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Previous Urban Animation Blogs - we welcome your comments or questions

7 February 2010

Small Steps and Giant Leaps

Fear of change can breed concern over development proposals but it may be the KIND of change, rather than the AMOUNT that is the real demon. Sadly, Planners are still blamed for 1960s tower block disasters, although the majority of us weren’t even on solids then. Creating a climate of confidence amongst communities is a challenge for us all.

It’s not just end users who need coaxing towards a new culture in planning. Our local authority colleagues are central players but find themselves mired in tight budgets, reduced income from planning fees and constrained private investment failing to deliver infrastructure and affordable homes. Now another challenge....

The new Scottish Planning Policy is the Scottish Government’s simplified statement on core planning objectives. It replaces a stack of unwieldy documents with a concise collection of aims any citizen can understand. That alone should be commended, as it immediately puts professionals on the back foot. Emphasis on the enabling role of planning is also welcome but it’s a subtle change in tone that local authorities must grasp quickly. How can they respond?  

When Toyota introduced the fuel efficient Prius hybrid, it didn’t start from scratch. Toyota is famed for its ‘kaizen‘ strategy of continual improvement and the Prius was a logical evolution. With positive reviews and a popular model, Toyota put its foot on the accelerator. Unfortunately, the pedal stuck. We now know the brakes don’t work either. Presumably, kaizen is well and truly strapped in the back seat while Toyota pray the steering column isn’t next to fail. An unprecedented response was essential, hence the recall of millions of vehicles.

So, it may not be enough for Councils to roll slowly forward. Kaizen should be a constant companion for us all, but sometimes there’s a place for rapid transformation - the giant leap. Local authorities that fail to embrace change will find themselves squeezed from every direction - the Scottish Government, the private sector and ultimately their electorate.

We all need to play a part - including those in the development industry whose own acceleration saw them hit the wall so spectacularly. Last week, volume house builder Redrow stated with stubborn stupidity, “we will be returning to the old model as soon as possible”, which might be paraphrased as ‘we have learnt nothing and have no new ideas’. Redrow’s share price scrapes along at just 18% of its peak value over 3 years ago. What their shareholders make of this blunt and blinkered strategy is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile RMJM have taken on Fred Goodwin as a business advisor. It’s like Airbus asking Eddie the Eagle to design their next aircraft. 

We need a leap into a new era of positive visions, responsive plans and sustainable change. Thankfully, some are already airborne. Others might need a leg up.
    
“Because I was born and raised in Ohio, about 60 miles north of Dayton, the legends of the Wrights have been in my memories as long as I can remember.” (First powered flight, 17 December 1903)

“Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.” (First manned Moon landing, July 20th, 1969)

“We had hundreds of thousands of people all dedicated to doing the perfect job, and I think they did about as well as anyone could ever have expected.” 

Neil Armstrong, Astronaut.

Richard Heggie

10 December 2009

Human Being Meets Vitruvian Man

Thanks to recent changes in the Scottish Planning System, us planners, urban designers and architects are desperately seeking public consultation experience to pack into our CVs. Evidence from a recent RTPI Urban Design Forum event in Edinburgh suggests best practice is still evolving!

Spare a thought for the victims of our efforts to persuade, cajole and inform - local people, or ‘stakeholders’ as they are now known. The term brings to mind a mob of raging peasants with sharpened sticks, spiking the souls out of the vampiric demons who would suck their blood dry. On reflection, that sounds like some of the consultation events I’ve attended....

Hopefully our efforts can create enough local warmth to allow us to take off our anoraks. The nerdy professional catchwords I fall back upon include -

Settlement - your home town or village;
Units - homes for people to live in;
Building Typology - what your house looks like;
Cul de Sac - where your house is (but don’t expect more culs de sac);
Development Plan - the “Da Vinci Code” with the story removed.

Let’s set Dan Brown to one side but stick with his muse. Da Vinci illuminated the ideas of Vitruvius through his iconic 1487 sketch ‘Vitruvian Man’, uniting geometric and human proportion. This concept, along with others like the ’golden section’ studied by our old school friend Pythagoras, underlies the design of many of our buildings and places - at least the traditional ones.

Anyone can appreciate the Vitruvian Man because he’s a human being and we all understand squares and circles. The trouble is, when we unleash our lovingly nurtured plans, sections and axonometrics upon the public, they may have little understanding of the three dimensional implications. Let’s face it, even as professionals we’re still surprised at the physical consequences of our visions. Sometimes even pleasantly surprised.

Da Vinci wrestled with upright human proportion and the translation of its geometric beauty into movement and perspective. He sought to resolve this in his sketches and paintings. Unlike the rest of us, he was a genius. How can we explain our own illustrations to local people, so they grasp the nature of the question they are being asked? If we allow our proposals to grow from their local context, that might give us a head start in explaining where we are and where we’re heading. You might call that ‘townscape analysis and design philosophy’ at your next consultation event.

“The story we tell is loaded with all sorts of hooey and fun kind of scavenger-hunt-type nonsense.” Tom Hanks, promoting ‘The Da Vinci Code‘ movie, 2006.

Richard Heggie

29th October 2009

Island Hopping

Lanzarote may not seem an obvious spiritual companion for the Hebridean Isle of Islay. One is known for harsh volcanic landscapes bathed in year round sun, the other for windswept northern beauty and distinctive whiskies. Ending a week in Lanzarote on Sunday, I was on Islay by Monday, working on our master plan for extending the original planned village at Bowmore. However, Urban Animation isn’t the only connection between these two distant places.

Both are remotely located and depend on strategic transport links. Both have visitor economies, driven by climate in Lanzarote, distilleries and ornithology in Islay (booze ‘n’ birds to our tabloid readers). Both have a preponderance of whitewashed buildings reflecting vernacular style to varying degrees. Both have developed under the influence of innovative planning regimes.

Local artist and designer Cesar Manrique is credited with thwarting the worst tourist excesses by promoting a low rise development policy and design code in Lanzarote. Building form, finish and colour display an unusual unity. But it’s not all good news. The boom is well and truly bust and large scale development has exposed terminal flaws in the code.

The result is a suburban wasteland of vacant villas with the odd expat leading an isolated existence in the relentless sunshine. The uninhabitable black lava fields are a backdrop to uninhabited rows of whitewashed holiday homes. Both are equally lifeless. In these bleak circumstances, the lesson that traditional coastal and rural villages are not characterised simply by their architecture, but by the manner in which their buildings relate to one another and the uses they host, seems almost secondary.

Islay has not experienced the same boom yet faces its own issues, including population decline, housing need and constrained transport links. Partly as a result of these stifling factors, the villages and landscape retain much of their unique identity - most of the Islay villages are original planned settlements with a distinctive building typology and urban form. This slower rate of change on Islay has fostered indigenous growth, where people and places adapt to changing circumstances over a period of time.

We hope to provide a framework within which organic and sustainable growth can flourish at Bowmore. We also hope the sun shines while we’re doing it.

"This island is almost made of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish in Great Britain at the same time." Aneurin Bevan, 18 May 1945

Richard Heggie

Lanzarote

Islay

21st September 2009

Quality and/or Authenticity?

Most of us have come to expect certain standards these days. Unfortunately, common denominators often produce bland outcomes. This applies in all walks of life, but for now I’m interested in roadside catering and visitor attractions.

The Carse of Gowrie lies between Perth and Dundee on an alluvial plain by the River Tay. It’s an area famed for soft fruits and largely responsible for one of Dundee’s famous “J’s” - jute, jam and journalism. The polytunnels are everywhere, ensuring Scottish raspberries are available in supermarkets even in late September. On a fact finding tour around the Carse last week, I made my first visit to two well known local attractions.

The first is The Horn roadside cafe off the A90. It’s impossible to miss - a building with a rounded front, in a sea of caravans, with a dairy cow perched on the roof. This is no chain-owned motorway service stop! The decor is dated, the layout is cramped and you won’t find games arcades, burger chains or a 24 pump filling station. However, the gargantuan bacon rolls are legendary for their ability to satisfy the most demanding trucker, whilst maintaining Scotland’s proud position as world leaders in heart disease. They also sell traditional cakes which look more like the pies the Dundonians are famous for.

A few miles down the Carse lies the Cairn O’Mohr Winery (try saying it out loud). There are a number of Scottish wineries, but this one is unique. If Ben & Jerry’s had set up shop in Christiania instead of Vermont, their visitor centre might have looked something like this. Surrounded by giant heads carved with chainsaws from whole tree trunks, this Easter Island of the north uses reverse psychology and guerrilla marketing to sell drinkable wine made from those same local soft fruits. When you buy a bottle, it comes with a free slice of Cairn O’Mohr attitude.

Neither establishment conforms with the modern formula but that’s exactly why they should be treasured. They are Carse institutions. If you visit them with an open mind and take the rough with the smooth, maybe you’ll agree. Otherwise, enjoy your Starbucks coffee, wherever you are.........

Richard Heggie

1st September 2009

Can Councillors Give Us A Fairy Tale Ending?

We’ve been working with TPS Planning and Brodies, helping Scottish Councillors come to terms with Local Review Bodies. It’s a town planning fairy tale - everything looks Grimm at first but our ugly ducklings ultimately emerge as swans, gliding gracefully through a murky pond of development plans and material considerations. If LRB don’t work, it won’t be down to lack of effort from our finest local representatives, who generally seem willing to meet this new challenge head on.

Change is at the heart of planning and urban design - but we need to see the issues of the day in the wider context and offer flexible solutions. We also need to realise some concepts are no longer valid. Zoning policy in the 1960s removed ‘bad neighbour‘ industrial uses from residential areas. Do we really think 21st Century office jobs are incompatible with homes? Are we building real communities or 
Levittowns?

We’re encouraging Councillors to see the Local Development Plan as an embodiment of their vision and an instrument for change. They seem to like that idea. Many of them have a surprising appreciation of the benefits of ‘urbanism‘ over ‘suburbanism’. Some are exploring place making in conjunction with the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, enabled by the Scottish Government. Planning departments may need to modernise their outlook, or our newly empowered Councillors could find themselves ahead of the game.

Ultimately, we might well end up back where we started, with homes next to jobs and services, walkable neighbourhoods and compact towns and villages. A happy ending?

Richard Heggie

3rd August 2009

A new look Website - the Opening Blog....

It’s the opening blog and it reflects our belief here that simplicity is a virtue! Nothing too profound or controversial, just an intro to the new website and an update on projects.

With community consultation now central to the planning process in Scotland, the website will be a contact point for meaningful dialogue on our planning applications and projects. Press adverts and consultation events will point towards the site. We’ll be encouraging Clients to embrace the new culture and seek to build community support. It’s just possible local residents might want to buy a house or start a business in our developments - they are potential customers and neighbours - not just stereotypical NIMBYs. Is it possible local people might even have useful ideas on what will work in their neighbourhood?!

At Culcairn, Evanton, we’re creating a mixed use development, with local employment to counteract the growth in commuter traffic heading to Inverness. Local community activist Janey Clarke told us her own street used to house loads of self employed people - many of whom would have provided local services and helped support other businesses in the village. We need to generate local interest and provide the kind of housing, business or live/work spaces people need. Is there a better way to determine local need than asking people face to face? Who do we expect to occupy the buildings we are spending so much time designing and laying out?

Other new projects open for feedback include our emerging proposals for an extension to Bowmore on Islay, various developments within our master plan for Tomatin in the Highlands and a forthcoming planning application for quarrying of sand and gravel at Altyre Estate, Forres. There’s information on Culcairn, Bowmore and Tomatin on our Projects page - contact us if you need more. You should also be able to find more on Culcairn and Bowmore at www.neilsutherlandarchitects.com in due course - Neil is partnering us on these projects.

Richard Heggie