the problem of over-illumination and lightpollution gives rise to the concept of DarkCity. Cities do not need to be lit brightlyto be successful, but rather carefullyilluminated and then managed. Towns andcities may use more light than rural areasto meet the combined challenges of safety,security and accessibility, but the degreeto which they need to be lit deserves muchwider study. Just as the city builders ofthe eighteenth and nineteenth centuriesrealised that cities required extensiveareas of green space to make them healthyand beneficial places to live, so our citiesneed areas of lower light levels and eventotal darkness to enable them to thrive.Lighting every square metre of the city is

    the equivalent to concreting it over andshould therefore be resisted.

    InteGraL to urban desIGnGood lighting is fundamental not only toour enjoyment of the built environmentbut is an integral part of urban design.Rather than being seen as a technicalsubject or cosmetic addition, well-designed lighting can make a hugecontribution to our enjoyment of urbanlife: meeting our basic needs for visionas well as creating a positive ambience,keeping people safe and secure, assistingwith accessibility and way-finding, andsupporting communal and economic aims.Having light requires using energy andvaluable natural resources, so we need totreat it as a more precious commodity -carefully considered at all stages of design

    and properly managed and controlled toavoid unnecessary pollution and waste.We can create a sustainable approach tolighting that will not only allow our citiesto be enjoyed after dark by us, but also byfuture generations.

    Mark Major, architect and lighting designer,Director and Founding Partner, Speirs + Major

    dark CItyMark Major calls for more considered planning of cities after dark

    Kings Cross Lighting Masterplan

    revealing the history after dark.

    Image by Speirs + Major

    Trafalgar Square, London:

    appropriate quality and quantity

    of light enhances heritage areas.

    Photograph: Paul Bock

    Devonshire Square, London:

    making cities more legible after

    dark. Photograph: James Newton

    New Street Square, London:

    dening a human scale and

    vistas. Photograph: James Newton

    Wharf Green, Swindon:

    vertical surfaces and landscape

    features heighten perceptions

    of security and a sense of place.

    Photograph: James Newton

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    opic Topic

    Issue 122 Spring 2012 Urban Design 154 Urban Design Spring 2012 Issue 122

    There is an almost universal

    acceptance that the future is riddled

    with uncertainties which seem, for

    the rst time since the Ice Age, to be

    beyond human control. These include:

    approaching peak oil supply and a

    lack of replacements for fossil fuels;

    a growing awareness that we need

    to curb our greedy use of natural

    resources; the changing climate;

    the rise of global nancial markets;

    the exposed fragility of institutions

    too large to fail (and the fact that

    most of us do not understand how

    banks and money actually work); an

    almost simultaneous awakening to

    wealth discrepancies in many western

    countries (and the social damage

    that brings); rapid population growth;

    increasing multiculturalism; and, the

    relentless and exhausting advance

    of technology. All of these render

    the structures of decision-making

    that worked well in the 20th century,

    antiquated and ineffective.

    But amidst the liquidity of our

    times, vast proportions of cities and

    towns remain familiar - they are

    changing physically but at a slower

    rate than the activities within them.

    The physical fabric is therefore

    all the more important because it

    provides an anchor to all that is

    shifting. Nevertheless there is constant

    pressure for the urban fabric to modify

    and change: shrinkage, expansion,

    densication, new transport, new

    building typologies, and changing

    ownership patterns are but a few of

    the drivers. Meanwhile the rate of

    change, weakening economies and

    the undermining of local political

    power in relation to global forces

    render the usual tools of urban design

    and masterplanning futile. Policies

    change before draft strategies

    become adopted documents, chief

    executives hop onto the next job,

    or economic conditions alter almostbefore the ink on the masterplan is

    dry.

    These are the conditions that

    give rise to the notions of temporary

    urbanism. Meanwhile spaces, pop-

    up shops, beaches in the city events,

    cultural outdoor festivals, markets,

    urban gardens, and squats all come

    under this umbrella.

    The trend is emerging and is in

    the early stages of analysis and

    theorising. It signies a shift from

    temporary urbanIsm tHe steppInG stones topLaCemakInG

    city-making through the construction

    of permanent physical fabric,

    to the emphasis on the city as a

    backdrop to activities, a laboratory

    for experimentation in new ways of

    being.

    Many temporary urbanism trends

    and projects have already been

    documented in publications such as

    Urban Pioneers: Temporary Use and

    Urban Development in Berlin by Urban

    Catalyst published in 2007; Everyday

    Urbanism by J L Chase, M Crowford

    and J Kalinski (2008) and Insurgent

    public space - Guerrilla Urbanism and

    the remaking of the Contemporary

    Cityedited by J Hou (2010). The most

    comprehensive publication appeared

    this year: The Temporary Cityby Peter

    Bishop and Lesley Williams.

    There is a danger that the

    temporary ways of managing space

    could be misrepresented with careless

    claims that some of these titles imply.

    Temporary urbanism cannot ever

    be a city in itself it can only be an

    element within or a layer of a city. The

    real strength of this emerging form

    of urbanism is in the lightness of its

    touch that allows for experimenting

    and prototyping, and for possibilities

    to be tested, evolved, monitored and

    understood in a way that none ofthe large conventional regeneration

    projects ever could. So much urban

    design has been delivered at great

    cost without understanding place,

    engaging with those who live there

    or testing a prototype to establish

    validity and sustainability.

    We invited six writers to explore

    the specic power of temporary

    urbanism to act as the stepping stone

    to more permanent regeneration.

    The British experience by Cany Ash

    focuses on three projects in London

    and Leicester, which explore the

    potential of the temporary to act as

    a catalyst to permanent adaptations

    of neighbourhoods. John Harrison

    examines the power of temporary

    projects in Dewsbury to engage local

    community and change perception of

    the town.

    Danish experience and thinking

    are explored in further three essays.

    Jes Vagnby and Peter Schultz make

    a case for temporary urbanism as an

    inclusive process allowing the citizens

    to be co-producers and co-designers

    of their own city, through the impact

    of the Roskilde Festival on the city.

    Henning Thomsen investigates the

    story of squatters in Prags Boulevard

    43 in Copenhagen, and the necessary

    pre-condition of temporary urbanism

    to break rules and orthodoxies

    in order to nd new, persuasive

    ways of regenerating deprived

    neighbourhoods. Tina Saaby, the

    city architect of Copenhagen, rmly

    denes temporary urbanism as one of

    a number of tools for xing temporary

    problems and explores this through

    three projects led by both the public

    and private sectors. Lastly Florian

    Kossak reects on how temporary

    urbanism facilitates discourse onradical urbanism, as well as the

    possibility of politicising students

    and providing alternative processes

    of making architecture and places.

    This family of essays will hopefully

    contribute further to the evolving

    discourse about this new way of

    urban design.

    Irena Bauman, Bauman Lyons Architects

    Emerging Mosque in

    ewsbury

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    Issue 122 Spring 2012 Urban Design 176 Urban Design Spring 2012 Issue 122

    Once it was called squatting occupying anabandoned unoccupied space or building that thesquatter does not own, rent or otherwise havepermission to use - today it is called temporaryurbanism. This is used pro-actively in urbandevelopment sometimes to make citizens familiarwith new potential development areas, andsometimes to kick-start urban development byinvolving the grass roots creative classes, to makean area more lively and energetic before planningbegins and new buildings are constructed. Hassquatting become mainstream or have the squattersand the establishment simply found ways tojoin forces that benefit both of their individual

    endeavours as well as the city?

    sQuattInG: a CommunaL aCtIvIty ForpoLItICaL purposesOn a few occasions in recent times, Denmark hasexperienced events similar to civil war. Almost all ofthese events have ties to the squatting communitythat grew out of both poor housing conditions,as well as a lack of more accommodating andunregulated places in the city for young people togather, a situation characteristic of many largercities throughout Western Europe in the 1970s and1980s.

    The first large squatting event in Denmarkthat also became the most wid ely known andlongest living was the 1971 occupation of theempty buildings on the former military area ofChristianshavn in Copenhagen, Christiania, or asit came to be known: the Free City of Christiania.Although there have been incidents of a violent

    nature associated with the history of Christiania,by and large, this was and remained a very peacefuloccupation.

    The most violent civil war-like events tookplace on 18 May 1993, in the wake of the Danishreferendum on the Edinburgh Agreement, whenDanish police fired guns on demonstratorsin the streets of Copenhagen. Although thedemonstrations on this particular occasion weretied to a national political situation - the reversalof the Danish peoples decision to say No to theMaastricht Treaty in 1992 in a second referendumon 18 May 1993 with a majority of parties in theparliament now supporting a yes - the connection

    between the events during the night of 18 May 1993and the squatting community is undisputed.The foundation of the early squatting movement

    however was very much political. Apart frompointing towards unreasonable housing conditionsin many larger cities, and in particular for youngpeople, the movement also laid bare the fact, thatmany buildings stood empty, while certain groupsin society had a hard time finding places to be, andspaces in which to express alternative ways of livingin the city.

    This was seen as an unfair and undemocraticsituation created by a certain political and economicsystem - capitalism. A socialist foundation isevident in the squatting movement and the analysisof what was seen as the fundamentally unjust natureof a modern capitalist society created a fertileground for various other political dialogues. Manyof these, and this needs to be acknowledged, haveresulted in political actions that have helped to

    shape cities in ways that are more accommodatingto a diversified society.

    sQuattInG: a CommunaL aCtIvIty ForprIvate purposesThe original squatting community developedfrom a peaceful beginning in the 1970s and 1980sto become a more radical movement in the early1990s. Several incidents with police interference,not least the dramatic events of 18 May 1993,helped to form a core community, with a military-like organisation that did not refrain from usingviolence. This part of the movement in the late1990s and onwards, developed into what hasbecome known as the autonomous movement asomewhat more radical movement with a limitedpolitical agenda. Squatting, as we knew it, seemedto become extinct in the late 1990s.

    In recent years we have seen a revival of whatmight at first glance seem to be a new form ofsquatting. Empty factory buildings or warehousesare being taken over by groups of people in searchof a place to carry out various activities. Often

    these are of an artistic nature but also moreentrepreneurial and commercial activities, such asstart-ups in the creative business sector; lookingfor affordable places to stay and grow, they areattracted to these unassuming yet flexible spaces,usually located in less commercialised areas awayfrom the traditional business or office districts.

    What is remarkably different from the originalsquatting movement of the 1970s and 1980s isthat the buildings and spaces are now occupied inagreement with or even on request by the owners ofthe abandoned buildings, whether they be privateproperty owners or the municipality. The activity ofoccupying buildings is no longer an action againstthe existing society and its unjust nature, but ratheraimed at optimising individual opportunities andthe ambitions of various people.

    To understand what might be going on I visitedone such example in Copenhagen, Prags Boulevard43, a temporary take-over of a former lacquerfactory.

    temporary opportunItIes tHe storyoF praGs bouLevard 43The spaces may be temporary, but the relations arelasting. They think it sounds a bit pompous sayingit like that, but the term relations keeps coming up

    when Christian Fumz and Jesper Kofoed-Melson,the two men who initiated Prags Boulevard 43,speak about the project. I meet them on a sunnyday among the urban gardening plant boxes atPrags Boulevard 43 on Amager in Copenhagen. Thesite and buildings belong to Akzo Nobel, a largechemical manufacturer, and used to be the locationof the Sadolin lacquer f actory. The property hasbeen abandoned for several years. Christian Fumzknew of the place because he used to live in a trailernot far from it he may also but he is not certain,he says with a twinkle in his eye, have visited theproperty at night some years ago.

    Christian Fumz trained as a primaryschool teacher. He has prior experience fr omBolsjefabrikken (The Candy Factory) with initiatingand managing a user-driven culture house. AtBolsjefabrikken the idea of space for everybodywas the guiding mantra. Jesper Kofoed-Melsongraduated from Roskilde University Centre in

    Pedagogic and Performance Design. For someyears he has worked on a project with the city as a

    stage for cultural exchange. For a while he was themanager of the cultural space Under Vandet (UnderWater).

    Christian and Jesper consider Prags Boulevard 43as the completion of their apprenticeships in user-driven culture. They initially talked with the ownersAkzo Nobel. Just two months later the first projectswere able to move into the empty and abandonedbuildings. They have the right of use of the site andbuildings for two years. When I meet the two guysmore than twenty projects and 120 people are usingthe site and buildings.

    My initial thought is that it would be quitedifficult to get commercial property owners likeAkzo Nobel to accept this deal of the free use oftheir property. But Christian and Jesper make itsound very simple. The same goes for the variousprojects that now inhabit the site. They knew ofsome of them beforehand, but most approachedthem on their own initiative and because they hadheard about the place from friends. And then theystopped by and asked if they could move in. And

    we have been able to say, Yes, of course you can.Getting out of the chair and doing something foryourself is an attitude that Christian and Jespergenerally appreciate.

    Christian explains: I have this fundamental

    belief with regard to our society that we get waytoo much served on a plate. We get an education,and it seems as if a road is laid out for us and thenwe can just walk along and no one is harmed. Butthe personal responsibility, the individual taking astand, is not n