微密圈

A long way to go

The standard of urban design and the thought given to both environmental and social sustainability in the UK is well below where it should be. As Jo Wright of Perkins+Will told us regarding net zero: 鈥淭he built environment is not doing its bit. We are not doing well enough 鈥� other sectors are doing better.鈥� We continue to build new housing, as well as commercial and retail developments, that do not deliver in terms of good-quality urban design or community-building. New residential development on the edge of existing towns too often remains car-dependant, poorly integrated into existing pedestrian routes, and lacking in basic amenities. 

>> Download the full commission report: The long-term plan for construction

There remains a huge gap between good development and the type of development we actually deliver. Part of the problem lies in the way that design and planning professionals are trained 鈥� in silos that focus either on individual buildings, or on strategic and economic plans, but with very few people properly trained to deliver high-quality urban design. 

Language and people matter

The language we use to describe the built environment is constantly changing, as our understanding of the interaction between people, practice and place evolves. Terms such as 鈥減lacemaking鈥� and 鈥渕asterplanning鈥� are being questioned by many leading professionals in the industry because of the way that they imply a blank canvas and top-down solutions. 

In our discussions, David Rudlin of BDP and Anna Mansfield of Publica highlighted how the use of the word 鈥減lacemaking鈥� and attitudes around it need to be reassessed as attitudes change. In reality, no development exists in a vacuum, and there is always something 鈥� including a community 鈥� in a place that gives it a history and context. 

Old assumptions about top-down urban design and development solutions no longer hold true. Increasingly, developers and consultants recognise the need to engage with existing communities, and the value 鈥� economic and social 鈥� in celebrating and enhancing what makes each place special. 

Engage fully with communities

Community engagement has been part of planning best practice for decades, but has also often been seen by a sceptical public as whitewashing of private sector interests. The cynicism that surrounds planning and development is not unfounded as, too often, planners and developers have pushed through projects that do not necessarily serve a local community鈥檚 best interests. 

The industry needs to engage with communities at the earliest opportunity. Schemes like Human Nature鈥檚 Phoenix project in central Lewes have grown out of grassroots community dissatisfaction with 鈥渕ore of the same鈥� conventional development, but have been taken on by private sector entrepreneurs who see the opportunity to harness people power in the delivery of good-quality places that also turn a profit. 

Selina Mason, head of masterplanning at Lendlease, highlighted to the commission how people are central to successful development and urban design, and that by placing communities at the centre of consultation and design processes, developers can achieve both social and economic success. 

Co-design and genuine collaboration with existing communities can help build in stakeholder engagement and support. In Lewes this has led to a scheme that is less car dependant and actually of higher density 鈥� outcomes that potentially benefit both investors and local people. 

Prioritise young people

Too often young people are left to the last stage of a project, with playgrounds and spaces for youths treated as an afterthought. Prioritising the needs of young people 鈥� whether that is children, teenagers or young adults 鈥� should be baked into the industry. At the moment young people鈥檚 health and wellbeing are not prioritised enough in the built environment and the knock-on effects in terms of poor life achievement and mental health issues are mounting. 

Anna Mansfield of Publica highlighted how retail spaces and department stores have often been of great importance to young people, and also how developers, architects and planners need to put much greater emphasis on creating spaces for young people in their developments. 

The prioritisation of young people needs to run through the thinking around urban design and the provision of facilities, so that they can feel safe and comfortable. We should not forget that retail spaces have often provided such spaces, but we also need to prioritise new, non-privately