Why a manifesto? port loop history Before the arrival of the canal in 1769 the area known as Rotton Park was a vast intentions, parkland used for deer hunting. In the next 50 years the whole of Birmingham was completely transformed into a city of motivations, a thousand trades and became a thriving industrial city with the canal at its declarations heart. Icknield Port Loop owes its existence to the industrial revolution. Part 1 Intro, history, context the manifesto is a bold p02 – 11 Part 2 expression of objectives, The Ten Commandments p12 – 33 ideas & principles, the Part 3 Endpieces, thought leaders story that defines the p34 – 39 development. It’s not the masterplan and it’s not marketing but it will underpin both and inform everything. A shared narrative Our manifesto for Port Loop Island and beyond, and the statements in it, are based The manifesto should be a story we all want on a set of predictions of the future (we know to tell, professionally and personally. An that there are lots of unknowns, and new likely important story, of local and sector interest but disruptors); how people will live, work and also of international and wider public interest. purchase new things, and how they’ll interact A story that resonates with wider narratives for with the spaces they choose to inhabit. the partners and the City. Map of the Birmingham Canal from William Hutton 1783 We talk about the technology that lives in ‘A History of Birmingham’ Not just a slogan our pockets and enables us to subscribe to just about everything that we need to live; A manifesto requires big ideas and genuine technology that will get us from A to B without intent, our idea is a future neighbourhood the need for petrol or steering wheels. We on an island in the inner city (because we discuss flexible housing and flexible working, have an island and because we are planning green streets and spaces to play. It’s about icknield port loop for the future). sustainable living in sustainable spaces. An idea about place Place is about difference, the unique qualities in landscape, architecture and community. We are looking for the defining opportunity presented by a site and Icknield Port Loop 1307 1533 1766 – 1769 1820 – 1827 1830 – 1900 1900 – 1918 1930s 2000s 2017 has an island. Accentuating the island creates unique qualities and unique possibilities. Parc de Rotton juxta The park area becomes Construction of Engineering works The Industrial Revolution The site is added to by The original refuse Mid to late twentieth Work begins to revitalise Birmingham was a large neglected as the De the Birmingham to straightens the canal – creates intense activity the construction of a destructor building is century sees a decline in and regenerate Port Loop. deer hunting park owned Birmingham family lose Wolverhampton canal bypassing the loop and within the loop – canal refuse facility and housing replaced with an Art Deco industry and by the early A new adventure begins. by Birmingham Lords. their manor. creates the loop that effectively creating the workshops, stables, swells to the South East building and exterior ramp twenty-first century the became known as island we know today. boat-yard, repair depot, of the canal loop to – both still standing today. area is run-down, under Icknield Port Loop – chemical factory, accommodate the growing used and widely derelict. taking its name from Edgbaston Reservoir was varnish factory, saw mill, number of people working the nearby Roman built in 1827 by Thomas glassworks and tubeworks in the fully developed Icknield Street. Telford as a top up for the all appear in this period. industrial zone. Birmingham canal system and is still used for that purpose today. 02 03 port loop history the birth of birmingham’s 02 03 01 04 05 01 / Map circa 1887 02 / View of the canal canals & industrial buildings circa 1960 03 / View from Icknield Port Road, present day 04 / Birmingham canal Old Line, present day 05 / Industrial Revolution in Birmingham 06 / Workers on the canal near Oldbury James Brindley date unknown 07 / Present day canal-side signage Canal pioneer (1716-1772). brindley was one of the early canal engineers who 06 worked on some of the first canals of the modern era. He played an essential role The Birmingham to Wolverhampton Canal in shaping the was constructed in 1766-9, engineered by James Brindley on a winding alignment, largely dictated by the contours of the landscape. way canals were This was the first canal in Birmingham. In the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, the Icknield Port Loop area was undeveloped land beyond the built-up area built during of Birmingham. The loop forms a 0.6-mile (1 km) section of the the Industrial eighteenth-century Main Line canal west of the city centre. Port Loop is just one mile from Birmingham Revolution. city centre . 07 04 05 Intro A manifesto for a future port loop Birmingham children’s hospital summerfield park St Phillip’s Cathedral neighbourhood barclaycard arena symphony hall selfridges Birmingham NEw street station on an island* birmingham city FC City University, City South Campus botanical gardens in the inner Birmingham Central Mosque city a select few ‘first mover’ cities will show Future neighbourhood Inner city In the lifetime of our project there will be Neither the cosmopolitan or suburban revolutions in work, transport and leisure cliché – but where we can have a richly every bit as dramatic as industrial and connected life as well as ample space and leadership and grab significant reputational technological revolutions. amenity. Areas of the city where through the decline or displacement of industry, new neighbourhoods can be created that should gains and a share of the people and investment Island rules be models for the present and future. In popular imagination an island is a place where the rules change – where we can create Thought leadership that go with them. our own rules. These rules give us a radical catalyst ideal for By creating strong principles the partners can the wider Icknield area. take a lead in delivering new neighbourhoods, new technologies and sustainable living. Getting our thoughts and actions into the We propose that new strategies must be The current methods of city design date back sustainable future society, we must deploy wider world as exemplars for others to follow. found for creating the places where people to the 17th century, when engineers and city emerging technologies to create a nervous *AND Its live and work, and the mobility systems that planners developed centralized networks system for cities that supports the stability of connect these places, in order to meet the to deliver drinking water, food, and energy. their government, energy, mobility, work, and challenges of the future. To improve life in Similarly structured centralized networks public health networks. surrounding our cities, cities need to become dynamic, were designed to facilitate transportation networked, self-regulating systems that take and remove waste. These infrastructure- Source into account complex interactions. heavy solutions, however, are becoming Changing Places increasingly obsolete. Modern cities MIT Media Lab districts designed around the private automobile, with single-function zoning, are becoming more congested, polluted, and unsafe. Citizens are spending more of their valuable time commuting, and communities are becoming increasingly detached. Many modern cities simply do not function properly. Rather than separate systems by function - water, food, waste, transport, education, energy - we must consider them holistically. Instead of focusing only on access and distribution systems, our cities need dynamic, networked, self-regulating systems that take into account complex interactions. In short, to ensure a 06 07 the blue mind The mindfulness that can be attributed to living near water helps lower stress port loop levels, can create relief canal from mild anxiety, pain and system depression, improved mental water clarity and focus, and better ways sleep quality. transport links leisure since ancient times wellbeing establishing somewhere to live revolved around access Water has a calming effect on our minds. Marine biologist, Wallace J. Nichols, to water. that subconcious thinks we have a tendency to yearn for the sensory effects of water — physical need resides in us in his words; “a mildly meditative state characterized by calm, peacefulness, uni- today as a desire to see, ty, and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life in the moment” — hear and feel water. is triggered when we’re in or near water. port loop is a community where water is fundamental to its history and the key to its future. Transport links Leisure Exercise Floating homes Floating gardens Water taxis Canal boating Canoeing & Kayaking Dedicated residential moorings Communal gardens Paddle to work Sailing Canal path walks & rides Vistor moorings Communal allotments exercise Canal boating Kayaks & canoes wellbeing Trade routes Canalside strolls Canalside bike rides Trip boats A YouGov survey conducted in 10 countries Floating retail across four continents shows that one Tourist opportunities colour – blue – is the most popular across the board. Between 23% (in Indonesia) and 33% (in Great Britain) like blue most out of the colours listed, putting it 8-18 points ahead of any other colour. When asked people associate the words ‘Harmony’, ‘depth’, ‘wisdom’ and ‘calmness’ with the colour. Researchers believe that this love of blue is deeply rooted in all