Urban

134
Spring 2015

Design
Urban Design Group Journal
Issn 1750 712x

Garden Cities

URBAN
DESIGN
GROUP
URBAN
NewsUpdate
UDG

view from the Housing plays an important role in

shaping our urban environment, as explored
seen as the party that solved the housing cri-
sis. They acknowledged in their January 2015
chair: Katy within this issue, and John Punter, Emeritus
Professor of Urban Design at Cardiff Uni-
report Until there’s a home for everyone that
there is a change in homeowners’ attitudes
Neaves versity, gave the 2014 Kevin Lynch Memo-
rial Lecture on ‘Unaffordable housing and
to building more homes in their area. The
report identifies that NIMBYism has declined
socially exclusive urban design’ (see p.6). He sharply with spiralling house prices and
acknowledged Kevin Lynch’s comments on rent increases. It goes on to stress that the
At the beginning of the year I attended a talk social justice and how this might be achieved infrastructure, whom the homes are for, and
given by Ben Page, Chief Executive of Ipsos through sustainable development. His con- what employment opportunities the homes
MORI, at which he looked at predictions for clusions included the following: the need to might bring, must all be addressed in order
the UK in 2015. The key point of discussion reduce raw land prices to pay for infrastruc- to neutralise doubts or opposition within the
was the uncertainty about the outcome of the ture and affordable housing, to approve Local local community.
UK’s general election in May. This ambiguity, Plans and promote collaboration between The other topic, health, is being explored
he explained, has never been seen before adjacent local authorities on housing growth by Barry Sellers who has been leading on the
in the UK’s political affairs and he predicted areas, and for more funding for housing as- UDG Designing Healthy Cities initiative. This
the possibility of further coalition and inertia sociations and for the creation of genuine will be discussed at our London event in April
regarding planning policy. affordable housing. All of these principles, if and will cover such topics as: are our towns
Over the last couple of months the UDG adopted by the political parties, would help and cities making us sad, sick and lonely?,
has been exploring two of the top current to solve the housing crisis and aid the crea- and what design and management options
issues for voters as identified by YouGov, tion of sustainable developments. encourage people to be sociable, active, and
housing and health, and the role that urban Shelter have identified that the political eat a better diet?
design has within these arenas. parties could win voter loyalty through being • Katy Neaves

Urban Design of Holistic City Software, using Rob Cowan’s

time tested technique. About 30 of us set out
bedded-in, and for everything to be double-
checked. So if you think there is an error with
Group into the chilly streets of Bulwell to try out the
prototype. After logging in, users can add
your subscription, please let us know. If you
can see any other ways in which the UDG
flags on to a map, and explanatory text on could provide a better service to members
the things they like about the place, things or one that is easier to use, we would love to
Placecheck for Smartphones they don’t like, and things that need to be hear from you.
Street-test worked on.
One of the people who attended the 2014 We found it possible to rapidly populate A welcome to Kathleen Lucey
National Urban Design Conference in Not- the map with comments; and the plus point We welcome Kathleen Lucey to the UDG, as
tingham was Graham Allen, MP for Notting- was that, unlike paper notes that have to be office manager. Kathleen has had a varied
ham North. He told of a community beset by deciphered later when the energy is often at career which has included time in Europe
problems of declining industry and employ- a low ebb, the smartphone enabled note- where she worked with an MEP, in energy
ment, and asked whether the urban design taking to keep pace with the enthusiasm. with Lord Ezra and his company Micropower,
community could help. One of the efforts The results provided a clear analysis of the and at Veolia where she worked in the field of
so far has been to run a Placecheck event strengths and weaknesses of the area, and corporate social responsibility.
on 20th February in the old market town suggestions for specific sites. On the basis
of Bulwell and the outlying Crabtree Farm of the test, we came to the conclusion that UrbanNous – catalogue
Estate. This was a Placecheck for the 21st it would be easy for anyone to use. The next available
century, backed by a special smartphone- test will be to run a Smartphone Placecheck Over 200 videos are now easily accessible on
friendly website, developed by Chris Sharpe that involves the whole community. Accord- the UrbanNous website, thanks to the on-line
ing to UDG East Midlands convenor, Laura catalogue developed by Fergus Carnegie.
Alvarez, it is young and middle aged adults View www.urbannous.org.uk – and follow the
who are least likely to get involved in the fu- yellow text Hover here to bring ideas to life.
ture of places, and this is the very group that
has the highest ownership of smartphones.
• Robert Huxford

New Membership System for UDG

The UDG has moved to a new integrated
membership and accounts system, which
will in the long-term substantially improve
efficiency and reduce costs. It will take
around six months for the system to be fully

Current subscriptions Individual (UK and international) £50 UK Library £80

Urban Design is free to Urban Design Group UK student / concession £30 International Library £100
members who also receive newsletters and Recognised Practitioner in Urban Design
the directory at the time of printing £80 Check the website for full details of benefits
Small practice (<5 professional staff) £250 plus corporate and partnership packages
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Tel 020 7250 0892 Education £250
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 Contents

Contents
This issue has been generously sponsored by UPDATE Garden Suburb? Mette Mclarney 42
Urbed Greening the City 3 Capturing the Value of the Garden City,
Neighbourhood Planning 3 Colin Pullan and Elli Thomas 45
COVER Urban Design Library #15 4
Letchworth, Image courtesy of Letchworth Urban Design Interview: Dan Black 5 BOOK REVIEWS
Garden City Heritage Foundation Kevin Lynch Memorial Lecture: The Hidden Potential of Sustainable
Unaffordable Housing in England, Neighbourhoods, Harrison Fraker 46
FUTURE ISSUES Professor John Punter 6 URBAN VOICES : Celebrating urban
UD135 The City as Master Developer design in Australia, John Byrne,
UD136 Designing Housing International Bill Chandler, Bruce Echberg (eds) 46
UD137 Latin America Building Momentum in Detroit, Interconnect: Improving the Journey
Nicolo Cammelli 10 Experience, Centro and City ID 47
Dynamic Skyline, Anika Mittal Dhawan 12 Saverio Muratori: A Legacy in Urban

Urban
Design, Marco Maretto 47
Spring 2015 TOPIC: GARDEN CITIES Explorations in Urban Design.
134

Design
Urban Design Group Journal
ISSN 1750 712x The Relevance of the Garden City for the An Urban Design Research Primer,
21st Century, Colin Pullan and Elli Thomas 15 Matthew Carmona (ed) 48
garDen cities The Garden City Resurgence, David Lock 16 Garden Cities of Tomorrow? A New Future
Fantasy or Opportunity?, Miles Gibson for the Cottage Estates, Martin Crookston 48
and Liz Mason 17 Site Design for Multifamily Housing:
/ 04 Dealing with the Housing Shortage, Creating Livable, Connected
Roberta Blackman-Woods MP 20
FIRST
ENERATION
A?
Neighborhoods, Nico Larco,
Garden, London
Wallacespace – Covent Garden
The Art of Building a Garden City, Kristin Kelsey and Amanda West 49
17.30 - 28th April 2015
John Worthington
Charles Landry
Katy Lock 21 Water sensitive design in the UK, CIRIA 49
Designing Garden Cities for the 21st
/ 07
INKING THE
Century, Nicholas Falk and David Rudlin 24 PRACTICE INDEX 50
TERPLAN?
Building Blocks for the Future, EDUCATION INDEX 55
Chris Wilford and Andy Von Bradsky 26 ENDPIECE
ngland Quarter, Brighton
Jurys Inn - Brighton
17.30 - 14th July 2015
David Rudlin
Pam Alexander Creating the Vision, Patricia Willoughby 29 Accord and Discord, Joe Holyoak 56
/ 11
International Interpretations of the
TEVER HAPPENED
NTERPRISE
Garden City Ideal, Mike Devereux 32
ELOPMENT?
de BID, London
From Model to Reference, Erratum
15Hatfields - Southwark
17.30 - 11th November 2015
URBAN Anca Duguet and Emilie Jarousseau 35 In issue UD 132 the article on the work of
Nicholas Falk
DESIGN
John Burton, USM
GROUP Letchworth then and now, David Ames 38 Spacehive was attributed to Orsola de Marco,
URBAN
DESIGN
What is so difficult about creating a and this should have been Andy Teacher.
3/23/2015 1:32:27 PM
GROUP

DIARY OF
EVENTS
Unless otherwise indicated, all LONDON
events are held at The Gallery, 70 Cowcross
Street, London EC1M 6EJ at 6.30 pm.

Note that there are many other events run

by UDG volunteers throughout the UK. For the WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL WEDNESDAY 10 JUNE
latest details and pricing, please check on Urban Design & Health AGM & Garden Cities – Part 2
the UDG website www.udg.org.uk/events/ Are our towns and cities making us sad, sick The evening will start with the 2015 Urban
and lonely? What design and management Design Group’s AGM at which the Executive
Always check the UDG website for final options encourage people to be sociable, Committee is elected.
details and late changes. active, and eat a better diet? Led by Barry Following on from the first event on Gar-
Sellers den Cities in March, this event will examine
the beguiling appeal of the term and the
MONDAY 11 MAY reality and relevance for the 21st century.
Dealing with Density Chaired by Ben Van Bruggen.
Is ever-increasing density the solution to
accommodating increased population, or WEDNESDAY 8 JULY
is there an optimum range, not only for The City as Developer
health, wellbeing and happiness, but also Looking at the potential for urban authorities
for practicality and financial viability and to take a direct role in enterprising the future
environmental sustainability. Introduced by of their areas. This is a joint event with the
Amanda Reynolds Academy of Urbanism.

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 1

Leader

Promoting Urban Design

This issue of contribution that urban designers can make,

Urban Design and spread the word. As well as being sent to
looks at the UDG members and academic libraries in the
big topic of UK and overseas, the published Urban Design
Garden Cities. Directory will go to all UK local authorities
For many – key officers, plus the heads of planning,
beyond our environment and transport departments,
immediate professional circles, the publicity and the chairs of planning committees – and
around the Wolfson Economics Prize may have public libraries.
been the first time that they heard the term In parallel it will land on the desks of over
‘urban designer’, to describe David Rudlin’s 800 developers and house builders across
role in winning the prize. It is time to change the country, who, we trust, will find it hard not
that, so that people understand what urban to glance inside and see the eye-catching
designers do, as readily as they understand masterplans, strategies, and photographs of
about architects and buildings, planners and completed schemes, without coming back to it
policies, highway engineers and roads. again when a new project is starting or needs
The Urban Design Directory 2015-17 was help.
launched at the National Urban Design Awards We are grateful therefore to everyone
evening in March 2015, and shows the richness who has supported this initiative to promote
of projects by practices and students alike. urban design, and especially to our guest
For the first time a new online Urban Design contributors Nick Rogers of Taylor Wimpey and
Directory (www.urbandesigndirectory.com) Graham Marshall and Rhiannon Corcoran of
allows browsers to find practices or projects Pro-Social Space, who gave their thoughts on
by key professional disciplines, sectors how we can collaborate with others to make
of the property market or geography. The better places.
spectacular portfolio of projects already
available should inspire others to see the
• Louise Thomas

Urban Design Group Trustees [email protected]

Chairman Katy Neaves Roger Evans, Arnold Linden, Marcus Wilshere Book Review Editor: Jane Manning
Patrons Irena Bauman, Alan Baxter,
Dickon Robinson, Helle Søholt, Lindsey Editorial Board Design
Whitelaw and John Worthington Matthew Carmona, Tim Catchpole, Richard trockenbrot (Claudia Schenk and Anja Sicka)
Cole, Alastair Donald, Tim Hagyard, www.trockenbrot.com
Office Joe Holyoak, Sebastian Loew, Daniela Printing Henry Ling Ltd
Urban Design Group Lucchese, Jane Manning, Chris Martin, © Urban Design Group ISSN 1750 712X
70 Cowcross Street Malcolm Moor, Judith Ryser, Louise Thomas,
London EC1M 6EJ Polly Turton Advertising enquiries
Tel 020 7250 0892 Please contact UDG office
Email [email protected] Editors Material for publication
Website www.udg.org.uk Louise Thomas, [email protected] Please send text by email to the editors,
(this issue), Sebastian Loew, images to be supplied as jpeg.

2 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Update

Events at the Gallery The following events have been organised by

the UDG and held at The Gallery, Cowcross
Street, London. Many are recorded by Urban-
Nous and are available to watch again on the
UDG’s website, thanks to the generous sup-
port of Fergus Carnegie.

Greening the City Gary Grant of Green Roof Consultancy,

describing himself as an ecologist, suggested
The Gallery, London 18 February that eco-systems in cities can be restored
2015 and at the same time a number of urban
problems could be solved. Water sensitive
cities could not just save water, but reduce
pollution and summer temperatures resulting
Three speakers shared the platform for from the urban heat island phenomenon.
this well-attended event that was jointly Rain gardens are not limited to green roofs:
organised with the Landscape Institute, and they are any planted feature designed to re- images were from other countries, there were
followed the publications of UD133 on the ceive run-off water from down-pipes or paved also some encouraging local ones.
topic. First, Fenella Griffin of Untitled Practice areas. He showed a number of examples in This was the first theme of the ensuing
advocated the integration of landscape into which he has been involved, some very mod- discussion: why are so few good examples
all urban planning and design, and an under- est, others more spectacular, and mentioned from England? Why weren’t more roofs of
standing of ‘the valuable services that nature Green Infrastructure Audits, such as the one industrial buildings covered in vegetation?
provides to the human environment’. She for the Business Improvement District in The involvement on politicians, the costs, the
cited some examples where a city’s design London’s Victoria, which led to a great living management were other topics raised in the
started with nature (surprisingly Los Angeles) wall, and is a model for other areas. very lively debate that ended the evening.
and others where cities have been retrofit-
ted to restore nature. These have resulted
The third speaker was Ian Hingley, a
defender of the modest green verge in all
• Sebastian Loew

in increased property values, in addition to its forms. He showed through numerous

many health and environmental benefits. Her examples how strips that are not paved over
own work has involved schemes in Totten- can reduce water pollution, contribute to
ham, Thamesmead and Brighton, where the biodiversity and amenity, and more generally
objectives have been the interconnection of restore nature in urban areas. Various typolo-
different spaces through landscape and the gies indicate the possibilities available with
restoration of nature. relatively modest means, and although many

business-led town centre or enterprise zone- a 98 per cent Yes vote, showing how effective
style plans simplifying planning processes. communications had been. Sue Brownhill of
More than 62 per cent of local authorities in Oxford Brookes University has been get-
England now have designated NP areas, and ting students engaged in plan-making, and
of those 58 per cent are actively seeking to monitoring local neighbourhood planning
allocate sites for housing. Other neighbour- progress. Common issues where NPs could
hood plans are either in progress and so be most effective locally were around local
their objectives are not yet known, or are high streets, green spaces, connections and
about design quality where the local plan has physical links, and housing sizes for local
recently been adopted with allocations iden- affordability; in one case the NP process is
Neighbourhood tified. With the release of additional funding
keenly awaited by many groups, CLG had also
being supported financially with rents from
the local farmers’ market. South Oxfordshire
Planning monitored the cost of producing NPs, which District Council has devolved decision-
included many in the £4-7000 range. making about housing site allocations to its
Oxford Town Hall, 26 February Sue Rowlands of Tibbalds spoke about villages, which resulted in many more NPs in
2015 their experience in Thame, Winsford, and that area. One of these is in Drayton, and Par-
Chalfont St Peter (a design quality plan), and ish Councillor Richard Williams presented the
emphasised the need to check the useful- key themes, processes for site identification,
Organised by the BOBMK network (support- ness of draft policies with the officers who and ways of attracting residents’ involve-
ing local authorities in Buckinghamshire, would ultimately be using them. Winsford ment. The NP supports the allocation of sites
Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Milton Keynes), NP is regeneration–based strategy look- for 250 homes, to add to its 900 households
this excellent afternoon event was opened ing for opportunities to solve some of the today. The event was well-planned and run,
by Miranda Pearce from CLG. In the three town’s problems by supporting change. Next and addressed issues for those both new to
years since its launch, the opportunity for Cllr Llew Monger of Winslow Town Council and familiar with NPs. BOBMK runs monthly
local communities to make neighbourhood demonstrated how their vision and commit- events which are open to all, and advertised
development plans (NPs) has been taken up ment to planning their area proactively has on the Urban Update e-bulletins.
in a wide range of locations: from prosperous
or disadvantaged communities enhancing
so far enabled them to control development
applications in the right places. Their recent
• Louise Thomas

their urban, suburban or rural settings, to referendum drew a 60 per cent turnout, with

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 3

Update

The Urban Design

Library #15

historical perspective on this group’s role in

Centre for Urban Studies: the city, prior to recent patterns of migra-
London Aspects of Change tion. Hobsbawm’s careful survey of London’s
Macgibbon & Kee, 1964 labour market, and the role of various labour
organisations in shaping the city during the
19th century, reveals a fascinating analysis of
Read on the role of labour relations in London’s de-
Campkin, Ben (2013) Remaking velopment today. As a document of a certain
London: Decline and Regeneration point of time in London, the book as a whole
in Urban Culture. I B Tauris provides a key record of a city that is emerg-
Glass, Ruth (1989) Clichés of Urban ing from rationing and entering a new era of
Doom: And Other Essays. Basil economic liberalisation and consumerism.
Blackwell The mixture of generous depictions of 1950s
Glass, Ruth (1960) Newcomers: The social housing provision, yet gloom at the
West Indians in London. Centre for prospect of continued progress is powerful
Urban Studies and painfully prescient.
Imrie, Rob, Loretta Lees, and Mike One of the central themes in London
Raco (2009) Regenerating London: Aspects of Change is the paradoxical nature
Governance, Sustainability and of the city. Glass’ introduction opens with the
Community in a Global City. lines ‘London can never be taken for granted.
Routledge The city is too vast, too complex, too contrary
Gibson, S and Kerr, J eds. (2003) and too moody to become entirely familiar’. In
London from Punk to Blair. Reaktion. William Holford’s chapter The Changing Face
Hebbert, M (1998) London: More by of London he reflects on the density of housing
Fortune than Design. John Wiley provision in London thus: ‘As the quality of
Lees,L. (2003) Visions of ‘Urban housing is improved its quantity is dimin-
Renaissance’: the Urban Task Force ished’. This book not only provides a view
Report and the Urban White Paper, of the challenges and issues occupying the
in Imrie,R. and Raco,M. (eds) minds of urban studies scholars in this period,
Urban Renaissance? New Labour, but it also seems to make the suggestion that
community and urban policy, Policy London is by its nature contradictory.
Press: Bristol, pp.61-82. This book is full with intriguing details,
and observations that continue to resonate.
In the chapter on Tall Flats in Pimlico, the
London Aspects of Change is a book which 1963 a symposium was organised to discuss Centre for Urban Studies, which authored
appears in the bibliographies of numerous the state of London at the time, bringing the report, notes various policy buzzwords
urban studies books and papers through together a wide range of presentations that that resemble some of the notions associated
its association with the first coining of the form the basis for this volume. with the Blair-era Urban Task Force report.
term ‘gentrification’ in the introduction by Whilst the book may hardly be consid- The scepticism surrounding notions such
the sociologist Ruth Glass. However, this ered a complete survey of London in the as ‘mixed living’ and ’community planning’
singular reputation is a substantial mis- 1950s and early 1960s, it provides a series chime with the critique of the urban renais-
representation of an important book, which of different analytical slants and specific sance literature presented by Loretta Lees
has been out of print for too long. Not only case studies to explore the city. Ten chapters among others (2003). The book must also be
is Ruth Glass’ introductory contribution an in- range from a historical account of the Nine- recognised for its emphasis on the impor-
tense and brilliant portrait of London, which teenth Century London Labour Market, as tance of migration, and that such issues
presents a series of observations that remain discussed by Eric Hobsbawm to a more con- cannot ‘be confined within the department
relevant to the contemporary scene, but the temporary account of Polish London by Sheila of ‘minorities’ or ‘race relations’, but must be
chapters that make up the remainder of the Patterson. In between, descriptions can be regarded as an integral part of the compre-
book are packed with fascinating empirical found of Tall Flats in Pimlico, a collaborative hensive, comparative study of social stratifi-
research and prescient comment on London. piece by the Centre for Urban Studies, Margot cation’. This demand that questions of race,
London Aspects of Change is a book that is Jefferys’ Londoners in Hertfordshire, and The racism and migration must be fully integrated
relevant for those interested in the history of Structure of Greater London by John Wester- into the way we consider social difference in
London and the development of urban stud- gaard – a piece that reflects advice given by the city and not relegated to distant niches,
ies, but also one which contains information the Centre for Urban Studies in advance of remains relevant to contemporary research
which should resound with those concerned a reassessment of local government, which and planning.
about London today. would lead to the creation of the Greater London Aspects of Change belongs on the
The volume originates from the Centre for London Council (GLC) in 1965. shelves of the modern urbanist in London and
Urban Studies which was founded at Universi- Each of these chapters is an invalu- beyond, not just because of its association
ty College London in 1958. This cross-discipli- able historical document and ought to be with gentrification but because the research
nary group was responsible for a number of revisited at least on that basis alone. Polish remains pertinent, the thinking insightful,
academic papers and policy reports seeking London for instance provides a detailed and the text lucid and vibrant.
‘to contribute to the systematic knowledge of
towns, and in particular of British towns’. In
description of the post-war Polish commu-
nity’s position in London, providing a longer
• Sam Barton, PhD student in the Geography
Department at UCL.

4 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Update

Urban Design Education

MA Urban Design (University of the West of
Interview: What does England, Bristol)
BScEcon Economics & Spanish (University of
Urban Design mean Swansea)

to me? Past experience

Sustainable Design Advisor, Building
Dan Black
Research Establishment (BRE)
Urban Design & Sustainability Consultant,
Baker Associates (now PBA)
Current position and work Design Lead, DIY Streets, Sustrans
Director of db+a (Daniel Black and Associ- Specialisms
ates). Currently leading academic consortia Ambitions Healthy, low carbon planning and design
on how to make urban environments health- To integrate long-term external costs into Client support on integrated strategies
ier and more resilient; working with UWE’s current decision-making, first nationally then Assessment methods: health, sustainability,
WHO Centre for Healthy Urban Environments internationally. resilience, equality
on integrated inclusive appraisal; working Corporate climate change adaptation
with low carbon developer, CDP. Stakeholder mediation and facilitation

↑  No charge: GDP is dead! Long live common ↑  Lipstick on the gorilla: Pretty masterplans ↑  Economics of Urban Villages: The Duchy
sense! covering up inherently unsustainable urban of Cornwall promoting alternative mainstream
environments. delivery models – landownership is critical.

↑  Great Bow Yard: A new breed of developer? ↑  Ashley Vale Self-Build: Education + community ↑  UWE’s WHO Centre for Healthy Urban
Where are they, RICS? + determination = beauty. (Credit: Ecomotive) Environments: Uwe’s WHO Centre – Quietly leading
in health, sustainability and urban planning.

↑  LILAC: Mutual Home Ownership and/or ↑  The Quality Assurance Paradox: Regulation ↑  Vauban: No UK equivalent – 15 per cent car use,
resident ownership of delivery process – the future raises the bar for the lowest common 75 per cent walking/ cycling, land ownership, and
of sustainability? (Credit: White Design) denominator…and stifles the innovators. experienced local authority. (Credit: Steve Melia)

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 5

Update

400,000 £400,000

350,000 £350,000

300,000 £300,000

250,000 £250,000
New dwellings per year

Normal house price

200,000 £200,000

150,000 £150,000

100,000 £100,000

50,000 £50,000

0 0
1946

1950

1955

1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2013
Unaffordable housing Various reports note a particular short-
age of homes for social rent (1.7 million
These are the problems that urban
designers and planners have to contend
in England: the crisis households on waiting lists), a fall in home-
ownership levels of 6 per cent since 2003,
with at both the strategic and local scales
as they struggle to create high quality living
in housing production and a recent sharp increase in private renting environments for new and existing residents.
among younger households (14 per cent since They are only too aware that ‘housing is the
John Punter’s Kevin Lynch 2008 for 25-35 year olds). These trends are most significant built form in the landscape’
Memorial Lecture examines its a response to increasing house prices and to use David Levitt’s words, and a critical
consequences for urban design static or falling wage levels, so that buying factor in meeting human needs in the built
a new home require an income eight times environment.
higher than the average, whereas in 1994 it
The problem of a desperate shortage of was four times the average. Private landlords CURRENT GOVERNMENT POLICIES
affordable homes is getting progressively have nearly doubled between 2001-11, with AND HOUSING FINANCE
worse, especially in London and the South the vast majority having acquired a single The most striking feature of current housing
East which is the focus of this paper. This property under ‘buy to let’ provisions that policy is the obfuscation of the definition of
is where demand for housing is greatest, date back to 1986. They have enjoyed finan- affordable housing that was slipped into the
and where more and more people are being cial returns equivalent to three times those of National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
priced out of suitable accommodation. New stocks and shares, and provided opportuni- In a move worthy of George Orwell’s Ministry
inner London apartments have become a ties for widespread tax evasion (estimated of Truth, ‘affordable housing’ was redefined
global reserve currency for the super-rich at £500m annually). Forty per cent of the to include not simply social rented housing,
with dire consequences for Londoners at social housing budget is now going to private but also affordable rent of ‘no more than 80
large. landlords through Housing Benefit, and only per cent of the local market rent’ in housing
five per cent is currently available for new provided by local authorities and housing
THE NATURE OF THE HOUSING build. Meanwhile the cost of renting privately associations. Intermediate housing for sale
CRISIS averages 40 per cent of household income, and rent was also included (based on shared
The last forty years have seen a dramatic de- whereas social rent is based on a 30 per cent ownership and equity loans) along with other
cline in housing production and an inexorable figure and owner occupation averages 20 per low-cost homes for sale and intermediate
increase in house price, i.e. six fold between cent: current trends will deepen the inequity rent. The whole notion of ‘affordable’ housing
1983-2007. Successive governments have of this situation. has been rendered meaningless, and is prov-
failed to address this decline in all forms of The graph of house building since 1945 ing impossible to monitor in any detail.
housing supply (public, private, and housing shows the steep rise in house prices between The current Housing and Communities
association) in a period when population 1998-2008, and that land prices escalated Agency (HCA) budget notes that £4.7 bil-
increase has accelerated, in-migration has nearly three times as fast over the period lion is allocated for affordable housing, but
increased, and household formation has 1983-2007. This created major problems for this is below 2008 levels of spending and
shown unprecedented steady growth. Recent house builders who were expected to cover is about to be halved again in the 2015-18
reports put the required annual production of local authority infrastructure costs (roads, Comprehensive Spending Review. The second
housing in England at least 50 per cent above schools, parks etc.) and to build significant largest HCA allocation is £1bn equity finance
current levels, while KPMG/Shelter suggest amounts of affordable housing. As a result for ‘purpose built private rental housing’,
that 243,000 homes should be built annually, private house builders have prioritised profit with a further £10bn in debt guarantees, as
a figure not achieved since the mid-1970s margins over volume of production, and sig- the government seeks to attract large scale
when council housing accounted for 40 per nificantly reduced their collective output over private capital to help to solve housing short-
cent of production. the last forty years. ages. Another £1.5bn will go into ‘large site

6 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Update

infrastructure projects’ and ‘local infrastruc-

ture plans’. A further billion is allocated half
to builders for stalled schemes, and the rest
to brownfield schemes, custom-build and
estate regeneration.
On planning, the government has rightly
placed much more emphasis on the comple-
tion and adoption of local plans (only 57 per
cent are currently adopted) and offered a
New Homes Bonus to incentivise each house
completion (equivalent to 6 years of council
tax). The abolition of Regional Spatial Strate-
gies and their replacement by a weaker ‘duty
to cooperate’ with adjacent authorities was
criticised even by the House Builders Federa-
tion. Design policy has been edited down in
the same way as the NPPF, but Design for
London has resolved to rescue the best of
existing guidance to maintain design stand-
ards. Building for Life has been simplified
and is no longer a DCLG indicator, and the
down-sizing of CABE has removed its capacity
to evaluate the design quality of new hous-
ing and to promote best practice, including
strategic urban design which is so essential
to sub-regional planning for housing. High
quality design remains as one of twelve core
planning principles, but the capacity of local
planners to implement it is being severely
tested everywhere, not least by cuts in local
government funding and thus staffing.

THE GARDEN CITIES INITIATIVE

The Coalition Government announced a
Garden Cities initiative in 2014 to create
what ‘people most value, high quality design,
appropriate infrastructure and accessible
greenspace’. They commended the Town and
Country Planning Association’s (TCPA) ten
progressive principles but offered no further
guidance other than ‘brownfield before
greenfield’ and settlements of more than
15,000 homes. Garden Cities were to be local
initiatives backed by local authorities and it
was anticipated that three schemes might be
supported.
The initiative was given impetus by the
Wolfson Economics Prize which sought
ideas on ‘how to deliver a Garden City
which is visionary, economically viable and
popular’. The shortlist of winners included
eight schemes by various architectural and
urban design consultancies, and each one
contained useful ideas as to how such set-
tlements might be located, designed and
developed for the 21st century. David Rudlin
of URBED won the prize with his scheme for
three suburban extensions to an existing
town, each with a cluster of five neighbour-
hoods linked by bus-rapid transit, bringing
the population up to some 200,000 people. ↖ House Building since 1945
Roughly twice the land needed for develop- (Source KPMG/Shelter 2014)
↗ David Rudlin’s 2014 Wolfson
ment would be acquired, but half would Economics Prize-winning
make up a green reserve to protect the Entry: Uxcester Garden
amenity of existing residents. At the heart of City, three extensions to an
the proposals was a key TCPA principle cited existing city (hypothetical)
by the government – that the anticipated → Oxford Civic Society
proposals for Oxford’s
uplift in land values would be captured for Regional Growth
the development. In this hypothetical case Bicester – Harwell (Falk –
land would be acquired at twenty times Rowland)

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 7

Update

On regenerating council estates there is

evidence of a large scale loss of social rented
units through demolition and replacement by
new ‘affordable’ units, and by major increases
of market housing. Significant increases in
density are evident, along with substantial
improvements in housing and environmental
quality; gentrification is proceeding apace,
and high proportions of overseas buyers
are being recorded. Woodberry Down in
Hackney is a good example. Meanwhile the
Heygate Estate in Southwark has become
controversial with the replacement of 1200
council houses by only 79 for social renting,
while 500 ‘affordable rent’ units will be on
offer in new apartments where prices start
at £380,000 – affordable only to those with
high incomes. In this case the economics
of decanting, redevelopment and replace-
ment constitute the deliberate obfuscation
of Community Infrastructure Levies (CIL),
but the ‘Heygate diaspora’ with former ten-
ants widely dispersed across London, and
mainly to the outer eastern suburbs, is widely
↑ KPMG/Shelter proposals Spatial Plan to allocate a number of Garden acknowledged.
for Stoke Harbour. Part of City schemes to solve local housing short- The London Housing Strategy has a
proposed Hoo Peninsula
ages in locations with high public transport robust evidence base, and is backed by a
Garden City, North Kent:
Wolfson Runner Up accessibility. Two particularly interesting good design guide and improved internal
proposals were for large numbers of low-cost space standards (10 per cent above Parker
homes for sale without any requirements Morris). Private external amenity space is
agricultural value (or about 15 per cent of its for affordable housing, one in freestanding required and linked to the internal design
development value) to ensure a high quality small towns (NVB Architects), the other in of apartments, while the prevalence of a
scheme. Rudlin intended to create a Garden a much larger city near Hemel Hempstead modern London vernacular is encouraged
City Trust to develop, own and manage the (Leach and Critchley). In all cases the key to to create a human scale and an inhabited
new city in collaboration with landown- the project was recouping the land values street. But gentrification and social cleansing
ers, the community and local authority. The generated by the development to pay for the processes are overwhelming, and the sale of
Housing Minister’s immediate rejection of the infrastructure. whole estates of low-cost private rental units
winning entry as violating green belts and are now being reported, and major evictions
perpetrating urban sprawl was disingenuous THE LONDON HOUSING STRATEGY becoming more common. Overseas specu-
in the extreme. Much can be learned about current housing lative purchases of large numbers of new
Rudlin noted that many of his ideas development from a review of the London apartments are also reported, leaving largely
had emerged from work done by URBED on Housing Strategy and its implementation, empty buildings as a consequence. The GLA
the growth of Oxford, a city which figures though of course the economic growth of the defends this by arguing that these vital early
prominently in the recent Centre for Cities city has been completely at odds with the sales ensure development viability, an argu-
housing report on the growth needs of the relative stagnation of many other English cit- ment used to justify ‘buy to rent’ (post 1998)
most expensive and fastest growing cities in ies. The Greater London Authority (GLA) and with similarly negative results for would-be
England. Here the local Civic Society, with the Mayor have developed a housing strategy homeowners. The twenty New Homes Zones
Nicholas Falk and Jon Rowland, has been that seeks to deliver 42,000 homes each year being designated will need to be carefully
investigating and promoting a sub-regional in the capital (critics suggest that 60,000 monitored for their affordability and design
growth strategy in the face of a housing wait- homes will be required). The projected tenure quality.
ing list of 6,000 people, and an exceptionally split is 45 per cent private owner-occupied,
generous green belt that negates significant 25 per cent affordable (small units and DISTILLING THE KEY IDEAS FOR A
peripheral growth. discounted rents), 17 per cent intermediate NATIONAL HOUSING STRATEGY
Equally innovative and large in scale (shared ownership), and 12 per cent private The four recent housing reports – by the Cen-
was the Wolfson Prize runner-up, Shelter’s rental. tre for Cities, Shelter/ KPMG, NHF and the Ly-
proposal for a new city of 150,000 people on Recently revised Borough housing ons Review – have provided much of the data
the north Kent marshes. Connected to the targets indicate that the poorer inner East used in this article and are essential reading,
national rail system and with a green fringe London boroughs have eight of the ten most and there are some common proposals for
linked to an extensive landscape network, ambitious targets for growth, and that these reform to note. All of the reports emphasise
the net densities proposed were around include proposals for at least 140 residential the importance of recouping the uplift in land
60 dwellings per hectare. An emphasis towers (above 20 storeys). The Mayor has values provided by a planning permission to
on modern methods of construction as an promised that 25 per cent of the housing built pay for infrastructure and affordable housing.
employment base and the means for an will be affordable, but so far the average af- Even the Government appears to support this
improved housing supply was also included. fordable rent has been 69 per cent of market in its Garden Cities proposal by endorsing
In addition there was the concept of shared rents. In the London Opportunity Areas like the TCPA’s development principles. However
returns among development partners, local Earl’s Court and Vauxhall-Battersea, the new it does nothing to reform the current system
authority, residents, landowners and housing affordable proportion has been around 11-15 of land trading which simply makes hous-
associations. per cent in many projects, with far less on ing much more expensive and more poorly
Other proposals (Barton Willmore, Wei the prime sites. Only Kings Cross promises to serviced than it should be. As a smaller step
Yang-Buro Happold) advocated a National deliver 50 per cent affordable homes. towards reform, the Lyons Review seeks

8 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Update

to promote open-book valuations and to

ensure a more transparent Land Registry that
records all transactions (including options)
and is publicly accessible. Both the Centre
for Cities (CfC) and the Lyons Review want
Compulsory Purchase Orders streamlined to
create more possibilities of purchasing land
at existing use values to encourage more
voluntary agreements. Three of the reports
want to widen the remit of Housing Associa-
tions and to give them more control over who
they house, and more capacity to borrow
against assets; and the National Housing
Federation (NHF) and Shelter/KPMG want to
see the formation of a Housing Investment
Bank to boost funding for both housing and
infrastructure. Shelter emphasises the need
for more support to ensure the revival of
small builders (as does Lyons), but the latter
remains unconvinced that the larger house
builders will significantly increase their vol-
ume production.
All of the reports recommend local land
strategies, the designation of housing growth
and new homes areas, emphasising the im- Autumn Statement was remarkable chiefly for ↑ The Heygate Diaspora:
portance of collaboration between adjacent its proposals to shrink the role of the state in leaseholder displacement
by redevelopment February
local planning authorities on sites, and wider relation to the gross domestic product to its
2013 CPO Inquiry Evidence.
infrastructure provision to improve connec- smallest size since the 1930s, and its housing Source: 35percent.org
tions. The Lyons Review suggests a stronger proposals were predictably piecemeal. Any
central government role through a re-tasked prospect of a coherent approach to resolving
HCA and a New Homes Corporation, while the housing crisis is missing from all the ma- his anti-sprawl/pro-green belt myopia.
Shelter/KPMG seeks to build on City deals jor political parties, as the Labour party lead- Without the multi-dimensional reforms
and other potentially devolved powers, in- ership underplayed its own Lyons Review. suggested, the role for urban designers
cluding some taxation. The CfC also encour- The TCPA’s recent manifesto for Rebuilding will be hugely circumscribed by the new
ages collaboration between adjacent authori- Britain: Planning for a Better Future links the economic realities (in London at least) of sig-
ties extending to infrastructure investment current crisis in housing and planning to the nificant over-development, the meaningless
and Milton Keynes-type tariffs, while the need for a fairer social division of resources assertions of affordable housing components
Lyons Review wants a comprehensive review and the necessity of a more sustainable and minimal provision of genuinely affordable
of the CIL to ensure it captures the necessary future. It is remarkable for its fully-justified housing. These new developments are predi-
funds for infrastructure. assertion that ‘we are not a poor nation but cated on opaque financial viability assess-
Shelter talks of five garden cities and we are badly organised’, and that our discon- ments, delivering over-priced apartments
seeks green belt swaps, while the CfC sees nected politics prevents us from taking the aimed at international investment markets
many opportunities for new settlements necessary steps towards a positive approach and bonus-enriched City workers, and
within green belts and seeks to evaluate to national development. culminating in phalanxes of under-occupied
these sites on development priority not on The Government’s dismissal of all the dark buildings. The urban designer’s ideal
designation. It also prioritises the densifica- positive thinking engendered by leading of meeting local residents’ needs through
tion of existing cities. urban designers and planners in the Wolfson well-designed, affordable new regeneration
Only Lyons gives serious attention to Prize entries was a classic demonstration of projects will be challenged as never before.
planning practices, arguing for ‘use it or lose
it’ permissions, the simplification of plan-
what Peter Hall described as the ‘land fetish’
that has bedevilled post-war planning since
• John Punter, Emeritus Professor of Urban
Design, Cardiff University
making, and ensuring that the provision of its 1947 inception. But all of these imagina-
housing prioritises locals and first-time buy- tive design solutions were underpinned by a References
ers. It wants to redefine affordability in rela- number of the fundamental reforms that are Centre for Cities (2014) Delivering
tion to local incomes and more social rented necessary to resolve the current housing cri- Change: Building homes where we
accommodation, and this should be a major sis, and to create a more rational programme need them
policy priority. The NHF wants to ensure that of urban economic development. Collectively Ellis H. & Henderson K. (2014) Rebuilding
developers compete on the quality and con- they required dramatically lower raw land Britain: Planning for a Better Future,
tent of their proposals, while Lyons mentions costs; a recoupment of increased land values London, Policy Press
carbon neutrality, improved space standards to pay for community infrastructure; an Greater London Authority (2014) Homes
and modern methods of manufacture as emphasis upon genuinely affordable housing for London: The London Housing
necessary goals. for local people; objectively assessed sub- Strategy (Draft)
regional regional housing growth plans; local KPMG/Shelter (2014) Building the Homes
CONCLUSIONS public-private partnerships to share develop- we need, www.kpmg.co.uk
These four major reports on housing have all ment profits with the community and to fund Lyons, M. (2014) The Lyons Housing
found it difficult to get traction in the media green infrastructure; and, a stronger focus on Review: Mobilising across the nation
and in public debate, and recent political sustainable public transport-serviced devel- to build the housing our children
polling reveals that the housing crisis is not a opment at large. These fundamentals are all need, Labour Party
significant issue in the 2015 election (al- based on the TCPA principles endorsed by the National Housing Forum (2014) Broken
though 17 per cent of voters under 22 recog- Coalition’s Garden City Prospectus, but were Market, Broken Dreams
nise it as a major concern). The Chancellor’s pointedly ignored by the Housing Minister in

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 9

International

BUILDING MOMENTUM IN DETROIT

Nicolo Cammelli describes the Lighter Quicker and Cheaper (LQC) revolution

18 July 2013, Detroit goes bankrupt: the

Images from PPS, (2013) – A Placemaking Vision For Downtown Detroit

Motor City has stopped its engines. In a city
where people cannot afford to keep the lights
on, where bars and cafes are shut and pawn
shops are busy, where 80,000 vacant build-
ings are derelict because it is too expensive
to demolish them, people seem motivated to
make a change. But who and what is fuelling
this feeling? In November 2012 Project for
Public Spaces (PPS), the non-profit place-
making organisation set an Action Plan
visioning the re-shaping of the city’s core, its
downtown, and starting with the people.

VISION
The vision is as simple as it is ambitious:
transforming Detroit from a city dedicated
to the car, to a city where pedestrians have
more and more priority and where down-
town Detroit becomes a place you drive to
instead of one you drive through. Practically
this means adaptive reuse and temporary
buildings as sheds, and shipping containers
and tensile structures to encourage creative
activities: a pop-up creative hub. It is already
happening and creating interest, as well as a
new sense of attachment and sense of place.

WHY PLACE-MAKING?
Detroit cannot afford to fail again, wasting
money that the city does not have, without
receiving any significant benefits, so there
is no space for risk, and its people cannot
wait any longer. Hence, a design strategy
was needed to provide lighter interventions,
quicker and cheaper than before. For that
reason, urban design is given the important
task of re-configuring the parameters of a
better life by capitalising on the creative en-
ergy of the community, to generate new uses PLACE-ACTIVATION
and revenue for places in transition. Place- With cities that are as large The Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper (LQC) strategy
making literature argues that if vibrancy is aims not to have side effects, but high-impact
people, and citizenship is creative, it follows
as Detroit, a revitalization long-term improvements for public spaces
that the more that citizens feel they are able is like a ship dragging an and the quality of everyday life. This place-
to contribute to their public spaces, the more activation aims to change people’s awareness
anchor on the bottom of the
vibrant their communities will be. That is that Detroit can be their Rock City again as
what Detroit is about: vibrancy. ocean. It takes so long to well as attract more partners and funding in
the process. It is worth mentioning that LQC
transform such a massive
began before its economic crash of 2013. In
space. We needed things 2012 Dan Gilbert, founder of Rock Ventures
that cause an immediate and Quicken Loans – the second largest retail
lender in the US – moved its headquarters
influx of people; the only back to the city centre, purchasing dozens
way to do that was a of tower blocks, as well as relocating 7,000
employees. This marked a turning point in
Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Detroit’s cycle of urbanisation and set an
strategy example for several other small-to-medium
businesses, which are progressively opting to
move out from the suburbs to take up cheap

10 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 International

short-term long-term
LQC STRATEGY
Campus Martius/Cadillac Close one traffic lane Martket Square with
Square and adding a shared a permanent Market
↙ Temporary activities on surface and more Hall, food kiosks, a
public spaces room for vendors and flower stall and an
↘ Character areas map activities outdoor bar
Images from PPS, (2013) – A Placemaking Vision For Downtown Detroit

Kiosk + Summer
Festival 2013.
Concerts, film
screening and
family events
(north lawn)

short-term

long-term

Add a beer
garden (south
lawn) with seats,
lighting and
shading, game
tables and
increased events

long
term

short
term

vacant office units in the sleeping downtown

area. PPS started with a proto-LCQ strat-
• Gdesign
uidelines for public and private space
and management
the States than in the UK. This represents a
big shift in urban regeneration and design,
egy for the regeneration of two large areas: and some would argue that this approach
Detroit River Front and Belle Isle, and the The City of Detroit has had financial sup- would suit a post-emergency scenario or
success of the interventions boosted local port and sponsorship from the Detroit 300 hard-hit-places better. But Detroit seems to
can-do attitudes, leading to the LCQ Action Conservancy – a non-profit organisation re- have all of the conditions to make this work.
Plan shaping downtown over the following sponsible for constructing and managing the Very often funding appears to be the biggest
months. The action plan is actually formed by new Campus Martius Park, as well as funding concern among decision-makers, where in
short and long-term plans for ten charac- from Compuware, Ford Motor Company, Rock reality, simplicity and deliverability are effec-
ter areas of the city centre. These plans are Ventures and Quicken Loans. tive principles in design: a kiosk in the right
structured to include: So far what can we learn from this is that place, or the simple triangulation of compat-
• Detailed building and space programmes
for short and long-term uses
the city is seeing real improvements, attract-
ing investors that would not have otherwise
ible uses can really make the difference in our
experience of places; and it is just common
• Concept drawings and layouts for all key been attracted and bringing new activi- sense.

•
spaces
Phasing and event programing
ties. Designing with flexibility on different
time-scales, with people, and testing what
• Nicolo Cammelli, urban designer and planner,
Dar Group

• Precedents and benchmarks, and works or not, appears to be more popular in

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 11

International

DYNAMIC SKYLINE
Anika Mittal Dhawan notes the role and significance of cranes in our cities

the urban skyline but also contribute in

transforming it continuously, by creating
new structures that signify the upward
surge of a city.
Cranes can thus be interpreted as signs
of change, whether physical or economic.
Skylines are symbolic of a city’s economic
status. The more opulent, visually
domineering and taller the skyline, the
greater the economic status that it reflects.
The number of cranes across the skyline
of the city is thus directly proportionate
to the amount of construction taking
place, which in turn signifies the growth,
progress and prosperity of a city.
Moreover, they also aid in building the
city’s identity.
This is or was most visible in Dubai: at
the peak of the building boom in 2006,
Today the skyline of any city can be best and other permanent structures being the apocryphal statistic that Dubai had
described as a silhouette of man-made broken down. But there are also some between 15 and 25 per cent of the world's
objects set against the horizon. Iconic highly temporary structures that make up tower cranes was widely reported. Skyline
and historical buildings along with the the skyline of any modern city – structures views in all directions were dotted with
topography of a place, gives these skylines that are continuously appearing, cranes. With the economic slowdown, the
a distinctive form and character of their disappearing, changing, shifting and city's forest of cranes thinned out and its
own; this is why no two urban skylines thereby producing an alternative canvas. skyline is noticeably changing. Dubai's
ever look the same. These temporary structures are not the fast-disappearing crane culture is very
However, one aspect of urban skylines buildings themselves, but are a part of the noticeable, as only existing projects are
that remains unnoticed is the fact that construction cycle – the crane machines. completed and the economic slowdown
they are in a state of continuous change They are the one consistent feature of takes its toll.
due to man-made interventions. The city’s any economically advancing human The Mayor of San Francisco’s
skyline consists of two elements: those settlement, but also remain the most proposed 2013-2015 Balanced Budget
that are relatively permanent, and others ignored and relegated aspect of skylines. specifically mentions cranes as a
that are temporary. Cranes are huge, bulky and so a barometer of economic well-being and
The urban skyline is in constant flux prominent aspect of any cityscape adding states: ‘this budget is being delivered as
with permanent structures getting built another element to the skyline. They have San Francisco’s economy is recovering,
been used in construction from times growing, and moving in the right
immemorial, first introduced by the direction. And, San Franciscans are getting
ancient Greeks, evolving over time and back to work! With 35 construction cranes
taking on their current guise in the early across our skyline, you can see public and
20th century. However, it was only after private construction jobs being created –
the introduction of the mobile crane and in fact an estimated 223,000 jobs will be
the increased construction of skyscrapers created over the next ten years from City
that they have become an indispensable projects alone’.
construction tool. Recently, tower cranes On the other hand in the UK, the fall in
have become a common fixture in any the number of cranes across the skyline
developing skyline. They provide lifting is being looked at with alarm. In 2012,
height and moving radii while occupying infrastructure experts at international
less space. These are hard to miss, rising law firm Pinsent Masons have been
hundreds of feet into the air and spreading quoted saying: ‘the lack of cranes on UK
across a wide area. skylines is symbolic of the sharp falls
Cranes and their movement add drama in new commercial and public sector
and mobility to the cities and their skyline. construction seen in the last year and the
They keep moving, shifting, changing lack of positive UK infrastructure policy. It
positions and angles, and because of their is also a sign that construction projects are
multiple sizes, create a dynamic skyline. getting smaller’.
Their long reaching arms form an ever-
changing part of the modern cityscape.
Cranes have not only become a part of

12 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 International

↙ Dublin city centre

↙↙ Dubai
→↘ Central London

Looking at the UK in more detail, data

shows that:
• In the first six months of 2012, only 413
tower cranes were erected around the
country, almost half as compared to the
same period in 2011
• The figures for London are 200 cranes
in the first six months of 2012 as
compared to 366 for the same period in
2011.
• The state of construction activity
outside of London is even more
worrisome: only 28 tower cranes
were established across major UK
cities in 2012 including Aberdeen
(2), Birmingham (7), Edinburgh (8),
Glasgow (3), Manchester (8), and Leeds
(0).

In India the market of tower cranes

has been increasing due to investment
in urban development and industrial
infrastructure. The continuous growth
of high-rise residential and commercial
buildings, shopping malls and various
other major infrastructure projects has
translated into a 15 to 20 per cent growth
in the tower cranes market, leading to
approximately 150-200 cranes per year in
2013.
With the focus of widespread
infrastructure development, the skyline of
our cities is expected to remain in a state of
perpetual transformation with both these
permanent and the temporary elements
undergoing change.
• Anika Mittal Dhawan, Director, Mold Design
Studio

Reference
Pinsent Masons, ‘Cranes disappearing
from UK skylines’, http://www.
pinsentmasons.com/en/media/press-
releases/2012/cranes-disappearing-
from-uk-skylines/

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 13

Topic

14 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

The relevance of the

Garden City for the 21st
Century
Whether or not garden cities are to become a It has been over 100 years since Letchworth ← Gidea Park (previously
critical part of our urban landscape is likely to be Garden City, Ebenezer Howard’s radical, socialist known as Romford Garden
Suburb). Photograph by
determined in the next few weeks, ahead of the experiment in healthier living and working, was Colin Pullan
general election on 15th May. conceived. Having seen in the USA how places
It is widely accepted that we need to be building a could be better designed, he published his utopian
minimum of 200,000 homes a year to keep up with manifesto, and sought backers to make it a reality.
demand. Currently we are building far short of this, He found common cause with the architects Barry
and the reality of the housing crisis is biting. It hurts Parker and Raymond Unwin, amongst others.
economically, socially, and environmentally. To the Howard took a risk; the First Garden City Company
economy, lack of homes in the places where we need was created, and the experiment was born.
them holds back productive cities from attracting But social conditions, and placemaking
the skilled workers that they need, while taking principles have moved on. While cities still face
increasingly large chunks of monthly pay packets in social and environmental challenges, we are no
mortgage repayments and rent. This has an impact longer looking for an alternative to Victorian
on spending power, on people's wellbeing and on city squalor. The city is no longer a place that
health. More people are unable to buy a house , can only be ‘fixed’ by decanting its population
and the number of 20-34 year olds living with their into the countryside or to a hybrid of town and
parents increased by 25 per cent between 1996 and countryside. Jane Jacobs was right: whatever the
2013 (ONS, 2014). Meanwhile, the housing benefit state of the city, there is value in often messy and
bill is increasing, putting further pressure on public chaotic urban environments. Cities also tend to
spending. The case is clear, and so is the answer: be more sustainable and efficient than non-urban
build more houses in the areas where they are most areas. And considering the economic benefits of
needed, to meet the demand and push down the agglomeration and density, should we really be
cost of housing. trying to decentralise into the Garden City?
Garden cities are seen as one possible solution Common sense dictates that the Garden City
to this crisis. All the major political parties have should be just one part of a wider solution to
made gestures towards their role in future housing address housing need. But to cite David Lock,
provision, and this political consensus has been when promoting garden cities, be careful what
pivotal so far in ensuring the continuation of the you wish for. Do political speechwriters know that
debate about if and how garden cities, as well as the primary characteristic of a garden city is land
other forms of development, can be used to deliver ownership on behalf of the local community, a
houses where people really need them. The traction radical reformist concept? Even Unwin reflected
of the debate has been secured by the 2014 Wolfson in his 1909 publication The Principles of Planning
Economics Prize, which asked for garden city that the garden city may not appeal to everyone. It
solutions that were visionary, economically viable is important that we step beyond both the historic
and popular. The winners and runners-up were definition of the Garden City, to make it relevant to
announced in September, and are represented in the 21st century, but also to be wary of it being used
this issue. We aim to draw together the strands of as a branding tool by politicians and developers.
that debate and push it forwards, with the urban The following articles seek to draw out
designer at the heart of the fray. experiences from home and abroad to determine
Interest in the garden city has been fervent what remains relevant from the garden city, and
since the publication of the National Planning how it can be used to help, rather than to hinder
Policy Framework in 2012. Paragraph 52 states: urban design and development. The wide variety
‘The supply of new homes can sometimes be of contributors brings together a number of
best achieved through planning for larger perspectives, including those of politicians, urban
scale development, such as new settlements or designers, academics, the winners and finalists of
extensions to existing villages and towns that follow the Wolfson Economics Prize, and the custodians of
the principles of Garden Cities’. Letchworth Garden City. We thank our contributors
But why the renewed interest in a set of design
and planning principles dating from the 1900s?
•
for their insight.

What is it about the Garden City that was considered

significant enough to warrant mention in national
planning policy, ahead of all other initiatives? We
should be thinking carefully about whether a return
to placemaking principles that emerged from a need
to address late Victorian poor living conditions is
the right approach. Today, the challenges faced by
• Colin Pullan, Urban
Design Director, Nathaniel
Lichfield and Partners, and
cities are very different. Elli Thomas, researcher,
Centre for Cities

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 15

Topic

The Garden City

Resurgence
David Lock highlights the issues for urban designers

to act as midwife. Ebbsfleet is already planned to

be a relatively high density urban agglomeration
around the international railway station; it has
been planned since the early 1990s; it is wholly in
private ownership; already has outline planning
permission; and a large chunk of it is proposed to
be a franchised movie studio theme park. The term
garden city is evidently elastic.
In April 2014 the Department for Communities
and Local Government’s Locally-Led Garden
Cities was published, inviting proposals from
local authorities. First up has been a ‘garden town’
– note the label change – declared at Bicester in
Oxfordshire. Cherwell District Council say that
‘13,000 homes will be delivered in two phases.
The first phase will be in line with the Local Plan,
which outlined the delivery of 10,000 new homes
at the north-west Bicester eco town, Graven Hill
and south-west Bicester between 2014 and 2031.
The remaining 3,000 homes will then be built after
the end of the Local Plan timeframe from 2031
onwards. …new schools, infrastructure and 21,500
jobs will be created alongside the homes, as will
improved transport links.’1
Whether a small new town, an international
transport node, or a chunk of Bicester is a garden
city as defined by the Town and Country Planning
Association – the guardians of the idea – or is
simply branding cover for smuggling large housing
estates under the NIMBY wire, is an important
point for urban designers, because it shapes the
client role. If a modern garden city (or heaven help
We do not know who wrote his speech, but us, garden town) follows the conventional model
Prime Minister David Cameron started a garden since the 1970s, there will be a body of work to be
city revival in February 2012, followed later by done by the local planning authority in justifying
declarations from Deputy Prime Minister Nick its strategy and setting out its regulatory systems.
Clegg (November 2012), and Shadow Chancellor There will then also be a body of work to be done
Ed Balls (November 2013). So for those of us asking for the landowners, but not much interest in social
for a blend of local urbanisation policies tailored cultural or local economic development or serious
to local circumstances, rather than the default of place-making. Grants for drains and roads and
unsustainable town cramming and ghastly urban housebuyers, but little else.
edge-blobbed standard estates, the garden city Alternatively, the Labour-commissioned Lyon's
revival was good news. Review of Housing points the way.2 The site of a
But you have to be careful what you wish for. proposed garden city will be designated under the
Are the words garden city being used merely as a New Towns Act and taken into public ownership at
cuddly euphemism for Eco Town (so New Labour), existing-use-value-plus (to avoid the need for CPO).
new settlement (so Thatcherite) or the literally A proper new town development corporation would
more accurate words New Town (so statist)? Did then deliver the garden city using the rise in land
the speechmakers even know that the primary values to pay for it.
characteristic of a garden city is land ownership on Either way, what we have learned as urban
behalf of the local community, not Arts and Crafts designers working on the scale of whole new towns,
↑ Life in a Modern
architecture worthy of a Kate Greenaway book of is that today's master plan is primarily that of the
Garden City? Drawing by nursery rhymes? Did they realise that it is a radical framework of the public domain, with flexible codes
Steve Peart after Kate reformist concept, not a method of enabling volume for the design and development of built projects.
Greenaway, commissioned housebuilders to spew more standard product? It is the movement corridors we need; the balance
by Will Cousins, David Lock Doubts increased when the Chancellor George of modes can change over time. The green frame of
Associates, 2014
↗ The TCPA design principles Osborne cheerfully declared that Ebbsfleet in landscape and ecology will embrace our built form
for modern Garden Cities, North Kent was to be a garden city, with a short- (and obscure its worse excrescencies). Sustainable
2014 life grant-giving Urban Development Corporation drainage systems will provide the thread for major

16 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

public open spaces, like beads on a necklace.

Established New Urbanist principles will contribute
the core coding for detailed design work, with more
locational-specific guidance to be added to form
development briefs.
But don’t be tricked by architects who still think
that master plans are blueprints or total three
dimensional designs of place. They aren't. Don’t
be tricked by transport planners into squashing
people up around bus stops, because every item in
the economics of transport systems is a variable.
And don't be tricked by the town crammers into
using densities that might work for the rich, i.e.
Kensington, Bath, Abode in Cambridge, or the
designers’ icon suburb Hammerby in Stockholm.
Listen to those who know about social and cultural
development in building community. Go to Almere
and Milton Keynes for references, good and bad,
and then do it right for your place. Use self-build,
small builders, and negotiate a relationship with
the volume housebuilders so that they work for
your clients, instead of for their standard business
model.
References
1 ‘Government awards Bicester Garden Town
• David Lock CBE,
Strategic Planning Adviser at
David Lock Associates, and
It may seem counterintuitive, but doors are status’, www.cherwell.gov.uk, 3 December 2014 Vice-President and Trustee
opening for urban design as we move into 2015, not 2 www.insidehousing.co.uk/seven-things-the-
•
of the Town and Country
closing. lyons-review-offers-housing/7006413.article Planning Association.

Fantasy oR Opportunity?
Miles Gibson and Liz Mason examine the prospects for
garden cities in the UK

Garden cities are back in the headlines. The to the financial model, particularly for the UK’s 32
Chancellor of the Exchequer has established a New Towns, some of which made substantial profits
Garden City (Urban) Development Corporation for the Government as the investor.
at Ebbsfleet; Eric Pickles has issued a prospectus Most of the principles historically underpinning
inviting localities to come forward with proposals garden city development remain current in today’s
for new garden cities; and Bicester has been political debate. But some interested parties have
announced as the second new garden town to not necessarily adopted this definition wholesale
receive Government attention; the Deputy Prime – indeed, we are already seeing a significant
Minister has called for ten new garden cities; and number of proposals for large housing estates
Sir Michael Lyons’ report on housing for the Labour which fail to understand that a garden city is an
Party called for five New Towns, two of which would economic concept, not a horticultural one. This
be in the South East. This level of political interest misunderstanding risks tarnishing a generally
in the garden city concept has not been seen for popular and respected brand.
decades. But are garden cities a fantasy or an Some argue that the garden city is also a social
opportunity? concept, borne out of Victorian philanthropy (or
paternalism perhaps). But even a modernised set of
Defining the terms social aims can only be realised if there is enough
The original garden cities, at Letchworth and money to pay for it – which is why the economics
Welwyn, were designed as free-standing towns and finances of a garden city are our starting point.
intended to provide a mix of homes, jobs and The same is true for urban design and architectural
services in a pleasant environment. Garden City quality. A high quality environment adds economic
Companies were set up to develop the land, manage value, but also costs – the trick is in finding money to
the estate, and provide local services, which maintain quality in the long term.
would be funded by charging rents that would
rise over time as the value of the city grew. Since The fantasy
the introduction of planning permission in 1947, The seductiveness of the garden city brand
‘planning gain’ from development has contributed enables politicians to offer a positive vision,

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 17

Topic

but some commentators argue that in practice of national framework, which at least permits the
this vision will be impossible to deliver and is a right debate to happen locally, seems essential.
politically convenient fantasy. The political upper
hand currently lies with localism. Both the Prime The problems
Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have been Even if these political difficulties could be
clear that new settlements will not be imposed upon overcome, there are those who argue that the
local communities. Is it then realistic to expect local economics of a garden city make no sense either.
authorities to put forward garden cities in response Garden cities are arguably a high-risk model, but
to the Government’s prospectus? This risks too few their success depends on low-risk money from
coming forward and – critically – not necessarily in long-term investors. It is difficult to reconcile these
the most suitable locations, and begs the question differing levels of risk while remaining within a
as to what is going to induce local communities to locally-led model; this is why many commentators
agree to build new towns in their areas, given a rich call for the intervention of central government to
history of opposition to development. reduce the (mostly planning) risks involved, usually
Ebenezer Howard’s late Victorian garden through the imposition of an Urban Development
city model was a reaction to the failings of the Corporation. The alternative is to reduce the risk
industrial city, to poor sanitation and overcrowding. locally, but that option is less frequently explored.
Thankfully, we now celebrate our cities, but There are other forms of risk, in particular the
communities still react badly to the proposition of difficulty of coordinating infrastructure provision
development; they seek to protect what they know for such a large development, which is often
and love. Community engagement is an increasingly exacerbated by an unclear planning context.
valued component of the development process. Infrastructure for large development sites must
However, there is an inevitable discord between be planned on a strategic basis, particularly
public and individual motivations. The net result given the likely finite funding. It is critical that
is inaction. An additional challenge arises from available funding is prioritised towards the most
increasingly powerful, articulate, and well-funded suitable locations. A reliable source of funding
anti-development lobby groups, who typically run is needed, with clarity as to responsibilities for
emotive campaigns to resist development – not delivery. Unfortunately, the one body which often
something which Howard had to face. accepts that it should shoulder the infrastructure
Local authorities are struggling to be effective in funding risks that others can’t – the state – simply
planning to meet their objectively assessed housing cannot afford to do so in the current financial
needs – not least because they operate within a environment.
highly political environment. It is evident from the Proper local development plans and apolitical
local plans that are stalling that some are struggling. delivery mechanisms could solve some of these
Perhaps the most frustrating challenge is the issues. We have a well-established plan-led system,
impact of electoral cycles on the planning system, but plans take years to prepare, especially when
something that is particularly relevant as we cross-boundary issues are involved, which is more
approach May 2015. For large developments that likely for garden cities. This is heightened even
take many years to progress through the planning further given that authorities are likely to be at
system, the uncertainty of the future political different stages of the plan-making process.
landscape has serious ramifications for managing Development corporations are seen by some as a
risk in long-term investments. Therefore, if the way to accelerate this process. Primary legislation
identification of sites is to remain purely a local is already in place, and for Ebbsfleet, consultation
issue, there is a clear risk that the garden city debate on secondary legislation has recently closed. Will
↑ A typical view in
Letchworth. Image courtesy will remain a fantasy, and will take place to no the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation – and
of the Letchworth Garden practical effect against a steadily worsening social, indeed any other development corporation – enjoy
City Heritage Foundation economic and environmental backdrop. Some kind the same powers as were afforded to the New Town

18 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

Corporations, including plan-making, and will The acceptability of garden cities is likely to
they be in place for long enough? And how does the need a fundamental shift in public support for
notion of a development corporation fit with the more housing; but there is some survey evidence
notion of localism? that as house prices soar, this is beginning to occur.
Garden cities often involve multiple land Awareness of the potential solutions is being built
ownerships, which give rise to complex among the ‘priced out’ younger generations.
considerations around land assembly and values. To consolidate this support, we need to
Without control of the land, delivery will be at risk. acknowledge that garden cities are not the only
But will any new development corporations have tool in the toolbox. If local communities are to be
compulsory purchase powers, as was the case for convinced, we need to demonstrate that urban
the New Towns? And how will compensation be capacity is being maximised (for example, through
determined? Hope value, planning gain and human consolidating and strengthening city centres and
rights law were not matters which Howard needed releasing surplus land for housing). This will help to
to grapple with at Letchworth. show that garden cities – or strategic development –
Then there is also the issue of the pace of are not a matter of choice, but the only choice left.
housing delivery. House-building is driven by This should lead to a consensus that the UK’s
maximising values around market cycles, and housing and affordability challenges, which all
this inevitably leads to a lower annual output than political parties have identified, can only be met
would, theoretically at least, be possible. How by accepting the need for strategic development,
do we create the conditions to increase annual by whatever conceptual name. If so, we would be
output, to properly address the current housing and well placed to start a debate about location, using a
affordability crisis as quickly as possible? thorough assessment of objectively measured needs,
and strategic decisions about the spatial pattern
The opportunity of growth. The key objective should be to create a
Such a long list of problems might imply that framework which facilitates sustainable patterns
the fantasy hypothesis has the upper hand. But of development, exploits existing infrastructure,
there is room for optimism. For the first time in is fit for purpose, and is capable of enduring in the
perhaps 40 years, the leaders of all three political long-term. Within that framework there is a case
parties have made positive statements about the for garden cities to be treated as key infrastructure,
contribution to be made by garden cities to address and dealt with through the Nationally Significant
economic growth and housing shortages. If it can be Infrastructure Projects process.
translated into reality, the current level of political We need to exploit this unique political consensus
focus might be an unprecedented opportunity. Polls by establishing a housing framework which
show that the garden city concept is popular in transcends political administrations. Strategic,
principle with the public: it sounds nice and people independent housing bodies could be created to
would like to live in one. focus on identifying the need and distribution
For investors, garden cities are a whole new class of housing and how this aligns with existing and
of mixed-use, long-term strategic assets which (if planned infrastructure.
properly de-risked) could represent a good source of Development corporations with long lives may
longer term income, and could be very attractive to also assist, but they need to have broad powers for
overseas investors interested in the British garden as long as is necessary to deliver the whole project,
city brand. For developers, garden cities offer the particularly powers over land and infrastructure. A
opportunity to increase output in markets which reliable funding mechanism needs to be identified
otherwise might never become available at all. For to ensure that the funding is directed to the most
house buyers and occupiers, there is the chance to appropriate, sustainable locations. We also need to
move to modern new homes, purpose-built offices find a way to incentivise more housebuilding.
and shops in pleasant environments. We must insist upon high quality design,
And for the public sector, garden cities could especially in urban form and layout, without which
make a major contribution to solve acute local the garden city brand is fatally undermined. Quality
housing shortages in a way which is carefully of individual buildings is important, but good
planned. That could change local political masterplanning is even more important, since this
calculations in surprising ways if, in a given local is what will endure over time. Local communities
authority, there are more winners than losers from should have the final say over style and character
concentrating development in one place. Some through design codes.
councils have already grasped this point, and are Finally, we must remember that garden cities
formally proposing significant development on large are a mechanism for securing quality of life more
sites in preference to small patches of incremental generally, not just more housing. They are our
development elsewhere. There is also a continuing best chance of building communities, rather
interest among policymakers in exploring how than incremental housing estates, with the right
wealth generated by strategic development could provision of services and jobs. In the end, it may be
be used to compensate those who might lose out, that the modern economic arguments for garden
or to mitigate any damage done (whether to green
fields or property prices), and to reward councils
who ‘do the right thing’. Although public sector
cities, rather than their historic social origins, are
the more persuasive. We are optimistic that the
economic and political challenges of delivering
• Liz Mason, Director
in CBRE’s Planning
service, with a focus on
funds are hard to come by, HM Treasury does seem garden cities can be overcome, and that these great advising clients bringing
prepared to operate on a commercial basis using new places to live represent an opportunity for us forward large strategic
loans and guarantees (such as Help To Buy), which
provide it with a return in financial terms as well as
•
all. sites. Miles Gibson, Head of
UK Research at CBRE and
former Director of the 2014
in economic terms. These mechanisms are not state Wolfson Economics Prize on
hand-outs, but investments. garden cities.

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 19

Topic

Dealing with the Housing

Shortage
Roberta Blackman-Woods sets out the Labour Party’s
commitment to enabling and supporting garden cities

urgent need for improved infrastructure and the

ever-increasing environmental pressures that we
are facing.
But this is not just about numbers. We need good
quality homes and must renew our commitment
to improving quality through design. While local
planning authorities are currently expected to
make use of design review to help to raise standards
across an area, there are problems with the process
as it operates currently, with little input into the
process from the communities affected. At its best,
design review can really add value by bringing
a greater breadth and depth of experience and
knowledge, and actively including all stakeholders
at the earliest possible stage. We need a much
stronger commitment to these principles if we are
to create sustainable communities that people truly
want to live in, and feel a part of, in the long term.
Despite the reference made to garden cities in
the 2012 National Planning Policy Framework,
the current Government has missed many
opportunities to give a renewed commitment to
garden cities. The Infrastructure Bill, working
its way through Parliament, is a typical example.
Despite the Government having made much
of so-called announcements of support for
developments at Ebbsfleet, Northstowe and Bicester
– which are actually re-announcements of existing
schemes – measures to support the delivery of new
garden cities are conspicuous in their absence from
the bill. What is more, the Government has tried
to paper over the problem by labelling any new
housing development as a garden city despite the
developments lacking any recognisable garden city
features. New housing is, of course, to be welcomed
but a development does not become a garden city
just because the Government labels it as one.
Fortunately, the Labour Party understands
the need for much more to be done and tasked a
review, led by Sir Michael Lyons, with formulating
↑ Letchworth, courtesy of It is now over 100 years since Ebenezer Howard proposals for the next Labour Government. Among
Letchworth Garden City published his visionary book Garden Cities of Lyons’ proposals are updates to the New Towns
Heritage Foundation
Tomorrow. More than a century later, as we face legislation to spur delivery of garden cities by new
↑↑ Housing by Alison Brooks
in Newhall, Harlow. Image our own housing crisis, it is more appropriate than Garden City Development Corporations; setting
from the Architectural Review ever to consider Howard’s legacy and the role that out Treasury guarantees and financial incentives
garden cities should play in meeting the need for to unlock sustainable garden city development
new homes. His inclusive principles of affordable and deliver infrastructure; and, establishing
housing, the creation of new jobs and sustainable New Homes Corporations to extend garden city
lifestyles have stood the test of time, and we need to principles and powers to bring forward garden
return planning to these visionary principles, give suburbs and the remodelling of cities and towns.
local communities the tools that they need to shape The review anticipates that these measures could
the places they live in, and update them to meet help to accelerate the delivery of as many as
present day needs. 500,000 new homes.
Evidence shows that we are building fewer than It is ideas like these which show the vision that is
half the number of homes needed to keep up with needed to deliver a new generation of garden cities,

• Roberta Blackman-
demand. It is clear that to deliver new homes on
the necessary scale, we will need to go beyond
without which we cannot hope to deal with our
housing shortage over the longer term, and provide
•
Woods, Shadow Minister for
Planning and Labour MP for piecemeal projects and enable comprehensively the homes we so desperately need.
the City of Durham planned developments, which will also meet the

20 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

The Art of Building a

Garden City
Katy Lock sets out a route-map for garden city
principles in the 21st century

Over the past four years, the Town and Country about what garden cities really are and how to
Planning Association (TCPA) has been leading a deliver them in the 21st century.
campaign for a new generation of garden cities as
part of a portfolio of solutions to meet the nation’s Delivery Principles
housing needs. Over this period, the leaders of One of the key misconceptions about garden
the three main political parties have announced cities is an assumption that what makes them
their support for a new programme of garden unique is their design and layout. While there is
cities in England. The 2012 National Planning no doubt that the concept of marrying town and
Policy Framework made reference to garden city country, resulting in a pleasant and healthy living
principles, and last year the Government invited environment, was a fundamental factor in their
bids for new locally-led garden cities, while it success, what really sets the garden city model
explores how to bring forward the long-planned apart is a specific set of delivery principles related
strategic growth area at Ebbsfleet informed by to its financial model, land ownership and approach
garden city principles. Back in November, it was to community participation and governance.
also announced that two former eco-towns are The TCPA has taken the key aspects of design
to receive support for accelerated development. and delivery that made the garden city concept
Meanwhile, the 2014 Labour-commissioned Lyons such a success and updated them for 21st century.
Housing Review recommended an immediate In our definition, a garden city is a holistically
programme of new garden cities as part of a planned new settlement which enhances the natural
package of measures to address the housing crisis. environment, and offers high quality affordable
The role of large scale development is also housing and locally accessible work in beautiful,
an issue of debate elsewhere in the UK, with the healthy and sociable communities. The garden
RICS Scottish Housing Commission recently city principles are an indivisible and interlocking
recommending a programme of New Towns in framework for their delivery, and include:
Scotland, and MPs in Wales discussing the role of
new garden cities in dealing with Cardiff ’s housing
• Land value capture for the benefit of the
community
needs. Meanwhile, further public interest in garden
cities has been generated by the Wolfson Economics
• Strong vision, leadership and community
engagement
Prize 2014, which asked entrants ‘How would
you deliver a new garden city which is visionary,
• Community ownership of land and long-term
stewardship of assets
↑ Howard Park, Letchworth

•
Garden City. (Image by
economically viable, and popular?’ Despite this Mixed-tenure homes and housing types that are Letchworth Garden City
interest, there is still widespread misunderstanding genuinely affordable Heritage Foundation)

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 21

Topic

Clarity on these issues is key to realising that

a programme of garden cities is a once-in-a-
generation opportunity to achieve inclusive, high-
quality and climate-resilient places, and that garden
city principles are more relevant now than ever.

Setting high standards

The Government’s Locally-led garden cities
prospectus made reference to the TCPA’s garden
city principles, but did not require places
seeking support to commit to these principles
or demonstrate how they would be applied. The
lack of legislative or policy requirements for new
garden cities meant that it was left to the TCPA to
define garden city standards, and to encourage
local authorities and the private sector to meet
these high ambitions. In 2014, the TCPA published
Creating garden cities today: a practical guide on
standards. This reiterates the high standards of
the garden city model, exploring the indivisible
and interlocking nature of its principles, explaining
what they mean, and some of the tools available to
achieve them. For urban designers, this includes
thoughts on approaching the design of new garden
cities.

Designing the garden city

Ebenezer Howard was strongly influenced by
William Morris, John Ruskin and the Arts and
Crafts movement, and the early garden cities were
consciously designed to be beautiful places that
would lift the spirits of those who lived there.
Howard and his design team at Letchworth thought
deeply about how to create homes and places in
which people could flourish. They wanted to create
beautiful homes in attractive places that were
aesthetically, culturally and environmentally rich
and stimulating.
It is therefore no surprise that the original
• Awithin
wide range of local jobs in the garden city
easy commuting distance of homes
garden cities are places of enduring quality and
choice. They have met the lifestyle and housing
• Bwith
eautifully and imaginatively designed homes
gardens, combining the best of town and
aspirations of successive generations and remain
popular today. The 21st century garden city needs
country to create healthy communities, including to be planned, designed, developed and managed
opportunities to grow food to achieve the same long-term success and public
• Development that enhances the natural
environment, providing a comprehensive green
appeal.
Garden city designers should apply garden
infrastructure network and net biodiversity city principles in new and exciting ways, making
gains, and using zero-carbon and energy-positive the most of new technologies and innovations
technology to ensure climate resilience in construction and design. New garden cities
• Strong cultural, recreational and shopping
facilities in walkable, vibrant, sociable
will not look like Welwyn or Letchworth, but we
can still learn from the Arts and Crafts tradition,
neighbourhoods including sensitivity to the heritage of local building
• Integrated and accessible transport systems,
with walking, cycling and public transport
design, a commitment to human scale, attention
to detail and craftsmanship, and an appreciation
designed to be the most attractive forms of local of the relationship between natural environment
transport. and wellbeing. New garden cities provide an
opportunity for a contemporary demonstration of
Another common misconception is that the garden progressive, innovative design and architecture,
city approach implies low-density living and will which reflects the unique materials, designs and
create unsustainable sprawl that encourages car landscape of their locality.
use. In fact, there is no specified density for a It is already proving tempting for councils or
↑ Letchworth's 'Tomorrow's
new garden city and a range of densities across developers to label projects as garden suburbs or
Garden City' competition the development would be expected. The test is villages. But the garden city concept must not be
aimed to encourage the extent to which the density applied allows taken in vain. That mistake has been made before.
innovative low carbon for the realisation of the garden city principles, In the 1930s subsidised public housing programmes
design for a new including walkable neighbourhoods and healthy were delivered claiming to be designed ‘along
development in the town.
(Image by TCPA) communities. With a holistic approach to creating garden city lines’, but, much to the dismay of the
↑↑ Ashley Vale self-build, a new community, garden cities are the exact Garden City movement, created sprawling suburbs
Bristol (Image by TCPA) opposite to sprawling, ‘bolt-on’ housing estates. with mock-Tudor detailing. We must also learn

22 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

lessons from the post-war New Towns programme.

These direct successors of the garden city were
intended as exemplars of quality development, with
expert design and delivery teams in Development
Corporations who put great emphasis on creating
balanced communities and innovative use of
architecture and design. But the loss of financial
assets when the corporations were wound up took
away resources for upkeep and renewal, meaning
that today many look run-down and unappealing.
To avoid the mistakes of the past, we must focus
on the quality as well as the quantity of new places
– and we must ensure that they are endowed with
sufficient assets to secure long-term income for
future maintenance. The garden city financial
model demonstrates how this can be paid for.
TCPA’s campaign has shown that modern
garden cities should offer both the high social and
environmental standards of the original garden
cities, and the effective delivery mechanisms of the
post-war New Towns, combining the best of both model, to be delivered as a series of worksheets ↑ Milton Keynes Parks Trust
approaches and drawing on the lessons of what has on issues including delivering climate resilience, uses events such as World
worked in the past and what has not. design and place-making, creating socially and Picnic to generate income
for the upkeep of green
The TCPA’s work on updating the New Towns Act culturally vibrant garden cities, finance, delivery infrastructure (Image by
shows how the legislation could be modernised to and long-term stewardship, and the options for Caroline Brown, David Lock
ensure long-term stewardship, and to make the New deciding where new garden cities should be located. Associates)
Town Development Corporations fit for purpose The application of garden city principles is a
in the 21st century. The TCPA’s recommendations creative enterprise, demanding both political will
to update the legislation have been tabled as and the assembly of the very best cross-disciplinary
amendments to the Infrastructure Bill and debated talent – from planners, urban designers, landscape
in Parliament. architects and ecologists to energy engineers and
artists. At the very least, the principles offer a
What next for garden cities? framework for good planning, which has largely
Local plan processes provide a major opportunity disappeared from English policy. They also offer
to bring forward new communities using garden a foundation for innovation in the construction of
city principles, particularly where local authorities communities which, like the original garden cities,
demand high standards in policy and tools such will secure a lasting legacy of quality and inclusion.
as development briefs. However, in the absence However, in applying the principles, there
of a strategic ‘larger than local’ approach, we will is a crucial, overarching need for effective
not get the scale of development that we need preparation and coordination. Delivery requires
in the places where it is needed most. Despite the Government to set out how these new places
recent political interest, the question of how to will fit into the country’s wider economic, social
deliver high quality and comprehensively planned and environmental development. This requires
new communities – which can take over 30 years unprecedented cross-departmental coordination
to deliver and transcend electoral cycles – has in everything from social housing investment to
not yet been properly addressed at the national energy generation and use. Only with this kind of
level. This is because it involves the difficult and forethought and enabling will new garden cities be
politically sensitive issues of consent, land value able to deliver their outstanding benefits for future
(and compensation) and ensuring high standards of generations.
development within environmental limits. In the run-up to the general election, the
The development at Ebbsfleet will be the first TCPA will be calling for the three leading political
demonstration of how committed the Government parties to make a manifesto commitment to
is to delivering genuine 21st century garden delivering beautiful, well-designed and inclusive
cities. The recent response to the consultation on new communities, with affordable homes and new
the Ebbsfleet Urban Development Corporation jobs in places where people wish to live and work.
(UDC) indicates that garden city principles will Brave political leadership is needed and we hope
not be embedded in the purpose and objectives that our campaign will help show central and local
of the UDC. Instead, a vision with a set of design government how a step-change in delivery can be
principles, leading to a set of design codes is to be achieved, working in partnership with the private
developed. It is difficult to see how the principles sector, without losing focus on people and quality to
of land value capture and long-term stewardship create places that will stand the test of time.
could be included in design principles – a symptom Find out more about garden city principles and
of retrofitting an existing development – but we the TCPA’s campaign at www.tcpa.org.uk/pages/
hope those involved will make the most of this
opportunity to deliver something better for future
garden-cities.html •
generations.
To assist those designing and delivering new
garden cities and places inspired by the principles, • Katy Lock, Garden Cities
and New Towns Advocate at
the TCPA is working on a practical guide to the Town & Country Planning
delivering the high standards of the garden city Association (TCPA)

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 23

Topic

Designing Garden Cities

for the 21st century
Nicholas Falk and David Rudlin question the standalone
garden city and suggest that cities ought to flex their belts

consumption, along with tackling social problems

such as isolation and worklessness.
A city like Oxford, where house prices are now
more than 15 times average incomes, also suffers
from traffic congestion and flooding, which stiffens
resistance to the further growth. Consequently the
city’s economic expansion and sustainability, as
well as its position in the world university league
table, are all threatened if development continues to
be dispersed, and if people have to live ever further
from their work.
The 21st century garden city therefore needs to
tackle a very different set of issues to the one that
Ebenezer Howard faced. We no longer need to build
an alternative to the city because as URBED’s work
over the years has shown, the city is the only place
where current day problems can be addressed. We
do however, need models for how to reform the
city, and in some places like Oxford, to allow it to
expand.

Why do we need to flex our belts?

While growing cities at higher densities along
transport corridors makes sense to most people,
particularly those who have experienced the
quality of life in European cities such as Freiburg or
Copenhagen, it has become practically impossible
to do so in the UK because of the way the planning
system works. Green belt and the brownfield first
Developing proposals for the fictional City of policy have served us well and should continue.
Uxcester was a liberating experience. Like Ebenezer However, there are places where brownfield
Howard more than a hundred years ago and many capacity is limited or in the wrong place (such
utopians before, we could create a place freed as remote airfields) and where these policies are
from the constraints of the real world. However, strangling towns, preventing growth or pushing
as history has taught us, Utopias are dangerous. it into unsustainable locations, inflating house
They are prone to misinterpretation and to prices and adding to congestion. When URBED
being hijacked by people with less than altruistic worked on the original calculations to show what
motivation. Since winning the Wolfson prize, could be accommodated on brownfield land, it
much of our work has been focussed on turning was always assumed that there would also be some
the principles into something more practical. We housebuilding on green fields, but how this should
started this by looking at Oxford as part of our take place was never agreed. The results are isolated
submission, but we are now also talking to a range housing estates where cars are needed to get a
of stakeholders interested in the idea of a garden pint of milk or meet a friend. Our proposal is for a
city. This has thrown up three questions that we different approach to growth, one more akin to the
need to address. American Smart Growth movement, with its focus
on Transport Oriented Development.
Why do we need a 21st century garden The arguments have been rehearsed out in
city? debates following on from our Wolfson win, which
It is over a century since Ebenezer Howard conjured argued for ‘taking a confident bite out of the
up a vision of a network of garden cities connected green belt rather than nibbling at its edges’ and
together by municipal railways financed through for ‘growing from the strong rootstock of existing
the ‘unearned increment’ on land value uplift. places rather than the weak sapling of a new
Since Letchworth was built, the world has changed settlement.’ These arguments have been backed up
fundamentally, requiring twice as many homes to by research for the Centre for Cities which shows
house the same population that travels to work or that some 1.4 million homes could be built in the
the shops by car, and requires much more capital- areas where growth pressures are greatest by
intensive infrastructure. The challenge of making taking just 5 per cent of the green belt, including
↑ Uxcester Garden City housing more affordable now has to be combined some of the least productive and attractive of green
Neighbourhood with changing travel patterns and cutting energy fields. In our submission we stuck our neck out,

24 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

to the surprise of many of our fellow urbanists, by

suggesting that we should not rule out building on
this land. We should have the confidence to expand
our cities, where necessary, and we should build
confidently in the spirit of Edinburgh New Town or
Bloomsbury.
In doing this there is a great problem that is also
a huge opportunity, namely the value of the land.
The green fields closest to our cities are some of the
most contested and therefore expensive pieces of
land in the country. Once such inflated prices have
been paid, quality development is impossible and
there is nothing left to fund infrastructure. We will
therefore not be able to expand our cities until the
issue of land value is addressed. However, once it
is, it potentially unlocks a huge source of funding
to address the housing and infrastructure needs as
well as tapping into large pots of money waiting to
be invested in schemes that offer relatively secure
returns.
In our proposals for Oxford we showed how
the population of the city could be doubled and
a growth rate of 2 per cent per annum secured
without eating into areas of natural beauty, or
imposing on flood plains. Indeed, the developments
could make use of planned transport improvements,
such as the new railway station at Water Eaton or
the planned joining up of the A40 and A34 to the
north of Oxford. There is even enough in the form of
1 Self-sufficiency: Where development ↑ Oxford Uxcester Garden
land value uplift to build a new tram out north along opportunities have the prospect of a degree City
the Banbury Road to Kidlington, therefore taking of self-containment by being large enough to
cars off the road and making cycling much easier support a secondary school and a local centre
and safer. We used as models cities like Freiburg but (4-5,000 units) and with a strong public
could also have drawn lessons from Oxford’s twin transport link to a larger city.
city of Grenoble, which has built five tram lines over 2 Land value capture: Where landowners are
the last few decades. prepared to invest a significant amount of the
land value in infrastructure. In locations where
How can we reshape urban Britain? development would otherwise be impossible, this
To start with, we should not abandon the is not necessarily a bad deal for private owners
brownfield first policy. Towns and cities should and could be particularly attractive for the public
accommodate as much housing as possible within sector.
their existing urban area. In some places, this will 3 Public transport: Where development can be
be 100 per cent of new housing; however, in many served by fast efficient public transport including
places (most but not exclusively in the south) there a station and a tram or Bus Rapid Transport
is insufficient urban capacity. In these cases we (BRT).
need to plan for green field housing rather than 4 Social contract: Where a compact can be
allow it to happen by default. The obstacles to this made with the existing community providing
are bound up, not just with a natural resistance for a range of benefits, new open space, public
or fear of change, but also with the entrenched transport and the relief of development
interests of a whole property industry that makes pressures elsewhere.
money from negotiating planning permissions 5 Sustainability charter: Where housing is able
rather than building communities that last. John to be built within the performance specifications
Calcutt, in his review of housing delivery, suggested set out in the Climate Change Act, namely an 80
the need for a new business model that broke away per cent reduction in CO2 emissions.
from a dependence on trading land. The Labour- 6 Long term management: Where there is
commissioned Lyons Review, despite 39 good scope to establish long-term management
recommendations that covered many of these arrangements funded by a ground rent on the
issues, left up in the air the key question of land properties and with the involvement of local
value capture. Elsewhere there is talk about a Royal residents.
Commission or a Garden City Act.
The question is whether progress must wait This could all go so much more quickly with new
until legislation is introduced at the national level. legislation and we must continue to press for it.
If so, we risk a long period of inertia, while all However we can and should also be working within
the problems just get worse. Our discussions in the existing system. These conditions are not
Oxford and in other cities, as well as with a number impossible to achieve without legislation. They
of landowners suggest that while legislation is
important, some progress is possible now provided
could form a framework to allow local planning
authorities to resist unsustainable development and
• Nicholas Falk and
David Rudlin are directors
of URBED and were joint
that the following conditions can be met: instead to take the confident bite out of their green
•
authors of the winning
belt that we suggest. entry for the 2014 Wolfson
Economics Prize

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 25

Topic

Building Blocks
for the future
Chris Wilford and Andy Von Bradsky discuss the
principles behind their Wolfson Economics Prize
submission

The Shelter submission, shortlisted and runner-up suggestive of the low-density, leafy neighbourhoods
for the 2014 Wolfson Economics Prize on ‘How of Welwyn or Letchworth, which might help reduce
to deliver a Garden City which is visionary, the force of local objections to any scheme, but the
economically viable and popular’ was driven by the socio-economics of today, we suggest, point to an
core agenda of providing more housing at lower entirely different picture of a garden city.
cost. This was not just to address a crisis for the In order to achieve the required amount and pace
poor, their traditional area of campaign, but a crisis of housing delivery, to secure a long term vision and
for an ever increasing number of people on low and to create a management structure in perpetuity, we
middle incomes who cannot afford to enter into need a different process to the current mechanism,
home ownership and are trapped in an expensive with its piecemeal planning approach and slow
and unregulated rental market of largely poor incremental growth of our towns and cities.
existing stock. Although we need urban extensions too, the key
The role that new large-scale development on differentiator with the stand-alone garden city
the scale of the New Towns movement can play to concept is the chance of a clean slate, an integrated
address this crisis is open to scrutiny, but can it masterplan, and a business model that guarantees
deliver quality as well as quantity? delivery.
The last government called them Eco-towns However, if the Government is serious about
and developed a detailed brief around targets for large-scale development, we need a strategic
‘living a greener future’. North West Bicester Eco- national policy that would help to identify regional
town, which PRP are currently helping to deliver, needs and obligations to deliver it. A dedicated
has so far upheld most of the aspirations of that promoter would then, in the spirit of localism,
programme. But it is the only project coming engage with the local agencies and local population
forward on that basis; others are unviable and have on how best to plan the new community; the
not been able to meet the same quality criteria. process would be open and transparent.
This government is now calling for garden For the Wolfson Prize, Shelter invited PRP and
cities, although there is no clear definition of what KPMG to share their knowledge and previous
↑ Garden City Masterplan a garden city for the 21st century is. The term is experience to develop a vision, create a masterplan

26 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

and a business model for the competition. Although

a theoretical project, we chose to identify an actual
site in order to confront and address barriers to
development.
The concept was developed with our in-house
transport planners, landscape architects and
masterplanning team, each contributing to detailed
mapping of opportunities and constraints including
transport infrastructure and environmental
protection zones, to define a site of around 600
hectares on the Hoo Peninsular, Kent. We quantified
areas of land use, scheduled accommodation types
and infrastructure needs for an initial 15,000 home
community, given the fictitious name of Stoke
Harbour, to inform the financial modelling.
In addition we identified further zones
of development, as extensions to the initial
settlement, which followed the line of the existing
railway between the Isle of Grain and Hoo Junction,
to create a new population of 150,000. The railway
is an underused, single track freight line which
unlocks the whole area in terms of connectivity,
giving potential access to central London in 45
minutes.
The competition stipulated that no public money
should be used. The business model therefore
allowed for a co-promoter willing to invest £5m-
£7m upfront, with a 200-300 per cent return over a
3-4 year timescale. The potential high rate of return
reflects working at risk prior to land assembly and
planning security.
The land owners in the financial plan (in the
case of Stoke Harbour, 70 per cent of land is owned
by the Church Commissioners) would, over time,
achieve around 15 times the current land value, as and resilient urban form by embracing nature ↖ Landscape Strategy
well as an annual income. rather than supressing it. Working with our ↖↖ Working with the water
↑ Green strategy layers
On the micro-scale, the team developed the landscape team to study landforms, flood plains,
building blocks for this new community which topography and valuable ecological corridors,
would inform the way we think about urban we developed a grid system of blue, green and
design, density and phasing. We developed our movement infrastructures. The grid is warped to
understanding of the future as well as the current reflect the local context.
context. Not only were we seeking to accelerate We need to be planning for the next 100
the supply of housing, but we were also seeking to years, responding to flood risk, higher urban
design desirable places which generate value, are temperatures and extreme weather conditions. The
adaptable to demographic trends, and are resilient green grid concept within urban areas is integral to
to technological and climate change. cooling effects in summer and better air quality. The
integration of rain gardens in the public realm – dry
The building blocks of development: and sculptural in summer, wet and active in winter
1. A true heart – not only mitigates against storm water flooding,
In establishing the centre of the new development but also helps to recharge the water table, provides
at Stoke Harbour we drew on the basic principles wildlife habitat, and brings residents closer to
of settlement: we have the water’s edge as a nature as the townscape responds to seasonal
destination; a proposed new station on an existing change.
rail line offering connectivity to Rochester and
London beyond; an existing employment zone 3. Public space as an opportunity, not a burden
nearby; and the cross-roads, almost equidistant We need to move away from the current drive to
between the existing, neighbouring villages, which allocate as much open space as possible to private
would form a natural place for a market centre. householders in order to reduce the management
The new settlement would be on slightly elevated responsibility and cost burden to the local
ground, rising gently towards the Hoo Peninsula authority. Instead, we acknowledge that the garden
ridge, out of the flood plain. This provides a natural city company will have a mandate to manage shared
heart to the new master plan, with a series of local open spaces properly and a long-term fiscal interest
neighbourhood centres clustered around it. to keep the neighbourhood parks and green streets
attractive, well lit and safe places.
2. The urban weave of streets and squares The compact city imagined at Stoke Harbour
An additional 15,000 new homes would drastically should provide greater access to amenities and
alter the ecological systems in an area, yet an social facilities to improve quality of life. Local
integrated planning approach to the water cycle, centres contain not just a primary school, but also
open space and built form can help manage this a care home, senior living accommodation and
environmental impact, and create a more adaptive appropriate ancillary facilities such as chemists,

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 27

Topic

and generous parks and play areas. From these

characteristics of urban form, open space and
density a map emerges which is quite different from
that of the early 20th century garden city.
The town centre at Stoke Harbour will sustain
densities of up to 120 dwellings per hectare, with
housing blocks of five storeys and the potential
for occasional point blocks as landmarks. The
neighbourhood centres are planned around public
squares or gardens with 70 dwellings per hectare
close by, achieved through a mix of terraced town
houses, mews development and three or four storey
apartments. A higher density can be accommodated
on the edges of linear parks to maximise views
and generate enhanced values. The plots between
local centres reduce to densities of 50 dwellings
per hectare, using innovative courtyard house
types, terraced housing and strategic blocks as
↑ The Garden City vision shops, GPs and so on, which are are designed to apartments. As development moves towards the
be open and accessible to the wider community, fringe, the strategy of the masterplan is to blend it
encouraging more interaction and integration to with the surrounding countryside at increasingly
support an active and viable local square. lower densities, ideal for custom-build and higher
The assumptions in the business model are that value private housing.
the core developer secures the land acquisition,
delivers the masterplanning and forward funds 5. More housing much faster at lower cost
social infrastructure such as a primary school, We believe that the current private housebuilding
small retail, health care and other social elements, industry is unable on its own to build enough
investing an initial £51m with a 120 per cent houses each year, and a far broader mix of providers
return over the duration of the build out. Physical will be required to increase housing output to the
infrastructure, new roads, railway station, road and amount required to satisfy demand. Today there is
rail upgrades would be paid for through a separate limited opportunity for alternative forms of housing
Infrastructure LLP which has rights on diverse delivery to develop any significant numbers, due
future rentals on the commercial property within to the competitive nature of land acquisition which
the plan over 75 years. It would raise debt funding drives land values or land owner expectations ever
which will break even after 45 years and begin higher, thereby putting land out of reach for many
returning a profit per annum thereafter. smaller developers.
The garden city company controls both land
4. Urban dwellings in the countryside value and who they invite to bid for sites. The types
Whether for an increasingly ageing population, of developer that we envisage taking serviced plots
more single parent families, or an increasing within each phase of the masterplan include:
number of young families unable to afford a house • Self build or bespoke custom housing
and garden, the need for more compact urban • Small housebuilders
typologies is clear. Compact development enables • Large regional and national housebuilders
cheaper housing, walkable neighbourhoods and • Private rental sector providers
reduced car dependency, and leads to benefits in
quality and efficiency.
• Housing associations providing both affordable
(social) and intermediate rent
Adopting well designed and tightly-knit terraced
housing, mews houses, multi-generational houses
• Owner occupier development groups (or
co-housing)
and apartments with generous balconies and use of
roof tops, with access to high quality shared open The accelerated build-out rates that can potentially
space, all within walking distance of services and be achieved by maximising market absorption
amenities, is key to understanding the character of through provision of a wide range of developers
the 21st century garden city. relies on a segmentation of tenures and price
The flats of the sixties and the new towns with points, as well as allowing development to begin
their mismanaged estates have tarnished the idea of on a multi-nodal basis. The long-term investor
apartment living in the UK. Yet the professionally (typically an institutional investor) achieves a
managed mansion blocks of our Victorian inner steady 7 per cent return over the duration of the
cities have been cherished by the middle classes. project, say 20 to 40 years, absorbing fluctuations
Multi-family dwellings are not the preserve of in the market and therefore able to sustain the price
one and two bedroom flats alone, but can provide control.
quality homes for families too. They are resource
efficient, cost effective to build, easy to manage and 6. The Stoke Harbour Partnership
inherently energy efficient as a built form. Once the core developers have moved on, long-term
Buildings must, however, maintain a humane investors will form the Stoke Harbour Partnership
scale of generally between three and five storeys, which benefits from income streams from the
where eye contact between a parent on the upper community, such as local rates, ground rents and
floor and child playing at ground floor is still service charges. The partnership ensures that the
strong. With a higher proportion of apartments, Stoke Harbour building code is upheld, the green
much more land can be made available for shared streets, parks and gardens are well maintained, and
open green space, large trees, water management, the surrounding green belt is protected, but also

28 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

well used for market gardens, farming and leisure.

Lastly, some ring-fenced assets will be allocated to
a Community Trust, run by residents, to provide
further educational and cultural support to the
growing community.

The Challenge
The challenges to achieving a development like
Stoke Harbour are significant, but a key driver (and
risk) behind the concept of Shelter’s Garden City
is the early uptake and high build-out rate which
underpins the cascade funding in the business plan
and the relatively quick returns on investment.
Interestingly, Welwyn Garden City had problems
selling homes in the early years and relied on rental
tenants to fill houses which were initially bought by
investors. Vauban, in Freiburg, Germany, another
often quoted and highly sustainable development,
also suffered slow starts at the outset because upheld – that is, control of quality and land value, ↑ Viking Park, a key public
national funding for affordable housing had been along with the delivery of a truly mixed-tenure, space
withdrawn. The city instead offered up plots to sustainable community with sufficient affordable
Baugruppen (groups of private individuals who housing provision – people will want to live there.
procure the design and construction of their homes
themselves). There are now over 150 Baugruppen
By drawing on the very best of our urban housing
typologies and trusting in the processes set out • Chris Wilford, Associate
Director, PRP architects and
in Freiburg and the 2,000 dwellings erected so far above, we can respond to the pressures of higher specialist in sustainable
represent an investment of €400 million, a sizeable density to deliver exciting compact neighbourhoods design and low carbon
futures.
injection into any business plan! without losing that important countryside
•
Andy Von Bradsky, Chairman
There will always be opportunity where housing connection. of PRP specialises in UK
need is so great. If the garden city principles are housing

Creating the Vision

Patricia Willoughby describes a framework to
ensure the garden city is sustainable
↓ Conceptual structure for a
Garden City of 10,000 homes

Garden cities conjure up an enduring image of a

town or a city in a parkland setting, with generous
landscaped open spaces, a balanced mix of homes
for rent and sale, jobs, good shops, schools, and
other facilities in a community with a strong
identity. In reality, however, the concept is not
defined, either in terms of the scale of development
or in its physical form. In this article, I draw upon
our submission for the Wolfson Economics Prize
2014 in which we addressed a wider agenda of how
garden cities could be ‘visionary, economically
viable and popular’.
In particular, I focus on the ‘visionary’ and urban
design aspects of garden cities; but our fundamental
belief is that what distinguishes a garden city from
other forms of development is not its urban design
qualities, nor its architectural style, but the focus on
a holistic approach embracing social, economic and
environmental considerations to create a balanced
community in a genuinely high quality physical
environment. The expectation is that a garden city
will be exemplary in its conception and execution,
but essential to this process are:
• finding a way to capture the increase in land
value and re-invest these profits in the physical
fabric and in the community; and

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 29

Topic

its citizens. If this is to be achieved, the garden

city must have a strong town centre; this should
re-create the complexity of conventional towns and
cities where land uses have developed organically
and are mixed both horizontally and vertically.
This can be achieved through a combination of
good master planning and effective management
of the garden city estate, both of which encourage
diversity and activity. Our proposed governance
and financial structures allow for the town and
neighbourhood centres to be owned and managed
by the community, via a trust, thereby allowing
greater control over occupancy and all profits to be
ploughed back into the community.

3 A Generous Landscape Framework

The landscape framework should be truly
outstanding, delivering a generous, lavish
and extensive network of green and blue open
spaces. These should surround and permeate
the heart of the garden city, combining beauty
with functionality. Areas of existing woodland,
hedgerows, field boundaries, lakes, streams, etc.
should form the basis of the strategy and should
be retained and enhanced. Woodland planting
should enclose the settlement and green wedges
should penetrate the urban areas. Throughout the
development, community squares and gardens
should provide the focal point for new homes. The
quantity of open space should be far in excess of
conventional local authority standards and should
cater for different age groups, be usable at different
times of the day (thereby increasing surveillance
↑ Artist’s impression of
the town centre and the
• gcommunity
overnance arrangements which ensure
ownership and secure the long-term
and reducing fear of crime) and support a healthy
living agenda.
business park
stewardship of assets. Orchards and allotments should be included to
provide opportunities for local food production.
Matters of governance, finance and delivery are Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDs)
outside the scope of this article, but the vision for should underpin the network of green and blue
the garden city must be created with these wider spaces reducing the risk of flooding, assisting with
objectives in mind. sustainable water management and providing rich
In terms of the physical form of the settlement, habitats for wildlife. Enhancing the landscape
four place-making principles go to the heart of a around the garden city would reduce its impact
garden city and define its structure: on the open countryside. Major roads and
streets should be laid out as attractive tree-lined
1 The Walkable Neighbourhood boulevards and there should be additional tree-
This should be the basic building block of the planting in gardens; as far as possible, all existing
garden city. It represents a scale and form of mature trees should be incorporated into the
development with which we can connect and is landscape of the garden city.
based on a distance that can be covered on foot.
We recommend a 500m radius but, provided that 4 A Permeable Street Network
the overall principle is adhered to, this could be The garden city should be clearly designed with
increased or decreased to respect physical features. a permeable and durable street network which
Within each neighbourhood there should be a mix prioritises movement on foot, cycle and public
of land uses and a compact built form to ensure safe transport over the use of the car; this supports a
and attractive pedestrian corridors. healthy lifestyle and a low carbon economy. An
In our submission to the Wolfson Economics extensive network of footpaths and cycle routes
Prize 2014 we prepared a conceptual master plan to (on- and off-road) and bus routes should link the
illustrate how these principles might be applied to residential neighbourhoods with the town centre,
a garden city of some 10,000 dwellings and 10,000 employment areas and with each other. Streets,
jobs. The overall structure is based on a series of squares and open spaces should be well-connected
interconnected walkable neighbourhoods. so that people can move around quickly and
easily, and spend time in parks, gardens and play
2 A Strong Town Centre and Neighbourhood areas. The street network should form part of the
Centres landscape structure with each level of the hierarchy
In an age of networked places, we do not see having a clearly defined design rationale.
self-containment as a realistic or even desirable Within this overall structure, the sense of place
objective. The garden city, however, should supply within the garden city will be significantly enhanced
most of the day-to-day needs and some of the by more general place-making principles:
higher order goods and services required by

30 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

← The Landscape Framework

Plan

• Cidentity:
reating a strong character and distinctive
the garden city should draw on the Genuine, participatory and
local area, its natural and built environment, its
heritage and natural assets to create a framework collaborative working should be
for new development fostering a sense of legacy the hallmark of a garden city, its
and natural evolution.
• Building at a human scale: within the garden
city, people should be able to relate to the
promoters, builders and citizens

buildings around them and feel comfortable

with their height, bulk and mass; yet it must be Resources should, as far as possible, be contained
a sufficiently dense environment to reduce land and re-used within the city and dependence on
take, frame and enliven streets, increase options imports should be actively managed. A philosophy
for public transport, reduce carbon emissions which embraces water, waste, energy, transport and
and allow energy efficiency. the operating profits that emanate from the related
• Insisting on high quality architecture and
public realm: the garden city should foster an
infrastructure will help residents to live sustainable,
low carbon, resource efficient and healthy lives.
innate sense of pride amongst its residents. The Finally, a community engagement strategy for
quality of the architecture should be exemplary the garden city must be a founding principle of its
and carefully controlled by judicious use of planning, design, implementation and stewardship.
development briefs, design guides and design It should start early; be extensive, meaningful
codes which will set the benchmark for civic and collaborative; and demonstrate a genuine
buildings. Architectural styles can be varied to commitment to partnership working. Genuine,
reflect the local vernacular or a more modern participatory and collaborative working should
interpretation can be specified. As most be the hallmark of a garden city, its promoters,
buildings will last for more than 100 years, builders and citizens. It is their legacy that will be
investment in quality at this stage will reap compared with the successes of the early garden
dividends in years to come. Buildings should be
adaptable and sustainable.
city pioneers.•
Together, these principles will create a
framework for sustainability, future-proofing the
• Patricia Willoughby,
Planning Partner at Wei
Yang & Partners, urban
garden city against climate change and paving the design and town planning
way for new technologies. Sustainability will be consultants. Wei Yang &
embedded in: Partners and Peter Freeman
• the layout of the site and the mix of land uses with Shared Intelligence,

• the construction and operation of buildings

Buro Happold and Gardiner

•
& Theobald were finalists in
the way that utilities are provided the Wolfson Economics Prize
• the way that the community is managed. 2014.

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 31

Topic

International
Interpretations of the
Garden City Ideal
Mike Devereux outlines the lessons for place-making

Ebenezer Howard set out on his peaceful path public sector to French garden cities was key to
to real reform (1898) as a direct response to the their success. The momentum came from Henri
worst economic and physical excesses of the Sellier, who established the École des Hautes Etudes
capitalist free-for-all that had manifested itself Urbaines (EHEU, now the Institut d’Urbanisme de
in 19th century urban England. The ensuing Paris) and who was president of the Office Public
urban aesthetic might best be described, using d’Habitations à Bon Marché (HBM) de la Seine
the words of DH Lawrence in Ugliness (1919), as (Public Office for Affordable Housing in the Seine
‘pseudo-cottagey’ but it has left its DNA on almost Region Greater Paris in 1921). Sellier set out a
every suburban housing estate built in England plan for 15 garden cities around Paris, all of which
subsequently. It became synonymous with clean were built. Sellier moved away from a repetitive
and healthy living and, as a social experiment, landscape of low-density cottages to a mix of high-
quickly attracted global attention. An impressive density housing blocks interspersed by individual
array of international architects, planners and houses. At Stains, north of Paris, 1220 apartments
politicians (even Lenin is alleged to have visited and 456 houses were built between 1921-33, all
Letchworth in 1907) came to see for themselves. by the public sector and all set in a deliberately
What they took away, they adapted to their own landscaped environment with community services
cultures and circumstances. (shops, schools, health, etc.) integrated into the
This article takes a glimpse at selected masterplan. The architects, Gonnot and Albenque,
interpretations of garden cities overseas and argues paid particular attention to detailing the housing
that looking abroad can help to inform new garden and the clear references to arts and crafts and
cities at Ebbsfleet, Bicester and elsewhere in Britain cottage styles can been identified. At Suresnes,
to adapt Howard’s vision to 21st century Britain. where he was also mayor, Sellier paid similar
attention to detail and over 2,500 dwellings were
Europe built around a town centre that included churches,
Mainland Europe had seen its fair share of 19th schools, a 1,200 seat theatre and shops, and which
century urban squalor. Model company towns still operates as a successful garden city today.
such as Siedlung Eisenheim (Germany) and Le Sellier’s garden cities depended on Paris to keep
Creusot (France) were responses to this, but only their inhabitants in work. As such they certainly
had a small impact on the problem. It was the did not conform to Howard’s self-sufficiency model
publication of Georges Benoit-Levy’s La Cité Jardin but, being not-for-profit and with strong public
↑ Chatenay-Malabry Garden in 1904 that introduced France to the garden city, sector support they successfully adapted his model
City: terraced landscape and after World War One, began to bring this into to fit the practicalities of the time. Their social mix,
setting for apartments play on a large scale. The strategic approach of the human scale, sense of community combined with

32 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

attention to architectural detail and integration into

a peaceful landscape aesthetic has helped them fare
far better than the later grands ensembles.
Elsewhere in France, a similar public sector
role in Lyon and Marseille saw the model applied
there, as well as Reims where the public sector
housing body Le Foyer Rémois (HBM) implemented
a strategic scale plan drawn up by Major General
George B. Ford of the US Army after World War
One. It established a dozen garden cities separated
by green belts and each containing industry and
housing organised into villages around a Maison
Commune. Continuity of management by Le Foyer
Rémois, which still run the villages, has allowed for
organic, controlled development over time, keeping
the original ideals alive.
Meanwhile in Germany, strong public sector
involvement combined with an emerging strategic
approach to urban planning (Raumordnung)
drove initiatives such as Ernst May’s expansion of
Frankfurt-am-Main (1926-32) by the creation of 14
new garden settlements. One of these, Römerstadt,
benefitted in particular from strong control over could lead on it. The result is a high quality urban
land rights, which allowed for strategic planning environment catering for all sectors in society,
vision; the Frankfurt Housing Association could based on the idea of nature’s inherent aesthetic,
use this control to accommodate Howard’s idea to with architecture playing a supporting role.
May’s modernist vision of new materials and new Tapiola has grown to be a working town, not just
technical innovations, all carefully placed into a a dormitory that so many other garden cities have
well-crafted Stadtlandschaft (city-landscape). In turned out to be.
general, this strategic insertion of garden cities into
existing urban centres proved a success in Germany. Further Afield
The garden city vision was not confined to It was not only in Europe that garden cities proved
Western Europe. At Zlin, in what is now the Czech an attractive label for attempts to design a way
Republic, Le Corbusier’s interpretation of Howard’s out of urban chaos. Colonial influences spread
work incorporated the modernist materials and the the idea further. In Australia, the large supply of
aesthetic of the central factory into the housing and land had left cities free to expand as they wanted.
community services, set in a generous parkscape. Urban form often followed a conventional grid,
Perhaps Europe’s most successful interpretation and urban living conditions, even in industrial
of the garden city is at Tapiola near Helsinki in areas, were somewhat better than in many UK
Finland. It also demonstrates the adaptability cities. Some of the more expensive suburbs, such as
of the idea to modern times, and the success of Garden City in Melbourne, interpreted the trends
↖ The English ‘Arts and
involving stakeholders. Here a private not-for-profit of European planning through landscaped cities. Crafts’ influence can be
organisation (Asuntosäätiö) was set up in 1951 by It was in Canberra, though, built in 1911, that the easily identified at Stains,
six social organisations including trade unions. It landscaped city showed it was capable of being north of Paris
was headed by Heikki von Hertzen, who set out to built on a scale large enough to house 358,000 ↑ Suresnes Garden City
create an ideal garden city to be both economically inhabitants. Planned by Walter Burley Griffin and included a 1200 seat
community theatre
viable and beautiful. It benefitted in particular from his wife Marion, the scheme uses its natural setting ↑↑ Chatenay-Malabry
an inter-disciplinary approach when the planners to superimpose a polycentric urban diagram of Garden City: post office and
involved insisted that no one professional group radiating avenues and manicured landscapes. It residential accommodation

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 33

Topic

set in large natural spaces. These garden cities,

20 years on from Howard’s experience, now
needed to accommodate the car. From this was
born the Radburn layout, which separated cars
from people in a planned landscape. Clarence
Stein, Henry Wright and Marjorie Sewell-Cautley
designed Radburn, New Jersey as an autonomous
self-contained community with residents paying
a local tax to manage the town – not unlike the
self-sustaining governance in Letchworth. The
community is thriving today, and its influence can
be seen in the successful Radburn extension of
Letchworth itself.
Although other examples of garden cities
influenced developments can be found in the USA,
and particularly in the greenbelt towns designed
to help economic recovery after the Depression
(Greendale, Wisconsin) the surplus of land in the
country has tended to see suburbanisation as a
solution to urban planning problems since World
War Two rather than garden cities.
No global tour of the garden city would be
↑ Lomas de Chapultepec, complete without a visit to Asia. Japanese officials
Mexico City: a English urban Much of what has been done were amongst the first to visit Letchworth, seeing
aesthetic in central America
garden cities as an approach that would allow
(courtesy of Jonathan abroad in the name of the Garden
Bassindale) them to retain rural populations who were rapidly
City movement... has involved migrating to cities. Once back home, they drew
sacrificing some of the original up plans to bring infrastructure to rural areas,
intending to entice the population to stay, but
concept instead inadvertently facilitating the creation of
dormitory suburbs. At Den-en-Chou (1923), private
developers took up the idea and built a town for
took the strength of the federal state to bring all 29,000 people, compromising Howard’s social
parties and the land together, but the resulting built ideals in favour of capitalist principles. Even with
form would please those who see garden cities as its own building code, the town is finding it hard to
landscaped cities, even if they owe little to Howard’s control economic forces as landscaped elements are
original social principles. replaced by solid walls demarcating ownership.
The English colonial influence is also noticeable It is in Asia that most of today’s garden cities are
at Pinelands (Western Cape) in South Africa (1919). being built. Putrajaya in Malaysia, a typical example,
Designed by Albert Thompson who had worked is more of a green city than a garden city, the phrase
at Letchworth, it has now become an exclusive having taken on far looser connotations than was
landscaped suburb with tightly controlled planning intended by Howard. It is now a valuable marketing
regulations to ensure its conservation. This turn to statement rather than a social experiment. China
exclusive garden suburbs is all too often prevalent is responding to its own urban industrial problems
in Central and South America and marks a clear with ‘garden cities’ such as Tianfu (Chengdu)
shift from Howard’s original social ideals. Unwin where work began in 2011, and which is expected
and Parker, the original Letchworth architects, to house 2 million people by 2030. It is easy to be
designed a garden city in Sao Paolo which today is dismissive of these garden cities, but the modern
no more than a leafy suburb, with protected status interpretation is not without merit; they are on
helping to maintain its high property values. Lomas publically owned land, surrounded by greenbelt,
de Chapultepec (1928) and Colonia Hipodromo de with good public transport connections and at high
la Condesa in Mexico City are two such examples of densities that are more sustainable than Howard’s
similar gentrification. Erich Zeyen’s plan for Ciudad original plans could have achieved.
Jardin Lomas del Palomar (1929) in Argentina, Howard had the first but not the last word on
which included social facilities as well as housing garden cities. Much of what has been done abroad
and was designed to a human scale, has more in the name of the garden city movement has had
successfully stood the test of time, most clearly due some degree of success, but in pretty much every
to its social mix and good community involvement case this has involved sacrificing some of the
in decision-making – two lessons to be taken from original concept. In their different ways, however,
the South American experience. the more successful of these iterations all display a
The USA also experimented with garden city strong, well informed, integrated urban planning
ideas. Early work in creating landscaped estates and design philosophy that puts place-making
(such as Forest Hills, New York) gave way to a above profit and that adapts well to prevailing
serious ideological debate that brought about the circumstances. The result has not been unpleasant

• Mike Devereux, Senior

creation of the Regional Planning Association of
America (RPAA), which made a strong case for
and perhaps worth the sacrifice. •
Lecturer and Programme needing strategic integrated planning if garden
Leader in the Department of
Architecture and the Built cities were to work. Having created the 3,500
Environment, University of km Appalachian Trail (1923) the RPAA expanded
the West of England, Bristol. its ideas to include a network of regional cities

34 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

from model to reference

Anca Duguet and Émilie Jarousseau explore the
French interpretation of the garden city

Ebenezer Howard's vision of self-sustaining The variety of land opportunities around Paris
communities, away from large cities and integrated resulted in these garden cities having very different
with the surrounding countryside, has inspired sizes and urban compositions. Some of these garden
many interpretations around the world – and cities became real opportunities for new urban and
particularly in the Paris region. A century later, architectural experiences. Today these thirty garden
garden cities continue to be a valuable reference cities are part of the Paris metropolitan area and
tool in France for planners seeking to meet the some of them have been extensively renovated. As
needs of the present day, such as French sustainable well as their heritage value, they are also perceived as
neighbourhoods. an ideal model of urbanity in their mix of densities,
functional diversity, and adoption of cohabitation.
An Urban and Social Ideal
In the Paris region, in contrast to the early English Key lessons, one century later
garden cities, the cités-jardins (garden cities) Garden Cities, An Ideal to be Pursued was a
are in effect garden suburbs, built very close to symposium organized in April 2013 by the Institute
the capital. They were intended to improve Paris’ of Development and Urbanism of Ile-de-France
suburbs through new development, in contrast (IAU Ile-de-France) in partnership with the Town
to the English garden city, which sought to move and Country Planning Association (TCPA), the
people out of cities. They were built between International Federation of Housing and Planning
1920 and 1939, in order to tackle poor housing (IFHP), and the Confederation Francaise pour
conditions and respond to a vital housing need. l'Habitation, l'Urbanisme, l'Amenagement du
Considered in a comprehensive and concerted Territoire et l'Environnement (COFHUAT). One
manner, they are an embodiment of the first social hundred years after the first garden cities, this
housing policy, led by the politician and social conference was an opportunity to measure the ↑ Most garden cities were
reformist Henri Sellier, and were primarily built by topicality of the subject in both the French and built within 10km of Paris, and
public institutions. British contexts. some much closer

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 35

Topic

demand, while in France, they are seen as a strong

basis for creating a socially and environmentally
sustainable built environment.
The sharing of experiences in Britain and
France encouraged all present at the symposium
to develop their expertise regarding garden cities
and the needs that they must meet today. The key
conclusions drawn were:
• The need to plan future garden cities or
sustainable neighbourhoods as part of a real
long-term strategy
• To develop governance as well as legal structures
that work for new communities
• The need to continue the debate on dwelling
quality as well as quantity, and
• To pursue expertise on sustainable densities,
an issue which was hotly debated during the
symposium.
 
New answers to new questions
The symposium looked back at France’s history
of garden cities and their legacy. The conclusions
Britain: the meeting of town and of the discussions, however, are of value for
country how France is to move forward in meeting new
The two large garden cities (Letchworth, Welwyn) needs. The more recent focus in French planning
are stand-alone small towns of 30,000 inhabitants and development has been towards sustainable
• On former agricultural land far from
metropolitan areas
neighbourhoods, advocated through a number of
policies since 2008 as a fundamental way in which
• Based on Ebenezer Howard’s three magnets
model
France can meet its critical housing need while
saving land and energy resources. Since then,
• Individual houses rather than flats several support programmes for sustainable urban
• Low densities, an agricultural belt and gardens development have been created:
• Rail services on main line to London.  

Ile-de-France: an urban and social

• Eco-quartiers
Launched in 2008 by the Ministry of Sustainable
vision Development, eco-quartiers were one of the
30 garden cities forming neighbourhoods of various responses to a government commitment to
sizes, from 100 up to 4,000 dwellings sustainable development. Local authorities were
• Built close to Paris in suburbs invited to bid for funding for new developments
• Based on Sellier’s social housing model that were innovative in their approach and
• Collective dwellings make up almost three
quarters of homes
process, or their attitude towards living
environment, preservation of resources and
• Higher densities climate change adaptation. Out of more than 500
• A poor public transport service, not always
adapted.
applications, 37 eco-quartiers were designated
between 2009 and 2011 (including six in Ile-
de-France). In 2013, the title was granted to 13
The differences in approaches became more completed projects (including three in Ile-de-
marked after the Second World War. In Britain, France) and 32 were considered work in progress
garden cities gave way to New Towns, while in the (including four in Ile-de-France).
Paris region, the villes nouvelles of the late 1960s
were inspired by the British New Towns but also
• An EcoCités programme was launched in 2009
by the Ministry of Sustainable Development
came to be viewed against the post war French as a scheme for larger developments, aimed at
errors, the large housing developments (grands existing cities with awards for developments
ensembles). Through these developments, the that apply the main principles of sustainable
garden city on both sides of the Channel came to development alongside ambitious demographic
be viewed more nostalgically, although the English targets. The challenge is to improve and
garden cities came to be associated with middle- transform the entire country through the
class commuter land, while the French cités-jardins development of brownfield or underutilised
still primarily consisted of social housing with only sites. Today 19 large territories have committed
very slight and recent gentrification. to the scheme, including three major operations
Based on discussions at the symposium, it in Ile-de-France.
became apparent that the experiences and issues
faced in France and Britain today are converging
• The Nouveaux quartiers urbains (NQU) is a
specific scheme launched in Ile-de-France in
once more. A housing shortage in both countries order to encourage the creation of innovative
requires a commitment to housing building, and exemplary neighbourhoods. The regional
as does the need for sustainable and mixed use council has launched three calls for projects, and
developments. Garden cities are being turned to so far 24 schemes have been approved. Projects
↑ The location of sustainable as a reference point for meeting current needs; in must meet numerous criteria that implement the
neighbourhoods in the Ile- Britain, their appeal forms the basis of a consensus sustainable principles of the Schema Directeur,
de-France Region around a possible new way of meeting housing or regional strategic plan for Ile-de-France,

36 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

which plans for development up until 2030.

These criteria include a strong relationship with
the surroundings, environmental quality, quality
and quantity of housing, a mixture of urban
functions, compactness, and new management
practices. The scheme takes forward local
planning concepts and practices, while bringing
stakeholders together, and supporting local
projects through specific grants.

Through these policy tools to support sustainable

neighbourhoods at both national and regional
levels, there are now more than 30 sustainable
neighbourhoods in the Paris region alone. These
exemplary projects use experimental approaches
that support the further development of policy,
improve residents’ quality of life and find new ways
to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
To illustrate the various approaches
being adopted under the French sustainable
neighbourhoods policy, two case studies are
described here.

Eco-quartier Clause Bois-Badeau,

Brétigny
Clause Bois-Badeau is a new neighbourhood
within Bretigny, a commuter town 35km from
Paris. It was approved for development in 2009
and is still in the process of being labelled as
an eco-quartier (the designation validates its
environmental credentials). The project will create
a new neighbourhood of 2,400 houses, with a
seven hectare park at its heart opening onto a large
natural area, close to the railway station and facing
the Orge Valley. Its environmental credentials
include bioclimatic architecture, biomass district
heating, and zero discharge of storm water. The
design supports a mixture of uses and housing
types, with an emphasis on street hierarchy and a
richness of public spaces and natural areas. ↑ The Sorbiers House, the
The original garden cities were old mansion (1912) of the

• 4farmland)
2 ha (4 ha on brownfield and 38 ha on conceived in a very different
owner of the Clause Seed
Company. At the heart of the

• 2d’aménagement
new Clause Bois-Badeau
comprehensive development zones (Zones demographic, social, economic and eco-quartier, this symbolic
concerté – ZAC) place has been transformed

• 250,400
political context to today’s Paris into public facilities. Image
dwellings: 30 per cent affordable homes, courtesy of Infime.
per cent home ownership
• 55 dwellings per hectare average  (between 35 While eco-quartier Clause-Bois Badeau
↑↑ Eco-quartier Fluvial, the
projects make the most of its
and 75) is primarily a housing development serving proximity to the River Seine,
• 5506,000m²
per cent public space, including the large park commuters, Fluvial’s proximity to Paris means with views and access to the

• public facilities and office space. that it has more space for employment, and higher
densities to meet the increased demand of space
banks, and will be adapted
to flood risk. Image courtesy
of Philippon-kalt architectes.
A neighbourhood on the Seine close to the capital, especially since the majority of
Eco-quartier Fluvial, just 5km from Paris, was housing types are multi-family residential.
approved in 2009 and was awarded eco-quartier • 22 hectares of brownfield land
status in 2011. It is part of a large redevelopment
project which includes large-scale projects in
• 1,000 housing units in the ZAC area (30 per cent
affordable homes)
neighbouring towns. This new neighbourhood is • 1,000 new jobs
a redevelopment of a highly restricted brownfield
site. It is an innovative development, using a
• 77 dwellings per hectare on average (between 56
and 130)
participatory process in which residents are
involved in all phases of the project. This process
• 55,000 m² public facilities and office space.

has led to a design that includes shared common Future opportunities

spaces, the use of district heat networks and The original garden cities were conceived in a
photovoltaic panels, and waste disposal by water very different demographic, social, economic and
transportation. It is predominantly a car-free political context to today’s Paris. Responding to
neighbourhood, with sustainable transport the housing crisis in Ile-de-France is one of the
supported by shared parking places, a new main objectives of the Schéma Directeur (regional
pedestrian and bus bridge, a car-sharing service structure plan) for the Paris region and its 12
and incentives for bicycle usage. million inhabitants, and should over the next 15-20

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 37

Topic

years, double the annual housing construction The danger that we face now in moving forwards
rate (from 35,000 to 70,000 homes per year), with sustainable neighbourhoods relates in part to
with a particular emphasis on new energy sources. their media coverage. Just as in Britain, the many
The Schéma Directeur aims to widely promote connotations that have been ascribed to the ‘garden
construction in already urbanised areas, to city’ label confuse and obscure the key underlying
address urban sprawl. Densification is widely principles, so that the sustainable neighbourhood
promoted, especially on brownfield land and may be confused with other concepts introduced
underutilised areas, as well as in areas well over the years, such as participative design or
served by public transportation, both existing agricultural projects. Combined, these various
and planned. It has three key concepts for criteria represent a modern version of the
densification: intensity, compactness, and multi- aspirations and social equity that were at work at
polarity, or the provision of multiple centres. The the beginning of the last century. It is perhaps an
implementation of these objectives by municipal indication of the concept’s success that we now
and provincial governments is supported by feel that the ecological requirement has been met,
publications with practical advice, including some but we could become less idealistic as a result.
by the île-de-France Institute for Urban Planning In moving forward, the challenge is to adapt our
(IAU IDF). garden city and sustainable neighbourhood heritage
• Anca Duguet,
architect and planner on
Sustainable neighbourhoods offer us a mixed
picture of the legacy of the garden city in France.
in order to achieve a balance between quantity and
quality alongside the need for urban density. •
territorial development Today, they represent most of the new residential
issues organised the 2013 projects that meet sustainability criteria: energy References
Symposium ‘Garden cities,
an ideal to be pursued’.
efficient buildings, green and generous public ‘Garden Cities, an ideal to be pursued’: http://www.
Emilie Jarousseau is an spaces, more natural sewage treatment, diversity IAU-IDF.fr/detail/Etude/Les-CITES-Jardins-UN-
urban planner working on of functions, and consultation with residents. ideal-a-poursuivre.html
regional and urban heritage They are often recognized as a laboratory for Schéma directeur de la région Ile-de-France: http://
management. Both are the future, providing chances to experiment www.iledefrance.fr/iledefrance2030
members of the IAU île-de-
France, the Institute for in creating a city that merges urban and rural See also the chapter on France by T. Vilmin in Loew
Urban Planning in the Paris environments, and articulating key ecological, S. 2012 Urban DesignPractice: An International
region. social and economic issues. Review, London: RIBA Publishing

Letchworth then and

now
David Ames reviews Howard’s experiment after a
century of development

Garden cities are at the forefront of the debate He describes six magnificent boulevards, a
about how today’s growth needs can be delivered, circular centre of about 5.5 acres laid out as gardens
appearing in every conference, debate and policy surrounded by larger public buildings. Throughout
discussion. The reality of the garden city model the garden city would be ‘varied architecture and
is often misunderstood, but the importance of design which the houses and group of houses
Letchworth Garden City and the future potential display’. At the heart of his garden city ideal,
of Ebenezer Howard’s experiment should not be though, was a model of community governance and
underestimated. economic self-sufficiency.
Today, we have lost some of these principles.
Garden city principles The National Planning Policy Framework refers
The garden city began with Ebenezer Howard’s to the garden city, but does not seek to define it,
1898 publication Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Real leaving that task to the TCPA, as Katy Lock sets out
Reform. Howard was neither planner nor architect, elsewhere in this issue.
but a parliamentary reporter who lobbied, debated At the heart of these principles are ‘beautifully
and discussed an alternative to the poor living and imaginatively designed homes with gardens;
conditions found in late Victorian urban England. combining the very best of town and country living
The book is not a series of design codes or to create healthy homes in vibrant communities;
master plans, but a simple model illustrated in a land value capture for the benefit of the community;
very clear manner. Howard states that in the garden strong vision, leadership and community
city, ‘town and country must be married, and out of engagement; and community ownership of land and
this joyous union will spring a new hope, a new life, long-term stewardship of assets’.
a new civilisation’. These, combined with integrated transport, a

38 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

← Aerial view of Letchworth

↓ The original plans for
Letchworth.

strong local jobs offer, generous green space and allotments and with many examples of deliberately
housing for all, should be part of a new generation landlocked areas to the back of houses, which were
of garden cities. also used for food growing, public open space and to
create natural environments for wildlife.
The Letchworth Garden City story Although slower than projected, the greater
Letchworth Garden City was seen as an experiment proportion of the first phase was implemented
by Howard. His vision was that of a social city; by the end of the First World War, by which time
a group of planned garden cities around a main Letchworth had a population of 10,000 residents.
conurbation, each surrounded by a protected belt The population doubled to approximately 20,000
of open land and strong links into the central city. by 1939.
Letchworth was the first attempt to make this a Letchworth was entirely privately funded, led
reality. by the management and shareholders of First
Howard was able to secure private funding and Garden City Limited. Ebenezer Howard was its first
buy the land for Letchworth Garden City at an managing director and Thomas Adams, who would
astonishingly fast pace. His book was published later found the Royal Town Planning Institute, its
in 1898, and in 1903 Letchworth Garden City was secretary.
launched, with the greater bulk of land required Residential and commercial land was sold on
to deliver this vision acquired. Arts and Crafts a leasehold basis, with the company retaining
architects Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker were the freehold. This was part of a long-term view
commissioned and a master plan produced. advocated by Howard to enable the capture of
At that time, there were serious urban issues enhanced land value and rent for the benefit of the
of poor air quality, living conditions and a lack of local community, as well as maintaining an element
access to the countryside. The Unwin and Parker
master plan addressed all of these issues, planning
it in line with Howard’s request for the ‘very latest
of modern requirements’ by taking a very simple
approach of zoning clear areas for each use, while
ensuring that all residents were able to walk to
their work, providing a centrally located railway
station and links to recreation facilities and the
countryside. The architecture took on the Arts and
Crafts style of the era.
Buildings, set within tree lined boulevards,
utilised built form and structural planting to create
strong vistas; groups of buildings incorporated
subtle differences to avoid a bland appearance; and
the use of focal points, generally by the built form,
were effective measures to ensure high quality of
place. The joy of the detailed, but relatively simple
Arts and Crafts design, sits comfortably within this
context.
Buildings are often set adjacent to central
green areas, which could be utilised for amenity or

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 39

Topic

challenged by private speculators, but were secured

in perpetuity by the creation of the Letchworth
Garden City Corporation, following an Act of
Parliament in 1962. In 1995, the Corporation
was disbanded in favour of the Trust envisaged
by Ebenezer Howard, known as the Letchworth
Garden City Heritage Foundation. Today the LGCHF
is a self-funded charity and a community benefit
organisation, whose activities are determined by a
core of six charitable commitments.

Letchworth Garden City Today

It was not until the 1970s that the originally
intended population of 32,000 was met. Today
Letchworth is a home for approximately 33,000
people and provides approximately 15,000 jobs,
half of which are filled by local people.
The Heritage Foundation is responsible for
the continued maintenance of Letchworth in
accordance with its founding principles. At the
heart of this is the continued governance and
re-investment model, which is unique to any
substantial town in the UK.
Our community governance model, in line with
Howard’s principles, includes 30 local governors,
chosen by way of local election, nomination by local
groups and societies or selection. The governors
elect a board of trustees, which is the main decision
making body for the organisation and also includes
a representative from the district and county
councils.
We receive a yearly income, the greater
proportion of which is rent from our property
portfolio located in Letchworth. This rent is utilised
for the continued management and stewardship
of the garden city and also meeting our charitable
commitments. This means that the town benefits
from an art deco style cinema, local treatment
centre, local arts centre, museum, the International
Garden Cities Exhibition, tourist information
centre, community hub, family farm, local minibus
service and a comprehensive grants programme
which helps local communities and helps preserve
the built environment. No statutory services are
provided by the Heritage Foundation, as these
continue to be provided by the relevant public
authorities.
The key principles of community Letchworth contains a substantial number of
ownership and land value capture beautifully designed Arts and Crafts dwellings.
Many are heritage assets on their own merit, but
model were challenged by private groups of buildings are also cumulatively of value.
speculators, but were secured in We are able to exercise a level of protection
found in few places in the UK with a Scheme of
perpetuity by the creation of the Management, by way of covenants attached to the
Letchworth Garden City Corporation freehold, meaning that any alterations which affect
the external appearance of the building require our
prior approval. This is in addition to the statutory
of control over the town. planning process. This Scheme has helped to
By the end of the Second World War, a strong protect important features, particularly windows,
local community incorporating a range of workers doors and front gardens and ensured that other
and their families were able to enjoy the core garden key urban design characteristics such as strong
city principles set out by Ebenezer Howard and the structural planting are preserved.
↑ An early street scene in
the Garden City
design principles advocated by Unwin and Parker.
↑↑ Early cottage plans for The post Second World War era was a time of Current issues
the Pixmore Estate significant change. Welwyn Garden City, then only Many of the early dwellings are solid wall
All black and white partly built, was designated a New Town in the 1946 construction and there can be issues regarding
photographs and original New Towns Act and a Development Corporation was energy efficiency. New systems and alternatives are
drawings, credit to Garden
City Collection. Other images created in place of Second Garden City Limited. being explored, with partners such as the Building
to Letchworth Garden City In Letchworth, the key principles of community Research Establishment, that will not compromise
Heritage Foundation. ownership and land value capture model were the appearance of buildings.

40 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

Letchworth benefits from many large gardens

and we are partnering with the Royal Horticultural
Society to show how these gardens can be
effectively used for food, bio-diversity and leisure.
In response to the significant need for housing
within North Hertfordshire District and the socio
economic position of Letchworth, there is an
extensive debate as to whether the town should
grow. Consultation on this issue highlighted
that the local community continues to be keen
to engage in difficult decisions, and the greater
proportion felt additional housing was required
to meet emerging housing need. Concern was
expressed as to where this should be delivered
and whether an increase of approximately 1,500
dwellings would be damaging.
Key considerations included garden city
principles, social and transport infrastructure,
socio-economic issues and the desire to preserve
Letchworth as a sustainable town, which provides
housing and employment.
Following this debate it was agreed that should
the local planning authority require land in
Letchworth to meet its housing needs, we would
be supportive of such an allocation. We would
retain control over the delivery and ownership
of any development and ensure that any future
development would help to meet local need,
and the increase in land value is reinvested for
the benefit of the local community, as set out in
Howard’s original principles.

Future garden cities

In the period up to the Second World War, the
influence of garden city design and living had
grown across the UK, with garden city design
principles found in suburbs across the country,
assisted by publications such as Unwin’s 1909
Town Planning in Practice.
Garden cities and suburbs directly influenced by
those early pioneering days at Letchworth Garden a comprehensive master planned approach that ↑ Modern housing in
City can be found in every continent. There are promotes innovation and has support from local Letchworth
↑↑ Broadway Gardens, at
more than 100 examples, including Canberra, New and national government, ensuring certainty for all the heart of the Garden City
Delhi, suburbs of main European cities such as partners.
Paris and Brussels, and a series of New Deal towns There is an assumption that the type of
in the USA. Letchworth and the first phases of architectural design found in Letchworth and
Welwyn are the only complete examples of garden Welwyn, which has been hugely successful, must be
cities in the UK. applied in new garden cities. That is not the case,
Sir Patrick Abercrombie was a leading member particularly as the ethos in those early years was
of the Garden City Association. The 1944 Greater one of pioneering innovation.
London Plan and the post-war New Towns were In order to advance the debate, we have
clearly influenced by the social city model, albeit launched an International Garden Cities Institute.
at a larger scale, to meet the requirements of a Under the founding presidency of Lord Salisbury,
massive re-building programme. whose family played a key role in the early years
Today, there is again significant debate about of Letchworth and Welwyn, the Institute will be
the garden city. We have met with representatives sharing experiences from many garden cities
of all three main political parties and hosted worldwide in order to understand where this model
conferences and debates on the issue of garden has been successful, where it has failed and how
cities as part of the solution to today’s growth it can fit in as part of today’s growth agenda. This
requirements. will also enable the recognition of Letchworth
Along with the TCPA, we are seeking to protect Garden City and help to ensure that the original
garden city principles in their application to new core principles of land value capture, community
settlements. In particular, these should include a governance and creating great places to live and
community governance model, land value capture
for the benefit of the local community, and strong
work are protected. •
urban design principles.
Howard stated that garden cities should
• David Ames, member of
the Leadership Team and
Head of Heritage & Strategic
meet modern requirements, which today would Planning for Letchworth
mean incorporating low-carbon sustainable Garden City Heritage
solutions to housing and employment as part of Foundation.

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 41

Topic

What is so difficult
about creating a Garden
Suburb?
Mette McLarney offers the developer’s perspective on
the difficulties faced in the creation of garden suburbs

The primary role of the masterplanner and urban commercial activities nearby, and contains modest
designer, whatever their other responsibilities, facilities of its own. A garden city, on the other
is to add value to a development and to achieve hand, is typically accepted to be independent of the
planning consent while meeting or exceeding neighbouring city, autonomous and self contained,
the targets set by the developer. These targets surrounded by countryside, with its own industrial,
include specific profit margins. Developers are commercial and agricultural uses, and acting as
often answerable to shareholders who expect a satellite to the neighbouring city. Many of the
to see dividends from their investments year on principles discussed here would apply to both
year. Before starting my own practice, I worked garden cities and suburbs; in practice, the greater
for 14 years as Masterplanner and Group Chief viability of the suburb makes it a more useful point
Architect for Countryside Properties PLC, an of discussion.
award winning national housebuilder, and gained Hereafter I will discuss some of the difficulties
an understanding of the commercial reality of that face developers when creating garden suburbs,
designing and delivering large-scale residential which in practice can be any form of large-scale
developments. These insights may be helpful to strategic development that adds to an existing
fellow design professionals, particularly in the settlement. This broad way of understanding a
context of the garden city debate. garden suburb leads to the first key thing that the
residential property developer's design team needs
Garden suburbs to agree on, that is what the principles of garden
There is a strong argument (clearly expressed by suburbs actually are.
URBED in their winning entry to the Wolfson Prize)
that we should be talking about garden suburbs, Design rules
as developer-led strategic extensions to existing The Town and Country Planning Association's
towns and cities, rather than standalone garden Creating Garden Cities and Suburbs Today (TCPA,
cities. In practice, too, an urban extension is likely 2014) sets out the principles of garden cities and
to be more commercially viable, owing to the ability suburbs alongside guidelines for local authorities
to use existing infrastructure and facilities rather and developers to follow. However, it is light on
than create an entire settlement from scratch. The specific design principles, and these are the very
broadly accepted definition of a garden suburb rules that need to be established and agreed at the
↑ A traditional street scene is an expansion of an existing settlement with start of a project.
from Maldon built hundreds additional accommodation and extending into One place to start would be Hampstead Garden
of years ago the countryside, which depends on industrial and Suburb, the first and most famous garden suburb,

42 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

created in 1906. Henrietta Barnett commissioned

Letchworth’s original architect Raymond Unwin
to produce a masterplan addressing the following
rules which, building upon the aesthetic of
Letchworth and Welwyn, clearly articulate her
vision for its design:
1. Cottages and houses should be built at an average
density of eight dwellings per acre (20 dwellings
per hectare).
2. Streets should be 40 feet (13.2m) wide and
the facades of houses should be at least 50
feet (16.5m) from each other with gardens in
between.
3. Plots should not be separated by walls, but by
hedges or trees or fences. unfortunately, these elements are now major design
4. All streets should be lined with trees whose drivers of many new residential developments,
colours should harmonise with those of the which was certainly not the case one hundred years
hedges. ago. Bigger garages, wide grass verges and front
5. Woods and public gardens should be free for all gardens, affordable housing space standards and
residents regardless of the amount of rent they garden sizes all take up space. With the percentage
paid. of affordable housing required for new residential
6. Houses should be designed in such a way that developments being higher now than it has been
they should not spoil each other’s view or beauty. in the last two decades, the effect on densities has
been significant. This is particularly problematic
Barnett's vision is clear and specific; it is exactly where the affordable housing mix required is for
the sort of brief that developers would welcome. three, four and five bedroomed houses, because
Unfortunately, local authorities engaging in they take up space, pushing down densities.
strategic residential masterplanning, despite their
use of guidance and numerous checklists, rarely The nostalgia element
offer clear and specific briefs. Low density residential developments are not
Unwin followed his brief, laying down a strong always what the developer wishes to produce, and
structure in his plan and setting out some design with good reason. However, in order to highlight
rules of his own: a dense centre; diversified the next major difficulty, let us suppose that the
residential areas; marking of entrances and closes; developer is happy to build fewer properties, at
a notion of limits; a hierarchy of spaces; an axis; a lower densities, to create a new garden suburb. The
landmark; morphologically differentiated districts, plan is efficient, and meets all the requirements
and picturesque buildings. for a garden suburb. It is named ‘Model Garden
Could Unwin and Barnett's design rules be what Suburb for 2015+’. Yet the local authority feels it is
developers are looking for? They offer a good too regimented; too efficient. The density is fine; it
example of what design rules should look like. The is policy compliant; the parks, landscape and tree-
key lesson, however, is that both developer and lined avenues look beautiful. Except that it doesn't
local authority discuss and agree clearly on a set of really look like a real village.
rules at the outset of the project. Indeed it doesn't – because it is a pre-planned
garden suburb, not a medieval village that grew
Understanding density organically from a market centre. How do we
One major challenge faced in garden suburbs is reconcile this nostalgic desire to have new
the issue of density, which is usually laid out at the residential developments look as though they
outline planning stage of the design. The developer were built hundreds of years ago, even though
needs to know the capacity of the site, and whether they aren't, with the current requirement to create
the optimal mix of house types can be achieved. garden suburbs for the 21st century? The design
That mix is usually provided by sales and marketing rules have become confused and contradictory.
teams following their market research, based on In the UK, we interpret nostalgia through
the eventual sales price per dwelling type. The organic-style street layouts. In the USA, nostalgia
density and mix then become two of the designer’s is interpreted in quite a different way, through a
targets. Density, however, can be measured in formal pattern. Towns are built on grids, unless
both gross density and net density, and if the topography dictates otherwise. In Los Angeles, for
distinction is overlooked, the capacity of a site can example, the road network is a formal grid with
be significantly misunderstood. Understanding loose edges, like a section of woven cloth that has
and communicating these definitions across to all been distorted and pulled about at the edges. In
stakeholders, particularly the local authority is of Beverly Hills, the landscape pulls apart the grid,
crucial importance. making it appear more organic. This could be an
Barnett's vision for Hampstead stipulated a answer to the layout dilemma; allowing layouts
density of 20 dwellings per hectare, a far lower to be responsive to topography, but in a planned
figure than is usually used today. This has become way. It demonstrates one way that consensus
one of the difficulties that developers face regarding can be achieved: the creation of a garden suburb
garden suburbs, particularly since developers today and its associated characteristics, appropriate
have to deal with higher demands for space than for its location, as well as drawing details and
↑ Plan of Los Angeles
in 1906, needing to accommodate cars, garages, material references from the surrounding showing the formal grid
refuse vehicles and refuse storage. This has had a historic settlements. Indeed, Unwin’s plan for which is also distorted by
huge impact on density as well as urban design, and Hampstead Garden Suburb had the same concept topography

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 43

Topic

at the point of sale than the future value of the

properties. If the upfront commercial value of a
garden suburb was the same as a traditional suburb,
it might nevertheless carry a lifestyle value of living,
pushing up sustainable property values. There is
no value for the developer, though, only for the
homeowner. The long-term value of development is
an important point for local authorities to recognise
and understand, and it is particularly important in
terms of long-term maintenance of the parks, play
areas and tree-lined avenues in the garden suburbs.
These open spaces must be managed and
maintained by the local authority or a management
company. The local authority may require a
sum of money from the developer to pay for this
and will only take ownership of the land when
↑ A modern Los Angeles ‘a dense centre, diversified residential areas… it is completed to a pre-agreed level. Often the
street scene morphologically differentiated districts’. local authority will only adopt the open spaces
if their preferred, low-cost, easy-to-replace
The value of design range of materials and plants are used. Some
Although architects, urban designers and local authorities will not adopt trees at all. If the
masterplanners are commissioned to design developer wants to build a park or play area using
residential developments, a reality that is not high quality materials and innovative design, they
often faced up to is that the developer is not as risk the possibility that the local authority will not
interested in design as we might think; at least, adopt the areas. The alternative is to have these
to the developer, the beginning and ending of its areas managed and maintained by a management
value is in how well it performs commercially. The company. The benefit is that the developer has more
role of the design professional is to ensure that the design and specification freedom. The drawback is
design meets all planning policy and legislative the cost, which must be borne by the householder.
requirements, as well as full integration with the With sometimes 40 per cent affordable homes on
work of all other members of the consultant team. a site, this is often not a viable proposition. So who
That is a basic expectation. pays for the garden in a garden suburb? Most likely
Today, designers are faced with meeting a it will be the homeowner. The more gardens, parks
plethora of requirements, checklists, policies, and open spaces in a development, the higher the
standards and regulations. There are many people cost of private housing.
involved in getting a planning application ready
for submission and many documents to produce. Aesthetic
What developers really want out of this process is Finally, with the garden suburb, developers face
a profitable design. The design professional is thus the picturesque architecture problem. Developers
required to generate a number of different design want to build what they understand their customers
scenarios, with schedules, and the information want to buy. If that is picturesque architecture,
required to measure their value. then that is what they will build. If contemporary
In order to solve this difficulty faced by the architecture is what the customers want, that is
design professional, we have developed software what they will build instead. Hampstead Garden
systems to link our masterplans to any number Suburb designers were heavily influenced by the
of schedules, which provides the developer with Arts and Crafts Movement and, although this is
the data needed. Each dwelling on the masterplan a very popular style for developers, that same
contains a database of information such as the quality of craftsmanship and materials in large
area of the dwelling, the number of bedrooms, scale residential developments today is not a
bathrooms, parking spaces, build cost, projected priority. Instead we tend to see standard house-
sales value and even the number of bricks. In fact, types built from standard materials, with facades
we can put any data into the database. If the design that mimic some of the features of that period but
changes – perhaps we need to create a new tree- not the proportions. The effect is rarely successful,
lined avenue – the schedules automatically update but research continues to show demand for these
and we can issue a revised plan and schedule very homes. From the developer's perspective, it is the
quickly. The developer then has the information market who choose their style, however poorly
needed to re-run the financial portrait of the conceived we might believe it to be.
project and can make an informed decision about It is easy to be idealistic about development and
the proposed new avenue. With this information I wish that developers valued other factors in design.
hope to be able to assess all our project data over The reality is that they run complex businesses,
time and come up with a verifiable value for urban and the sooner we are all honest about their key
design. It will be interesting to see if the commercial concerns, the sooner we can all work together
value of residential areas designed on garden effectively. Design professionals must better
suburb principles turn out to be any different to understand their developer client’s business, and
those that are not. not just the local authority’s aspirations. Urban
designers are the professionals who bridge that

• Mette McLarney
chartered architect, founder
Management issues – who pays for the
garden in a garden suburb?
The challenge with management is that most
gap, and help both parties to achieve their aims,
aspirations and targets. •
and Director of Bluepencil
Designs. developers are more interested in values achieved

44 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Topic

Capturing the value of

the Garden City

It is easy to be critical of the rhetoric that

surrounds the Garden City, but these insights into
the theory and the practice of the concept suggest
that there is value to be had, if only to enable
change. We should take the best elements and
adapt them for our contemporary needs.
Stripping aside the rhetoric, and the popularity
that politicians crave from the public, there is some
potential for the ultimate aim of the garden city
in reforming how places are managed, governed
and created for their residents. None of the
writers shied away from key issues of land value
capture, devolution of powers to communities
and the almost prohibitive social and enabling
infrastructure costs of attempting to start afresh.
As Katy Lock of the TCPA put it, it is not the
design and layout of garden cities that make them
unique, but ‘a specific set of delivery principles
related to its financial model, land ownership
and approach to community participation and
governance’. This underpins a strategic way of Patricia Willoughby has set out how the garden ↑ Contemporary urban
delivering a significant amount of new housing city can be walkable, with a strong town centre, design in Letchworth Garden
City. Photograph by Colin
alongside infrastructure, and capturing land value a landscape framework and permeable street
Pullan
for residents. Strategic planning can reap dividends networks. To Chris Wilford and Andy von Bradsky,
for quality urban design. it allows for a town centre and neighbourhoods, a
The contributions from Émilie Jarousseau planned system of streets, squares and ecological
and Anca Duguet of the IAU île-de-France and networks, and for an environment that balances
Mike Devereux of UWE are invaluable in their sustainable densities with access to green space.
recognition of the export of the garden city idea. In collating this issue, we were aware of
We can usefully draw upon two key lessons: firstly, who our key audience were: those architects,
the recognition that ideas exchange is crucial. As masterplanners and urban designers, working
Mike Devereux emphasised, the Tianfu Garden City, in the UK, who will be responsible for designing
designed for 2 million residents is on publically new garden cities. While the contributions cover
owned land, with good transport infrastructure issues that extend beyond urban design, they also
and at sustainable densities. There is no one demonstrate how crucial a broad agenda is to
garden city model; we can take those elements understand and to be able to implement garden
which serve our purposes and reject those which cities. This debate illustrates how the urban
do not. If garden cities are to be adopted, it should designer sits at the intersection of concerns in
be done reflectively, rather than rigidly. Secondly, the built environment, and as Mette McLarney
the garden city has developed in France into a emphasised, we should seek to better understand
successful enabling mechanism for the delivery the full range of perspectives involved in the
of sustainable homes and communities on a large creation of cities. David Ames reminded us that
scale, prioritising environmental credentials in garden cities, once a radical concept, embody
a way that has not been achieved in the UK. The many design principles that are now mainstream
strength of the French model as a delivery vehicle thought. However, the underpinning social issues
and the sustainability agenda that underpins it, of land ownership and stewardship remain to be
make it a useful precedent for UK practice. addressed. As highlighted by David Lock, Nicholas
As Nicholas Falk and David Rudlin have Falk and David Rudlin, addressing these issues
emphasised, by building garden cities close to with a long-term strategic approach to enable land
our cities, there are benefits to be reaped: people value capture, can help the provision of physical
are able to live closer to their jobs, with more and social infrastructure that might otherwise be
sustainable lifestyles, and infrastructure costs sidelined in the development process. Recognising
are reduced. This means that we need to ‘flex our the potential of these models, and being willing
belts’ on the issue of green belt: as the Centre for to intervene early enough in the process is key to

• •
Cities have emphasized, by building on just 60 per capturing the most valuable elements of the garden
cent of the green belt within a 25-minute walk of city and making them a part of our future places. Colin Pullan, Urban
Design Director, Nathaniel
train stations in our ten least affordable cities, at Lichfield and Partners, and
suburban densities, we could deliver 1.4 million Elli Thomas, researcher,
new homes. Centre for Cities

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 45

Book Reviews

The Hidden Potential landscape feature of zero-carbon neighbour- Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and
hoods, but without being reused locally. Use Darwin, their pragmatic application of regu-
of Sustainable of solid, sewage and organic waste for energy lar street-grids was distorted only to negoti-
Neighbourhoods, generation is the main plank for local energy ate challenging topographies. The growth of
Lessons from Low Carbon balance. Unlike with energy, no reduction of
waste by consumers is assumed in this equa-
cities was reflected by similar contemporary
growth but not such systematic morpholo-
Communities tion. The Social Agenda is rather succinct gies, in Liverpool, Glasgow and Manchester,
and most of the examples are inhabited by and the Australians now seem more richly
Harrison Fraker, Island Press,
middle-income people. Resilience amount- liveable.
2013, £25, ISBN 987-1-61091-408-6
ing to energy self-reliance at the neighbour- It seems impossible to summarise the
hood level is seen as a bonus. These criteria contents of this well-presented book, struc-
This book presents comparative research of are applied to the evaluation of an American tured around ‘context’, ‘place’, ‘community’,
four well-known European low carbon com- example, West Village, an extension of the ‘practice’, ‘perspectives’ and ‘the next twenty
munities: Bo01 Malmo; Hammarby Sjostad, University of California Davis campus, a five years’. Contributors discuss the widest
Stockholm (Sweden); Kronsberg, Hannover; model of US sustainable development. range of local and global concerns with eyes
and Vauban, Freiburg (Germany). It is based In his concluding chapter, Fraker relates on the planet, on the street and on how we
on Fraker's long-standing teaching and his work to Peter Calthorpe's ‘12 percent should equip ourselves and future genera-
research on sustainable communities with his solution’ as discussed in Urbanism in the tions to contribute to making better places.
students mainly at the University of California Age of Climate Change 2010. Fraker is I was engaged by most of the contribu-
Berkeley. His work concentrates on low to convinced that private developers will apply tions, including: being reminded by Kim
zero-carbon neighbourhoods using energy these urban design principles out of self- Dovey of the international impact of the 1985
efficiency, lowering energy demand, renew- interest to both new build and retrofitting temporary pedestrian greening of Swanston
able energy supply and waste to energy as a schemes. A far cry from what international Street, Melbourne (images only challenged
'whole system approach'. developers seem to be producing in the for impact by those of the High Line); Rob
This study is very systematic, carried out UK. Nevertheless, the book is useful as a Adams’ reminder that urban design should
over 15 years and using actual data whenever checklist of issues for designing sustainable provide a ‘base platform’ for undergraduate
available, as well as LEED ratings for each neighbourhoods. training in ‘architecture, planning, landscape
neighbourhood. Great effort has been put
into the presentation with maps and graphs,
• Judith Ryser architecture, social and environmental sci-
ence’; Evan Jones, pursuing a joined-up ap-
unfortunately often too small to be legible. proach to ‘sustainable growth management’
The comparative chapter concentrates in Perth with its pattern of disconnected
on nine aspects. Process and Plan relies on Urban Voices : Celebrating urban sprawl; Danny O’Hare pressing the
strong leaders and multidisciplinary design urban design in Australia case for true, mixed use inner suburbs; Cath-
teams cooperating with private developers erin Bull for championing landscape urban
and energy suppliers. Transportation favours John Byrne, Bill Chandler, Bruce designers; John Byrne for showing the value
public transport, cycling and walking to Echberg (eds), Urban Design of good social housing, and for quoting Hugh
reduce car use and possibly car ownership. Forum Incorporated, 2013, Stretton’s defence of the public servant:
Urban Form postulates block structure and ISBN 978-0-646-90406-1 ‘Since planners can’t in fact be neutral they
mixed use, albeit at rather low densities, and might as well work for whatever they believe
with orientation subordinate to formalistic Life can be tough in Australia, but this book, to be right and good… if educators had not
design (possibly an inheritance from the prompted by the 100th Urban Design Forum, cared about enlightenment, if public health
author's training with post-modernists like directs a sunshine burst of enthusiasm officers had not cared to define health, if
Peter Eisenman and Michael Graves). Ample and energy to the coalition-torn UK. Urban welfare administrators had felt neutral about
green space and its contribution to healthy design exchange between Australia and UK neglect or starvation, if economists had been
living are seen as an integral part of zero-car- has long benefitted both, but on openness personally indifferent to unemployment or
bon neighbourhoods. Energy is divided into and application, we have more to learn. productivity, then the world would be even
decentralised renewable supply and demand Through its range of views and examples, this nastier than it is’1; and Juris Greste, Wendy
reduction due to greater energy efficiency of book should prompt reflection here for all Morris and Chip Kaufman for so effectively
buildings, real-time feedback and consumer urbanists. being, critically and practically, themselves.
education. Water conservation applies Australian urbanism started with British The book is permeated by different views
mostly to storm-water treatment becoming a land-surveyors. In Sydney, then in Hobart, on the professionalisation of urban design.

46 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Book Reviews

Please Australia, remember your talent for buses run on time, and the electronic real- wisdoms radically. This book focuses on his
innovative, cross-disciplinary working; surely time information at bus stops is very helpful, urban design projects which stretch across
now is not the time for another silo? Buy and when it works, which is not always… If the three periods starting with his pre-World
enjoy this book – it includes a disc of issues book had explained and celebrated these War 2 work. These included projects for new
1-101 of Urban Design Forum, and, UDG why improvements in a comprehensible language small towns as part of the Fascist govern-
not commission a similar UK volume! for the man and woman in the street, it would ment programme for the reclamation of the
• Richard Hayward
1 Stretton H. (1970) Ideas for Australian Cities,
have been welcome.
Brought up on Jan Gehl and William
Pontine Marshes near Rome. Their layout and
the forms of the most important buildings
Georgian House, Melbourne Whyte, I would also grumble a bit about the are clearly part of the modern movement
actual street hardware. The bus stops, or with a rational disposition of parallel blocks
information totems, give no guidance as to according to orientation, yet broken by public
where passengers should queue, so that peo- buildings and squares. In all of his projects,
Interconnect: Improving ple stand anarchically all over the pavement. Muratori develops the theme of public
the Journey Experience The bus shelters look elegant but provide arcades which refer to well-known Venetian
little shelter, and have no seats, only a rail to and Florentine examples.
Centro and City ID, 2014, uncomfortably lean your backside against. A second period (1949-1952) focuses on
ISBN 978-0992811501 Both the book and this hardware are unbuilt post-war reconstruction projects for
examples of designed products where the cities, and a number of major social hous-
We learned about legibility at Kevin Lynch’s design input is very evident, but which don’t ing schemes built in and around Rome.
knee, and the importance of towns and cities work as well as they should. It is what gets These adopted a formal language, clearly
having a legible structure, so that we can find designers viewed with scepticism. influenced by Scandinavian practice, with
our way around. But add layers of multiple
bus, metro and train routes, and old-fash-
• Joe Holyoak free-standing blocks of varying heights. There
are some parallels with contemporary British
ioned Lynchian legibility is not necessarily experience such as the earliest Roehampton
enough on its own. So we have invented the and pre-Park Hill Sheffield schemes.
modern art called wayfinding. Saverio Muratori: Muratori’s third phase (1950-63) is per-
This book is about one particular way- Il progetto della citta – haps the most interesting. While teaching
finding programme, pioneered recently in at Venice and Rome he worked on intensive
Birmingham and the West Midlands, called A Legacy in Urban Design detailed studies of these cities to produce
Interconnect. It focusses on how informa- Marco Maretto, Franco Angeli, ‘working histories’. These were used as the
tion about modes and options of transport Milan Italy, 2012, €18.50, ISBN basis for a prize-winning (but not realised)
is communicated to the traveller – on maps 978-88-204-0808-4 project for a new town of 40,000 people
and timetables, on paper, on smart phones, on the edge of the Venetian lagoon. Three
on bus stops. The book is highly design-con- projects were presented; each one was varia-
scious, with clever graphics, typography, and This paperback of 144 pages is noteworthy tion on how the historic fabric of Venice could
page layouts. What a pity, and how ironic, for two reasons. Unusually, it is published in evolve in a new location to meet 20th century
that it is so illegible! Italian (the language of the author) with an needs.
The purpose of the book is unclear – English translation on opposite pages. We Apart from minor infelicities, the transla-
probably promotional material by Intercon- therefore for the first time have in English tion is fluent. Maretto, based in Parma, repre-
nect’s creators, Centro and City ID, although an introduction to the work of an architect, sents the third generation of Muratoriani ;
it is not explained what these two bodies urbanist, educator and theoretician, who was his late father Paolo was a student of and
are. It is written in an opaque language, with the subject in 2013 of six conferences in Italy worked with Muratori, and published notable
assertive sloganising such as ‘A new data, and one in Delft, coinciding with the Interna- studies of Venice and Genoa. This work is of
design and production platform will underpin tional Seminar on Urban Form’s (ISUF) annual great value to the urban design community
the development of Interconnect’. Would this conference in 2012. by introducing an important body of work to
perhaps be the platform where we catch the Saverio Muratori (1910-1973) has been an English speaking audience. It reminds us
delivery vehicles? neglected in English language histories of the importance of urban design in defin-
As someone who uses Centro’s connected of architecture and urban design. In his ing the context for architectural projects
bus, metro and rail system every week, I architecture, Muratori was a post-modernist ‘in those vaster architectural compositions
think the system is pretty good, and a great avant le mot with 1950s buildings which chal- which are our cities’.
improvement on what it was before. The lenged the modern movement’s conventional • Ivor Samuels

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 47

Book Reviews

Explorations in Urban that through design the ills of society can be

cured.
with residents than later ones. One of the
greatest assets that these estates have that
Design. An urban design The bias of the research team – arguably should grab the attention of current decision-
research primer the result of the influence of the professional makers is their potential additional housing
context in which it operates – affects its ap- capacity. Loosely-planned layouts resulted in
Matthew Carmona (ed), Ashgate proach and outcomes. It would be fascinat- copious open space, both underused pockets
Publishing Ltd, 2014, £30, ISBN ing to attend a debate between some of the and windy tracts of grassland that could ac-
978140946251 (pbk) teams represented in the book originating in commodate thousands of new homes across
different academic environments and with the country, a panacea to the current housing
The Bartlett School of Planning at University fairly opposing points of view. The Bartlett’s undersupply perhaps? The caveat is that the
College London should be congratulated for new Master’s course in Interdisciplinary Ur- residents must be persuaded of the benefits
having such a wide range of research teams ban Design should provide this forum. of new houses blocking their views of green-
covering subjects related to urban design. That the book is well illustrated and ery and the housing developers being encour-
Matthew Carmona, who edited this book, properly designed gives it an advantage over aged to see them as a good investment,
has achieved an amazing feat in managing many other research texts and the publish- rather than revert to the easier to market
to organise the 26 different themes devel- ers should be praised for such a high quality greenfield sites on the urban fringe. Crook-
oped by people in widely different contexts, presentation which will help the book achieve ston recommends targeted TLC as a way to
and give them coherence. This is done by its objectives. encourage both parties to embrace the idea,
grouping them into five categories that do
not correspond to disciplines, but might be
• Sebastian Loew by upgrading facilities and environments and
adding new community benefits to overcome
recognised by practitioners: philosophical the residual stigma to potential residents of
approaches, process investigations, physical being on a council estate – something that
explorations, propositional experiments, and Garden Suburbs of didn’t stop half of these council homes now
performance enquiries. Furthermore, one Tomorrow? A New Future being owner-occupied under the Right-to-Buy
important objective of the publication is to scheme.
stimulate further research; thus every chap- for the Cottage Estates Intelligent infill going with the grain and
ter ends with Tips for Researchers, a series Martin Crookston, Routledge capable of being delivered is a way forward.
of bullet points with mainly methodological 2014, £65, Likewise is winning hearts and minds by cele-
recommendations. It is intended not as a ISBN 978-0-415-85893-9 brating corporation suburbia, as did the book
text to be read from beginning to end, but as Dumroamin which resurrected the image of
a window on and a compendium of current the by-pass semi, to overcome the habitual
research at the Bartlett. Half of we British are suburbanites, and a stigmatization of the estates in the media and
In his introductory chapter, Carmona third of our suburbs are the subject of this property trade. Good examples like Wythen-
observes that urban design is a ‘mongrel dis- well-considered and earnest work by Martin shawe and Hume show that tarnished images
cipline’ that draws theories from a mixture of Crookston, former member of the Urban Task can be changed and residents can become
disciplines and practices, and is seen either Force 1999. Three million people live in these proud of their areas as good places to live
as a positive integrative force or an ill-defined largely forgotten garden suburbs built in a and bring up families, not places to flee from
and vague amalgam. Therein lie some of the sustained housing programme by councils at the first opportunity. Urban designers like
pitfalls of much of the research presented in throughout Britain in the first half of the last pictures and coloured plans in their books
the book, which strays into fields that tend century, and influenced by the Garden City and may find the monochrome illustra-
to be out of the control of the urban design Movement and the call to build Homes for tions underwhelming. I warmed to the book
practitioner. This does not mean that the Heroes after the wars. Martin Crookston has as I followed Crookston’s progress around
research should not take place – some of worn out the shoe leather in rediscover- Britain’s estates and imagined him striding
it is very interesting indeed – but the links ing these underappreciated assets through resolutely up another windblown street, as I
between it and urban design practice need to analysing a representative cross section of oft did, wondering ‘now which estate is this
be reinforced. Carmona is aware of the gulf what he terms ‘lazy assets’ and coming to one again?’
in understanding and emphasises inter alia
the importance of clear language and avoid-
some thoughtful conclusions of what should
happen next.
• Malcolm Moor

ance of jargon. Not all of the teams seem Many findings are unsurprising: small cot-
to have followed his advice and some risk tage estates are generally better than larger
slipping into physical determinism, assuming estates, earlier ones tend to be more popular

48 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Book Reviews

Site Design for Multifamily The second part of the book looks at with the built environment. Clearly in places
projects in detail. First a number of success- where this potential has been overlooked and
Housing: Creating Livable, ful projects are analysed. The lessons learned water systems have been disregarded, regu-
Connected Neighborhoods are then applied as retrofits to less successful lar seasonal events provide stark evidence
ones. Again not all of the suggestions would of the failure to plan and design with water.
Nico Larco, Kristin Kelsey and meet with approval in Europe. This sec- The root of this failure is often, and certainly
Amanda West, Island Press, 2014, tion is concluded with a rather long Project historically, about professional silos, where
£25, ISBN 978-1610915472 Checklist. technical experts have not understood each
The last section is also well-organised other, or worked effectively together and at
This well-presented book is divided into and examines how Codes can be used to the right stages of a project.
six sections which can be assembled into further the ideas promoted, with an appendix The booklet shows how water sensitive
three groups. The book is clearly laid out, further detailing these codes. This appen- urban design could work for single homes,
well-illustrated and carefully written, but dix is full and comprehensive, but a better blocks of flats, neighbourhoods, commercial
the overall style seems too simplistic for organisation would have allowed a compari- areas, and whole cities, plus the motivations
the professional, and its coverage is not son of the various codes and enabled the for those involved in commissioning, design-
extensive enough to be a reference book. It is users to find the best approach for their own ing, delivering, managing and living in new
reminiscent of many of the guides and stud- circumstances. development.
ies produced by the UK government in the
1960s and none the worse for that. Reading
• Richard Cole It is a compelling read, perhaps a little
too simplistic in its graphics, and with some
the book in the context of the sad state of the spelling errors, but it could easily be recom-
British housing system, it is difficult to see mended to community groups in neighbour-
which mechanism could be used to exploit Water Sensitive Urban hood planning decision-making. What is
the recommendations made by the authors. Design in the UK. Ideas missing for this reader is any indication of
Much will rely on the persuasive skills of de- costs associated with the ideas, which in this
signers and the convictions of local authori- for built environment period of limited funding for doing things
ties. It was ever thus. practitioners differently, seems a missed chance to show
The first part starts with a ‘How to use’ that some things can have high impacts for
section and a short introduction to each of AECOM, CIRIA, London 2013. Free low costs, or even low impacts for low costs.
the ten design elements being discussed. download only. It would also be useful to have built examples
Each section opens with a summary and rec- ISBN 978-0-86017-726-5 cited where this approach has been done be-
ommendations. There follows an analysis of fore, such as the space-efficient blue-green
existing conditions and of today’s challenges. This attractive UDG-supported booklet, roof on the supermarket harvesting rainwa-
These are followed by recommendations, produced by CIRIA with other funders and ter to supply its adjacent car wash. This is
which use examples of current good practice partners, promotes the role of water sensitive especially important when decisions involve
to overcome the challenges. urban design in the UK. Water sensitive urban a local on-site water management role. Visit
Some of the suggestions, made from an design is described as both an opportunity www.wsud.co.uk to download a copy, as it
American perspective, seem to conflict with and a process to create beautiful and resil- will undoubtedly prove useful for new ideas,
Secured by Design principles; the recom- ient places. The relationship between water persuading others of how to work together,
mendations and examples are relevant to and urban areas needs to be given far higher or in discussions with local residents.
the UK but not all can be transferred without
modification. This is especially true of the
priority in planning our settlements, espe-
cially if we are to provide integrated solutions
• Louise Thomas

section regarding street design where the to flood risk management, sustainable water
emphasis on the definition of uses and the use and supply, and improved water quality
formal separation of different users seems in watercourses.
to be at variance with current European ef- This highly illustrated booklet is aimed
forts to create shared surface areas. A point at encouraging the skills and creativity of
of common concern is the growth of gated practitioners to bring wider benefits to com-
communities. The section headed Bicycles munities. There is, of course, great harmony
is interesting, but how long would a freely to be found between water, the environment
available air pump survive on some British and communities, and this could be unlocked
housing estates? by better integrating water management

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 49

Practice Index

Practice Index Allies & Morrison: Atkins plc BOYLE + SUMMERS

Urban Practitioners Euston Tower, 286 Euston Road, Canute Chambers
Directory of practices, corporate 85 Southwark Street, London SE1 0HX London NW1 3AT Canute Road
organisations and urban design T 020 7921 0100 T 020 7121 2000 Southampton S014 3AB
courses subscribing to this index. C Anthony Rifkin C Paul Reynolds T 02380 63 1432/ 07824 698033
The following pages provide a service E [email protected] E [email protected] C Richard Summers
to potential clients when they are W www.urbanpractitioners.co.uk W www.atkinsglobal.co.uk E [email protected]
looking for specialist urban design Specialist competition winning urban Interdisciplinary practice that offers a W www.boyleandsummers.co.uk
advice, and to those considering regeneration practice combining range of built environment specialists Space-shapers, place-makers,
taking an urban design course. economic and urban design skills. working together to deliver quality street designers and development
Projects include West Ealing and places for everybody to enjoy. promoters. Value generators, team
Those wishing to be included in future Plymouth East End. workers and site finders. Strategists,
issues should contact the UDG, Barton Willmore pragmatists, specialists and
70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ Amec Foster Wheeler Partnership generalists. Visioneers, urbanists,
T 020 7250 0892 Environment & READING architects and masterplanners.
C Kathleen Lucey Infrastructure UK Ltd Beansheaf Farmhouse, Bourne Close,
E [email protected] Gables House Kenilworth Road, Calcot, Reading, Berks RG31 7BW BPUD Ltd
W www.udg.org.uk Leamington Spa, Warwicks CV32 6JX T 0118 943 0000 155 Hurdsfield Road, Macclesfield
T 01926 439 000 C James de Havilland, Nick Sweet and Cheshire SK10 2QX
ADAM Urbanism C David Thompson, Technical Director Dominic Scott T 01625 262924
Old Hyde House E [email protected] MANCHESTER C Bob Phillips
75 Hyde Street W www.amecfw.com. Tower 12, 18/22 Bridge Street E [email protected]
Winchester SO23 7DW Masterplanning, urban design, Spinningfields W www.bpud.co.uk
T 01962 843843 development planning and Manchester M3 3BZ A multi-disciplinary town planning
C Hugh Petter, Robert Adam landscape within broad-based T 0161 817 4900 and urban design consultancy
E [email protected] multidisciplinary environmental and C Dan Mitchell dedicated to the delivery of high
[email protected] engineering consultancy. E masterplanning@bartonwillmore. quality development solutions
W www.adamurbanism.com co.uk working with public, private and
World-renowned for progressive, Applied_ W www.bartonwillmore.co.uk community organisations.
classical design covering town 26-27 Great Sutton Street Concept through to implementation
and country houses, housing London EC1V ODS on complex sites, comprehensive Broadway Malyan
development, urban masterplans, T 020 7017 8488 design guides, urban regeneration, 3 Weybridge Business Park
commercial development and public C Richard Simon brownfield sites, and major urban Addlestone Road, Weybridge,
buildings. E [email protected] expansions. Surrey KT15 2BW
W www.applied-espi.com T 01932 845599
Alan Baxter & Associates Applied develops globally renowned The Bell Cornwell C Jeff Nottage
70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ wayfinding strategies and systems. Partnership E [email protected]
T 020 7250 1555 Experts in dealing with complex Oakview House, Station Road, Hook, W www.broadwaymalyan.com
C Alan Baxter information and environments, Hampshire RG27 9TP We are an international
E [email protected] combining editorial and design T 01256 766673 interdisciplinary practice which
W www.alanbaxter.co.uk aptitude that keeps the end user at C Simon Avery believes in the value of place-
An engineering and urban design the fore. Applied add value through E [email protected] making-led masterplans that are
practice. Particularly concerned with well-researched and intelligent W www.bell-cornwell.co.uk rooted in local context.
the thoughtful integration of buildings, analysis of city legibility and a Specialists in Masterplanning and the
infrastructure and movement, and the creative approach to information. coordination of major development Brock Carmichael
creation of places. proposals. Advisors on development Architects
AREA plan representations, planning 19 Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9JQ
Albonico Sack Metacity Grange, Linlithgow applications and appeals. T 0151 242 6222
Architects & Urban West Lothian EH49 7RH C Michael Cosser
Designers T 01506 843247 Bidwells E [email protected]
56 Gwigwi Mrwebi Street C Karen Cadell/ Julia Neil Bidwell House, Trumpington Road Masterplans and development
Market Theatre Precinct E [email protected] Cambridge CB2 9LD briefs. Mixed use and brownfield
Newtown, Johannesburg W www.area.uk.com T 01223 559404 regeneration projects. Design in
South Africa Making places imaginatively to C Philip Ayres historic and sensitive settings.
T +27 11 492 0633 deliver the successful, sustainable E [email protected] Integrated landscape design.
C Monica Albonico and humane environments of the W www.bidwells.co.uk
E [email protected] future. Planning, Landscape and Urban Building Design Partnership
W www.asmarch.com Design consultancy, specialising 16 Brewhouse Yard, Clerkenwell,
A multi-disciplinary practice Arnold Linden in Masterplanning, Townscape London EC1V 4LJ
specialising in large scale, green Chartered Architect Assessment, Landscape and Visual T 020 7812 8000
field, urban regeneration and 31 Waterlow Court, Heath Close Impact Assessment. C Andrew Tindsley
upgrading strategies, as well as Hampstead Way E [email protected]
residential, special and educational London NW11 7DT Boyer Planning W www.bdp.co.uk
projects. T 020 8455 9286 Crowthorne House, Nine Mile Ride BDP offers town planning,
C Arnold Linden Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 3GZ Masterplanning, urban design,
Allen Pyke Associates Integrated regeneration through the T 01344 753220 landscape, regeneration and
The Factory 2 Acre Road, participation in the creative process C Steve Punter sustainability studies, and has teams
Kingston-upon-Thames KT2 6EF of the community and the public E [email protected]. based in London, Manchester and
T 020 8549 3434 at large, of streets, buildings and W www.boyerplanning.co.uk Belfast.
C David Allen/ Vanessa Ross places. Offices in Wokingham, Colchester,
E [email protected] Cardiff, Twickenham and London. Burns + Nice
W www.allenpyke.co.uk Assael Architecture Planning and urban design 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
Innovative, responsive, committed, Studio 13, 50 Carnwath Road consultants offering a wide range of T 020 7253 0808
competitive, process. Priorities: London SW6 3FG services to support sites throughout C Marie Burns/ Stephen Nice
people, spaces, movement, culture. T 020 7736 7744 the development process: from E [email protected]
Places: regenerate, infill, extend C Russell Pedley appraisals to planning applications W www.burnsnice.com
create. E [email protected] and appeals. Urban design, landscape
W www.assael.co.uk architecture, environmental and
Architects and urban designers transport planning. Masterplanning,
covering mixed use, hotel, leisure design and public consultation for
and residential, including urban community-led work.
frameworks and masterplanning
projects.

50 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Practice Index

Capita Property and Clarke Klein & Chaudhuri David Lock Associates Ltd FaulknerBrowns
Infrastructure Architects 50 North Thirteenth Street, Dobson House, Northumbrian Way,
Alexandra Court, 36 Church Street 22 Bloomsbury Street, Central Milton Keynes, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 6QW
Great Baddow, Chelmsford London WC1B 3QJ Milton Keynes MK9 3BP T 0191 268 3007
Essex CM2 7HY T 020 7637 9719 T 01908 666276 C Ben Sykes
T 01245 361611 C Wendy Clarke C Will Cousins E [email protected]
C Richard Maloney E [email protected] E [email protected] W www.faulknerbrowns.co.uk
E [email protected] Small design-led practice focusing W www.davidlock.com Formed in 1962, FaulknerBrowns is
W www.capita.co.uk/property on custom solutions for architectural, Strategic planning studies, a regionally-based architectural
Masterplans, urban design, urban planning or urban design projects. area development frameworks, design practice with a national
regeneration, historic buildings, Exploring the potential for innovative development briefs, design and international reputation.
project management, planning, EIA, urban design. guidelines, Masterplanning, From a workload based initially on
landscape planning and design. implementation strategies, education, library and sports and
Clifton Emery Design environmental statements. leisure buildings, the practice’s
Carter Jonas 3 Silverdown Office Park current workload also extends
Berger House, 36-38 Berkeley Square Fair Oak Close, Exeter Define across a number of sectors including
London W1J 5AE Devon EX5 2UX Unit 6, 133-137 Newhall Street masterplanning, offices, healthcare,
T 020 7016 0720 T 01392 368866 Birmingham B3 1SF commercial mixed use, industrial
C Rebecca Sanders C Neil Emery or Daniel Clifton T 0121 237 1901 and residential, for both private and
E [email protected] E [email protected] C Andy Williams public sector clients.
W www.carterjonas.co.uk/our- W www.cliftonemerydesign.co.uk E [email protected]
services/planning-development.aspx Clifton Emery Design are W www.wearedefine.com Feria Urbanism
Multidisciplinary practice working placemaking specialists. We offer a Define specialises in the promotion, Second Floor Studio, 11 Fernside Road
throughout the UK, specialising in multidisciplinary and collaborative shaping and assessment of Bournemouth, Dorset BH9 2LA
urban design and masterplanning, approach to creating inspiring places development. Our work focuses on T 01202 548676
place-making, new settlements and pride ourselves on the quality strategic planning, masterplanning, C Richard Eastham
and urban extensions, urban and deliverability of our proposals. urban design codes, EIA, TVIA, estate E [email protected]
regeneration, sustainability With expertise in urban design, strategies, public realm design, W www.feria-urbanism.eu
and community consultation. masterplanning, architecture and consultation strategies, urban design Expertise in urban planning,
Complemented by in-house landscape architecture we help to audits and expert witness. masterplanning and public
architecture, planning, development, balance the competing needs of participation. Specialisms include
investment, property and minerals development, ensuring schemes are DHA Planning & Urban design for the night time economy,
teams. inspiring, environmentally aware, Design urban design skills training and local
technically sound and commercially Eclipse House, Eclipse Park, community engagement.
CH2M Hill astute. Sittingbourne Road, Maidstone,
Elms House, 43 Brook Green Kent ME14 3EN Fletcher Priest Architects
Hammersmith, London W6 7EF Colour Urban Design Limited T 01622 776226 Middlesex House
T 020 3479 8000 Milburn House, Dean Street, C Matthew Woodhead 34/42 Cleveland Street
C Robert Schmidt / Duncan Whatmore Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1LE E [email protected] London W1T 4JE
E [email protected] T 0191 242 4224 W dhaplanning.co.uk T 020 7034 2200
W www.ch2m.com London office Planning and Urban Design F 020 7637 5347
Global leader in full-service master 60 Lombard Street Consultancy offering a full range C Jonathan Kendall
planning & site optimisation, London EC3V 9EA of Urban Design services including E [email protected]
urban design, and programme T 020 7387 8560 Masterplanning, development briefs W www.fletcherpreist.com
management services for public & C Peter Owens and design statements. Work ranges from city-scale
private clients. We are committed to E [email protected] masterplans (Stratford City, Riga) to
delivering innovative, practical and W www.colour-udl.com Doyle Town Planning & architectural commissions for high-
sustainable solutions. Office also in London. Design Urban Design profile professional clients.
oriented projects with full client 86-90 Paul Street
Chapman Taylor LLP participation. Public spaces, London EC2A 4NE FPCR Environment
10 Eastbourne Terrace, regeneration, development, T 020 3305 7476 & Design Ltd
London W2 6LG Masterplanning, residential, C Michael Doyle Lockington Hall, Lockington
T 020 7371 3000 education and healthcare. E [email protected] Derby DE74 2RH
E [email protected] W www.michael-doyle.com T 01509 672772
W www.chapmantaylor.com Conroy Crowe Kelly Urban design and masterplanning C Tim Jackson
MANCHESTER Architects & Urban practice specialising in placemaking E [email protected]
Bass Warehouse, 4 Castle Street Designers at the interface with transport W www.fpcr.co.uk
Castlefield, Manchester M3 4LZ 65 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 infrastructures, city and city centre Integrated design and
T 0161 828 6500 T 00 353 1 661 3990 design, historic quarters, new environmental practice. Specialists
E [email protected] C Clare Burke settlements and extensions. in Masterplanning, urban and mixed
Chapman Taylor is an international E [email protected] use regeneration, development
firm of architects and urban W www.cck.ie FarrellS frameworks, EIAs and public
designers specialising in mixed Architecture, urban design, 7 Hatton Street, London NW8 8PL inquiries.
use city centre regeneration and Masterplanning, village studies. T 020 7258 3433
transport projects throughout the Mixed use residential developments C Max Farrell Framework Architecture
world. Offices in Bangkok, Brussels, with a strong identity and sense of E [email protected] and Urban Design
Bucharest, Düsseldorf, Kiev, Madrid, place. W www.terryfarrell.com 3 Marine Studios, Burton Lane,
Milan, Moscow, New Delhi, Paris, Architectural, urban design, planning Burton Waters, Lincoln LN1 2WN
Prague, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and David Huskisson Associates and Masterplanning services. T 01522 535383
Warsaw. 17 Upper Grosvenor Road, New buildings, refurbishment, C Gregg Wilson
Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2DU conference/exhibition centres and E [email protected]
CITY ID T 01892 527828 visitor attractions. W www.frameworklincoln.co.uk
23 Trenchard Street C Nicola Brown Architecture and urban design. A
Bristol BS1 5AN E [email protected] commitment to the broader built
T 0117 917 7000 W www.dha-landscape.co.uk environment and the particular
C Mike Rawlinson Landscape consultancy offering dynamic of a place and the design
E [email protected] Masterplanning, streetscape opportunities presented.
W cityid.co.uk and urban park design, estate
Place branding and marketing vision restoration, environmental impact
Masterplanning, urban design, assessments.
public realm strategies, way finding
and legibility strategies, information
design and graphics.

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 51

Practice Index

Garsdale Design Limited Hawkins\Brown John Thompson & Partners Lavigne Lonsdale Ltd
High Branthwaites, Frostrow, 60 Bastwick Street, London EC1V 3TN 23-25 Great Sutton Street 38 Belgrave Crescent, Camden
Sedbergh, Cumbria, LA10 5JR T 020 7336 8030 London ECIV 0DN Bath BA1 5JU
T 015396 20875 C David Bickle T 020 7017 1780 T 01225 421539
C Derrick Hartley E [email protected] C Marcus Adams TRURO
E [email protected] W www.hawkinsbrown.co.uk E [email protected] 55 Lemon Street, Truro
W www.garsdaledesign.co.uk Multi-disciplinary architecture and Edinburgh Cornwall TR1 2PE
GDL provides Masterplanning and urban design practice specialising in 2nd Floor Venue studios, 15-21 T 01872 273118
urban design, architecture and mixed use regeneration, educational Calton Road, Edinburgh EH8 8DL C Martyn Lonsdale
heritage services developed through Masterplanning, sustainable rural T 0131 272 2762 E [email protected]
25 years wide ranging experience in development frameworks, transport C Alan Stewart W www.lavigne.co.uk
the UK and Middle East. infrastructure and public urban realm E [email protected] We are an integrated practice of
design. W www.jtp.co.uk masterplanners, Urban Designers,
Gillespies Addressing the problems of physical, Landscape Architects and Product
Environment by Design HOK international Ltd social and economic regeneration Designers. Experienced in large
GLASGOW Qube, 90 Whitfield Street through collaborative interdisciplinary scale, mixed use and residential
21 Carlton Court, Glasgow G5 9JP London W1T 4EZ community based planning. Masterplanning, health, education,
T 0141 420 8200 T 020 7636 2006 regeneration, housing, parks, public
C Brian M Evans C Tim Gale Jon Rowland Urban Design realm and streetscape design.
E [email protected] E [email protected] 65 Hurst Rise Road, Oxford OX2 9HE
MANCHESTER W www.hok.com T 01865 863642 LDA Design
T 0161 928 7715 HOK delivers design of the highest C Jon Rowland 14-17 Wells Mews, London W1T 3HF
C Jim Gibson quality. It is one of Europe’s leading E [email protected] T 020 7467 1470
E [email protected] architectural practices, offering W www.jrud.co.uk C Vaughan Anderson
OXFORD experienced people in a diverse Urban design, urban regeneration, [email protected]
T 01865 326789 range of building types, skills and development frameworks, site W www.lda-design.co.uk
C Paul F Taylor markets. appraisals, town centre studies, GLASGOW
E [email protected] design guidance, public participation Sovereign House,
W www.gillespies.co.uk HTA Design LLP and Masterplanning. 158 West Regent Street
Urban design, landscape 106-110 Kentish Town Road Glasgow G2 4RL
architecture, architecture, planning, London NW1 9PX Kay Elliott T 0141 2229780
environmental assessment, T 020 7485 8555 5-7 Meadfoot Road, Torquay C Kirstin Taylor
planning supervisors and project C Simon Bayliss Devon TQ1 2JP E [email protected]
management. E [email protected] T 01803 213553 Offices also in Oxford, Peterborough
W www.hta.co.uk C Mark Jones & Exeter
Globe Consultants Ltd HTA Design LLP is a multi-disciplinary E [email protected] Multidisciplinary firm covering all
26 Westgate, Lincoln LN1 3BD practice of architecture, landscape W www.kayelliott.co.uk aspects of Masterplanning, urban
T 01522 546483 design, planning, urban design, International studio with 30 year regeneration, public realm design,
C Lynette Swinburne sustainability, graphic design and history of imaginative architects and environmental impact and community
[email protected] communications based in London urban designers, creating buildings involvement.
W www.globelimited.co.uk and Edinburgh, specialising in and places that enhance their
Provides urban design, planning, regeneration. Offices in London & surroundings and add financial value. Levitt Bernstein
economic and cultural development Edinburgh. Associates Ltd
services across the UK and Land Use Consultants 1 Kingsland Passage, London E8 2BB
internationally, specialising in Hyland Edgar Driver 43 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD T 020 7275 7676
sustainable development solutions, One Wessex Way, Colden Common, T 020 7383 5784 C Glyn Tully
masterplanning and regeneration. Winchester, Hants SO21 1WG C Adrian Wikeley E [email protected]
T 01962 711 600 E [email protected] W www.levittbernstein.co.uk
GM Design Associates Ltd C John Hyland GLASGOW Urban design, Masterplanning, full
22 Lodge Road, Coleraine E [email protected] 37 Otago Street, Glasgow G12 8JJ architectural service, lottery grant
Co. Londonderry BT52 1NB W www.heduk.com T 0141 334 9595 bid advice, interior design, urban
Northern Ireland Innovative problem solving, driven C Martin Tabor renewal consultancy and landscape
T 028 703 56138 by cost efficiency and sustainability, E [email protected] design.
C Bill Gamble combined with imagination and W www.landuse.co.uk
E [email protected] coherent aesthetic of the highest Urban regeneration, landscape LHC Urban Design
W www.g-m-design.com quality. design, masterplanning, sustainable Design Studio, Emperor Way, Exeter
Architecture, town and country development, environmental Business Park, Exeter, Devon EX1 3QS
planning, urban design, landscape IBI Taylor Young planning, environmental assessment, T 01392 444334
architecture, development Chadsworth House, Wilmslow Road, landscape planning and C John Baulch
frameworks and briefs, feasibility Handforth, Cheshire SK9 3HP management. Offices also in Bristol E [email protected]
studies, sustainability appraisals, T 01625 542200 and Edinburgh. W www.lhc.net
public participation and community C Stephen Gleave Urban designers, architects and
engagement. E [email protected] Landscape Projects landscape architects, providing an
Liverpool 31 Blackfriars Road, Salford integrated approach to strategic
Hankinson Duckett T 0151 702 6500 Manchester M3 7AQ visioning, regeneration, urban
Associates W www.tayloryoung.co.uk T 0161 839 8336 renewal, Masterplanning and
The Stables, Howberry Park, Benson Urban design, planning and C Neil Swanson public realm projects. Creative,
Lane, Wallingford OX10 8BA development. Town studies, housing, E [email protected] knowledgeable, practical,
T 01491 838 175 commercial, distribution, health and W www.landscapeprojects.co.uk passionate.
C Brian Duckett transportation. Specialist in urban We work at the boundary between
E [email protected] design training. architecture, urban and landscape Liz Lake Associates
W www.hda-enviro.co.uk design, seeking innovative, sensitive Western House, Chapel Hill
An approach which adds value IDP GROUP design and creative thinking. Offices Stansted Mountfitchet
through innovative solutions. 27 Spon Street in Manchester & London. Essex CM24 8AG
Development planning, new Coventry CV1 3BA T 01279 647044
settlements, environmental T 024 7652 7600 Lanpro Services C Matt Lee
assessment, re-use of redundant C Luke Hillson 4 St Mary’s House E [email protected]
buildings. E [email protected] Duke Street, Norwich NR3 1QA W www.lizlake.com
www.weareidp.com T 01603 631 319 Urban fringe/brownfield sites where
We are IDP. We enhance daily life C Jun Lee an holistic approach to urban design,
through architecture. We use design E [email protected] landscape, and ecological issues
creativity, logic, collaboration and W www.lanproservices.co.uk can provide robust design solutions.
pragmatism to realise places and Multi-disciplinary consultancy
space. Ideas, delivered. providing specialist advice in
the fields of town planning,
masterplanning, urban design,
project management and monitoring,
landscape architecture and interior
design.

52 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Practice Index

LSI Architects LLP New Masterplanning Limited PD Lane Associates +Plus Urban Design Ltd
The Old Drill Hall, 23 A Cattle Market 2nd Floor, 107 Bournemouth Road, 1 Church Road, Greystones Spaceworks, Benton Park Road
Street, Norwich NR1 3DY Poole, Dorset BH14 9HR County Wicklow, Ireland Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7LX
T 01603 660711 T 01202 742228 T 00 353 1287 6697 T 0844 800 6660
C David Thompson C Andy Ward C Malcolm Lane C Richard Charge, Tony Wyatt
[email protected] E [email protected] E [email protected] E [email protected]
W www.lsiarchitects.co.uk W www.newMasterplanning.com W www.pdlane.ie W www.plusud.co.uk
Large scale Masterplanning and Our skills combine strategic planning Urban design, architecture and Specialist practice providing strate-
visualisation in sectors such as with detailed implementation, planning consultancy, specialising gic masterplanning, urban design
health, education and business, and design flair with economic rigour, in Masterplanning, development guidance, analysis, character
new sustainable settlements. independent thinking with a frameworks, site layouts, assessment and independent design
partnership approach. applications, appeals, project co- advisory expertise.
Malcolm Moor Urban Design ordination.
27 Ock Mill Close, Abingdon Nicholas Pearson PM DEVEREUX
Oxon OX14 1SP Associates Pegasus Group 200 Upper Richmond Road,
T 01235 550122 30 Brock Street, Bath BA1 2LN Pegasus House London SW15 2SH
C Malcolm Moor T 01225 445548 Querns Business Centre T 020 8780 1800
E [email protected] C Simon Kale Whitworth Road, Cirencester GL7 1RT C Alex Johnson
W www.moorud.com E [email protected] T 01285 641717 E [email protected]
Master planning of new communities, W www.npaconsult.co.uk C Michael Carr W www.pmdevereux.com
urban design, residential, urban Masterplanning, public realm E [email protected] Adding value through innovative,
capacity and ecofitting studies, design, streetscape analysis, W www.pegasuspg.co.uk ambitious solutions in complex urban
design involvement with major concept and detail designs. Also full Masterplanning, detailed layout environments.
international projects. landscape architecture service, EIA, and architectural design, design
green infrastructure, ecology and and access statements, design Pod
Melville Dunbar Associates biodiversity, environmental planning codes, sustainable design, 99 Galgate,Barnard Castle
Studio 2, Griggs Business Centre and management. development briefs, development Co Durham DL12 8ES
West Street, Coggeshall, Essex CO6 1NT frameworks, expert witness, T 0845 872 7288
T 01376 562828 NJBA A + U community involvement and C Andy Dolby
C Melville Dunbar 34 Upper Baggot Street sustainability appraisal. Part of the E [email protected]
E [email protected] Dublin 4, IRE – D4, Ireland multidisciplinary Pegasus Group. Newcastle
W www.melvilledunbarassociates.com T 00 353 1 678 8068 G27 Toffee Factory
Architecture, urban design, planning, C Noel J Brady Philip Cave Associates Lower Steenbergs Yard
Masterplanning, new towns, urban E [email protected] 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 2DF
regeneration, conservation studies, W www.12publishers.com/njba.htm T 020 7250 0077 C Craig Van Bedaf
design guides, townscape studies, Integrated landscapes, urban C Philip Cave W www.designbypod.co.uk
design briefs. design, town centres and squares, E [email protected] Masterplanning, site appraisal,
strategic design and planning. W www.philipcave.com layout and architectural design.
Metropolis Planning and Design-led practice with innovative Development frameworks, urban
Design Node Urban Design yet practical solutions to regeneration, design codes, briefs
4 Underwood Row, London N1 7LQ 33 Holmfield Road environmental opportunities in urban and design and access statements.
T 020 7324 2662 Leicester LE2 1SE regeneration. Specialist expertise in
C Greg Cooper T 0116 2708742 landscape architecture. Pollard Thomas Edwards
E [email protected] C Nigel Wakefield Architects
W ww.metropolispd.com E [email protected] Phil Jones Associates Diespeker Wharf, 38 Graham Street,
Metropolitan urban design solutions W www.nodeurbandesign.com Seven House, High Street London N1 8JX
drawn from a multi-disciplinary An innovative team of urban design, Longbridge, Birmingham B31 2UQ T 020 7336 7777
studio of urban designers, architects, landscape and heritage consultants T 0121 475 0234 C Robin Saha-Choudhury
planners and heritage architects. who believe that good design adds C Nigel Millington Andrew Beharrell
value. Providing sustainable urban E [email protected] E [email protected]
Mouchel design and masterplan solutions W www.philjonesassociates.co.uk/ W www.ptea.co.uk
209-215 Blackfriars Road at all scales of development with a One of the UK’s leading independent Masterplanners, urban designers,
London SE1 8NL focus on the creation of a sense of transport specialists offering the developers, architects, listed building
T 020 7803 2600 place. expertise to deliver high quality, and conservation area designers;
C Ludovic Pittie viable developments which are specialising in inner city mixed use
E [email protected] Novell Tullett design-led and compliant with urban high density regeneration.
W www.mouchel.com The Old Mess Room design best practice.
Integrated urban design, transport Home Farm Project Centre Ltd
and engineering consultancy, Barrow Gurney BS48 3RW Plainview Planning Level 4, Westgate House
changing the urban landscape in a T 01275 462476 5 Strand Court, Bath Road Westgate, London W5 1YY
positive manner, creating places for C Simon Lindsley Cheltenham GL53 7LW T 020 7421 8222
sustainable living. E [email protected] T 01242 501 003 C David Moores
W www.novelltullett.co.uk C Adam Rabone E [email protected]
Nathaniel Lichfield & Urban design, landscape E [email protected] W www.projectcentre.co.uk
Partners Ltd architecture and environmental W www.plainview.co.uk Landscape architecture, public realm
14 Regent’s Wharf, All Saints Street, planning. design, urban regeneration, street
London N1 9RL PLANIT i.e. LLP lighting design, planning supervision,
T 020 7837 4477 Paul Drew Design Ltd The Planit Group, 2 Back Grafton Street traffic and transportation, parking
C Nick Thompson 23-25 Great Sutton Street Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 1DY and highway design.
E [email protected] London EC1V 0DN T 0161 928 9281
W www.nlpplanning.com T 020 7017 1785 C Peter Swift PRP Architects
Also at Newcastle upon Tyne and C Paul Drew E [email protected] 10 Lindsey Street,
Cardiff E [email protected] W www.planit-ie.com London EC1A 9HP
Urban design, Masterplanning, W www.pauldrewdesign.co.uk Public realm solutions informed by T 020 7653 1200
heritage/conservation, visual Masterplanning, urban design, robust urban design. We create C Andy von Bradsky
appraisal, regeneration, daylight/ residential and mixed use design. quality spaces for people to live, E [email protected]
sunlight assessments, public realm Creative use of design codes and work, play and enjoy. Architects, planners, urban
strategies. other briefing material. designers and landscape architects,
specialising in housing, urban
regeneration, health, education and
leisure projects.

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 53

Practice Index

Randall Thorp Scott Brownrigg Ltd Sheppard Robson Stride Treglown

Canada House, 3 Chepstow Street, St Catherines Court, 46-48 Portsmouth 77 Parkway, Camden Town, Promenade House, The Promenade
Manchester M1 5FW Road, Guildford GU2 4DU London NW1 7PU Clifton Down, Bristol BS8 3NE
T 0161 228 7721 T 01483 568 686 T 020 7504 1700 T 0117 974 3271
C Pauline Randall C Alex Baker C Charles Scott C Graham Stephens
E [email protected] E [email protected] E [email protected] [email protected]
W www.randallthorp.co.uk W www.scottbrownrigg.com W www.sheppardrobson.com W www.stridetreglown.com/
Masterplanning for new Integrated service of architecture, Manchester
developments and settlements, urban design, planning, 27th Floor, City Tower, Piccadilly Plaza Stuart Turner Associates
infrastructure design and urban Masterplanning, involved in several Manchester M1 4BD 12 Ledbury, Great Linford,
renewal, design guides and design mixed use schemes regenerating T 0161 233 8900 Milton Keynes MK14 5DS
briefing, public participation. inner city and brownfield sites. Planners, urban designers and T 01908 678672
architects. Strategic planning, urban C Stuart Turner
Random Greenway Scott Tallon Walker regeneration, development planning, E [email protected]
Architects Architects town centre renewal, new settlement W www.studiost.co.uk
Soper Hall, Harestone Valley Road 19 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 planning. Architecture, urban design and
Caterham Surrey CR3 6HY T 00 353 1 669 3000 environmental planning, the
T 01883 346 441 C Philip Jackson Signet Urban Design design of new settlements, urban
C R Greenway E [email protected] Rowe House, 10 East Parade regeneration and site development
E rg@randomgreenwayarchitects. W www.stwarchitects.com Harrogate HG1 5LT studies.
co.uk Award winning international practice T 01423 857510
Architecture, planning and urban covering all aspects of architecture, C Richard Walshaw studio | REAL
design. New build, regeneration, urban design and planning. E [email protected] Oxford Centre for Innovation
refurbishment and restoration. W www.signetplanning.com New Road, Oxford OX1 1BY
Scott Worsfold Associates A team of talented urban T 01865 261461
Richard Coleman The Studio, 22 Ringwood Road design professionals providing C Roger Evans
Citydesigner Longham, Dorset BH22 9AN masterplanning, detailed layout E [email protected]
14 Lower Grosvenor Place, T 01202 580902 and architectural design, design W www.studioreal.co.uk
London SW1W 0EX C Gary Worsfold / Alister Scott and access statements, design Urban regeneration, quarter
T 020 7630 4880 E [email protected] / alister@ codes and development frameworks frameworks and design briefs, town
C Lakshmi Varma sw-arch.com throughout the UK. centre strategies, movement in towns,
E [email protected] W www.garyworsfoldarchitecture. Masterplanning and development
Advice on architectural quality, co.uk Smeeden Foreman ltd economics.
urban design, and conservation, An award winning practice of Somerset House, Low Moor Lane
historic buildings and townscape. chartered architects, urban Scotton, Knaresborough HG5 9JB Terra Firma Consultancy
Environmental statements, listed designers and experts in T 01423 863369 Cedar Court, 5 College Street
buildings/area consent applications. conservation, all with exceptional C Mark Smeeden Petersfield GU31 4AE
graphic skills and an enviable record E [email protected] T 01730 262040
RICHARDS PARTINGTON in planning consents. W www.smeedenforeman.co.uk C Lionel Fanshawe
ARCHITECTS Ecology, landscape architecture E contact@terrafirmaconsultancy.
Unit G, Reliance Wharf, Shaffrey Associates and urban design. Environmental com
Hertford Road, London N1 5EW 29 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1 assessment, detailed design, W www.terrafirmaconsultancy.com
T 020 7241 7770 T 00 353 1872 5602 contract packages and site Independent landscape architectural
C Richard Partington C Gráinne Shaffrey supervision. practice with considerable urban
E [email protected] E [email protected] design experience at all scales from
W www.rparchitects.co.uk W www.shaffrey.ie Soltys: Brewster Consulting EIA to project delivery throughout UK
Urban design, housing, retail, Urban conservation and design, with 4 Stangate House, Stanwell Road and overseas.
education, sustainability and a particular commitment to the Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan CF64 2AA
commercial projects that take regeneration of historic urban T 029 2040 8476 THrive
a responsible approach to the centres, small towns and villages, C Simon Brewster Building 300, The Grange
environment and resources. including new development. E [email protected] Romsey Road, Michelmersh
W www.soltysbrewster.co.uk Romsey SO51 0AE
Richard Reid & Associates Sheils Flynn Ltd Urban design, masterplans, T 01794 367703
Whitely Farm, Ide Hill, Bank House High Street, Docking, design strategies, visual impact, C Gary Rider
Sevenoaks TN14 6BS Kings Lynn PE31 8NH environmental assessment, E [email protected]
T 01732 741417 T 01485 518304 regeneration of urban space, W www.thrivearchitects.co.uk
C Richard Reid C Eoghan Sheils landscape design and project Award winning multi-disciplinary
E [email protected] E [email protected] management. practice encompassing architecture,
W www.richardreid.co.uk W www.sheilsflynn.com urban design, masterplanning,
Award winning town centre spacehub design coding, regeneration,
RPS regeneration schemes, urban Grimsby Street Studio, development frameworks,
Bristol, Cambridge, London, Newark, strategies and design guidance. 20a Grimsby Street sustainable design/planning and
Southampton & Swindon Specialists in community consultation London E2 6ES construction. Residential and
T 0800 587 9939 and team facilitation. T 020 7739 6699 retirement care specialists.
E [email protected] C Giles Charlton
W www.rpsgroup.com Shepheard Epstein Hunter E [email protected] Tibbalds Planning & Urban
Part of the RPS Group providing a Phoenix Yard, 65 King’s Cross Road, W www.spacehubdesign.com Design
wide range of urban design services London WC1X 9LW spacehub is a young design 19 Maltings Place, 169 Tower Bridge
including Masterplanning and T 020 7841 7500 studio, specialising in public realm, Road, London SE1 3JB
development frameworks, design C Steven Pidwill landscape, ecology and urban T 020 7089 2121
guides and statements. E [email protected] design. We are passionate and C Katja Stille
W www.seh.co.uk committed to creative thinking and E [email protected]
SAVILLS (L&P) LIMITED SEH is a user-friendly, award- collaborative working. W www.tibbalds.co.uk
33 Margaret Street winning architects firm, known for Multi-disciplinary practice of urban
London W1G 0JD its work in regeneration, education, Spawforths designers, architects and planners.
T 020 3320 8242 housing, Masterplanning, mixed use Junction 41 Business Court, East Provides expertise from concept
W www.savills.com and healthcare projects. Ardsley, Leeds WF3 2AB to implementation in regeneration,
SOUTHAMPTON T 01924 873873 masterplanning, urban design and
2 Charlotte Place, C Adrian Spawforth design management to public and
Southampton SO14 0TB E [email protected] private sector clients.
T 02380 713900 W www.spawforths.co.uk
C Peter Frankum Urbanism with planners and
E [email protected] architects specialising in
Offices throughout the World Masterplanning, community
Savills Urban Design creates value engagement, visioning and
from places and places of value. development frameworks.
Masterplanning, urban design,
design coding, urban design advice,
planning, commercial guidance.

54 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 Practice Index / Education Index

Townscape Solutions Urban Innovations West Waddy ADP LLP Education Index
208 Lightwoods Hill, Smethwick 1st Floor, Wellington Buildings, The Malthouse, 60 East St. Helen
West Midlands B67 5EH 2 Wellington Street, Belfast BT16HT Street, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 5EB ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY
T 0121 429 6111 T 028 9043 5060 T 01235 523139 Department of Engineering & Built
C Kenny Brown C Tony Stevens/ Agnes Brown C Philip Waddy Environment, Marconi Building
E [email protected] E [email protected] E [email protected] Rivermead Campus, Bishop Hall Lane
W www.townscapesolutions.co.uk W www.urbaninnovations.co.uk W westwaddy-adp.co.uk Chelmsford CM1 1SQ
Specialist urban design practice The partnership provides not only Experienced and multi-disciplinary T 01245 683 3952
offering a wide range of services feasibility studies and assists in site team of urban designers, architects C Dr Dellé Odeleye
including masterplans, site layouts, assembly for complex projects but and town planners offering a full E [email protected]
design briefs, design and access also full architectural services for range of urban design services. W Full time:
statements, expert witness and 3D major projects. www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/
illustrations. White Consultants home/prospectus/pg/Urban_
URBED (Urbanism Enterprise House, 127-129 Bute Street Design.html
TP bennett LLP Environment & Design) Cardiff CF10 5LE Part time:
One America Street, London SE1 0NE Manchester T 029 2043 7841 www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/
T 020 7208 2029 10 Little Lever Street, C Simon White home/prospectus/pg/_urban_
C Peter Davis Manchester M1 1HR E [email protected] design.html
E [email protected] T 0161 200 5500 W www.whiteconsultants.co.uk MSc in Urban Design, Post Grad
W www.tpbennett.com C John Sampson A holistic approach to urban Diploma or Certificate in Urban
Development planning, urban E [email protected] regeneration, design guidance, Design. The emphasis is on
design, conservation and W www.urbed.coop public realm and open space sustainable urban design and
Masterplanning – making places LONDON strategies and town centre studies cultural approaches to place-
and adding value through creative, The Building Centre for the public, private and community shaping. The course is based upon
progressive, dynamic and joyful 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT sectors. key requirements in the ’Recognised
exploration. C Nicholas Falk Practitioner in Urban Design’
T 07811 266538 WYG Planning & designation. It can be taken full time
Turley Sustainable Urbanism, Environment (1 year) or part time (2 years).
10th Floor, 1 New York Street Masterplanning, Urban Design, 100 St. John Street
Manchester M1 4HD Retrofitting, Consultation, Capacity London EC1M 4EH Cardiff University
T 0161 233 7676 Building, Research, Town Centres T 020 7250 7500 Welsh School of Architecture and
C Jaimie Ferguson – Director of Urban and Regeneration. C Colin James School of City & Regional Planning
Design & Masterplanning E [email protected] Glamorgan Building
E [email protected] URBEN W www.wyg.com King Edward VII Avenue
W www.turley.co.uk 33a Wadeson Street Offices throughout the UK Cardiff CF10 3WA
Offices also in Belfast, Birmingham, London E2 9DR Creative urban design and T 029 2087 5972/029 2087 5961
Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, T 0203 005 4859 masterplanning with a contextual C Allison Dutoit, Marga Munar Bauza
Leeds, London and Southampton. T 0845 054 2992 approach to place-making and a E [email protected]
Integrated urban design, C Elizabeth Reynolds concern for environmental, social [email protected]
masterplanning, sustainability E [email protected] and economic sustainability. W www.cardiff.ac.uk/cplan/ma_
and heritage services provided E [email protected] urbandesign
at all project stages and scales Yellow Book Ltd One year full-time and two year part-
of development. Services include URS Infrastructure & 39/2 Gardner’s Crescent time MA in Urban Design.
visioning, townscape analysis, Environment Edinburgh EH3 8DG
design guides and public realm 6-8 Greencoat Place T 0131 229 0179 Edinburgh School of
resolution. London SW1P 1PL C John Lord Architecture and
T 020 7798 5137 E [email protected] Landscape Architecture
Tweed Nuttall Warburton C Ben Castell W www.yellowbookltd.com ECA University of Edinburgh
Chapel House, City Road E [email protected] Place-making, urban regeneration Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF
Chester CH1 3AE W www.ursglobal.com and economic development involving T 0131 651 5786
T 01244 310388 Also at Birmingham, Leeds, creative and cultural industries, C Dr Ola Uduku
C John Tweed Manchester and Plymouth tourism and labour market research. E [email protected]
E [email protected] Urban design, planning, landscape, W www.ed.ac.uk/studying/
W www.tnw-architecture.co.uk economic and architectural postgraduate/degrees
Architecture and urban design, design expertise supported by Jointly run with Heriot Watt University,
Masterplanning. Urban waterside comprehensive multidisciplinary this M.Sc in Urban Strategies and
environments. Community teamwork skills. Design focuses on urban design
enablers. Visual impact assessments. practice and theory from a cultural,
Vincent and Gorbing Ltd and socio-economic, case-study
Urban Design Futures Sterling Court, Norton Road, perspective. Engaging students
34/1 Henderson Row Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 2JY in ’live’ urban projects, as part of
Edinburgh EH3 5DN T 01438 316331 the programme’s ’action research’
T 0131 557 8944 C Richard Lewis pedagogy, it also offers research
C Selby Richardson E urban.designers@vincent-gorbing. expertise in African and Latin
E [email protected] co.uk American urban design and planning
W www.urbandesignfutures.co.uk W www.vincent-gorbing.co.uk processes.
Innovative urban design, planning Masterplanning, design statements,
and landscape practice specialising character assessments, development THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART
in Masterplanning, new settlements, briefs, residential layouts and urban Mackintosh School of Architecture
urban regeneration, town and village capacity exercises. 167 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G3 6RQ
studies. T 0141 353 4500
Wei Yang & Partners C Joanna Crotch
Urban Initiatives Studio 4 Devonshire Street E [email protected]
Exmouth House, 3-11 Pine Street London W1W 5DT W www.gsa.ac.uk/study/graduate-
London EC1R 0JH T 020 3102 8565 degrees/architectural-studies/
T 0203 567 0716 C Dr Wei Yang Master of Architecture in: Urban
C Hugo Nowell E [email protected] Design and Creative Urban Practices;
E [email protected] W www.weiyangandpartners.co.uk Urban Building; Computer Aided
W www.uistudio.co.uk Independent multi-disciplinary Architectural Design; and, Energy &
Urban design, transportation, company driven by a commitment to Environmental Studies. The MArch
regeneration, development planning. shape more sustainable and liveable programme is research and project
cities. Specialising in low-carbon city driven with a multi-disciplinary input
development strategies, sustainable that begins begins with a series of
large-scale new settlement master core lectures and seminars that
plans, urban regeneration, urban is balanced by literature enquiry
and public realm design, mixed to enable students to develop a
use urban complex design and multi-disciplinary perspective as a
community building strategies. grounding for shared discourse.

Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134 — 55

Education Index

Leeds Metropolitan University College London University of Huddersfield University of Strathclyde

University Development Planning Unit School of Art, Design & Architecture Department of Architecture
School of Architecture Landscape 34 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EZ Queen Street Studios Urban Design Studies Unit
& Design, Broadcasting Place, T 020 7679 1111 Huddersfield HD1 3DH Level 3, James Weir Building
Arts Building, Woodhouse Lane, C Giulia Carabelli T 01484 472939 75 Montrose Street, Glasgow G1 1XJ
Leeds LS2 9EN E [email protected] C Dr Lucy Montague T 0141 548 4219
T 0113 812 1717 The MSc Building and Urban E [email protected] C Ombretta Romice
C Edwin Knighton Design in Development programme W www.hud.ac.uk/courses/2015-16/ E [email protected]
E [email protected] combines cultural, social, economic, full-time/postgraduate/urban- W www.udsu-strath.com
W www.leedsmet.ac.uk/courses/la political and spatial analysis in the design-ma/ The Postgraduate Course in Urban
Master of Arts in Urban Design effort to present a critical response MA in Urban Design. This new masters Design is offered in CPD,Diploma and
consists of one year full time or to the growing complexities within provides a course of study that MSc modes. The course is design
two years part time or individual the design and production of urban enable graduates to effectively centred and includes input from a
programme of study. Shorter realms. participate and intervene in the variety of related disciplines.
programmes lead to Post Graduate urban design process.
Diploma/Certificate. Project based University College London University of the West of
course focusing on the creation of Bartlett School of Planning University of Northampton England, Bristol
sustainable environments through 22 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0QB The University of Northampton Faculty of the Built Environment,
interdisciplinary design. T 020 7679 4797 Park Campus, Boughton Green Road Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane,
C Filipa Wunderlich Northampton NN2 7AL Bristol BS16 1QY
London South Bank E [email protected] T 01604 735500 C Janet Askew
University W www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/planning/ E sabine.coadyschaebitz@ T 0117 328 3508
Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences programmes northampton.ac.uk MA/Postgraduate Diploma course in
103 Borough Road, London SE1 0AA The MSc/Dipl Urban Design & City C Sabine Coady Schaebitz Urban Design. Part time two days per
C Bob Jarvis Planning has a unique focus on the W www.northampton.ac.uk/study/ fortnight for two years, or individual
T 020 7815 7353 interface between urban design & courses/courses-by-subject/social- programme of study. Project-based
MA Urban Design (one year full city planning. Students learn to think sciences/integrated-urbanism-msc course addressing urban design
time/two years part time) or PG Cert in critical, creative and analytical MSc Integrated Urbanism: Eight issues, abilities and environments.
Planning based course including ways across the different scales of Urban Design and Urbanism
units on place and performance, the city – from strategic to local -and Modules plus Master Thesis to University of Westminster
sustainable cities as well as project across urban design, planning, real explore the complexities of creating 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS
based work and EU study visit. Part of estate and sustainability. and managing people-friendly T 020 7911 5000 ext 66553
RTPI accredited programme. sustainable urban environments. C Bill Erickson
University College London E [email protected]
Newcastle University Bartlett School of Planning University of Nottingham MA or Diploma Course in Urban
Department of Architecture, Planning 14 Upper Woburn Place Department of Architecture and Built Design for postgraduate architects,
and Landscape, Claremont Tower London WC1H 0NN Environment, University Park town planners, landscape architects
University of Newcastle, Newcastle T 020 7679 4797 Nottingham NG7 2RD and related disciplines. One year full
upon Tyne NE1 7RU C Matthew Carmona T 0115 9513110 time or two years part time.
T 0191 222 6006 E [email protected] C Dr Amy Tang
C Georgia Giannopoulou W www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/planning/ E [email protected]
E [email protected] programmes/postgraduate/ W www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/
W www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/study/ mresInter-disciplinary-urban- courses/architecture-and-built-
postgraduate/taught/ design environment/sustainable-urban-
urbandesign/index.htm The MRes Inter-disciplinary Urban design-march.aspx
The MA in Urban Design brings Design cuts across urban design Master of Architecture (MArch)
together cross-disciplinary expertise programmes at The Bartlett, allowing in Sustainable Urban Design is other Contributors
striking a balance between methods students to construct their study a research and project-based
and approaches in environmental in a flexible manner and explore programme which aims to assist the
design and the social sciences in
the creation of the built environment.
To view the course blog:
urban design as a critical arena for
advanced research and practice.
The course operates as a stand-
enhancement of the quality of our
cities by bringing innovative design
with research in sustainability.
• Richard Cole architect and
planner, formerly Director of
www.nclurbandesign.org alone high level masters or as Planning and Architecture of the

•
preparation for a PhD. University of Portsmouth Commission for New Towns
Nottingham Trent School of Architecture Richard Hayward, Emeritus
University University of Dundee Eldon Building, Winston Churchill Professor of Architecture and Urban

•
Burton Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU Town and Regional Planning Avenue, Portsmouth PO1 2DJ Design, University of Greenwich
T 0115 848 6033 Tower Building, Perth Road T 02392 842 090 Joe Holyoak, architect and

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C Stefan Kruczkowski Dundee DD1 4HN C Dr Fabiano Lemes urban designer
E [email protected] T 01382 385246 / 01382 385048 E [email protected] Robert Huxford is the Director of

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W www.ntu.ac.uk/apps/pss/ C Dr Mohammad Radfar / Dr Deepak W www.port.ac.uk/courses/ the Urban Design Group
course_finder/108169-1/6/pgcert_ Gopinath architecture-property-and- Sebastian Loew, architect and
planning_urban_design_and_ E [email protected] / surveying/ma-urban-design/

•
planner, writer and consultant
sustainable_development.aspx [email protected] The MA Urban Design course Malcolm Moor, architect and
NTU offers postgraduate W www.dundee.ac.uk/postgraduate/ provides the opportunity to independent consultant in urban
opportunities in urban design with courses/advanced_sustainable_ debate the potential role of design design; co-editor of Urban Design
a particular focus on residential led urban_design_msc.htm professionals in the generation of

•
Futures
development. Modules are available The MSc Advanced Sustainable sustainable cities. One year full time
Judith Ryser, researcher,
as either stand-alone CPD learning Urban Design (RTPI accredited) is a and two years part time.
journalist, writer and urban affairs
or as part of postgraduate awards. unique multidisciplinary practice-led
Modules include Built for Life(TM) programme set in an international University of Sheffield consultant to Fundacion Metropoli,

•
and Garden Cities and Suburbs. context (EU study visit) and engaging School of Architecture, The Arts Tower, Madrid
Our courses are designed for those with such themes as landscape Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN Ivor Samuels, Honorary Senior
working full-time with a one-day a urbanism, placemaking across T 0114 222 0341 Research Fellow, Urban Morphology
month teaching format. cultures and sustainability evaluation C Florian Kossak Research Group, School of

•
as integrated knowledge spheres in E [email protected] Geography, University of Birmingham
Oxford Brookes University the creation of sustainable places. W www.shef.ac.uk/architecture/ Louise Thomas, independent
Joint Centre for Urban Design study/pgschool/taught_masters/ urban designer
Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP maud
C Georgia Butina-Watson, Alan Reeve One year full time MA in Urban Neither the Urban Design Group nor
T 01865 483403 Design for postgraduate architects, the editors are responsible for views
Diploma in Urban Design, six months landscape architects and town expressed or statements made by
full time or 18 months part time. MA planners. The programme has a individuals writing in Urban Design
one year full-time or two years part- strong design focus, integrates
time. participation and related design We welcome articles from our
processes, and includes international readers. If you wish to contribute
and regional applications. to future issues, please contact the
editors.

56 — Urban Design – Spring 2015 – Issue 134

 News
Endpiece

Accord and discord

On a wet Tuesday evening in December my

partner Polly and I went to the Lamp Tavern,
a tiny back street pub in the industrial dis-
trict of Highgate, on the next block from the
river Rea. My multi-instrumentalist cousin
Mike Adcock was playing a gig in the back
room with his band Flying Down Trio (Get it? I
had to have it explained). The gig was one in
a series of Improvised and Experimental Mu-
sic that runs every second Tuesday, of which
I had previously been unaware. The audience
numbered seven, so perhaps a lot of other
people are also unaware of these esoteric
events happening in an unlikely place.
It reminded me that one of the great vir-
tues of cities is their ability, through number
and diversity, to support minority interests
(though in this case the support barely
extended to covering the band’s petrol costs
from Cheltenham and back). I think I learned
this from Jane Jacobs’ second book that gets
overlooked a bit, The Economy of Cities, in
which she had some insightful things to say
about the resilience of Birmingham’s diverse
economy, in comparison to Manchester. The
music at the Lamp was eccentric and fasci-
nating, with the percussionist in particular
extracting varied and delightful sounds from
the array of metal objects suspended and
standing in front of him, as well as from
hitting and bowing the Robin Day stackable
chair that he (sometimes) sat on.
Mike began the first set on accordion,
playing a beautiful Italian instrument that he
bought last year in Birmingham, from a place
that also illustrates this same urban virtue.
You would never find the Birmingham Ac-
cordion Centre without a map, and perhaps
not with one. It is hidden away in an obscure
rhombus of land bounded by three railway
lines and a canal. (You can see it as you ar-
rive on a train from Euston, but you wouldn’t
know it). An anonymous-looking 1840s house
with shuttered windows and originally part of related incidents. I know this works as I was dispersed groups of musicians. A wonder-
a railway station that has long disappeared, in the park earlier in the afternoon and as ful day – I stayed until the very end, when
it is full of accordions. There is a fascinating soon as the music was turned on, approxi- in the dusk a mallet struck the giant gong,
workshop where accordions are mended, mately 6-7 males left within minutes from suspended from a tree.
from which a harmonic wheeze occasionally
escapes as an instrument is operated on.
that location’.
I feel ambivalent about this initiative,
• Joe Holyoak

One kilometre away, a different inner quite apart from the fact that loitering with
city music is heard in the new Eastside Park, your mates is a perfectly proper activity for
opened last year. I was forwarded an email young people in a park, and always has been.
from West Midlands Police to the security Playing music over loudspeakers in a park
manager at Millennium Point, which adjoins can be pleasant: a bit Soviet maybe, but it
the park. Eastside Park, designed in the can add to the gaiety of the place. But using
modern French manner by Patel Taylor and music to drive people away from a park does
Alain Provost, has proved very popular but injury to the integrity of both music and land-
has had some problems of anti-social behav- scape. When I was last there, it sounded like
iour. Policing and private security has been Bruckner: but who are the most deterrent
stepped up, but the email describes another composers? I would like to know. I fear one of
initiative. It reads ‘….. Jennens Court (Unite them might be Karlheinz Stockhausen, whose
Students) has provided the funding and fitted British premiere of Sternklang in Cannon Hill
loudspeakers, playing classical music to stop Park on midsummer’s day 1992 I remember ↑ The Birmingham Accordion
any form of loitering on top of Fox Street and vividly, with the white-suited composer Centre
we are seeing a noticeable difference in ASB strolling around the park supervising his ↑↑ Eastside Park
4
1 9 7 6 — 2 0 1 5

FROM INNER CITIES TO

URBAN RENAISSANCE
28 / 04
In 2015 URBED celebrates 40 years of practice through a series of events THE FIRST
that explore key projects, key cities and key changes in the United Kingdom’s
urban renaissance journey.
REGENERATION
AREA?
Moving from innovative early work in Covent Garden or Bradford’s Little
Germany to larger schemes in Manchester, Brighton and beyond, the seven Covent Garden, London
events will reflect on what was, assess what is and dream of what could be. Venue: Wallacespace – Covent Garden
Date: 17.30 - 28th April 2015
All the events are free to attend, however booking is necessary.
Chair: John Worthington
Please visit www.urbed.coop/events to book your place. Key: Charles Landry

20 / 05 05 / 06 14 / 07
RESCUING HOW TO LOSE YOUR RETHINKING THE
INDUSTRIAL RING ROAD AND FIND MASTERPLAN?
QUARTERS? YOUR CITY CENTRE?
Little Germany, Bradford Highbury Initiative, Birmingham New England Quarter, Brighton
Venue: Bradford Design Exchange Venue: AoU Congress* - Birmingham Venue: Jurys Inn - Brighton
Date: 17.30 - 20th May 2015 Date: 5th June 2015 Date: 17.30 - 14th July 2015
Chair: David Rudlin Chair: Nicholas Falk Chair: David Rudlin
Key: Marc Cole Key: Sir Albert Bore Key: Pam Alexander

16 / 09 12 / 10 11 / 11
A SUSTAINABLE HOW TO PROMOTE WHATEVER HAPPENED
URBAN NEIGHBOUR- QUALITY HOUSING? TO ENTERPRISE
HOOD? DEVELOPMENT?
Hulme, Manchester Cambridge Bankside BID, London
Venue: Z-Arts Centre - Hulme Venue: Trumpington Meadows School Venue: 15Hatfields - Southwark
Date: 17.30 - 16th September 2015 Date: 16.00 - 12th October 2015 Date: 17.30 - 11th November 2015
Chair: David Rudlin Chair: Nicholas Falk Chair: Nicholas Falk
Key: Anne Power Key: Dame Kate Barker Key: John Burton, USM

* This event is open to Academy of Urbanism Congress attendees only.