PLANNING

Making urban design a

key planning issue

Centenary Square in
Birmingham shows how
good urban design can
make a huge difference to
city life

The design of public places was nly in the last five years has urban design

once considered a fringe issue, but

in the past five years it has become
central to the redevelopment or
O achieved a strong level of recognition and
support. The generation that led the planning
profession through the 1970s and 1980s was
reacting against the disasters of architectural
brutalism and saw design as a superficial and slightly
dilettante preoccupation when more pressing socio-
economic concerns demanded their attention. But
urban areas. However, there is a just as engineering design is fundamental to the
need for new skills among planners mechanical efficiency and popular appeal of
automobiles, so urban design is now seen as crucial
and urban designers to take the to the effectiveness and public enjoyment of places.
It is now accepted that good urban design leads to
agenda forward, argues Les Sparks places that are safer, perform better, are popular and
attractive, and therefore contribute towards economic

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PLANNING

investment and successful communities. Eventually to the Quality in Town & Country document Gummer
the Urban Design Groups message was accepted wrote: Good urban design can reinforce a sense of
that good urban design stimulates economic community, whereas anonymous, grey and alienating
regeneration and social cohesion. surroundings isolate the individual. A depressing
For many years a comparatively small group of environment destroys local pride, attracts crime, deters
professionals, mainly architects, planners and landscape investment and leaves people feeling powerless. Yet
designers promoted these ideas largely to one another quality attracts quality, good design attracts life and
and to their professional colleagues. Most people from investment and a strong community stands out against
the other environment-related disciplines relegated crime.
urban design to the role of the beautician, brightening The Quality Initiative, with its exhibitions,
up a utilitarian world with a veneer of cobbles and promotions and conferences, led directly to changes
bollards. Now that situation has changed. Whilst the in Planning Policy Guidance Notes. PPG1 on the
UDG largely failed to draw engineers and surveyors general operation of the planning system, was revised
into its membership, these two professions, through to include specific encouragement for the principles
the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the of good urban design. Revisions to PPG3 (Housing)
Institute of Civil Engineers are now equal members and PPG6 (Retail) also include strong endorsement of
with the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Royal the importance of good design.
Town Planning Institute and the Landscape Institute Under the new Labour Government the DETR has
in the Urban Design Alliance, which also includes the
Civic Trust and the UDG itself. UDAL is now the
continued down this path with publishing a number
of Good Practice Guides. Places, Streets and Movement
At long last, the
principal professional voice for urban design in the produced for the DETR by Alan Baxter Associates,
country. As its leadership passes between the constituent breaks the mould in terms of the impact of road layouts bete noir of urban
members on a rotating basis, its message is even on housing developments. At long last, the bete noir
promoted by the RICS traditionally seen as the scourge of urban designers the dreary and wasteful designers the
of urban designers on account of the hard-nosed standardised road layouts imposed by local authority
position its practitioners usually took when it came highway engineers has been rejected in favour of a dreary and
to justifying additional expenditure on good design!. concentration on good urban design to create attractive
Another voluntary movement that has helped to
increase understanding about urban design in recent
places that can accommodate essential vehicle
movements, but are not designed exclusively around
wasteful
years, and raised its profile beyond a confined
professional audience, has been the Urban Village
them.
Planning for Sustainable Development: Towards Better
standardised road
Forum. Initiated by the Prince of Wales, it has sought
to address the question he posed why with all our
Practice sets urban design within the context of
sustainable land use patterns and use of resources. It
layouts imposed
technical skills, are we unable to create places with strongly encourages greater attention to urban design
the character and appeal of those we enjoy from including mixed-use, increased density, local distinc- by local authority
previous periods in our history? The Urban Village tiveness, and the importance of masterplanning.
Forum, through its publications and campaigns, has The most recent publication in the series, By Design highway
promoted a number of ideas that are central to urban establishes the role of the planning system in securing
design including the advantages of mixed uses and successful urban design. It legitimises the efforts of engineers has
higher densities in generating vitality; the importance local planning authorities to secure high standards of
of designing for pedestrian comfort and safety, and
the human need for a richness and texture in our
design in new developments and offers a range of
practical guidance on how to set about this. It explains
been rejected in
surroundings, creating places that are distinctive and
varied.
the principles underlying urban design and offers a
planning toolkit. This addresses the preparation of
favour of a
The ideas and images promoted by the Urban Village policy in development plans and supplementary
Forum have found an appreciative audience across planning guidance, the preparation of urban design concentration on
the country. However, attempts to translate them into frameworks and development briefs, and the creative
reality have had only limited success. The volume use of development control to facilitate better good urban
house builders, to whom the message has been largely developments.
addressed, have applied a tokenistic approach, This latest document is published jointly by the design
attempting to enliven the customary blandness of DETR and the Commission for Architecture & the
their housing estates without accepting the more Built Environment (CABE), the new organisation set
radical and fundamental changes of approach up by government to promote good architecture and
advocated by the Forum. urban design across the country. Whereas the former
One significant factor in the last five years that has Royal Fine Art Commission may have focussed more
done more than anything to bring urban design to exclusively on architecture, CABEs remit is to look
the forefront of planning has been the strong beyond the aesthetic qualities of individual buildings
endorsement of central government. This dates back to the totality of the built environment in cities, towns
to the personal crusade of John Gummer in his period and villages, and to the creation of popular and
as Environment Secretary. His Quality in Town & successful places.
Country Initiative, launched in 1994, which he In terms of government policy, therefore, urban
promoted with great conviction brought urban design design is now centre stage in the pursuit of urban
principles into official government policy. In his preface regeneration, as demonstrated yet again in the strong

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endorsement it receives in the final report from the Task Force identified a skills shortage that some of the
Urban Task Force. Built Environment faculties in our universities are
In parallel with the development of policy, there beginning to address through new courses. For example
have been some real examples in practice which have the Universities of the West of England and Nottingham
demonstrated the actual benefits of good urban design. have introduced undergraduate courses to teach
These have particularly centred around the creation of planning and architecture as a combined discipline.
new civic spaces which have transformed some hitherto A shortage of training can result in people attempting
unloved parts of provincial cities. The last few years have to practice the art of urban design with only half an
seen a remarkable number of new squares created at understanding of the process and necessary skills. The
a rate previously unknown since Georgian or Victorian risk then is that plagiarism takes the place of creativity.
times. Birmingham, an industrial city with no It is critical to recognise that places are all different.
inheritance of civic spaces, has led the way with Good urban design stems from an understanding of
Centenary Square, Victoria Square, Old Square and what makes a place unique, and seeks to reinforce
the two squares in Brindley Place. With their fountains, those distinctive qualities. Learning from the work
public art and tree planting, these new squares have undertaken by others is a sound basis for good practice,
transformed the citys image and brought residents, but copying their solutions across to other situations
visitors and businesses into the city centre. Bristol has is not.
followed suit, with the pedestrianisation of College To capitalise on this progress we now need to
Green and the new squares associated with its concentrate on training people across the built
Millennium projects. Sheffield has a programme of environment disciplines to be able to practice the art
new public spaces, including the new Peace Gardens, at the highest professional standards. The Task Force
as part of its Heart of the City Project. report identified the tasks for which these skills are
We have also seen an upsurge in masterplanning as required which include:
a process, setting a strong design framework to producing design briefs prior to development of
encourage and assimilate new development in a form strategic design options;
that ensures that the whole is greater than the sum co-ordinating the procurement methods and
of the parts. Again, Birmingham led the way with its competitions to deliver high quality design
City Centre Design Strategy and a series of Urban alternatives;
Design Frameworks for all the distinctive quarters the proactive use of the planning system to secure
surrounding its central core. These initiatives have all change;
been adopted as supplementary planning guidance involving the community in planning and
supporting the policies in the statutory Development implementation stages;
Plan. integrating the physical development programmes
The term masterplan is being expanded to describe with urban management and maintenance, and
a process that extends far beyond its conventional other social and economic programmes;
meaning as a physical design exercise for a large site. assembling sites to create meaningful development
The current masterplanning initiatives in Sheffield, opportunities;
Liverpool, East Manchester and Birmingham Eastside project appraisal, management and finance, including
which were promoted as a follow-up to the Task Force strategic planning, procurement, phasing, team
report are taking a more holistic approach, addressing working, and dealing with funding bodies and
transport issues, sustainability, and the social and institutions.
economic renewal of communities. Training With strong support from the government, we can
opportunities and job creation, management and now anticipate a real integration of social and physical
stewardship, education and recreation are being planning. Urban design is no longer seen as a separate
addressed as integral aspects of the spatial masterplan. and discretionary practice, exclusive to a small range
The same drive towards regeneration exists in smaller of professionals, but as a fundamental element in
towns and cities across the country. There is no shortage achieving a sustainable urban renaissance.
of opportunity for multi-disciplinary teams of architects,
planners, engineers, surveyors, developers, project
managers, housing and neighbourhood managers and Les Sparks is a commissioner at the Commission for Architecture and
landscape professionals to work together to improve the Built Environment. He was director of planning and architecture
the lives and surroundings of our communities. at Birmingham city council between 1991 and 1999 and previously
Whether, however, there are enough people with the director of environmental services at Bath City Council from 1980 and
appropriate skills and understanding of this complex 1991. He is patron of the Urban Design Group. He was awarded the
task, is altogether another matter. Certainly the Urban OBE in 1997 for his services to urban regeneration.

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