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Urban Design Update 24th November 2008

28th Nov 2008

Urban Design Update 24th November 2008 for everyone who cares about life in cities towns and villages Latest information from around the globe on new policy, law, research, jobs and events that affect designing, managing and maintaining life in cities, towns and villages – plus weekly monitor of government websites in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – with html links to the sources. (click on the light grey text) In this edition of urban design update News and research • Suite of research on why drivers speed • World Urban Forum - detailed report • Urban trees shown to reduce run-off Government round up • Wales – sustainable development plan • Suite of research on why drivers speed Watch past UDG events on-line You can view past UDG events on the UrbanNous website http://www.urbannous.org.uk/udgevents.htm Sponsored by ROGER EVANS ASSOCIATES and urbaninitiatives UDG Liverpool Conference presentations now available to download http://www.urban-design-group.org.uk/udg2/conference-2008-urban-connectivity.htm World Urban Forum Nanjing – Special report Report for the UDG by Geoffrey Payne, GPA November 03-06 was probably not a good time to expect decisions to be made on an urban planning application, housing project proposal or academic thesis. About 7,000 of the world’s leading urban planners, policy makers, academics, NGO staff and researchers took time out to converge on Nanjing, in South-East China, for the fourth World Urban Forum (WUF4), This bi-annual UN-Habitat event was held in the first year when humanity officially became more urban than rural. The overwhelming majority of urban growth is in developing countries, which could triple their entire urban built-up areas by 2030, from 200,000 to 600,000 sq. km. This 400,000 sq. km. increase would match the world’s combined urban area in 2004. Few urban centres have been planned to absorb these numbers. The result is a growing urbanization of poverty (UN 2008). Such a transformation of human society over such a short period presents an unprecedented challenge to policy makers, professionals and the residents themselves, though you would never realise this from the low level of funding and interest shown by donor agencies. Full article – please follow the link below http://www.urban-design-group.org.uk/udg2/downloads/The%20Fourth%20World%20Urban%20Forum%20-%20The_world_comes_to_town%20final1.doc MONDAY, 8th DECEMBER 2008 UDG Christmas Celebration at Dr Johnson's House Please note change to previously advertised date and venue The Urban Design Group wishes to invite you to join us for an evening of festive cheer and bonhomie at Dr Johnson’s House. This beautifully restored 18th century house is one of the few of its age still surviving in the City of London. The home of Samuel Johnson from 1748 to 1759, it was here that he compiled the first comprehensive English Dictionary. The evening will include a special private tour of the house, followed by a wine and a canapé reception. The UDG Director and Chairman will also give heir reflection on the past twelve months in urban design. "Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." Time & Date & Time: Monday 8th December 2008, 6.30-9pm Venue: Dr. Johnson’s House, 17 Gough Square, London, EC4A 3DE (200 metres north of Fleet Street) Price: £15.00, including tour, wine and light buffet and 18th century insult. Advance booking essential. Please contact Louise or Robert in the UDG Office to reserve your place: admin@udg.org.uk by 3rd December Recognised Practitioner in Urban Design –Consultation – What are your thoughts Step 1 - download the draft proposal and guidance http://www.urban-design-group.org.uk/udg2/recognised-practitioner.htm Step 2 have your say through this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=DUbaTNUzNfXl6rmV9C4RCQ_3d_3d Urban design alliance launches Capacitycheck Capacitycheck has been developed as a method of identifying the astonishingly wide range of skills that may need to be brought to bear in quality placemaking. It can act as an aid to personal development, or helping to identify the skills needed when procuring services. Copies of the Capacitycheck method can be downloaded on www.capacitycheck.co.uk which also contains details of how to obtain hard copies. Urban Design Alliance www.udal.org.uk Partners in quality placemaking Events Diary December 3rd December 2008 – London – RUDI 2nd Conference on Placemaking Remaking Places – RUDI Unlocking potential: Finding the right solutions to today’s economic, social and environmental challenges This event will look at new techniques of planning, urban design and development that have begun to emerge to re-engineer and remodel the built environment and road/ transport infrastructure of the 20th century http://www.rudi.net/pages/20177 9.00 Registration and coffee 9.30 Welcome, introduction and report from Remaking Places 1 by morning chair Michael Hebbert, Professor of Town Planning, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, and Editor of Progress in Planning Session one: Making places successful: The challenge of remaking ineffective areas 9.45 Priorities for re-making places: Changing needs and environmental demands Hank Dittmar, Chief Executive, Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment (invited) 10.10 Empowering communities: Public involvement and neighbourhood planning Nick Wates, Director, Nick Wates Associates & Editor, Communityplanning.net 10.30 Encouraging creative solutions to open up new possibilities John Letherland, Urban Design Director, Farrells 11.00 Questions and discussion 11.20 Morning coffee Session two: Finding solutions: Releasing the full potential of projects & sites 11.40 The current property development market: The outlook for funding and investment Yolande Barnes, Director of Research, Savills 12.00 Unlocking hidden potential in assets and sites Richard Coppell, Development Manager, Lend Lease 12.20 Funding opportunities: The Bankside story Peter Williams, Senior Partner, The means LLP & Chief Executive, Better Bankside BID 12.40 Questions and discussion 13.05 Lunch Session three: Re-making retail: Planning for the future retail 14.10 What’s happening in retail? Current trends and future predictions Steve Norris, Partner, Strategic Perspectives LLP, Guest Lecturer, Oxford Institute for Retail Management and Visiting Fellow, School of Management and Marketing, University of Surrey 14.30 The evolving retail environment: Planning & designing for future shopping Richard Rees, Director, Urbanism Group, Building Design Partnership (BDP) 14.50 Question and discussion 15.20 Afternoon tea Session four: Re-invigorating places: Techniques to achieve measurable impact for failing areas 15.45 The Aldgate Gyratory: Removing a failing road system to meet changing needs Dana Skelley, Interim Director of Road Network Management, Transport for London (invited) 16.05 Making connections: Creating new pedestrian paths and re-shaping the centre in Newport Eluned Jones, Principal Urban Designer & Stephen Fitzgibbon, Projects & Design Manager, Newport City Council (invited) 16.25 Neighbourhood revival: The Angell Town experience Ian Bentley, Emeritus Professor of Urban Design, Oxford Brookes University, and co-author of Identity by Design 16.45 Question and discussion 17.10 Close of conference Full brochure http://www.rudi.net/files/RM2-final-web.pdf 8th December UDG Christmas Party 2009 events… Tuesday 20th January afternoon event Manual for Main Streets – UDG/IHIE Wednesday 21ST January evening event Design for Play and Education 22- 24 April, 2009 - England Second International Conference on Whole Life Urban Sustainability and its Assessment - Call for Papers Abstracts are invited covering any of the following conference themes:  Urban planning and design for sustainability  Sustainable buildings: design, performance and assessment  Quality of life in the urban environment  Stakeholder participation  Urban sustainability and the move to low carbon developments  Measures, assessment theory, complexity and uncertainty http://sue-mot.org Urban Design London Training Season – Third season The season runs until March 09. There are over 40 different events, from foundation level seminars to master-classes and guided site visits. During the last season there were over 800 individual learning sessions with people coming from 84 organisations including 32 of London's 33 Boroughs. If you would like to get involved, please book at www.urbanevents.org.uk or go to www.urbandesignlondon.com Government Round-up England Extent of Retail development in England During 2006, a total of 1.2 million m2 of retail floorspace was built in England, a 14 per cent decrease on the amount of floorspace built in 2005 and nearly half of the amount built in 1990. 26 per cent was built within town centres in England and 42 per cent was built within town centre and edge-of-centre locations (de-fined by a buffer of 300m around the town centre). http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/retaildevelopment2006 £750,000 for the creation of Urban Parishes in England http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1063051 Case Studies in the use of the Local Authority Power of Wellbeing Examples include social housing, the establishment of a development agency, and projects on renewable energy and waste management http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/practicalwellbeingpower Housing Starts.. 2008 September Quarter down 33 percent on 2007, private sector starts down 55 percent http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/housebuildingQ32008 Dft consultation on improving compliance on drink driving, seatbelt wearing, drug driving and careless driving http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/compliance/ Road safety research report: The Conditions for Inappropriate High Speed: A Review of the Research Literature from 1995 to 2006 http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme2/conditions.pdf The severity of injuries sustained in an accident is directly related to the speed of impact. This report reviews the research on the classifying the types of person that speeds and why: including reactive drivers, reactive drivers A quantitative analysis identifies fairly distinct groups of drivers: a generally speed-limit compliant group (52%), a moderate speeder group (33%) and an excessive speeder group (14%). Seventeen per cent of all drivers say they really enjoy driving fast and that it will always be difficult for them to keep to the speed limit. http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme2/safety93.pdf Interaction between Speed Choice and Road Environment – DfT Research Paper Treatments generally achieved better results if there was a reason for drivers to slow down (e.g. a sharp bend or a junction) or clearly defined change of speed limit (e.g. a village entry). http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme4/interaction/ The study looked at conventional road safety measures, involving lines and signs, rather than the latest approaches of reducing carriageway width and shortening visibility splays outlined in Manual for Streets, the elimination of signs and lines; or shared surface Shared Space techniques. Forecasting Travel Time Variability in Urban Areas This report deals with the application of the recommended model to recently appraised urban highway schemes in order to assess the potential impact of including TTV (travel time values)within an economic appraisal. The model uses a value for time spent commuting of £5.02 per hour, and of £26.43 for business journeys (2002 prices) http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/economics/rdg/traveltimevariability/d2.pdf Ireland Reforms to quality of rented accommodation announced http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/MainBody,18898,en.htm Scotland “Carbon capture ready” proposed for new fossil based power stations over 300MW http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/11/19160931 Incentives for setting up Business Improvement Districts http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/11/19110420 Scotland’s Towns website established to help encourage good practice http://www.scotlandstowns.org/ Wales Sustainable Development Plan announced http://new.wales.gov.uk/news/latest/081119sustainable/?lang=en 400 Green Homes to be built across Wales http://new.wales.gov.uk/news/latest/081117greenhomes/?lang=en News and Research Built Environment Video from the Guardian… Architect Irena Bauman takes the Guardian's northern editor, Martin Wainwright, for a stroll around Leeds http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/video/2008/nov/19/irena-bauman-leeds-architecture Urban trees enhance water infiltration – and reduce flood risk from urban run-off https://www.agronomy.org/press/releases/2008/1117/221/ Britain’s greenest cities Bristol, Brighton trail international lead http://www.eukn.org/eukn/news/2008/11/Britain-s-greenest-cities_1025.html Natural Environment Decline of house sparrow linked to non-native plants in urban areas, pesticide use, and the hard surfacing of front gardens to provide car parking. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/20/wildlife-endangeredspecies But plenty of alien species on the increase.. “we may see a progression towards globalisation of fauna, whereby communities in several remote countries all have a similar list of species instead of the diversity that we see today." http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/invasion-of-the-aliens-1031234.html And the return of the beaver. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/21/scottish.beavers/index.html Economics A comparison of the limits to growth with 30 years of reality A paper that revisits the seminal paper of the 1970s by the Club of Rome “The limits to growth” http://www.csiro.au/files/files/plje.pdf Problems lie in the way of boosting the economy through increased expenditure on public works http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/why-grand-plan-for-public-works-means-digging-up-the-a11-1030103.html Movement Motorists to face road-side drug tests http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/motorists-to-face-roadside-drug-tests-1028241.html San Francisco Bay to be electric car capital Replacing around 1m petrol cars with electric cars by 2015, as is proposed under the new plans http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/22/san-francisco-transport-alternative-energy-electric-car Manchester congestion charge referendum http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/congestion-charge-running-out-of-road-1032204.html Humans, Health and Society Household Exposure to Toxic Chemicals Lurks Unrecognized People more readily equate pollution with large-scale contamination and environmental disasters, yet the products and activities that form the backdrop to our everyday lives — electronics, cleaners, beauty products, food packaging — are a significant source of daily personal chemical exposure that accumulates over time. The study found about 20 target chemicals per home on average, including pesticides and compounds from plastics, cleaners, furniture, cosmetics, and other products. http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2008/11/hometoxins Teens create idealised images of themselves on social networking sites http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/uoc--cyi111808.php Earliest archaeological evidence for nuclear family It had been thought that pressure on resources would http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16054-ancient-grave-reveals-flintstone-nuclear-family.html Understanding the language of the human face In urban environments we spend much of our time avoiding eye contact with other people, yet there is a tremendous amount that is being communicated. Shared space philosophy designs around eye-contact. Women attracted to men with scars http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/18/scar-attraction People can tell the difference between true smiles “Duchenne smiles” and fake http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/11/smile-like-you-mean-it-people.html Babies stressed and traumatised by forward facing pushchairs. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/3489638/Babies-who-face-away-from-mothers-in-buggies-could-be-left-emotionally-impoverished.html Who can say whether the babies were stressed by the absence of their parent’s gaze, or their disappointment at the unremittingly poor quality of urban design and public realm. Social Preferences and Supply Chain Performance: Formal incentives for collaboration become more robust when emotionally supported by relationships. http://mansci.journal.informs.org/cgi/reprint/54/11/iv Suggesting that social compacts can be more effective than legal contracts. Evidence that some aspects of personality are “hard-wired” http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/uob-it111908.php Read in conjunction with the research on speeding, it may be that some drivers are born to speed. On-line time helps teen social and educational development report claims http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7740895.stm A Study of ten epidemics – from the plague of Athens to Aids A fascinating paper that explores how changing lifestyles, migration patterns, wars and science have an impact on the transmission of epidemic disease. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/about/directors/pdf/EmergingInfectionsLancetID.pdf Energy and Climate Change Solar energy plant to be built in Andalucia – 20 megawatt http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/24/andalucia-spain-renewable-energy-technology Iceland looks to rebuild its economy on hydro-power and geothermal energy http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/20/eco.iceland/index.html X-Prize competition – video on new competition for sustainable technology http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/11/crazy-green-ideas.html Carbon dioxide already in danger zone, warns study www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TargetCO2_20080407.pdf This e-mail newsletter is sent to members of the Urban Design Group and to people who share a common interest in improving life in cities, towns and villages. If you don’t want to receive it, please reply to this email, or phone Robert or Louise at the Urban Design Group on 020 7250 0892. Urban Design Group 70 Cowcross Street London EC1M 6EJ admin@udg.org.uk

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