architecture urbanism environmental issues • in the Cambridge city region
'DESIGN FOR THE FUTURE' Mixed messages from Cambourne
The new settlement at Bar Hill and now Cambourne are precursors for a planned third such development in the Regional Plan The brief for Cambourne is couched in t he visionary planning speak of South Cambridgeshire , en j oining dist i nctive character with regional l ocation Although the plan of Cambourne will take some ten to twelve y ears to fully realize it already looks , in part , some three hundred years old , doubtless due to the attachment to the village lifestyle and a strategy of ' consideration for different styles and arch i te c tural treatments ' In this context words like architecture , des i gn ,
authenticity and modern take on a commercially coded existence. The result is a kitsch concoction that Gerald Ratner would instinctively associate with the discriminating taste of the British public , as already reflected in the popular reception at Cambourne. There is no doubt that this avoids 'the isolated and faceless housing developments ' that have given modern architecture such a downbeat reputation. But before the next instalment the questions have to be asked ; what regional quality has been achieved here? what design excellence? and which is the real authenticity - the business park or the cod historicising housing settlements?
FROM FUMES TO FLORA Cambourne Update
After 3 years of construction Cambourne now has around 600 houses. This is about one fifth of its projected total of 3 ,300 houses for a planned population of 8/ 10 ,000 The Business Park will eventually offer employment for 5 ,000 About 30 % of the buildings have been completed so far , presently employing around 500 people , 5% of whom live in the new houses. It is hoped to encourage more to live and work locally. All houses will be within 1O to 15 minutes of the Business Park and the nearby ' High Street ' facilities Of the community facilities the progressive primary school , Monkfield Park , is now well established and future phases are planned to keep pace with the housing There is also the private Just Learn ing Day Nursery and part of the 80 acre Country Park and 20 acre Eco Park is now in use. A new large Morrisons supermarket is now open, the first of the village centre buildings There are medical services and there is spiritual guidance available An Ecumenical Centre is to be built in time
The general atmosphere of the new village is presently desolate and windswept and is likely to remain so until the extensive and ambitious landscaping is established The houses read like pieces of stage set in
the middle of fields Houses of different types and of different styles and materials are awkwardly placed side by side or at random , and in some cases they are crammed uncomfortably together forming terraces. This is all presumably to try and convey a sense that this new village has evolved over time like our traditional towns and villages have done over centuries. This is an absurd strategy and totally unconvincing. There are suggestions in the brochures that "the development is responsive to the special character of the area " and in one that "materials and design detail are traditional to Cambridge creating a mix of Georgian-inspired buildings typical of the City" In spite of these lavish claims by the various housing developers there is little evidence of the hand of a designer , that housing layouts have evolved from recognised design criteria , or a sense that the hou ses have actually been designed for this location. Buildings and groupings in traditional villages were on the whole site specific which gives each the special qualities which we appreciate. At Cambourne you get ridiculous anomalies like houses fronting designated play areas or natural landscape without a single window looking in that direction , high walls boxing in tiny gardens and a general muddle in the handling of the houses and their trappings , with complete co nfusion between urban , suburban and rural character. Many of the houses are oddly proportioned and details are clumsy and ill-considered. Whilst developers have sought to inc lude traditional features these are not put together in a traditional way and invariably selected at random There is a complete mish-mash of open eaves , stone dressings , plastic porticos , arched heads , rendered panels , weatherboarding , tile hanging, plastic windows , etc etc and the overall effect is just pretentious and unreal.
Some responsibility for all this must rest with the Master Plan and Design Guide produced by Ter ry Farrell and Company with specialist support This was form a ll y adopted in 1996 by South Cambridgeshire District Council after a close run with Arups vastly superior proposals (see CAg 34) Th e following run of planning applicat ions have been processed by SCDC with the help of their appointed design consultant , Geoffrey Mitchell , from Fie lden & Mawson (see CAg 40). But it seems there is no professional grouping with overall design responsibility for the detailed design and construction phases.
School Supermarket
Just Learning Day Nursery
The original Master Plan and Design Guide included photographic fragments of town and village streets and picturesque drawings which suggested that a new village can simply be built up with selected buildings of different periods and styles. The plan was that the settlement should be divided into three villages each with its own character and planned around a village green - Lower , Great and Upper Cambourne. This mix is certainly being followed but without the coherence intended and little distinction is being made in the character of the different three areas There were unfortunately few clear design principles to build on and guide developers , beyond the picturesque drawings. The developers have simply seen this as an opening to build houses with what they see as combining a timeless appeal "architectural styling derived from some of the country ' s most admired periods with every contemporary convenience (and) a feeling of organic growth pervades ".
Cambourne does offer a very w ide range of size and type of home to cater for people of different ages , social groups etc all at relatively low prices Some packages include not only kitchen appliances but carpets and curtains and one developer offers an interior design service. There are also discount schemes in which properties can be purchased at 75 % open market value 50 % shared ownership with rent payable on the remainder is also under consideration. The local show houses are supported by a central Concept Centre which has a model of the projected villages and information on each area. The marketing side is well developed and there is a keen take-up
The housing areas are presently shared between the three main developers: Alfred McAlpine , Bevis and Bryant , with latterly , David Wilson and McCleans Homes There are also plans for 900 affordable homes with Circle 33 and the Granta and Cambridge Housing Societies in partnerships with SCDC and Cambridge City. These are not yet on site. Presumably architects will be commissioned for these and design solutions will therefore be site specific.
The developers for the Business Park are London based Development Securities pie with local company Wrenbridge Land. Architects Auketts Europe are retained to develop the Master Plan for this area and to coordinate and design some of the buildings. These are presently variable in quality The earliest buildings (Phase 1) which are closer to the village approach roads were required by SCDC planners to be lower in scale This seems to have been a misguided policy which has led to a design with a rather pronounced roof line and ugly and conspicuous collections of plant rooms above, not a good impression on approaching the Business Park. The Phase 2 buildings further into the Park are more inspired with a better scale and much cleaner appearance. The central building with its freestanding brise soleil should be a pattern for others to follow
The Business Park is to be surrounded by a 50 metre deep tree buffer but is linked to the housing by a network of greenways with cycle tracks and footways. Local people will be able to get to work in around 10 minutes. But the dichotomy in design approach between the Park and houses is curious If the Business Park is really part of Cambourne should not more have been done to integrate the two? The need to zone and separate industrial uses is understandable but surely not these kind of offices
The buildings are designed to provide a variety of lettable area for company offices and R&D and low energy design principles are advocated. The Park will eventually occupy an area of about 50 acres providing 75 , 000m ' of lettable space All the buildings are planned along the formal axis of lake with water features and tree avenues. There are also to be vast areas of car parking. At the same time efforts are to be made to reduce car use There is a travel plan to encourage other ways of getting to work and car sharing schemes are to be organised. Changing rooms and showers for cyclists and pedestrians are planned
The new low energy offices for South Cambridgeshire District Council are to be built in the next phase further into the site. This rather impersonal environment seems an odd choice within the Master Plan tor a locally accountable public building and perhaps this is where the zoning policy breaks down
As with the housing , marketing is well organised and there is a purpose designed suite in the Business Pa rk below Take-up of the new office space seems steady with external marketing by agents in London and Cambridge. The planned dualling of the access road right back to the M11 and associated proposals will heighten the accessibility of this new business venue within the City Region. But how many of these business people will get out of their Audis and come and live in these T oytown houses?
At the present rate of progress (200 houses pa) it will be another 12 years before the village is complete. Given the massive demand for housing in the Cambridge area , this is surely too long unless many more of these ' village ' settlements can also be built simultaneously. Houses are at present significantly below Cambridge prices (3 bedrooms from £125 ,000) and are being snapped up well before completion. All types of families seem to be attracted by the local facilities and amenities eventually planned , by the parkland setting , leisure facilities and the good communications ; and also by the friendly atmosphere and pioneering spirit in which all are welcome. Many may consider this a safe and idyllic environment in which to live where opportunities could really allow families to spend more time together. Whatever the deficiencies in architecture and design, which at this time are considerable , in the end the people will make the place. It will be interesting to see what Cambourne is like in 10 years time.
David Raven
NEW DESIGN GUIQE
Moves are underway within the District Counc i l to produce some formal design guidance for all building and en v ironmental proposals in South Cambridgeshire This has been i nitiated by Robert Walker and Margaret Gustafsson in the Conservation Section. It is aimed "to set the tone for future de velopment , bo t h in te r ms of new larger de velopments , such as satellite towns , as well as small scale infill in our historic v illages and a creati v e approach to all the new demands of agriculture , bio-diversity and leisure acti v ities in the surrounding landscape".
This is an ambitious task and both internal and outsider contributors are to be involved. Part of the programme w ill be to promote a greater understanding of design issues and to increase the status and influence of the architects advisory panel. It is proposed to appoint a " Design Champion " as an external design authority to chair the architects panel and to arrange quality seminars and discussions ." Other proposals include providing design training for officers with non-design backgrounds as well as offering further education in design matters to elected members.
This is all in line with the recent Planning Green Paper which addresses the general lack of design skill in planning departments as a serious issue. It proposes a new single level of plan in the local Development framework in which local planning authorities will be expected to provide a vision for development and growth in their area and to draw up action plans for town centres, neighbourhoods and villages 'The new Design Guide is a great possibility to create a close engagement with the community on many vital issues ." Headings suggested for the new design guide will include Background and Context , Character of Settlements and Landscape , Major Schemes , Infill Plots , Extensions and Conversions , Sustainability , Conservation and the Building Regulations , and finally , Guidance on Applications.
This is all to be applauded and is long overdue At present there seems to be v ery little evidence of any coherent planning policies or design guidance in much of what is built.
First drafts of the new guide are expected early this year. DR
Stephen Lown Graphic Designer
LUNGS, FINGERS , CORRIDORS AND WEDGES
The existing strategic vision for a better Cambridge is inadequate and deficient as it presently stands. To quote from a recent City Council submission to Cambridgeshire County Council "a separate positive vision is needed starting with a focus upon the City itself and moving out across the Sub-region". The city proposition is one of a central core surrounded by four nodal sub centres linked together by "high quality public transport " It adds an emphasis on the need for "the creation of important new landscapes offering improved public access and high visual and biodiversity quality with opportunities to link urban and rural space " This article gives precedence to this need , to the provision of substantial and additional lungs , fingers , corridors and wedges that are a unique and threatened feature of the Cambridge phenomenon
Cambridge as it is
Cambridge is "choking on its own prosperity " said John Naughton in the Observer recently. "High speed world threatens to hold back a high tech hub " was the Guardian headline comparing Silicon Valley California with Silicon Fen Even the Wall Street Journal has been alert to the same issues (Cambridge at the CrossroadsFebruary 5 2001 ) The dilemma is well stated : "officials acknowledge that if they unravel the planning policy that has made Cambridge an unusually green and attractive city they run the risk of hurting the area ' s quality of life ".
Management Consultants Segal Quince Wicksteed put the point more succinctly in ' The Cambridge Phenomenon Revisited '" it is a productive business environment because the day to day wear and tea r is less than in a big city ".
The point is made ; the argument accepted. Cambridge has to change radically in order to grow successfully. What then are the priorities? Some would argue that public transport comes first. Others would prioritise housing and in particular the provision of affordable accommodation in those areas closest to employment and the major employers. Few would argue that jobs and employment infrastructure comes first , as the Cambridge phenomenon has grown despite the physical development constraints upon it , rather than having been facilitated by it.
Yet for every hectare of land developed for hightech business , 15 hectares will be needed for housing and associated infrastructure , say SOW.
Cambridge as a green and pleasant land
The Cambridge sub region comprises over 70 villages and small towns yet Cambridge city itself remains rural in character and has not acquired a suburban midriff. The provision of a greenbelt has helped , but that is now under review and under pressure Cambridge is accustomed to green spaces and it is protective of its 660 acres of public open space within the City itself and the added "lung " provided by the many college gardens and sports grounds. The river adds an important additional feature , a major arterial system that nourishes the city with water and wildlife from the many tributaries of the river to the south and west , to the lodes and wetlands in the northeast. This strong system is well supported by nature and natural events Flooding extremes remind everyone of the need to maintain the City's waterways , such as Bin Brook , and to respect the need to contain and locate that land gi ven over to non absorbent hard surfaces , for housing , roads and commercial development.
In the south of the City , the Cam Valley Forum has recognised the need for an effective action group (see CAg 47) , which will look at conservation and enhancement of the river and the streams that feed it. Water quality and river levels will be monitored , threats identified and action taken. The Forum will work alongside landowners , riverside farmers , local authorities and in particular other organisations such as the Cambridge Preservation Society and the National
Trust. The emphasis will be upon the extension and enhancement of "green fingers " and wildlife sites and corridors that characterise the valley. Wildlife protection and the introduction of such rare species as the otter and the swallowtail butterfly will take precedence over recreational use. Access will be encouraged for both walkers and cyclists and a spider ' s web network established to provide links both across and around the city. The vision is clear The prerequisite of anY, Plan for the Cambridge Sub Region is a green template It must take precedent over the location of anything else , houses , public spaces or roads This would assume that the proportion of accessible land to population will be greater in 201 O than in 2000 and in 2020 even more so. It will both protect and enhance that green component of the "phenomenon " It would assume radical measures to improve access and traffic flows particularly by public transport to and from the City. It would assume a reducing need to use the car for work and access to schools It would assume that all major expansion schemes - housing , the Universities and Addenbrookes hospital are predicated by a significant green plan which provides substantial wildlife , woodland and wetland corridors , wedges and buffers. Such plans would be viewed as imaginative forethoughts rather than painful and necessary afterthoughts , hidden away in Section 106 agreements That is the context for the vision
A vision of Cambridge in the spring of 2020 It is now possible to access Wandlebury from Waterbeach , Barton from Bottisham and Barrington to Barnwell on foot or cycle , through the city and also around it. The access corridors are substantial in width even at the narrowest points sufficient to make even the most timid creatures feel secure. Darkness for nocturnes , daylight for the rest of us The paths are clearly marked by symbols and integrated in a network which serves the needs of our local communities , linking one with the other. Public transport and cyclists enjoy rights of way denied to the motorcar , bisecting the natural corridors at certain points and defining it at others. The Gog Magog hills are linked to Nine Wells , which in turn provides an exclusive wildlife corridor for walkers , perhaps of beech woodland alongside the Hobson ' s and Vicarage Brooks , together with a cycle route into the city via the old Bedford rail line
In west Cambridge there are two major green corridors connecting the city with a Coton based countryside reserve , which focuses upon amenity farming and its benefits. To the north west the University provides a genuine green corridor , which has a unique character and purpose independent of the land designated for low density University use. Outline designs here should avoid the inherent conflict between car access and green corridors The north of the City is a challenge for those concerned with a settlement at Oakington-Longstanton that may have materialised The prospective developers, Gallagher Estates , will have embraced an inclusive green vision for the sub region , addressing much more than flood risk and respecting the existing villages. To be viable as an extension of the city a vision will have been articulated for the extensive green space bordered by Girton , Histon , Oakington and King Hedges including a
proportion of flood plain along the Beck Brook. Drainage was not the issue; the encouragement of wetland and waterways was the focus of an imaginative development. The northeast and the Lode s have been well provided for by the National Trust 100 years vision of creating a wetland site of 5000 hectares plus. They are currently well towards their target of acquiring sufficient land - Wicken Fen, Verrall ' s Fen , Adventurer ' s Fen and Burwell Fen - to create sufficient new wetlands that will support and be maintained by large herbivores such as deer, wild horse , wild cattle and wild boars ; the " natural " management tool and ecosystem. (Such a dream is already a reality at Oostvardersplassen in the Netherlands). To the east there will already be an urban extension to the city based upon the existing Marshall ' s airport. High-density housing is balanced by an imaginative open landscape which links the Barnwell nature reserves to Teversham and beyond. This area also reflects the balance in the city achieved between common land , parks and play areas. Rec reation in its widest sense is significant here w ith local facilities for young children and community facilities for teenagers
The next few steps
The present round of planning processes grind on towards conclusion but need to be paralleled with imaginative steps taken now and everywhere by the major stakeholders Outside the city the need for discrete yet major initiatives has been proposed , adding to the vision already expressed by the National Trust. Within the city , less can be done other than to add a nature reserve or two and improve the local recreation facilities for children and teenagers The planners are the moderators in all of this and can never be held accountable for the collapse of the phenomenon bubble Accountability lies wi th all of us, a coherent vision realised in part even now by modest efforts made on behalf of the silent green majority. There are ways that even the otter and the swallowtail will say thank you.
Malcolm Schofield
SYD FURNESS ARCHITECT
Most people will have heard by now of the death in December of Syd Furness , for many years a principal partner with Cambridge Design and one of this city 's most talented and thoughtful architects.
Syd was Cambridge born and bred and attended Parkside school. After service in the Air Force he studied architecture under Don McCloud at the Cambridge Tech , completing his qualifications at the Birmingham School.
I first got to know Syd in the mid 1960's sharing an office with him in the practice of Twist and Whitley on Parkside Syd had joined T&W from the Hospital Board and was one of a bright group of architects in the office at that time Work was on schools and other projects with a mixture of practice and research. Syd impressed me with his sheer panache. Unlike some perhaps , he thought about how buildings were actually put together. He would use materials and systems leanly and appropriately , testing things out with his own structural calculations as he went along , always aiming for a clean honest aesthetic , which expressed the building for what it is.
In the late 1960' s Syd moved tom Alpha Road to a Mailings in Commercial End , Swaffham Bulbeck , which he restored and converted in his spare time largely with his own hands. He lived in this for a short period before moving back to Cambridge to a rented house in Regent Terrace About this time he bought some land behind the S0renson house in Hills Avenue and built himself an elegant family house in concrete blocks and stained wood. The house looks out on 3 sides into a totally private piece of ground providing an oasis of calm between Hills Avenue and Glebe Road. In 1972 he joined with David Thurlow , to form the practice which ultimately became Cambridge Design The rest , as they say, is history. The compleme ntary skills and talents of Syd and David and
their shared ambition, together with their subsequent partners and consultants , led to a remarkable series of buildings which have transformed this City A number of young practices have grown from this partnership notably Bland Brown and Cole and Cowper Griffiths.
Syd is perhaps best known for the Bespak factories in Kings Lynn and in 1985 he personally received the much coveted Europa Nostra Award for Phase 1 His influence was formative on many prominent projects such as the Queensway flats on Trumpington Road and he was largely responsible for the Peterborough Magistrates Courts After leaving Cambridge Design in the early 1990's he continued with three further phases of Bespak and a major programme of works for the University of Buckingham and Clare College in Cambridge both with Damion Holister For me some of his smaller projects are his most successful and most revealing of his character , especially his own house off Hills Avenue, his striking white stucco house in the southern suburbs which can be seen from Wandlebury and much earlier, Martins Coffee House opposite the School of Architecture which he refurbished in the early 1960's. The fact that this is largely unchanged in forty years is surely a credit to his design skills The omission of Syd ' s work in the recent CFCI publication Cambridge Architecture Post 1945, except in the collective hand of Cambridge Design , will hopefully be corrected in the next edition.
Syd was a dedicated architect and designer with rare skill and sensitivity but he a lso had a full life outside practice, a close family , three children and three grand children, and wide interests. Among his great passions were cricket and football which he continued to play into his mature years.
In August 1998 he moved with his wife to a farmhouse in Slovenia which he had beautifully converted over recent years. For two years he continued with his Cambridge practice of Furness Associates commuting weekly. His untimely death at 66 so early in his retirement has been a great shock to everyone and personal tributes have come from many colleagues and friends Former architects in Cambridge Design pay tribute to his fundamental contribution and his mastery of complex structures and systems. Personally he was delightful company , a highly intelligent , kind and gentle man with great compassion and an infectious and wicked sense of fun Many will miss him as a good and close friend.
David Raven
Syd had a light touch , and tread , as an architect; his roofs are ones you want to get in under, and the stairs on the outside of his buildings you can easily imagine him running up , or down , even now as you pass. His word of praise was "lovely'', and of disapproval , for person or thing or act, "silly", said with a smile and almost sounding like sealy We had many silly evenings full of laughter, with this lovely proud man - proud of his cricket too : when I mentioned that the Trinity Street Post Office had a stash of 200 of these cards showing an architects match on Parkers Piece below with Syd in full flow with the bat , Anina tells me the reason he snapped them up wasn 't self promotion , but because he reckoned it was an awful dodgy shot , and he deserved to be out!
Jon Harris
THE DAVID URWIN AWARDS - 2003
As many of us will know , David Urwin was City Planning Officer in the 1970s/80s but died tragically young in office from cancer The David Urwin Awards are held a nnu a ll y by Cambridge City Council in hi s memory to celebrate excellence in the field of the built environment within the City of Cambridge Th e event is sponsored by the Cambridge F orum for the Construction Industry and the Cambridge Evening News.
The awards have settled into a four-year cyc le. This year's will be for the Best New Building completed in the four-year period 1998-2002 The judging panel will compr i se Jenny Urwin plus representatives from CABE , RISA , the Cambridge Evening News , Cambridge Preservation Society and the City Council. The judges meet on 4th February to make their decision and the winners wi ll be presented at the Cambridge Foru m for the Constru ction Ind ustry's Annual Dinner at King ' s College on 21st March
In 2003 the award will cover Best Convervation or Adaptation of Existing Buildings in 2004 Best Work within the Public Realm (landscaping , gardens , street works etc) , in 2005 Most Efficient Building , reverting again to Best Ne w Building in 2006, all covering the previous four yea r period.
For further information on this year's and future awards , please contact Jon Burgess , the City Council 's Conservation and Design Manager on 01223 457165 or email jonathan burgess @cambridge.gov uk
Jon Burgess
Syd and Anina in Slovenia August 2002 and their hou se (below)
PLACE GUIDE
Urban Design in Britain and Ireland by John Billingham and Richard Cole
This book recently published by Batsford is a guide to those urban places in the UK and Ireland that people find attractive to use- usually those with a mixture of uses providing space for the pedestrian and connected to the urban fabric It recognizes that while architects can create good spaces it is people and their interaction that make successful places
With colour illustrations of each , it describes more than 120 places created , or significantly altered , in the last 50 y ears and selected by the Urban Design Group and the authors Those places judged to be the most successful include Broadgate and Covent Garden in London , Brindleyplace in Bimingham , Whitehaven Waterfront, Hull Market Square , East Quayside in Newcastle , Buchan a n Street in Glasgow and Temple Bar in Dublin.
Retailing at £12.99 the book can also be ordered at a discounted price dir e ctl y from Chrysalis Books , 9 Blenheim Ct London N7 9NY
NO ANGELS: A Public Art Plan for Cambridge
'What examples of public art from the past 30 years do you think contribute most successfully to the quality of the environment and life in Cambridge? '
This question was asked in consultations towards a Public Art Plan for Cambridge , commissioned last year from Commissions East by Cambridge City Council. Half of those answering could not name any public artwork in the city - 'I cannot think of a single example in existence, let alone successful' was fairly typical. On the other hand , a 37 % response to the questionnaire , which was directed to visual art and design professionals and Council members , showed a high level of positive interest in public art.
Cambridge has seen relatively little public art commissioned in recent decades , and lacks ambitious projects commensurate with its cultural standing But the low perception is partly a problem of definition , so that enhancements which do exist may not be recognised as public art - such as fine lettercutting and letter design , clearly a distinguished local tradition and , in the accumulation of examples around the City , a significant part of its character.
The Plan proposes a broad definition of public art. Artists ' collaborations with architects and landscape designers have produced some of the best recent examples elsewhere in the country , where the artist's input is seamlessly built into the whole This is demonstrated in Cambridge in Eric Parry's Foundress Court , for Pembroke College , a high quality building with integrated artworks by Peter Aldridge and the Cardozo Kindersley workshopboth visible from the street. The City and County Councils have integrated artworks into landscape schemes , at Madingley Park & Ride , and more recently , Magdalene Street.
Cambridge is particularly well equipped to support experiments in public art and there is a track record of temporary projects such as light installations , projections , performances , sculpture exhibitions , etc The conjunction of its research and technological facilities and arts organisations such as Kettles Yard , the Institute of Contemporary Culture , the Junction , Wysing Arts , means that there is a continuing flow of artists undertaking residencies , research and experimental projects in and around the City.
In 1992 The City Council adopted a Percent for Art policy to encourage the provision of works of art and crafts as part of major development schemes. The Cambridge Local Plan 1996 incorporated a specific policy (RL26) that stated 'the local planning authority will , in appropriate cases , encourage the provision of works of art as part of schemes of development'. It also refers to the intention to prepare further guidance on this issue In practice , the policy so far has underperformed , producing no more than a handful of art commissions , mainly free standing
sculptures in retail developments. The Public Art Plan was born of recognition that this policy needed to work more effectively for the benefit of the whole City environment. Accordingly , recommended Supplementary Planning Guidance for Public Art is a vital component of the Plan. Once adopted by the Council , this Guidance will furnish both planners and developers with advice on the range of options and with clear guidelines on procedures and best practice in developing a plan or brief and commissioning artists.
Th e Plan points to the many contexts in which more public art projects could be encouraged , taking different approaches and forms - these include the Council's own community development and environmental · improvement programmes , transport schemes , the health sector , the universities , and business and retail developmentswhere major schemes in the pipeline could encompass coherently planned and imaginative commissioning strategies.
The Plan sees the visual arts and design organisations in Cambridge having key roles to promote developmental and radical practice and to provide contexts for debate and learning about public art Here the part played by the design community - for example , in the functions of a new Architecture Centre , and through publications such as this , will be vital. It would certainly be welcome to see debate of a wider , more informed and more sustained kind replacing the sometimes narrow arguments arising around individual project proposals
The Public Art Plan's strategy is based on the City giving the lead in three main areas - in a more proactive approach to implementing its Percent for Art policy ; in promoting the concerns of public art in partnership with art and design organisations in the City ; and by allocating resources for better information , promotion, education and networking , including development of a website and online forum
The Plan and supplementary guidance , after extensive consultations , has now been approved by the Council. Copies of the summary or the full document can be obtained from the Environment and Planning Department, Cambridge City Council, on the web at www.cambridge.gov.uk/planning/ plnguide.htm or viewed at Planning Reception at the Guildhall.
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