Let’s build back greener

40 Urban greening

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the global environmental emergencies, our public places must provide us with greater resilience and adaptability than ever before, believe Neil Manthorpe, Chris Massey and Avgousta Stanitsa

If there is one thing we have learnt over the past two years, it is how to be more resilient. Our working lives, daily routines and home lives have all had to adapt. This has happened during a global climate and biodiversity crisis, but, more hopefully, we find ourselves on the brink of a global green revival. It is clear then, that our urban outdoor spaces must adapt accordingly.

As essential elements of cities that provide the setting for social interaction and a connection to nature, our parks and public places have taken on new meaning and an increased value for our day-today lives.

This requires a level of resilience and adaptability to changing use patterns and environmental pressures that we are encountering. Our response and future design responsibility towards them must equally adapt.

Creating better neighbourhoods

Atkins involvement in the production of the Government’s Covid-19: Safer Public Places - Urban Centres and Green Spaces design guidance set out initial direction in response to the pandemic. Local authorities and landowners were able to refer to this guidance and workshop sessions to help reopen their town centres, parks, and public places. As we now move away from Covid-19 restrictions across the UK, we see that the disruption caused to the ‘traditional’ 9-to-5 working pattern has highlighted the complex working and travel patterns that many people have, and how we now need, or desire, to balance these patterns differently within our lives.

The way we move around our cities, the way we gather and how we rely on our neighbourhoods has, and can, change; this can be a big step towards more vibrant neighbourhoods. Providing ample walking and cycle infrastructure as well as safe, welcoming public spaces that are inclusive for everyone is therefore key in delivering this.

To that end, the High Street’s Task Force has now been appointed, with the Design Council mobilised. Good design of the public realm and the creation of places for people are once again priorities for all of us. It has been great to see the high levels of engagement in the exploration of new design solutions being delivered across the industry.

Many of us in the industry will know of agendas like the Mayor of London’s Healthy Streets and the successful delivery of the Cycle Superhighways and the Mini-holland schemes across London’s outer boroughs. Atkins’ had the privilege to lead a design team on our work in Kingston-Upon-Thames integrated public realm enhancements with active travel solutions.

Utilising vital insights from the local community, a new network of greener, safer routes were created across the borough, encouraging more people to adopt active travel choices.

Implementation and usage of green infrastructure isn’t just superficial: The UK Government’s July 2020 document Gear Change: A Bold Vision for Cycling and Walking identifies that up to 1 in 6 deaths in the UK per year are attributed to physical inactivity. Conversely, better access to physical activity can help manage over 20 chronic diseases and conditions.

Access to greenspace is linked to the reduction in stress and the successful management of mental health conditions. It makes sense then, that when redefining our open spaces, we also consider the implementation of nature-based solutions.

Nature-based solutions can remedy the negative impacts of human settlements on our environment and create better places to live. Across our multidisciplinary team, we are involved in the creation of nature-based solutions from habitats for flood alleviation to increasing amenity and biodiversity in heavily built-up environments.

Atkins has worked with the City of London Corporation to reimagine the public open spaces across The Barbican Estate in The City of London

42 Urban greening

Biodiversity, net zero targets and new technologies

The rapid urbanisation across much of our planet has meant that we have lost touch with our natural ecosystem. Climate science teaches us that we must now re-align our urban environments with this ecosystem. This of course requires a global response, but this response starts on our own doorsteps, in the streets we live on, the parks where we play and the developments that we build; everything in our neighbourhood plays a key role in this. We can be optimistic that the current political mantra is to ‘build back better’, and it is encouraging to see a more holistic approach to reimagine a better future, and most significantly, alongside net zero targets, pushing us to ‘build back greener’.

The resilience that we design into our developments can also have a positive contribution towards thermal comfort, air quality, social interaction, and physical and mental health. Understanding the relationship between buildings, sustainability and human experience is central to the development and design of successful places. Sustainability can, and should, take a central role in what we deliver. Atkins’ work to reimagine the public open spaces across the Barbican Estate in the City of London, has been a challenging but rewarding example of this.

The City of London have recently launched their Climate Action Strategy to inform the guiding principles of achieving net zero, building climate resilience and championing sustainable growth on all new projects. At the Barbican, we have analysed the design impacts on the local environment, including the building materials and vegetation

West facing seating terraces created along the improved river frontage of Queens Promenade in Kingston

Microclimate analysis modelling for the Barbican including wind comfort analysis

provision in any configuration. We have used new digital tools to measure climatic comfort conditions on a micro scale, helping to mitigate factors found in the external environment, such as urban heat stress. The design balances this with new biodiverse habitat and improved public amenity. The improvements made aim to ensure that this historic urban form can be enjoyed for many generations to come. This process sets a precedent for how other historic assets could be adapted to mitigate the enviro-social pressures around them.

With this exciting new chapter in our neighbourhoods, it is easy to rush into ‘greenwashing’ our developments, and while our recent work has highlighted a ‘trend’ toward more green infrastructure, it is important to remember that these interventions are not a ‘one size fits all’ solution.

As urban sustainability may be costly, stakeholders must be aware of how to efficiently undertake urban greening initiatives and implement the right intervention in the right place. It is critical to stress that urban greening must be understood in the context of distinct local characteristics. Green tactics, although beneficial, have inherent variables that will dictate their efficiency in comparable or contrasting settings around the world. The value then, comes from the variety and involvement of a diverse design team.

Resilience and adaptability within the community and within our streets and public places is of growing importance. Through good integrated design, this adaptation can become the focus of the positive transformation of our communities, our environment, and our future. n

The way we move around our cities, the way we gather and how we rely on our neighbourhoods has, and can, change

Neil Manthorpe is associate director landscape and urban design, Atkins; Chris Massey is a landscape architect, Atkins; and Avgousta Stanitsa is an environmental design researcher, Atkins