Summer 2016 Urban Design Group Journal 13UR 9 BAN ISSN 1750 712X DESIGN TALL BUILDINGS URBAN DESIGN GROUP URBAN DESIGN GROUP NewsUDG NEWS more than this, with people being seen col- Nottingham and Bristol respectively. VIEW FROM THE lectively because of their ‘social values and Noha Nasser and the awards panel CHAIR responsibilities’. As urban designers we are for• continuing to grow the Urban Design members of a community. We share similar Awards. values and take on the duty of improving the Ben van Bruggen and Amanda Reynolds quality of life for people who live and work for• their ongoing stewardship of the Recog- in cities, towns and villages. nised Practitioner scheme. This is the last View from the Chair that I will I would like to use this last article to Barry Sellers for providing oral evidence write for Urban Design and it gives me an thank people within the Urban Design Group on• the Urban Design Group's behalf at the opportunity to reflect on the last two years community for continuing to strive to raise House of Lords' Built Environment Select of my tenure. The time has flown by! the standards in urban design practice. Lack Committee. At last March’s National Urban Design of space precludes me from mentioning The various regional conveners of events, Awards I pondered with Graham Smith, a everyone but the list includes the following particularly• Paul Reynolds and Philip Cave former lecturer at Oxford Brookes Universi- members of the community: in London; Peter Frankum in Southampton; ty, the use of the word ‘community’ for new Robert Huxford and Kathleen Lucey for Mark Foster and Hannah Harkis in Manches- developments. This term is thrown around the• running and coordination of the Urban ter; Laura Alvarez in the East Midlands; and, on a number of planning application docu- Design Group and Colin Pullan for continu- Andrew Dakin in the South West. ments and marketing material. We were ing to be Treasurer. Not forgetting Alan Stone and Sebastian debating whether it could be said that these Sebastian Loew and Louise Thomas for Loew’s• ever popular study tours. developments are creating new communi- editing• Urban Design, with the support of And Graham Smith for continuing to ties. In literal sense yes, these new develop- the Editorial Board. question• things! ments do contain ‘a group of people living in Laura Alvarez and Andrew Dakin for coor- • the same place’. The term, however, means dinating• the last two national conferences in Katy Neaves nucleated villages each attached to two or many market towns formed around burgage NEW VILLAGEISM three large open fields farmed collectively, plots. There is nothing new about plot- a pattern found in much of central England. based urbanism. How, why and when did these nucleated Medieval villages were settlements for villages develop? Dr. Susan Oosthuizen from people who worked the surrounding fields. In the 1950s there was a great deal of inter- the University of Cambridge argued that They had a system of governance that est in recreating the village environment the governance for collective farming was included collective decision-making, and in new social housing, in the belief that it in place by the time of the Roman invasion, oversight from Church and manorial Lord. might help create a sense of community. as shown by archaeological evidence. She Surplus produce was taxed or traded. The Today the ‘village brand’ is used as a major suggested that the expansion tended to villages were highly organised, and some selling point by developers and politicians happen where there had been a tradition of were formally designed. The vast majority alike. Most recently a council has described arable farming going back to the Roman era were sustainable in all senses of the word. a proposed 12,000 home settlement as a or before, and posed a theory that medi- We impoverish our thinking when we regard village. But what actually is a village? Hop- eval expansion occurred when people were villages only in physical terms. ing to find out more I attended the 2016 invited in by their manorial Lord in order to When we develop greenfield sites, we annual spring conference of the Medieval increase production. should remember that they are things with a Settlement Research Group at Lincoln The conference included a trip to the deep history. Some may still have bounda- University. Hosted by Time Team’s Profes- deserted village of Riseholme, created ries that go back to the Iron age, and be sor Carenza Lewis, the conference ranged in the 12th century as a planned village, served by roads and routes that are older from latest theories through to community designed using the perch as the unit of still. If we intend to emulate a village, we archaeology. measure (5.0m). There is a single straight should think about governance, econom- Greenfield development, by definition, street running east-west, and a row of ics, and social structure as well as physical takes place in fields. In England there are rectangular house plots (or tofts) on either design. two broad patterns of underlying rural set- side, each 20m wide and 40m deep (or 4 by • tlements: one, of dispersed homesteads, 8 perches). The regular design of Riseholme Robert Huxford hamlets and small fields, and the other, of coincides with the deliberate planning of WEDNESDAY 21 SEPTEMBER the city since the last conference was held in DIARY OF EVENTS Tall Buildings London some twenty years ago, how profes- Overcrowded, unhealthy, lacking in greens- sionals of the built environment, develop- pace, and light? Or compact, energy saving, ers and politicians have reacted to these vibrant, and the answer to the challenge of changes and what we can learn for the future. Unless otherwise indicated, all LONDON housing a growing population? This event events are held at The Gallery, 70 Cowcross will debate the issues raised in this edition WEDNESDAY 16 NOVEMBER Street, London EC1M 6EJ at 6.30 pm. of the journal. Food and Urban Design A focus for regeneration? A catalyst for Note that there are many other events 6–7 OCTOBER stronger communities? A contribution to run by UDG volunteers throughout the UK. The National Urban Design Conference reduced food miles and environmental For the latest details and pricing, please Learning from London impact? A means to improve the health check on the UDG website www.udg.org.uk/ This year’s conference will take place at the and wellbeing of the population and events/udg Victory Services Club in London. It will con- reduce obesity? Featuring the theme in sider the changes that have taken place in Urban Design 140. URBAN DESIGN ― SUMMer 2016 ― ISSUe 139 1 Summer 2016 NATIONAL INFLUENCE Urban Design Group Journal LOCAL KNOWLEDGE 13UR 9 BAN ISSN 1750 712X ENVIRONMENTAL MASTERPLANNING GRAPHIC DESIGN PLANNING & URBAN DESIGN DESIGN TALL BUILDINGS Contents TOWN PLANNING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PLANNING & DESIGN This issue has been generously sponsored THE NATIONAL URBAN DESIGN by Barton Willmore AwARDs 2016 36 — Urban Design Awards RESEARCH COVER 38 — Urban Design Awards Student Award London Skyline, Photograph by Sebastian Winner 2016, A New Laurieston by Barton Willmore is the UK’s leading independent planning and design consultancy. From large scale inner city regeneration to urban extensions and the creation of Loew Sama Jabr new communities, we provide everything from conceptual proposals, to Urban Design strategies and Development Frameworks, all based upon analysis, evaluation and engagement. URBAN DESIGN To find out more, please visit www.bartonwillmore.co.uk GROUP FUTURE ISSUES BOOK REVIEWS URBAN DESIGN UD 140 Food and the City 40 — Towns and Cities: Function in Form GROUP UD 141 Africa – Urban Structures, Economics and Urban Design Group Society, Julian Hart CHAIR Katy Neaves UPDATE 40 — 101 Rules of Thumb, For Sustainable PATRONS Irena Bauman, Alan Baxter, 3 — Building Better Places Buildings and Cities, Huw Heywood Dickon Robinson, Helle Søholt, Lindsey 3 — Latin America 41 — How to Save our Town Centres: Whitelaw and John Worthington 4 — Delivering Housing for London A Radical Agenda for the Future of 5 — The Place Alliance Big Midlands Meet the High Streets, Julian Dobson Office 5 — The Big Meet 5 41 — Smart About Cities: Visualising the Urban Design Group 6 — Milan and Turin UDG Study Tour Challenge for 21st Century Urbanism, 70 Cowcross Street 8 — My Favourite Plan Maarten Hajer and Ton Dassen London EC1M 6EJ 9 — The Urban Design Library #18 Tel 020 7250 0892 42 — PRACTICE INDEX Email [email protected] VIEWPOINTS 47 — EDUCATION INDEX Website www.udg.org.uk 10 — A House Builder’s Perspective, Nick 49 — EN DPIECE Rogers Street view, Joe Holyoak Editorial Board Matthew Carmona, Richard Cole, TOPIC: TALL BUILDINGS Tim Hagyard, Joe Holyoak, 14 — From Guidance to Action, Ziona Strelitz Sebastian Loew, Daniela Lucchese, 18 — London’s Latest Tall Stories, Tim Jane Manning, Chris Martin, Catchpole Malcolm Moor, Judith Ryser, 20 — Whither London’s Skyline?, David Louie Sieh, Louise Thomas Mathewson 23 — Seeing Capitalism in the View, Günter Editors Gassner Sebastian Loew (this issue) 26 — The Impact of Transport Oriented [email protected] Development, Chris Williamson and Louise Thomas 28 — Dublin’s New Tall Buildings, Michael [email protected] Short Book Review Editor 30 — An Imagined Urban Environment, Jane Manning Charlotte Nyholm 33 — From Void-Deck to Skygarden, Philip Design Oldfield trockenbrot (Claudia Schenk and Anja Sicka) www.trockenbrot.com Printing Henry Ling Ltd © Urban Design Group ISSN 1750 712X Advertising enquiries Please contact the UDG office Material for publication Please send text by email to the editors. Images to be supplied as jpeg URBAN DESIGN ― SUmmer 2016 ― ISSUe 139 2 LEADER Not fit for purpose London has a new Mayor, only the third elected to Several events, also reported in this issue, have that post since the creation of the Greater London taken place recently where these subjects have Authority, and we can only hope that he will be been discussed, together with the Government’s a more effective manager of the capital than his approach to planning and urban design.