TRANSFORMING THE URBAN LANDSCAPE COMPETITION

CREATING A VISION FOR POST-COVID-19 STREETS AND SPACES.

The Landscape Institute’s latest international design competition reveals the future shape of the high street.

Although we are the authors and the curators of this public realm vision, the real praise should go to the scientists, researchers and engineers who are already developing many of the technologies that we illustrated in our proposal that will help society tackle the climate emergency. Over the coming months we are intending to reach out to these, and other organisations so that we can have a better understanding of these emerging technologies,to inform our design processes and ensure Gillespies projects are as sustainable as possible.

‘The real challenge of course is how we make these ‘ideas’ a reality and we have already started working on some thoughts...

‘This has always been more than just a competition for us... it is the start of a green revolution!’

Adam Greatrix Associate Partner GILLESPIES LLP

COVID-19 has had a devastating and unprecedented effect on people’s lives, their lifestyles and the places where they live. The ideas submitted in the competition provide us with a wealth of new thinking about the future design and management of the public realm.

The competition, which was supported by GreenBlue Urban, Ground Control, Hardscape, Selux and Vestre, attracted 160 student and professional entries from China, Thailand, Israel, Turkey, Denmark, Spain and the UK. The President of the Landscape Institute, Jane Findlay, commented, “The contest was designed to generate new thinking and to offer a platform for entrants to engage with the debate about the future of our public spaces. I was delighted to see such imaginative and hopeful thinking.

“The quality of the submissions was incredible, not only in the standard of presentation but also the quality of thought and creativity. There is a great deal of talent out there, it is exciting to see that that the quality of the design of our urban spaces is in safe hands if we give our designers the opportunity to truly exercise their skills.”

The Landscape Institute looks forward to promoting the entries to civic leaders around the world as we move toward a greener recovery from this pandemic.

This approach also includes our work in England as part of the UK Government High Streets Taskforce.

JUDGES

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY

- Dr Nelson Ogunshakin, Board Member for TFL, FIDIC Chief Executive Officer

- Warren Heaton, Senior Manager, Ground Control

- Emery, Managing Director, Selux Lighting

- Mathew Haslam, Founder and Managing Director of Hardscape Products Ltd

- Sarah Ichioka, Director, Desire Lines Pte Ltd

- Romy Rawlings, DipLA CMLI, Commercial Director for Vestre

STUDENT CATEGORY

- Jane Findlay, President of the Landscape Institute

- Marie Burns, Landscape architect, urban designer and transport planner

- Dr Ally Lu, Lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield.

- Louise Page, Marketing Manager, Greenblue Urban

- Dr Krystallia Kamvasinou, Senior Lecturer / Planning, Urban Design, Architecture, University of Westminster

PROFESSIONAL WINNER

BACK DOWN TO EARTH

A joint collaboration between Hilary Barber (landscape architect, graphic designer and artist) and Adam Greatrix (associate partner from the Gillespies Leeds studio).

“This is the street where we work: an unremarkable street, full of tarmac and cars. It is exactly this type of street where an environmental revolution could take root – responding to the post COVID-19 opportunities and importantly, the climate emergency, to radically rethink our urban streets, for the sake of humanity. Our proposal peels away the existing grey carpet, ‘back down to earth’, to create a healthier and greener space. An ecosystem led planning approach where people and biodiversity have equal importance and nature can be introduced in a meaningful manner to create a balanced, thriving and resilient streetscape. This humble street when combined with other like-minded streets could incrementally start to enrich the social and environmental fabric of our cities, and engender a more sustainable future.”

JUDGES’ COMMENTS

“Beautifully presented ideas on what we need for a real post-COVID-19 green recovery in our urban landscapes, brought together to prove it’s all possible in one street! Immense detail and thinking - could we just start to implement this?”

All images © competitions entrants

PROFESSIONAL RUNNER UP

CANAL PARK EREWASH – A PARK FOR VITALITY

by Joe Bossley, Senior Landscape Architect, FIRA.

“In the UK, 8 million people live nearby a canal, often in urban areas where open space is limited. Since the start of the pandemic, the canal corridor has become a vital escape for people needing to mentally and physically recharge. This increase in pressure on already constrained sites has exposed the challenges for visitors who wish to enjoy our canal whilst staying safe. The Erewash Canal Ilkeston provides a test bed for exploring the idea of how we can enhance the canal corridor to address the rise in the number and diversity of people looking to our canals for restoration, recreation, and a means of off road travel. “

“It is time to experiment; lets transform the Erewash Canal into a parkland destination that works for all.”

JUDGES’ COMMENTS

“Stands out for its diverse user-centric approach and the detail of its design proposal. Very convincing.”

All images © competitions entrants

All images © competitions entrants

PROFESSIONAL RUNNER UP

MY THIRD PLACE

by Simon Hall, Director and Landscape Architect at PWP Design Limited in collaboration with R Vint Engineering Limited

“My Third Place is somewhere to connect with the local community, engage in cultural events and socialise with people outside of your home and workplace. Everyone in the country deserves be within walking distance of a My Third Place. There are opportunities within every community and our profession can bring these underused spaces back to life. We have illustrated this using a site in Hyde Park, Leeds to create an exemplar project. The opportunity to roll this out on a national scale has not been seen since the Victorian revolution of urban parks. This creates a fantastic post COVID-19 legacy.”

JUDGES’ COMMENTS

“Love the idea of unlocking old council garages. Simple, strong, replicable idea.”

All images © competitions entrants

STUDENT WINNER

LINK AREA – FLOWING CONNECTION AFTER THE PANDEMIC

by Zhouhui Lu, student at the University of Sheffield.

“The entire area that I chose shows a lack of green space. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the strict regulations during the lockdown period, it was extremely difficult to take part in social activities. I chose an abandoned space in the centre of this area in my hometown (Beijing). I designed it as an open urban green space that could gradually transition from artificially to a natural environment. This area not only could provide better activities and workplaces for surrounding residents, but also has essential habitats for local animals.”

JUDGES’ COMMENTS

“It addresses the design of green spaces in a city post-pandemic, it is a comprehensive and a beautiful design centred on a rain garden, which considers the importance of nature in the city with habitat creation; issues of pollution and climate change with practical design solutions, educating people about nature and providing an oasis for people who live in a highdensity area.”

All images © competitions entrants

STUDENT RUNNER UP

NATURE WORKS – REDEFINING URBAN WORKSPACES AS A FRAMEWORK FOR WELLBEING IN EVERYDAY LIFE

by Shahaf Zakay – student at Israel Institute of Technology

“At a time where our life routines are constantly changing – disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic – lockdowns and isolation demonstrate more than ever the critical part played by immediate surroundings on our physical and mental wellbeing. The presence of natural environments in our daily landscapes becomes a real necessity. The project aspires to create balance and harmony between nature and man, enabling normal life patterns to exist. It aims to provide enhanced biophilic surroundings, as an inherent part of everyday routines. As work environments occupy a significant portion of our time, they constitute a design anchor and a planning strategy.”

All images © competitions entrants

STUDENT RUNNER UP

WARM YOUTH

by a student team at Beijing Forestry University: Binming Huang: Main planner Sida Zhang: Designer and draftsman Lian Liu: Designer and graphic designer Zitong Feng: Designer and draftsman Yuan Ma: Designer and draftsman

“Huitian District is located outside Beijing’s North Fifth Ring Road and connected to Zhongguancun Science City. It is a super-large residential area formed during Beijing’s urbanization process. Under the influence of the epidemic, the high-density community has brought huge challenges to epidemic prevention. How to solve the emotional alienation caused by the epidemic has become an important issue. We propose to use intelligent spaces and green spaces to “heat” our distance between different groups of people, make the connection closer, and improve people’s mental health.”

All images © competitions entrants

ACCOLADES

Sponsors were invited to choose an entry that merited a special accolade. The choices are as follows. Details are available on the competition website.

SPONSOR ACCOLADE – VESTRE

MY THIRD PLACE by Simon Hall at PWP

All images © competitions entrants

SPONSOR ACCOLADE – SELUX

A TREE FOR ME by Will Bindley, professional artist

All images © competitions entrants

SPONSOR ACCOLADE – GROUND CONTROL

NO CAR PARKS by Ste Allan of Urban Green

All images © competitions entrants

SPONSOR ACCOLADES – HARDSCAPE

0-ZONE by Elizabeth Diakantonis

All images © competitions entrants

SPONSOR ACCOLADES – HARDSCAPE

CREATING A BETTER SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL FUTURE IN GLASGOW

by Kit Bowen, Rashmi Pai Dongerkerry and Gary Stodart – TGP Landscape Architects

All images © competitions entrants

SPONSOR ACCOLADE – GREENBLUE URBAN

NATURE WORKS – REDEFINING URBAN WORKSPACES AS A FRAMEWORK FOR WELL-BEING IN EVERYDAY LIFE by Shahaf Zakay – student at Israel Institute of Technology

All images © competitions entrants