04 TRANSFORMING THE CITY FOR ENGAGEMENT DRAFT Image © Tom Joy 43 TRANSFORMING THE CITY | LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY 04 4.0 APPLYING OUR PRINCIPLES Our Principles are broad and ambitious guidelines, which aim to set a course for how we will transform our spaces in years to come. This strategy also Arena considers how our principles could be applied. Civic Hall This part of the strategy illustrates how public realm across Leeds may evolve in relation to our principles and defines a number of Intervention Areas which will allow the delivery of public realm to be coherent and coordinated. Town Hall 4.1 GATEWAYS AND Bus Station LANDMARKS City Square The plan shows the city centre’s key arrival points and Corn gateways. In applying our principles to these locations Exchange we will: • create public spaces that are of a high quality, legible and accessible for pedestrians and cyclists, particularly River Aire where people arrive in the city, including around the central ‘Public Transport Box’ and around important landmark buildings; • celebrate the rich history, culture and diversity of Leeds Leeds Dock within public space to reinforce the city’s identity; • Provide comfortable and hospitable environments FOR ENGAGEMENT for people and readdress the interface between vehicle, cycle and pedestrian access. DRAFT 44 04 LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY | TRANSFORMING THE CITY 4.2 A CITY ON THE MOVE The plan identifies key areas of the city centre to reconnect, including the north and south banks of the River Aire and outer edge of the city rim. In Innovation District Northgate applying our principles to address these wider city connections we will: • stitch the city centre and the South Bank together, with Mabgate attractive and inviting pedestrian and cycling crossing opportunities and public spaces along the river banks; • ensure river crossings and viaduct underpasses provide clearly recognisable gateway elements within the city, reinforcing local character and Quarry Hill wayfinding to aid walking and cycling; West End • provide cycle routes, including those proposed as part of the City Connect scheme, and others to form an integrated and attractive part of the street hierarchy and aesthetic; Railway • ensure peripheral city developments are clearly linked to the city centre by attractive and safe walking and cycling routes. River Aire South Bank West FOR ENGAGEMENT South Bank Central Hunslet Riverside DRAFT 45 TRANSFORMING THE CITY | LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY 04 4.3 CITY RESILIENCE The plan identifies specific sites and areas where significant contributions can be made to support city resilience. In applying our principles to these locations we will: • integrate ambitious and landscape-led surface water management approaches into streets and public spaces, including sustainable drainage systems, tree planting and more extensive areas of planting, utilising the city’s sloping topography to create inter-connected systems; • ensure key public spaces such as City Square and the future City Park are to be designed as ‘Urban Sponges’ that attenuate and slowly discharge rainwater before it is released into the sewer system; • clearly integrate ‘Active Transit’ including walking and cycling, into the design of principal streets and afforded greater priority within the street use hierarchy; City Square • explore the potential for Leeds to become an exemplar city East End in the use and provision of rain gardens to aid surface water storage and management following on from the successful delivery of Sovereign Square rain garden. River Aire City Park FOR ENGAGEMENT DRAFT 46 04 LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY | TRANSFORMING THE CITY 4.4 CULTURE IN OUR SPACES The plan identifies the city centre event spaces used by the council and other organisations for events and activities. These play an important role in bringing our spaces to life and promoting a positive image of the city. In applying Our Principles we will: Millennium • design streets and spaces to foster a street culture, allowing people Square to participate in public life; • ensure existing and future public spaces within the city will form a Dortmund network of interconnected public assets rather than isolated assets, Square offering a greater variety of uses, including play, physical activity Park temporary installations and access to nature; Square • ensure key city locations including City Square, Dortmund Square, Victoria Square and outside the Corn Exchange, along with principal streets such as the Headrow and the river banks, offer more attractive environments and increased opportunities to be inhabited City Square Corn Exchange by a variety of programmable and incidental public activities; East End • ensure that the design of our spaces accommodates the Sovereign requirements of a digital SMART city and the appropriate Square infrastructure for both programmable and pop-up, temporary events, thereby supporting the lead up and delivery of Leeds 2023; • assist the city in meeting our Child Friendly Leeds ambition. City Park FOR ENGAGEMENT DRAFT 47 TRANSFORMING THE CITY | LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY 04 4.5 SETTING THE BENCHMARK The quality of public realm relates to the physical and psychological comfort it offers people. It also reflects aesthetic enjoyment from public art, architecture and history, a sense of belonging and civic pride. PEOPLE FIRST THIS IS LEEDS EVERYONE WELCOME A diverse range of optional activities such as physical activity to quiet relaxation take place in high quality environments. In ensuring that we deliver inclusive, vibrant and world class public realm we need to ensure that we embed an integrated, sustained and visionary approach to urban design focused on public realm. Using this approach we will increase economic performance, increase activity and occupation, increase cycling and walking activity and create a more liveable city centre. Jan Gehl says that whilst people will only do what they need to in poor quality public spaces, an additional ‘wide range of optional activities’ will occur in high quality spaces ‘because place and situation now invite people to stop, eat play etc.’ Gehl 2001. © HafenCity Hamburg GmbH/Thomas Hampel Champs de Mars and the Eiffel Tower, Paris Central Park, New York © Shutterstock.com Using renowned international, national, local and regional exemplar public realm examples as benchmarks, alongside our principles we will be guided by quality and good practice to ensure that our spaces become instantly recognisable and play a part in shaping the vision for other towns and cities public realm as well as our own. FOR ENGAGEMENT Brygge harbour, Copenhagen © Henning Thomsen Peace Gardens and Town Hall, Sheffield © Shutterstock.com Spiral Fountain at Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia © Shutterstock.com DRAFT 48 04 LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY | TRANSFORMING THE CITY BETTER CONNECTED GREENER FUTURE BRING IT TO LIFE ECONOMIC SENSE Cycle superhighway on Vauxhall Bridge, London © Shutterstock.com Solar powered supertrees, Marina Gardens, Singapore Outside Lands Festival at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco City Park Mirror Pool, Bradford FOR ENGAGEMENT © West 8, Simcoe Wavedeck at Toronto Central Waterfront © Grey to Green Sheffield Tour de France Grand Depart, Leeds Central Park, Manhattan, New York © Shutterstock.com DRAFT 49 TRANSFORMING THE CITY | LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY 04 4.5 APPLYING OUR PRINCIPLES: KEY INTERVENTIONS A number of key intervention areas have been identified which provide opportunities to introduce our principles to specific streets, public spaces and highway infrastructure across Leeds. 3 The intervention areas are separated into distinct parts of the city 4 with their own unique characteristics, use and function. Individually, 5 each area has the potential to integrate a range of city principles, applying these to the future design of the areas to transform them into more inclusive, vibrant, world class public realm. 2 Pedestrian core 6 1 Train Station Arrival 1 2 Western Business District 7 3 Civic Heart 10 4 Arena Quarter 5 Mabgate 8 9 6 Cultural Quarter FOR ENGAGEMENT 7 Kirkgate and The Calls 8 South Bank: City 9 South Bank West: Holbeck 10 City Riverside DRAFT 50 04 LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY | TRANSFORMING THE CITY Civic Heart – Millennium Square Arena Quarter Mabgate Western Business District City Square Quarry Hill FOR ENGAGEMENT City Riverside South Bank Kirkgate DRAFT 51 TRANSFORMING THE CITY | LEEDS OUR SPACES STRATEGY 04 1 TRAIN STATION ARRIVAL More space for pedestrians WHAT COULD and opportunities for rain THE FUTURE gardens along East Parade LOOK LIKE? Partial pedestrianisation of Greek Street creating a new public space Create a new public space along East Parade, with improved crossing to York Place. Re-imagine Blackhouse Square Narrowing of Park Row carriageway to create a more pedestrian and cycle friendly route from City Square up to the Headrow and beyond. Explore potential to integrate SUDS into the streetscape along north-south orientated streets, including Park Row, utilising the sloping topography Explore the potential for greening parts of Briggate Less vehicle access to section of Reduce traffic on Wellington Street Re-design of City Square to create an Quebec Street to make internationally renown, world class space for linear gardens landmark public space Reduction in carriageway width and integration of tree planting, cycleways and SUDS to key Secondary access junctions and crossings along Boar Lane improved as part of LISM Improve Bishopsgate steps Review of bus stops and improve pedestrian