CONTENTS DIARY OF EVENTS - The Urban Design Group

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YOUNG URBAN DESIGNERS Photo: Essex Design Initiative Big Issues 8 | Urban Design | Spring 2005 | Issue 94 The notion of how we attract creative and talented young people to urban design was brilliantly covered by Hugo Frieszo’s article in UD 93. It was full of ideas that should be taken forward for making the quality of the environment a central concern in people’s minds. Reaching out to young people would seem an absolutely central task. We need to go into schools and talk to children about making decisions about where they live. And we need to fire up interest and passion in higher educational establishments to get creative young people attracted to the professions. During my first degree I helped my tutor start a poster campaign to raise the profile of planning and urban design amongst students. The campaign was called Big Issues, and it eventually World Habitat Awards - Entries Invited The World Habitat Awards were initiated in 1985 and seek to identify housing projects around the world which can be adapted for use elsewhere. The competition is open to all, and can relate to any form of innovation in housing provision - large or small and in any context, in management, design or funding. Prize money of £10,000 will be presented to two winners at the Global Celebration of World Habitat Day (in Nairobi, Kenya 2004). To enter, send a concise summary of the project for Stage I, and online applications can be made on the BSHF website at www.bshf.org. Alternatively you can submit your entry by post to: turned into a series of glossy brochures. But I don’t think it really reached out to anyone outside the university - it really wasn’t intended to. But Jon Cooper could see that there was a yawning chasm of misconception between the image of the degree course, and what planning is all about… ’so, what, you like, design roads and stuff?’ I believe that to get young people to sign up to urban design it has to be cool. I am secretly convinced that planning is poised to be the most fashionable profession on earth. I have already heard the giggles and snorts, but one thing is clear; its all happening in the city; apartments, scooters, café bars, live/work loft space. The urban renaissance has opened the door for a generation of café dwelling, scooter riding, European city breaking young people to live the urban lifestyle without needing to be a high flyer at Merrill Lynch. Has no one ever heard of regeneration chic? And it isn’t all happening just in Shoreditch, Glasgow Harbour and east Manchester. This writer’s current experience has shown that ‘City Living’ is where its at in the fine old market town of Yeovil. While visiting our ongoing project at Newhall recently, I was first startled, then amused, then rather proud to see that one of the glossy marketing brochures being handed out in the show home read Abode – New Urban Design. In the end, it was sobering because it occurred to me that urban designers should really be claiming these successes, and using them to attract talented young people to join us in our work. In some ways, things are cranking up. Take as a point of reference Will Alsop’s current exhibition at Urbis in Manchester. Some may find this kind of vision for the northern cities frankly bonkers. Some who read this publication I know find it really rather troubling; and certainly, I couldn’t say with any sincerity that it has instilled a tremendous public confidence in what planners and architects are ‘up to now’, which isn’t really helping. But in a way Alsop is doing - perhaps by default - what needs to be done. The point is here, and it is a genuine one; Supercity made it onto Radio One. Stop right there! Now then, I am not suggesting that the leading aim for STREET is to don urban design baseball caps and push for a spot on Colin & Edith (although I rather like the idea). Surely though, no one can fail to have at least a passing interest in a vision of seismic change. Alsop’s careful attention to graphic quality and playful imagery are intended to seduce the eye, and that’s the kind of thing that will attract interested and interesting young people to urban design. Get them thinking about were they could be living; get them thinking about what they could be creating. Sustainability comes in term two. I am reminded of a comment made by Mike Hayes, the current president of the RTPI, that the training route into planning might be renamed ‘a degree in Changing the World’. A convivial stab at stirring up the assembled throng it may have been; one, which fell rather on deaf ears. But Mike’s point was entirely sincere - the possibilities for creative endeavour are pretty unique. The challenge is thus; to claim our successes and shout loud about them; there are enough out there to claim now, and the development sector is already giving it a go. …See that funky new bit of town? We did that. You could do that. As Hugo Frieszo has said, it will take three things; will, commitment and a bit of financial and professional encouragement. Can we get going now please? Alex Cochrane World Habitat Awards 2005, Building and Social Housing Foundation, Memorial Square, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 3TU United Kingdom. Tel 01530 510444 Fax 01530 510332 Email wha@bshf.org. All Stage I submissions should reach the Foundation by 1 June 2005.
Nelson - Enquiry by Design JAMES HULME EXPLAINS HOW THE EBD APPROACH WORKS IN A PATHFINDER CONTEXT Nelson is one of the former mill towns of North East Lancashire, and subject to deprivation after the collapse of traditional industries left it in comparative isolation. As part of the ODPM’s Northern Way initiative, it is also one of the areas most likely to be affected by the proposals to selectively demolish surplus housing stock in the more depressed parts of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Humberside. Elevate East Lancashire is a government-funded Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder that has sought innovative solutions to the problems of low demand, negative equity, and housing market collapse in towns across East Lancashire, with an emphasis on community renewal and social cohesion. In partnership with Pendle Borough Council, English Heritage and English Partnerships, it engaged The Prince’s Foundation in an Enquiry by Design (EbD) process in November 2004. OPPOSITION TO DEMOLITION A CPO scheme of demolition had been proposed for some parts of the Whitefield Ward for several years, but had met with rigorous local opposition. After considerable assessment, English Heritage has drawn attention to the area’s intrinsic value as a planned 19th century industrial settlement and its survival as an unusually complete Victorian townscape, giving an indication of the issues that informed the EbD conducted by The Prince’s Foundation. THE PROCESS This is the first time that the Enquiry by Design process has been applied in a Housing Market Renewal Area, and participants in the five day workshop were drawn from all areas of the community. Residents Mohammed Iqbal and Sylvia Wilson attended throughout the process and there were numerous special meetings with community groups and those whose houses were suffering with major problems, such as damp. Pendle Borough Council staff and ward councillors were there, as were various heritage groups, and the public session on Monday 22 November was filled to capacity. EBD RECOMMENDATIONS The study found that the interests of the housing renewal programme would best be served by a selective retention and alteration of existing terraced housing stock to increase diversity of the housing offer. At the same time more mixed uses should be re-introduced in adjacent buildings, to include provision for business, leisure and community groups. As well as re-establishing a broader spectrum of activity to invigorate the area, the mix of uses will be how the specific heritage structures, such as St Mary’s Church, will have a new purpose and become new community-oriented places once again. A mill complex at the centre of Whitefield will become the focus of an Enterprise Quarter. This envisages the conversion of existing mills and weaving sheds to provide a range of accommodation for small business, creative and craft based industries. These will provide a lively centre with employment and training opportunities as well as starter unit accommodation for emerging industries such as media and technology. Proposals for housing renewal centred on the conversion of around 60 per cent of the small, terraced houses from two or three homes into one larger one. By expanding the range of house sizes on offer, and raising the standard of quality, the local housing market will gain a broader offer, enabling households with changing needs to remain in the district, and promoting community longevity. The plan is designed both to regenerate the housing stock and historic buildings, and create a sustainable community by revitalising the economic and social life of the area. In the emerging model, up to 80 per cent of the existing housing stock will be retained and adapted. Once development plans have been drawn up, Pendle Council will engage the community in a review process, and funding partners are identifying early ‘wins’ that will form the basis for Elevate’s funding strategy. Other partners support the viability of the plan by pointing to potential public and private investment of up to £20 million to get the development underway over the first five years. James Hulme, Policy Manager, Prince’s Foundation Left Focus on block conversion displaying the adaptability of the existing street pattern to offer different house sizes Below EbD master plan Urban Design | Spring 2005 | Issue 94 | 9 PRINCE’S FOUNDATION
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CONTENTS DIARY OF EVENTS - The Urban Design Group

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