The Impact of Localism on the Disenfranchised

The Government's Localism Agenda in planning is built around the principle that 'local' communities have both the resources and desire to invest in a long term development strategy for the area in which they live. The main argument for such reform focuses on the argument that local residents not only have the greatest understanding of the issues affecting them, but that they also have the greatest stake in the long-term future of their community. Such a scheme implicitly assumes that such groups have both the motivation AND resources to get involved.

For a minority of (mostly Conservative) communities such reform may represent a genuine opportunity to develop new local plans and focus development to address key local issues, however such opportunity only exists for those with the resources and time to engage with the new system. On the flip-side, we must question the ability of the majority of other groups to become involved in the new processes, especially those residents working 10-hour days, looking after families full-time, or with limited free hours. And especially among the widespread cuts to independent advisory planning-bodies as part of austerity measures! 

One suggestion of who may have the capacity to fill this advisory position, is the greater inclusion of developers in community planning and the writing of neighbourhood development plans. This could put disenfranchised communities in a dangerous position; while wealthy communities may be in a strong position to refuse certain types of development, other (poorer) communities will be more susceptible to developer's use of financial incentives to accept development without a full and independent understanding of the impact of such work, which could lead to a concentration of 'undesirable developement' in already poor or disenfranchised communities. This will be particularly key when developers ask local groups to sacrifice local amenities tying into what Harvey (1995) describes as the 'intriguing paradox' whereby "the poor who are least able to sustain the loss are likely to sacrifice it for a trifling sum" [Harvey 1995:67-68]. 

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Often Imitated, Never Duplicated

Call it what you want 'inspiration', 'parody', or 'pastiche', the history of art is often regarded as an on-going process of mimicry and replication. This applies equally to architecture, with the continued transplantation or ideas and even actual landmarks.

Without a doubt the most prolific of this practice is the Chinese. As well as hosting a variety of crude reproductions of some of the most globally recognisable architectural works (including versions of their very own Great Wall), throughout China's cities are a series of parks which seek to emulate the styles, character, and heritage from countries around the world. Now a new venture is being planned: China's very own replica of the Austrian leisure town of Hallstatt, which is being planned based on a series of covert re-con missions akin to Cold War legend. 

So what does such blatant imitation mean for Chinese architecture? The argument that such practice reflects a lack of imagination and confidence in China's own architectural style is undermined by a rich artistic history and pioneering modern projects such as the iconic Bird's Nest National Stadium and, a personal favourite, the Songjiang Shimao Hotel (Below). Related and equally unconvincing, is the argument this could be interpreted as a confused struggle for original style and authentic culture. Instead, we should interpret this process as an obvious response to the continued boom in building and economic growth, which has led to a rapid integration of architectural styles in a country where intellectual property rights are routinely flouted and counterfeiting is an integral part of the informal national economy.

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Re-designing Festivals

As festival season approaches, many big organisers are looking for way to both differentiate their event from others and improve the festival-goer's experience, with an eye on reputation and long-term profits. In response to some of these question Roskilde Festival and the Danish Architecture Centre launched a design competition earlier in the year.

The winning entry, 'Why Don't We Do It On The Stairs', seeks to provide a variety of spaces and host multitude of activity, within two large sets of stairs. This provides space not only to see the festival stage, but to relax, refresh, and regroup. 

Each 'box' built into the stairs will host a different activity. And by organising the space into highly visible and distinctive landmarks, the problems of finding your lost mates among a sea of people is solved, while the elevation means the camping area is also visible, allowing you to plan your late night stumble back to the tent. Moreover by cutting out the underside of the stairs a versatile spaces is created beneath the structure, which can be used as shade from the sun, shelter from the rain, or an additional 'stage'. 

The design is very much user-focused and addresses some key issues to significantly enhance the festival experience. We hope to see these ideas come into practice in the near future!

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'The Cube' - A portable restaurant

Earlier this year, Italian architecture practice Park Associati released renderings of their concept restaurant, 'The Cube'. With a light-weight laser cut aluminium skin, the intention was to create a moveable module, which could be set up in some of Europe's premier and most breath-taking locations. As you would expect the quality of the food matches that of the concept, with the kitchen headed by Michelin starred chefs Bart de Pooter and Sang Hoon Degeimbre. 
'The Cube' has now been completed and has been premièred in Brussels. The tour is intended to continue through Italy, Russia, Switzerland, and Sweden. 


A portfolio of Park Associati's projects can be found on their website: http://www.parkassociati.com/

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'Building the Seed Cathedral' - Thomas Heatherwick

Last month TED posted a lecture by British architect Thomas Heatherwick on the integration of nature and design, with the main discussion focusing on bio-inspired architecture. This fifteen minute presentation covered important topics of scale, intricacy, and efficiency in design, as Heatherwick guided us through a series of projects undertaken by his practice. The review of the design, social implications, and imaginative multi-functional use of a new energy infrastructure project (top), was perhaps the real strongest and most engaging aspect of the talk, while the exploration of new design in apartments was a close second, with a series of both imaginative concepts and graphics (bottom).  

The talk is available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_heatherwick.html

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The Great Estate: The Rise & Fall of the Council House

Last night BBC4 hosted a programme documenting the rise and fall of social housing within the UK, focusing on the wide-scale development of Council Houses and Estates. In this programme, journalist and author, Michael Collins explored the history of "one of Britain's greatest social revolutions"- from its infancy as a project to appease a disgruntled social underclass, to its peak where social housing provided accommodation for over a third of the British population, and to its rapid decline 80 years on. 

The programme focuses on a grand tour round the country, recounting the personal experiences of many of the estate's first residents. While such an account provides an emotive and engaging watch, it would perhaps have been interesting to see more attention given to the political and economic reasons behind the changes in the council estate's fortune, with such analysis coming second to the nostalgic focus of the documentary.   

The programme is available on BBC iPlayer until 10:59PM Tuesday, 21st June 2011.

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The case of 301 Hotwells Road

A recent project we completed was an analysis of the issues around a proposed planning application in the Hotwells area of Bristol. Set within the back-waters of the Clifton and Hotwells Conservation Area, this application for two mews houses in the rear yard an imposing, listed building had previously been rejected. The brief of the project was to critically analyse the application and related refusal reasons, and to present an argument either for or against the development in the form of a proof of evidence for a planning appeal.   

The proposed development is on a street which at present is unattractive and illegible; filled with blank frontages, poor quality street lighting, and dominated by concrete this 'backwater' really needs sensitive development to make this important pedestrian route more obvious and attractive:

To explore this issue, I drew up a series of SketchUp models to illustrate the visual impact of the proposed development. Two of the refusal reasons focused on the aesthetic quality of the development which was argued to be "incongruous" to the setting, and detrimental to the character of the area. However I think the models here are important in illustrating that these suggestions are poorly founded:

Ultimately, whatever the aesthetics of the proposed development, the application will always be severely limited by highway issues, with the issue of parking in this high density area, a fatal stumbling block. Despite this, the case illustrates important issues of how planning applications are often submitted without the necessary information for officers to properly assess the visual impact of the development.

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About Me

As a recent Masters graduate in Town and Country Planning (and with an interest in issues of Urban Development and Design) the intention of this blog is to examine and explore issues related to architecture, planning and design. The content focus on a variety of topics engaging with global issues in architecture, design trends, and local planning matters pertinent to Bristol. 

This is intended to be an aid for students (through the provision and exploration of new ideas), a layman explanation of national planning issues (such as the emerging 'Localism Agenda'), as well as a showcase of my own skills, concepts, and interests. 


While my online portfolio of planning and design projects can be found through Behance.

A more in depth profile of me can be found through LinkedIn.

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