Main news
New Jobs – JTP London, Place Logic – Winchester/London, Future of London, + others
Free conference on regeneration in Liverpool 19/20 October
Value and Design in the South East Kent –Seminar Report
Two conferences on cars in cities and technology
Cities: the best place to strive for sustainability
Eight signs of an upcoming area / from the Urban Design Group
A free service for all individuals and organisations who care about life in cities towns and villages ………
planners – landscape architects – architects – conservation practitioners – engineers –surveyors – masterplanners – managers – urban designers - urbanists – health professionals - politicians – public
Urban design – the design of towns and cities – streets and spaces
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The National Conference on Urban Design 2015 - Bristol 8-9-10 October
Development, Design and Profit in C21
Supported by
RICS - RTPI - RIBA
RSA - LI – AoU - ULI / 170 for Conference
Reports next week
Design and Value
Design South East Conference explores the links
A century ago East Kent was flourishing. It had had a major tourist industry with paddle steamers travelling down the Thames taking thousands of visitors to see its coastlines and attractions. Fine Victorian and Edwardian architecture graced elegant seaside resorts. with ballrooms, theatres, pleasure grounds ad winter gardens all supported by hundreds of hotels and guest houses and tens of thousands of jobs. The First World War saw east Kent become a major military base and transit zone, with extensive and expanding port facilities. But from the 1960s onwards, with the growth of package holidays to places with guaranteed sunshine there was a steady down turn causing the tourist industry to collapse, and high streets to go into decline, a problem worsened by the creation of major out of town centres. But East Kent is determined to restore its economy. And a conference run by Kent Design has explored what can be done. Chaired by Design South East director Chris Lamb, began by considering how developers can capitalize on the attractions of the area in the face of low values.Tim Ingleton (Head of Inward Investment, Dover District Council) explained that the area had survived a serious reversal with the closure of a major and new Pfizer facility in 2001 at Richborough. The site was re-invented as “Discovery Park” with Enterprise zone status, and is currently home to over 120 international science/pharmaceutical firms and support companies, with 2-3 firms arriving every week.
Abby Raymond (Head of Built Environment, Thanet District Council) said that Thanet District Council is intending to make more of its coastline and cultural heritage to support the local economy and is considering creating further Enterprize Zones.
Small is beautiful was the key message of Yolande Barnes (Director of World Research, Savills), opening a session examining whether design can be a game changer in East Kent. Offering Austin, Texas as an example, she said that the towns and cities that succeeded in the digital age were those which kept a human scale – a factor which played to the strengths of East Kent’s towns. Highlighting the sustainable urbanism of Canterbury she urged developers to exploit East Kent’s combination of exceptional connections with attractive, people-based towns.
John Letherland (Partner, Farrells)explained what is happening in Folkestone. By searching for clues (history, natural environment), designers and masterplanners can begin to build new identities that are nevertheless authentic and rooted in a place’s past. Farrells’ masterplan for Folkestone’s seafront was adopting a low-tech approach – extending the creative quarter and existing streets towards the seafront through a plan that mimicked Folkestone’s existing jumble of volumes and colour.
Summing up the conference, Chris Lamb encouraged delegates to consider how a combination of proactive planning and a recognition of East Kent’s uniqueness can bring about growth, increased values, and a continued focus on place in the region.
For the full report please see.
Urban Design Awards
– Developer Award
– Public Sector Award
Do you know any developers or public bodies who you think should enter the 2016 awards?
if so
please let them know and please encourage them to enter!
Full details of how to apply:
Developer Award
- Deadline 30 October 2015
Student Award
£600 Francis Tibbalds Prize
Deadline 9 November 2015
Shortlisting of practice awards is currently underway
Urban Design Current Edition
The City as Master Developer
Available to UDG Members by Subscription
The new edition of Urban Design is being posted this week. / Reconnections – Liverpool 19 20th October
Free conference
convened by Rob Burns Liverpool’s Urban Design and Heritage Manager
'Reconnections is a FREE two-day event organised jointly between Liverpool City Council and Maritime Heritage Trust, in conjunction with Belfast and Cardiff City Councils, and is the first of a trio of conferences.
Day 1 is concerned with the approach of how ideas of identity, place and cultural heritage can play a part in development and regeneration projects that help preserve distinctiveness. Connections refers to the thread of cultural heritage from the past through to the future of cities like Liverpool, Belfast and Cardiff- all three of which are planning major projects.
The day begins with a keynote address from Professor Richard Williams, and will explore the key themes, and this is followed by case studies from each city.
John Belchem will speak on Liverpool's roots and development, and Alona Martinez-Perez will re- examine the 'Guggenheim effect' of Bilbao and assess its impact and relevance now.
Pete Swift will talk about 'Liverpoolness' and how its key characteristics have informed plans for the city centre extension of Liverpool Waters.
The programme and booking information can be found at-
The Intelligent City Mobility Event 2015,
12th November - KIA Oval, London
Discounted places for UDG members, up to 30 per cent off
A major one-day event including three conferences
Pick and mix the best sessions for your needs
- The Car & the City
- Parking World
- Space & Place
Book online at quote PromocodeCAC2015
Discover the implications for city authorities
Intelligent connectivity is changing when, how and why we use cars
Politics is changing
Car journeys which have historically topped the modal split are being challenged as unacceptably noisy, polluting, space-grabbing and potentially dangerous
Plan now for the future
The automobile is a highly adaptive technology. In the very near future the car become a sustainable, efficient and acceptable element of integrated urban mobility?
The Intelligent City Mobility event 2015 will answer key questions:
- What are the possible futures for improved car-based urban mobility?
- Can we liberate the vast spaces required to move and to park cars?
- What needs to change to ensure that smart, connected and shared cars provide real civic benefit?
- How can city leadership positively shape future mobility for work, living and leisure?
- How should we plan as the model mix on our roads changes?
- Should changes be market or policy driven?
- What does the roadmap for change look like, and who is making key decisions?
Other events
The number of events is on the wane as we approach the holiday period, but there are still events to go to for those that seek them…
Academy of Urbanism
Learning from Europe
November 5 6:30 pm-9:00 pm
The Urbanism Awards Ceremony
November 6 12:00 pm-5:00 pm
Booking now open!
BOBMK Events
Future of Transport and Innovation
November/ December 2015
Landscape Institute
Rethinking the Urban Landscape Exhibition
At the National Urban Design Conference
8-10 October
MADE
Healthy Lives, Healthy Cities – NMM Birmingham
20th October
West Midlands Urban Design Forum
Museum of Walking
Norton Folgate Lost with Tom BoltonWednesday 11 November 6.00pm – 8.00pm
PTRC
An Introduction to Highway Design & Construction
The Principles of Traffic and Transport 20-Week Evening Lecture Series, London and Bristol
Urban Design London
Events coming up – extensive programme some free, some charged/ £175+VAT (Free for subscribers)Cycling Infrastructure Skills: Visiting and Learning from Proposed and Completed Schemes - 2nd October
Challenging Practice: Evolving Suburbs
6th October
Design South East / Kent Design
Event Calendar
Garden City II Eastgate,
Springhead Park
28 October
Designing Kent's Infrastructure
Maidstone
19 November
Place Alliance
The Big Meet
27 October
CIRIA
Valuing urban ecology and city resilience
3 November 2015, London
/ Latest Lectures
on UrbanNous
New
Weather in the City – How Design Shapes the Urban Climate
SandaLenzholzer
All urban designers, architects planners, and highway engineers should have a knowledge of this subject.
Urbanism: Improving quality and value
The importance of product, land and money
Yolande Barnes - Savills
Garden Cities Past and Present.
Potential morphologies explored.
Dominic Papa S333 Architecture and Urbanism
Garden Cities: Is there a Business Case?
Jim Coleman, BuroHappold
Health and Urban Design
Lucy Saunders, GLA, TFL
UrbanNous Catalogue available on-line
Highlights include Christopher Alexander, George Ferguson, Hans Monderman and scores of others.
Jobs
Business Development Manager - Urban Planning - PLACE LOGIC
Urban Designer - JTP London Studio
Senior Urban Designer - Barton Willmore
Urban Designer - SLR Consulting - Bristol
Urban Designer - West Waddy
Leaders Programme Coordinator- Future of London
Opportunities for creative Urban Designers - Savills Urban Design - Southampton - Oxford
Tender Alerts
Bolsover District Regeneration Frameworks Shirebrook and South Normanton
Bolsover District Regeneration Frameworks Bolsover and Clowne
Architecture and Design Scotland
ESpace to Succeed – 24th
Landor
Parking World – Car in the City - Space and Place
11 November
/
PROJECT OF THE WEEK
Public Realm Renewal, Swindon
Nicholas Pearson Associates
Nicholas Pearson Associates was appointed by Swindon Borough Council to deliver a comprehensive renewal of Canal Walk and Regent Street – key pedestrian thoroughfares within Swindon’s town centre. The brief was to provide a holistic revitalisation of the public realm to serve as a stimulus for Swindon’s retail economy
We led a winning concept bid which was then developed through consultation and detailed design. We were involved throughout the construction phase, providing site support to the contract. The process achieved a CEEQUAL excellent award.
The design included a common palette of robust materials to aid cohesiveness in the town centre. Individual street identity and sense of place was reinforced by evoking elements of the town’s history. These include the Wilts and Berks Canal, which was abandoned in 1914 and later filled-in to accommodate the commercial development of Canal Walk, whilst in Regent Street the historic tram lines, abandoned in the 1920s, were reinterpreted with modern materials.
Natural elements including water, trees and living walls now provide an attractive retail setting and improve the local micro-climate. Lighting was integrated into the design and forms an engaging aspect of the renewal with LED strips embedded in the paving reacting to rainfall and to passing pedestrians. The result is a dynamic environment which encourages people to dwell in the town centre for longer periods of the day and into the evening.
A Colliers International survey, identified that pedestrian footfall increased in Regent Street by 6.6% - the highest increase of all town centres surveyed at the time.
Read more
Call for Papers
Regional Urbanism in the Era of Globalisation
Deadline 15th October
Silk Cities Exchange Workshop
Free one day event
29/10 UCL
The importance of the Linear Forest
A day devoted to the possibility of creating a tree-lined roadscape against the conservatism of highway design and road safety audit.
25th November Kew
Urban Design around the World
China
China’s sponge cities: soaking up water to reduce flood risksThe murky business of fancy streetlamps
New Zealand
Can Auckland ever deliver affordable housing?South Africa
Grappling with the legacy of apartheid designUK
Urban Splash and Places for People announced as partners for IcknieldPortLoop developmentAre Self-Build Homes The Answer To London's Housing Crisis?
How skyscrapers are killing great cities
USA
Which Comes First, the Park or the People?Here Are The Skyscrapers Set To Change Chicago's Skyline
New zoning code aims to freshen up city storefronts
Former dumpster dweller launches affordable smart homes for urban millennials
How Bad Urban Design Makes San Diego Feel Unsafe
When the Morning Commute Becomes a Public ArtExperience
Building Back Rockaway Using Nature As a Guide
Ranked: 10 Most Emotionally Stable U.S. Cities
Vietnam
Vietnam Hopes Subways Will Ease Traffic/
Latest Research, Policy and Practice
Transport
New SafePath app alerts cyclists to route hazardsNano-particle dust from vehicle tyres linked to lung damage
The effect is related to the size of dose, the smaller particles are the most damaging, and accumulate progressively in dendritic cells.
Health
In-person contact is critical to seniors' mental well-beingHeavy internet use may put teens at risk for high blood pressure
New study reveals limited public understanding of dementia globally
Study: Burnout impacts transplant nurses
Rebates a cost-effective way to boost healthy eating among low-income people, study finds
Happy head, happy heart: Positive emotions may promote heart-healthy behaviours
Battling obesity in the classroom with exercise
Environment
Emissions targets out of reach without a massive technological shift in basic industriesFrom trees to power: McMaster engineers build better energy storage device
Cities: the best place to strive for sustainability
The social roots of risk: How vulnerable are we?
Politics Philosophy Economics
Eight signs of an upcoming area1) Delicatessens-Trendy food chains suggest there is growing disposable income in the area
2) Estate agents - The presence of estate agent branches indicate the area is growing fast
3) Tube lines - Transport links close to expensive postcodes draw in buyers
4) Young professionals - Younger demographics often need to be close to shops and transport links
5) Local amenities - Shops and restaurants will draw in areas
6) Low crime rates - Areas perceived to be safe will always be popular
7) Aspirational street names - Evocative addresses will draw in future buyers
8) Celebrity haunts - Sightings of the rich and famous can increase the allure of an area
This e-mail newsletter is sent to members of the Urban Design Group and to friends and colleagues who share a common interest in improving life in cities, towns and villages. It may not represent the views of the UDG. If you would like to receive a copy direct please email
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