U NIVERSITY OF N OTTINGHAM F ACULTY OF E NGINEERING D EPARTMENT OF A RCHITECTURE & THE B UILT E NVIRONMENT R ECYCLED R AILWAY C ORRIDORS : A N U RBAN D ESIGN P ERSPECTIVE T HESIS S UBMITTED TO THE U NIVERSITY OF N OTTINGHAM FOR THE D EGREE OF D OCTOR OF P HILOSOPHY, J UNE 2016 T OM F ROGGATT (4098553) Abstract In order to present an urban design perspective on recycled railway corridors this research considers the importance of place qualities to selected regional and neighbourhood transit contexts, also the spatial implications of a variety of certain differing transit modes are reviewed. This examination considers normative urban design criteria in relation to concepts of sustainable, transit-supportive built environments. This notion required a conceptual framework which accommodates the sophisticated and subjective aspects of regional design. Further, a visual methodology capable of accumulating significant quantities of data relevant to urban design was requisite. A qualitative case study strategy of inquiry was therefore adopted. Three UK recycled railway corridors were selected as case studies and considered independently and interdependently. This comparative analysis was predicated upon a variety of sources; archival, documentary and observational. This research uncovered urban design truths in the empirical context of recycled railway corridors. A high proportion of the instances examined in this research illustrate perfunctory urban design responses to public transit spaces, both in the regional and neighbourhood contexts. These instances were evocative of influences that prompt homogenisation in the anatomy of the built environment, with the automobile-dominated landscape showing prevalence. In these instances, normative urban design qualities were largely absent from the public realm. In lieu of these qualities ‘anywhere’ design responses, that failed to address issues of authenticity and place specificity, occupied those important spaces that relate to the public transit systems. However, this condition was not ubiquitous. This research examined instances where careful interdisciplinary ‘joined-up thinking’ has led to a set of place specific, transit supportive urban designs. Here, the opportunities inherent at the convergence of public transit systems and the human scale public realm have been taken advantage of. This has been achieved through the consideration of issues such as palimpsest, rootedness and place specificity, which have resulted in exemplars of bespoke, transit supportive urban designs. Acknowledgements There are many whom require acknowledgement for their help in the completion of this thesis, from both personal and professional positions. The foci of this research, the urban design of recycled railway corridors, was first examined through a design exercise as opposed to the empirical research it is now. This design exercise was conducted under the tutelage of Dr Timothy Brindley. The task set was to accommodate a relatively large amount of new dwellings on ex-industrial brownfield sites within the city of Leicester. As part of the city-wide site analysis for this project, it soon became apparent that a significant amount of that land use typology were linked, by what it transpired to be, the disused Great Central Railway alignment. This prompted a change in perspective from a city-wide to a regional outlook in order to incorporate sites beyond the city boundary that were linked by what was perceived at the time to be a dormant asset (see below). This design task, and the further questions which it prompted, was in essence, an embryonic exercise for this research. Both this design exercise and the resulting theoretical review (for which Dr Timothy Brindley was also dissertation supervisor), introduced the researcher to the notion of transit supportive urban design theory. This brief exercise in applying ‘Transit Town’ principles as part of a design exercise highlighted the paradigm’s inherent complexities to the researcher. Once the opportunity arose, a Ph.D. proposal was submitted with the intention of examining these complexities in detail. This researcher owes Dr Timothy Brindley a debt of gratitude for recognising the scope of, interest in, and significance in this topic, especially considering other academics were dismissive of the ideas. Personally the researcher has a complex relationship with the issue of disused / recycled railway corridors which can be difficult to articulate without becoming sentimental. The image below is of a dissed railway line close to the Derbyshire / Nottinghamshire boarder. This line, having just passed under a bridge that previously carried the dismantled ‘Ripley Rattler’ tramway, is a spur towards the Loscoe Colliery off the Midland Railway between Nottingham and Sheffield. This Image also shows to the right the garden of my childhood home and to the left housing that was built during the researcher’s lifetime, which turns its back to the disused line. Phenomena such as this have been formative. I have distinct memories of walking this and other ‘railway solemn’ (Association of Train Operating Companies, 2009), wondering what happened to the trains1 and what the future holds for such spaces? A curiosity that is extending through and beyond this research. This curiosity is at the bequest of my late father Alan2, whose intelligence, critical ability and insatiable pursuit of knowledge I could only hope to emulate. I owe a debt of gratitude to my close family; my Mother, Aunt and Partner. Without their patience and considerable financial support this research would not have been possible. This gratitude also extends to my supervisor, Tim Heath. Without his patience, advice, time, support and encyclopaedic knowledge of urban design this research would not have been 1 Other instance of the researcher finding themselves at places that used to be railway lines: Childhood memories of Victoria Bus Station in Nottingham on the site of Victoria Railway Station, attending the re- opening of Langley Mill Railway Station with junior school, playing football adjacent to Newstead Railway Station during the reinstatement work of the Robin Hood Line, visiting a family members house adjacent to the reinstatement work of the Robin Hood Line, working as a labourer in a cabinet making factory on the site of the closed Great Central Railway in Hucknall, walking to university (undergraduate) along a disused line that ran along the bottom of the garden. 2 Who would have most likely been in the same A-level group as one of the key authors in this text, had he been allowed to attend sixth form college at the age of 16, as opposed to going straight into work for Raleigh, at the site that is now the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus. possible either. Further, I have enjoyed our deliberations over, what I hope, has been a mutually interesting topic. My gratitude also extends to Dr Kim Lawson, whose advice, coaching and compassion have enabled the completion of this thesis. To Alan for Sam & Georgie As our home town of Nottingham’s motto states: Vivit Post Funera Virtus Contents LIST OF TABLES 10 LIST OF FIGURES 11 1 INTRODUCTION 14 1.1 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 15 1.2 THEORETICAL CONTEXT 20 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS, AIMS & SCOPE 27 1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION 31 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THIS RESEARCH 32 1.6 PURPOSE STATEMENT 32 2. RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS & URBAN DESIGN THEORY 34 2.1 CRITICAL REGIONALISM AS THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 37 2.2 TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT 52 2.3 THE ‘SOCIAL CITY REGION’ & RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 65 2.4 THE ‘HUMAN SCALE, ‘WALKABLE’ PLACES AND RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 76 2.5 THE REGIONAL SCALE: ALONG-THE-LINE 86 2.6 THE NEIGHBOURHOOD SCALE; AT-THE-NODE 101 3. RESEARCH CONCEPTUALISATION, DESIGN & EXECUTION 116 3.1 PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS 117 3.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK & THE RESEARCH CONCEPTUALISATION 120 3.3 QUALITATIVE INQUIRY & CASE STUDY DESIGN 128 3.4 DATA COLLECTION SOURCES 134 3.5 DATA COLLECTION PROTOCOLS 142 3.6 METHODOLOGICAL LITERATURE & ANALYTICAL STRATEGY 150 3.7 REFLECTION AND EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS 155 3.8 SUMMARY 170 4. THE THREE CASE STUDIES 171 5. THE URBAN DESIGN OF RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS AT THE REGIONAL SCALE 182 5.1 ECOLOGICAL FEATURES AND RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 183 5.2 STRATEGIC GROWTH AND RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 189 5.3 PUBLIC TRANSIT CORRIDOR AND URBAN MORPHOLOGY 203 5.4 RELATIONSHIP TO BROADER TRANSPORT NETWORK 206 5.5 INTERRUPTIONS TO DISUSED/RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 223 5.6 LAND USE AND RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 228 5.7 CYCLE PATHS AND RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 250 5.8 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOPOGRAPHY AND RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 256 5.9 PRE-EXISTING ENGINEERING INFRASTRUCTURE 259 6. THE URBAN DESIGN OF RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS AT THE NEIGHBOURHOOD SCALE 265 6.1 ‘CITY CENTRE’ RRC NODE CONTEXT 267 6.2 ‘CITY-INNER AREA’ RRC NODE CONTEXT 272 6.3 ‘CITY SUBURBS’ RRC NODE CONTEXT 280 6.4 SMALL TOWN & NEW COMMUNITY RRC NODE CONTEXT 289 6.5 MIXED URBAN-RURAL RRC NODE CONTEXT 304 6.6 ‘REMOTE RURAL’ RRC NODE CONTEXT 309 6.7 ANOMALOUS RRC NODE CONTEXTS 312 7. AN URBAN DESIGN PERSPECTIVE ON RECYCLED RAILWAY CORRIDORS 315 BIBLIOGRAPHY 330 List of Tables Table 1.1 Cross Reference between Theoretical Context of this Research and Theoretical Works Used Table 1.2 Summary of Contemporary UK Transit Networks that Relate to RRCs Table 1.3 Summary of Case Study Corridor Lengths and Node Tallies Table 2.1 Overview of Theories relevant to this research Table 2.2 Summary of T.O.D. Principles in Relation to Research Questions Table 2.3 Opponents and Counter Arguments to T.O.D. Table 2.4 Jacobson & Forsyth’s 12 Principles of Good Urban Design at T.O.D.s Table 2.5 S.C.R. Land Use & Transport Categories and RRCs Table 2.6 Hall & Ward’s 12 Building Blocks of their ‘Sustainable Social Cities of Tomorrow’ and RRCs Table 2.7 Summary of Literature Regarding ‘Ecological Features’ Table 2.8 Summary of Theoretical Themes Pertaining to Territories Along-the-Line of RRCs Table 2.9 Summary of Theoretical Themes Pertaining to Area Types At-the-Node of RRCs Table 3.1 Data Source and Research Question Table 4.1 RRC / Node Summary Table 5.1 Summary of S.C.R.