STREETS BEYOND BEYOND STREETS The Changing Role and Purpose of Public Space
University of Dundee The 7th Place-Making Symposium Friday 11 November 2016
The event was planned, curated and facilitated by Husam AlWaer, Jas Atwal & Kevin Murray.
Introduction
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The workshop group facilitators were: Giulia Vallone, Russell Henderson, Phil Prentice, Steven Bee, Andrew Burrell, Ian Cooper, Brian Evans, Ben HamiltonBaillie, Johnny Cadell, John Dales and Matthew Carmona.
Session One: Setting the Context
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Assistance in marketing, design, and administration was provided by Stephen Gallagher, Delano Bart-Stewart, Anja Ekelof, Jaclyn Scott, Hugh Gunn, Tracey Dixon, and Tracy Duncan. Special thanks are accorded to Mike Galloway and his officer team at Dundee City Council, who provided briefing and guidance, as well as on site knowledge and support.
ORGANISERS
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Streets Beyond: Beyond Streets
PRINCIPAL SPONSORS
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Conclusion
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Afterword
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CO-SPONSOR
SPONSORS
Introduction This landmark collaborative learning event celebrates the 10th anniversary of The Academy of Urbanism, and was organised jointly between the Academy, the University of Dundee, Architecture and Design Scotland and set within the Scottish Government’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design. The focus on streets and public space builds upon the highly successful ‘Place Making’ symposia series previously run by the University of Dundee, The Academy of Urbanism, Architecture Design Scotland and other partners. Streets and other urban spaces need to respond to the demands of modern life, including not only vehicle access and human walkability, but safety and well-being, local economic needs and shifts in arts and culture. There has been a progressive shift from utilitarian corridors to ‘positive’ streets where people feel comfortable, safe and even inspired by their surroundings. Creative and thoughtful design and management of public space can stimulate a range of human activity that can bring wider urban areas to life; ideally such streets and public spaces should be more inclusive and equitable and provide positive sensory experiences for all – sight, sound, smell and touch. The positive effects of improvement can include fewer accidents, more cultural and community events, longer dwell times and improved trade and general economic performance. Some public spaces have even helped to brand or re-brand their cities. This Streets Beyond: Beyond Streets event engaged a broad audience of over 120, including built environment decision-makers and professional planners, academics and researchers, architects and urban designers, landscape architects, highway and traffic engineers, regeneration, health, housing, town centre managers, consultants, retailers, public art and cultural practitioners.
Participants came from across the UK and Europe and they considered how current practice might be improved and how we can plan for future change. At the symposium, we explored: • What impact does modifying streets have on health and well-being, including groups such as the elderly, young or those with disabilities? • Is full pedestrianisation of streets always desirable or beneficial? • What are the social and economic effects of enhanced street activity, such as markets and arts events? • To what extent are streets less about movement and more about convivial public spaces that need eyes, windows and doors onto the space? • What organisational and governance mechanisms have contributed to the design, regeneration and management of successfully transformed streets as public spaces? • Do regulations, rules and codes need to be rethought or changed to promote streets as public spaces? This report summarises the key themes explored during the event, which, in turn, build upon six earlier symposia. Summary reports of these previous events are available online at: Masterplanning in current conditions; The Practice of Community Charrettes Design in the UK; Creating sustainable communities – better approaches to masterplanning practice; Professions, Place-Making and the Public; Enhancing wellbeing; Measuring wellbeing for effective place-making
The aim was to provide the leading forum for those concerned with the creation and development of quality public spaces to consider the latest thinking and innovative approaches to the design, management and activation of the public realm. Introduction
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SESSION ONE: SETTING THE CONTEXT Learning from theory, policy and practice
The welcome was given by Professor John Rowan, University of Dundee, who encouraged participants to embrace the wide array and diversity of perspectives that the event had brought together, and to enjoy the mixture of activity to stimulate thinking and ideas.
Steven Bee, outgoing Chair of The Academy of Urbanism, added his welcome, noting that there is much to learn from the Academy’s 2017 Great Street finalists, the lessons extending beyond the physical to the people involved and their experiences in helping to shape better places.
Kevin Murray set out the background to the event. The Academy of Urbanism has been studying streets, including through its awards process for over a decade, and has recognised the role they play in creating vibrant quarters and neighbourhoods. Streets have moved well beyond places for movement alone, and this is an opportunity to share these lessons.
The Problems, Potential and Complexities of Mixed Streets Prof Matthew Carmona AoU Professor of Planning and Urban Design at The Bartlett School of Planning and Chair of the Place Alliance Reconciling Traffic, People and Places Through Low-speed, Integrated Street Design and Engineering Ben Hamilton-Baillie Founder, Hamilton-Baillie Associates Re-inhabiting The Streets. Civic Stewardship Through Public Space Giulia Vallone AoU Town Architect, Cork County Council Transforming Areas Through Re-thinking the Physical, Social & Economic Roles of Streets and Urban Spaces John Dales Founding Director of Urban Movement and a Trustee of Living Streets Achieving Equity of Experience for All in Streets and Public Spaces Kiki MacDonald and Paul Ralph Co-Founder of Euan’s Guide and Access and Inclusion Director, a disabled access review website that inspires people to try new places
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The Problems, Potential and Complexities of Mixed Streets: The London Case Prof Matthew Carmona AoU Prof Matthew Carmona presented to the symposium material based on his research on London Streets. Although this research looked exclusively at London, there are lessons that can be applied elsewhere. Whilst some high streets thrive, and are incredibly dynamic, others appear to suffer. We have two contrasting narratives: One is these streets are congested, polluted and deprived; The other is that they are vibrant, inclusive and loved. These continuous, connected and largely unremarkable mixed streets bind the city together. UCL Bartlett wanted to get an idea of how these mixed complex streets work and to understand what the opportunities were for sustainable development along these streets, rather than in London’s often disconnected ex-industrial sites. UCL’s analysis of 500km of mixed streets in London showed that, if you take out residential which is increasingly a large proportion of what you find on these streets, there is a 2:2:1 ratio on retail, office and industrial uses. Even in London there is a significant amount of industrial space and much of it is on these mixed streets. Beyond the shops we see as we walk along these streets, there is an incredible diversity of activities, functions, and uses that go on behind that facade. That’s what makes these streets so special and so interesting. It’s not necessarily just what’s happening in the shopping unit but what’s happening behind those facades. They make up 3.6 per cent of London’s road network but they are where 1.5m Londoners work. They are also where 43 per cent of London’s business is located. There are more jobs and businesses on these mixed local streets, outside of the city centre, than there are in the Central Activity Zone. They are places of sustainable movement as they are where public transport is located. However, the unfortunate side effect is that they are often some of the most polluted streets, with levels of pollution above EU recommended level. The businesses are small, often dynamic and tend to employ local people. They are sites of great character, familiarity, and social exchange. Only one-third of local
travel to these streets is to shop. All Londoners have a stake in these streets, with two-thirds of residents living within a five minute walk of a high street. London’s local high streets are suffering but they are also hugely resilient. When a shop closes another one opens up. We are not doing a lot to help them apart from writing a lot of reports (mostly saying the same thing)! Policymakers often ignore mixed streets, as they are the more complex and difficult areas. Many of them are largely invisible in policy, such as London Plan. Generally, local policy also has little to say beyond town centers. With this being said, mixed streets are places of huge development potential. Half of London’s brownfield sites are within a two-minute walk of London’s high streets. Part of the problem is the complexity. They are places of social exchange, physical fabric, real estate and movement. Two silver linings in London: 1. Transport for London has been on a journey and now realises that streets are not solely about moving vehicles, but have a fundamental ‘place’ function as well. 2. There has also been significant investment in some high streets outside of central London, although the money is just a drop in the ocean compared with the huge investments seen in, for example, the various Westfield shopping malls that have opened in the White City and Stratford areas of London. What about the future? They are places of significant strategic growth potential. We need to prioritise public investment in these streets. We need to have a more sophisticated view of these streets. We should see them and plan for them as streets rather than blobs on the map. We need to have holistic view of the streets.
Session One: Setting the Context
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Reconciling Traffic, People and Places through Low-speed, Integrated Street Design and Engineering Ben Hamilton-Baillie
Can we really not do better than our current approaches? Is adding all these expensive bits of equipment (traffic lights, railings etc.) all we can do to ameliorate the impact of traffic in our towns? We take great care of buildings but can treat the horizontal plain as if it does not matter. We will continue to need highways; they are important parts of our economic infrastructure. For them to work well they require certain characteristics; they are heavily regulated by the state, they are consistent, they are predictable - we like them because we don’t use them for any other purpose than moving as efficiently as possible from one space to another. We trade on them or socialise, we expect a simple relationship with the state (in terms of rules - e.g. needing to pass a driving test to use them), a simple language in terms of roads signs and markings in order to navigate and know how to use them. But the more we know about what makes successful public realm, we know that exactly the opposite characteristics apply; Public realm is rarely successful if it is heavily regulated, it tends to be multipurpose, contextual or changing, the reason we like it is because it is unpredictable, and we use a much more complex range of human emotions to determine how we navigate that space. Over years we’ve assumed that many spaces can serve both the highway function and public realm function simultaneously. But it seems that the underpinning principles of success are so different that these two worlds have to find some way of coexisting with each other rather than overlapping each other. We’ve inherited principles from Le Corbusier whereby we think that due to nature of streets, there is no longer any place for the street within its traffic focus. The idea is that there is movement of traffic on one hand, and movement and civic social activity on the other, and they cannot coexist. Examples of this can be seen in leaflets sent to 6 Streets Beyond: Beyond Streets
children ‘Roads are for cars and lorries - not pedestrians’ or Saatchi and Saatchi’s ’one false move and you’re dead, stop at the kerb’. Is this the appropriate way to communicate what our streets are about? The more streets can be animated and tell stories about their contexts the better. The idea of placemaking is how to manage the civic qualities as well as the movements. And part of that is making sure the buildings have a clear relationship with the street. In Poynton, by introducing these changes we saw an extraordinary change between drivers and pedestrians, to the point where people were said to be being nicer to one another. It allows for traffic movement to take place, pedestrians get on with whatever they do, but drivers have changed their expectations. Drivers are sitting forward, paying better attention to what’s going on. The space works well as an economic place and works well as a place of movement.
Asna Square Before & After
Re-inhabiting the Streets: Civic Stewardship Through Public Space Giulia Vallone AoU
Clonakilty Town’s Architect, Giulia Vallone, discussed the crucial role of public space in town regeneration. This was illustrated using her recent work in the Irish West Cork town, Clonakilty, as examples of public realm led urban regeneration and examples from Italy. Town Squares are developed as social environments where many enable diverse things take place. In Sicily, where Giulia grew up, ice cream stands (and even octogenarians) can be used for traffic calming. Accordingly, in her work, inclusive urban objects like a park chair can make all the difference. Clonakilty have informally set up chairs on street pavements for socialising and even face-to-face ‘kissing chairs’ in the park have captured the imagination of the public.
Emmett Square Before & After
Asna Square in Clonakilty is a well-designed shared space that established a new layer of contemporary design with street furniture, sculptural lighting and a pocket park, while in keeping with the historic setting of the streetscape. It is welcoming and attractive and has become a stage for community events. Asna Square is a good example of how to create spaces for people to linger while still allowing car access. Similarly, Emmett Square has been redesigned with a new wide main entrance to allow for seasonal markets, including the introduction of playful water feature, a new contemporary bronze sculpture and a grass mound that’s very popular with children. Both Asna and Emmet Square have delivered a strong sense of public ownership within the local community, which has added to the sense of strong identity, pride and celebration. Winner of the AoU Great Town 2017, Clonakilty is a place where streets are routinely closed to the traffic for events such as the street carnival, which takes place every summer, international guitar festival, street food and random act of kindness festival, all of which make you stay and have fun. Session One: Setting the Context
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Transforming Areas Through Re-thinking the Physical, Social and Economic Roles of Streets and Urban Spaces John Dales
Walking is how we experience towns and cities. The fundamental unit of urban experience needs to be walking and one needs to work to make sure that all the other things we need to do to make cities successful do not damage the walking environment. ’Physical’ represents the Technical aspect of streets and ‘Social’ represents the Human aspect of streets. If you get the technical and human aspects right it is good for the economic outcome. Street design must consider place before movement. Roads are about movement along - Streets are about people. This is represented in both popular culture and even terms we use; Street Life/Road kill, Street Party/Road Rage, High Street/Main Road, Word on the street/Rules of the road etc. There is more to streets than roads. Roads are about functionality. Streets are about character and vibrancy. There should be no roads in cities, just streets. This applies to every piece of public highway within a town or city. If they are not doing more than just moving stuff, then there is certainly a problem. For the risk averse we should focus on being rational, as once decisions are rational you have the flexibility to try new things. There have been very few successful claims against local authorities on the basis of design. It would take an exceptional degree of negligence to trap a reasonable user into danger.
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It is important to create maximum space for pedestrians in the street. For example in Hackney, when guard railing was removed, pedestrian collisions went down as people looked at each other.. It is crucial to note that though investment in cars may appear cheaper, as it is cheaper per visit, investing in walking is always cheaper than a car over time (i.e. visits per month). We need to understand streets and their complexities, and the human side of them too. It is this that makes for better places.
Achieving Equity of Experience for All in Streets and Public Spaces Kiki MacDonald and Paul Ralph
People think of accessibility as a nice additional thing to do rather than catering for a large section of society and a large section of the economy. It is not just about the person with accessibility needs, but their friends, family, colleagues and wider community. For disabled people, everyday tasks become a research project that requires calling ahead to find out about accessibility. Trips become trial and error tasks. Euan’s Guide is a place for disabled members and carers to review places for accessibility. Peer review sites are powerful because they are a trusted source, generate new visits, and provide feedback for venues. On Euan’s Guide, users are visiting places just because someone else has given it a review. For disabled people the streets connect them to their communities. If the public realm does not work in an accessible format that place may as well not even exist. Disabled people feel like they are living on a series of islands because nothing connects. Bus stops are a really good indicator of a town’s accessibility: if there are dropped kerbs or if the live bus information screen cater for visually impaired people. However, due to inconsistency of accessibility, disabled people can be forced along lengthy detours. Sometimes movement from one accessible point to another means having to travel some distance to the next accessible point far away (such as dropped kerbs to allow a road crossing), just to come back to their original place. This is the result of the lack of connectedness.
Street clutter such as restaurant signs, pop up furniture and pavement width are left as obstructions for disabled users, buggies and the visually impaired to navigate. Consideration over their placement to cater for different users should be essential. Another example of obstructions is dropped kerbs, when motorcyclists use them as a parking place and therefore block the access. Is it a lack of awareness of the disabled lived experience that causes flaws in design and accessibility? There is not a one size fits all for disabled people. For example, tactile surfaces are great for the visually impaired but difficult for wheelchair users. When it comes to designing streets that are accessible for everyone, the top three things that planners and developers needs to consider are: • Consistency in the design, layout and planning between streets in different towns • Way marking that is provided in a style and way accessible to all • Technology to enhance street level experience such as Neatebox Finally, the best practice is for streetscapers to talk to disabled people and get their feedback.
Session One: Setting the Context
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SESSION TWO: FUTURE STREETS, FUTURE SOLUTIONS
Workshop briefing Mike Galloway (Director of City Development, Dundee City Council) provided briefing for three selected streets in Dundee City Centre as part of the briefing for the afternoon workshop. The aim of the workshops was for different groups to explore the potential for change in street futures and function, using three Dundee streets as working examples. Each group had a different starting point, as a practical way to creatively explore diverse issues and solutions. To help frame the work, constraints were placed in the form of a limited budget, while the scope for opportunities was open, unconstrained by the current policy framework.
Group 1 Seagate: Design identity and aesthetics-led Led by Giulia Vallone AoU Group 2 Seagate: Optimising access and connectivity Led by Russell Henderson AoU Group 3 Reform Street: Improving Street Trading and Local Economy Led by Phil Prentice Group 4 Reform Street: Re-inhabiting Streets, Building and Spaces Led by Steven Bee AoU
Each group visited their allocated street location. On return they were provided with: A1 maps of each street, pictures, tracing sheets, masking tape, coloured pens, blue tack and flip chart sheets.
Group 5 Commercial Street: Streetscape as hub of cultural activity Led by Andrew Burrell AoU
Each group had a lead facilitator, lead drawer, lead recorder (for report), and ‘Dundee expert(s)’ (familiar with the Dundee City centre context).
Group 6 Commercial Street: Enhancing livability, ecology and runoff management Led by Prof Brian Evans AoU
The group outputs included Strategy and Goals, Interventions and Actions, Plans and Sections, Sketches and Diagrams.
Group 7 Commercial Street: Streets for all, emphasizing inclusivity by sector, age and mobility Led by Ben Hamilton-Baillie Group 8 Reform Street: Quality destinational visitor experience for visitors of all types, including the well-travelled Led by John Dales and Matthew Carmona AoU
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SEAGATE Current Seagate properties Main bus route; vacant properties at ground floor and above; historic buildings; pedestrian link to Olympia pool and retail park; narrow footways, blocked by bus shelters; cycle route from the east. Key Challenges and Opportunities Physical condition - streetscape and buildings; enhancing the quality of pedestrian experience for all - the link to Olympia; vacant properties - commercial and residential; improving air quality?
REFORM STREET Current Reform Street properties Wide and part-pedestrianised; high vacancy rates at ground floor and above; historic buildings; link from City Square civic space and main shopping area to McManus Art Gallery & Museum; on-street parking; no green infrastructure. Key Challenges and Opportunities Vacant properties - retail/residential; quality of shop frontages; poor quality pedestrian experience; green infrastructure; maximising the use of the street?
COMMERCIAL STREET Current Commercial Street properties Principal bus route; no private cars permitted; wide pavements with breakouts onto adjoining streets; main shopping street crosses over with no traffic control; vacant properties at ground floor and above; historic buildings; key link from McManus Gallery to Waterfront area; mainly independent traders; some green infrastructure. Key Challenges and Opportunities Vacant properties - retail and residential; enhancing the quality of pedestrian experience; improving air quality? Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Group 1 Seagate: Design identity and aesthetics-led Budget £100K Led by Giulia Vallone AoU
ANALYSIS AND ISSUES The street is split into two sections; activity falls away following Trader’s Way travelling east. Key features of the street as it is are: 1. Bus throughway and bus station – bus stops on the south-side of the street 2. Busy street with narrow pavements and visual clutter 3. Rising inclination of the street towards the iconic Cathedral at the west end 4. Strong heritage dating back to the 12th Century 5. Lack of green infrastructure, except plants growing off unused buildings 6. Unattractive shop fronts and vacant units 7. A throughway, not a place to stop and linger
STRATEGY AND GOALS The Street has two cores – a transport point, and an opportunity for a “heritage rebirth” Four themes were identified where action could be taken and the goals for intervening in these themes Road and access – it is a busy street dominated by its use as a bus route. Aim to reduce the quantity and velocity of the traffic by narrowing the width of the road and using modular paving as road surface Green Infrastructure – introduce this for improved air quality, aesthetics, and for sense of enclosure. Utilising sunlight on the north side of the street Street lighting and CCTV– the road is poorly lit; changing the streetlights by incorporating in the same pole also CCTV, architectural wall wash lighting to enhance heritage buildings. Architectural lighting can change the perception of the place and create the feel of streetscape rather than a traffic-focused road Heritage and Culture – link the street back to its heritage dating back to the 12th century, including highlighting and framing the view of the Cathedral at the west end of the street
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INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIONS Road and Access
Street paving and lighting feature
• Narrow the road – increase space for pedestrians and slow traffic
• Sundial design using special paving originating from the Cathedral, and making use of the building shadow, to emphasize the iconic building and to attract people to walk towards it from up the road
• Use the area near the bus station as an interchange between the ‘country’ and ‘city’ buses, freeing up space on the street • Create a pedestrian route connecting the retail park to the city centre through the bus station •
Widen the pavement and install seating
• Potential to increase permeability through improving side street connectors Green infrastructure – Air Quality and Change Aesthetic • Tree planting along the north side of street to improve air quality and soften the street • Planters could be placed along the south side of the street – involve the local community in tending and taking ownership of these • Planters on the sides of historic buildings
• Install improved street lighting – a multifunctional lighting system. (including CCTV, water and electricity service connection, spot lights etc.) • De-clutter the road by removing any dated street furniture and items cluttering the building facades Heritage and Culture Visually narrate the street’s heritage using: • Pop-up exhibitions to highlight the street’s heritage • Could install a mural, getting local street artists involved (or temporary pavement graffiti) • Night exhibitions to project images on buildings on the connecting side streets Highlight and improve iconic buildings • Red sandstone building (former warehouse) • Old Bond building
• Informal “kissing chairs” at strategic location i.e. facing street views and sunny spots
Encourage cafes to bring activity and life to the area Temporary installations • Pop-up foodstalls to encourage street culture
• Pocket park with vertical walls opposite the bus station for gap site infill and to improve the building façade in an economically-efficient way
Branding • Dundee’s Merchant City • ‘Trade City’
• Given the budget, potted trees and temporary planters could be installed at the outset
Improving shop frontage • Incentivise shop owners to improve the quality of their shopfronts Seagate circle – replace the blank wall with a mosaic, displaying the area’s heritage
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Group 2 Seagate: Optimising access and connectivity Budget £200K Led by Russell Henderson AoU
ANALYSIS AND ISSUES
STRATEGY AND GOALS
The street is dominated by vehicles and space is disproportionately allocated to them, to the detriment of pedestrians and cyclists. The street is a key route between the pedestrianised City Centre retail zone and the bus station. For some, this is the first impression arrival experience of Dundee, particularly students.
• Make a road a street again, bring a linger factor whilst acknowledging the importance of movement.
The limited pedestrian space available is filled with unnecessary street clutter – signage, bus stops, refuse bins etc. Due to the lack of space. the street is not a place to spend time, there is nothing to go to and no reasons to dwell and linger. There is a flow of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, but none appears to have the street as a destination. Noise and Air Quality – the street acts as a corridor for buses and has high noise levels with poor air conditions due to the tall corridor effect. The street hits a point towards the eastern end where it becomes a road, focused on bus movements near the bus station, this is a particularly unfriendly pedestrian environment and there is poor linkage with the bus station and retail park. Congestion – bus stops, parking and deliveries (unrestricted loading bays) all seem to occur together, resulting in moments where the street becomes congested.
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• Improve the city centre arrival experience and take advantage of examples of good architecture • Connected bus station • Improved pedestrian experience and permeability • Sense of pleasure and enjoyment from the street as a place • Boosted street economy – Seagate as a location has cache • Connected active travel corridors • For Dundee, the positive effect of another area being regenerated
INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIONS Flat and Clean - Widen the pavements with an emphasis on the outside (North side) curve of the crescent. Remove street clutter and upgrade all the surfaces to present a flat and safe walking surface Light - For safety and for ambience, this should present the street as a safe and attractive environment. Upgrading of building mounted lighting, and use lighting as feature point Green - integrated with lighting scheme. Green wall on M&S (green walls are most effective for CO2 absorption) and tree tubs Active Lanes - increase permeability and active uses. This is a key strategy to revitalise the street Activate building faces – Seek to improve the streetscape quality such that new tenants and operators are encouraged into the street. There is a captive footfall available due to the proximity of the bus station Bus gate - reduce the traffic using the street and control loading and parking Public art - improve the look of the street
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Group 3 Reform Street: Improving Street Trading and Local Economy Budget £50K Led by Phil Prentice
ANALYSIS AND ISSUES
STRATEGY AND GOALS
• Traffic dominates the street – the road is too wide
• A strategy that contributes to the goal of developing Dundee as an international destination
• Buses! • Need to redefine the street’s purpose • Murraygate/High St intersection too narrow • No ‘entrance’ or focal point end • No coherent lighting strategy – has resulted in a street that is quite dark • Solutions don’t need to be expensive – they could be minimal
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• A measured approach that protects the high quality of Reform Street • Investment that guides people along the street, linking City Square to Albert Square, the High School and the McManus • Events-driven • Creative reuse of vacant units for food and culture, innovation and imaginations • High quality niche products
INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIONS Environment
Enterprise
• A gentle prod rather than major surgery
• Encourage pop-up spaces for food and creative enterprises
• Provide planting in minimal, moveable planters • Hanging baskets and modern banners
• Street food market in Albert Square
• Remove projecting “To Let” signs
• Engage with DC Thomson around opportunities for 800 staff and High School with students
• Commission window vinyl linked to end use to prompt private sector to react
• Actively pursue retailers and businesses with a strategic fit – investment strategy
• Canopy of lights
• Pursue opportunities for co-working with food and drink
• Quality signage and street furniture
• Work with Creative Dundee to develop broader, linked employment support • Work with Event Scotland to develop targeted events strategy (and possibly funding) Approach • Partnership, collaboration, co-working • Playing to other organisation’s strengths • Using funding to lever other support
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Group 4 Reform Street: Re-inhabiting Streets, Building and Spaces Budget £100K Led by Steven Bee AoU ANALYSIS AND ISSUES
STRATEGY AND GOALS
• We believed there was no fundamental issue with Reform Street itself; it’s a nice street acting as a prime link to the City Square and Caird Hall. The problem is that circumstances have recently changed and various properties have become vacant. It lacks identity
Build on assets of: Architectural quality; Location/axis; Links with DC Thomson, McManus, Caird Hall; Night and daytime economy
• The area would welcome the return of DC Thomson to the north end of the street, as this should increase footfall dramatically at peak times • We noted a lack of residential uses on the street. We were unsure of the predominant uses of the upper floors but it did not look like many were in active residential use • It’s a good, wide street although not very inviting – the different materials used between the pavement and pedestrianised central avenue are not consistent and cause confusion as people continue to walk on the pavement • It feels like a leftover street albeit providing a key axial route • Proportions largely Georgian/Classical • Upper floors on the west side appear to be better occupied than the east side – we need to understand the matter of scale/ownership • Reform Street is the missing link between Caird Hall and McManus Gallery
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INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIONS 1. Lighting, sound and water – Lyon is a good example 2. Short-term lets, pop-ups at ground level – curate the street (animate) 3. Parking to parklets at the upper end 4. Residential on upper levels/mixed use 5. Development of Keilor site • Reinvention like the Merchant City in Glasgow
• Light and sound would draw people to Reform Street
• Creative lighting ideas like those in Royal Exchange Square (fairy light canopy) – this would encourage people up Reform Street and encourage an alfresco café culture – Galleria
• Create a parklet at the northern end
• Proposal to use the budget to hire a vacant ground floor unit from the property owner and either provide pop-up space or run a competition for free rent for a year – the best idea gets the space for a year, by popular vote • Incorporation of a water feature in the central avenue (bearing in mind Reform Street is also used for large parades)
• A comprehensive lighting strategy will transform the identity of Reform Street, enhancing the existing great architectural quality and buildings on Reform Streets • Potential to illuminate buildings with images – use a lighting strategy as a catalyst for getting buildings used again • Potential to tap into existing footfall from the High School, city centre users, office workers and passers by – a large footfall currently uses Reform Street as a thoroughfare, but more activity and making the street an exciting place to be will ensure businesses re-locate here and people want to be there
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Group 5 Commercial Street: Streetscape as hub of cultural activity Budget £50K Led by Andrew Burrell AoU
ANALYSIS AND ISSUES • What might culture mean in this context? And what culture is present on Commercial Street? • It is a street of two halves – the southern half is more ‘bohemian’, particularly evident on adjoining Exchange Street. These characteristics need to be encouraged on the lower end of Commercial Street • The southern half of the street has less traffic, but also less footfall in general • Its hinterland is not accessible because of gated entries to back areas • Uses along the street are shown through the colourcoded plan below • Currently it is not a ‘cultural destination’. Nor is it a major thoroughfare, and is not the natural route between the V&A and McManus Galleries • Vacant upper levels and other vacant units impact the street – particularly where vacancy has led to rundown frontages
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STRATEGY AND GOALS
INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIONS
With a £50K budget there are a limited number of interventions that can be made. The focus of the approach was therefore on temporary interventions to generate activity and interest in the area
1. Create pinch points/traffic calming – reduce the impact of fast flowing traffic including buses
• Respect and enhance the character of the street
3. Engagement and cultural nights – use the project money to sponsor cultural events on the street to reanimate it. Follow Belfast’s example of ‘cultural nights’ – evenings for artists and musicians in the street
• Reactivate and energise the street • Prioritise pedestrians
2. Pop-up shops and parks
4. Keiller Market – untapped opportunity, investigate the opportunity to alter this from an indoor shopping ‘shed’ to a naturally-lit ‘market’ 5. Vacancy survey – map ownership, negotiate access and subsidise short-term lets 6. Physical environmental improvements
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Group 6 Commercial Street: Enhancing liveability, ecology and run-off management Budget £150K Led by Prof Brian Evans AoU
ANALYSIS AND ISSUES
STRATEGY AND GOALS
Challenges
The group developed a Design Brief:
• Short time to take account of changes within the study area and whether to consider the implications from out-with
• Focus on retaining a two-way bus connection
• Working in the unknown e.g. how the space works (or doesn’t) at different times of the day/week • What do you actually look at when on site - often we forget to look up! If the streets were naturally easier to navigate by foot it would make it easier/safer to consider what we have around with regards to the built form or the social interactions which may happen
• Ensure that movement focus was East/West and not North/South, which would result in priority for pedestrian rather than the vehicles • Surface water should be considered in design to ensure no impact on street/business use • 100% pedestrian access • Space for cyclists
The Process
• Servicing restricted
In a group of multiple disciplines and within a short space of time to work in, it was necessary to create a consensus within the group about where to focus efforts. Each group member had a voice and an opportunity to share their thoughts on the issues within the street. Feedback resulted in either consensus or dilemma within the group. Questioned what the real issue was within the study area. What was apparent is that a defining language is essential when discussing place and space. In some cases a conflict or dilemma was considered but actually it was a misinterpretation of language to describe an issue/idea/ thought e.g. the street is too wide where in fact it was thought the road was too wide.
• Surface (linear) water planting/retention
22 Streets Beyond: Beyond Streets
• Encourage eclectic character and retail • “Support” upper floor residential • Lighting strategy
INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIONS Both groups tackled the issues set out above and similar proposals were developed. The proposals included: • Buses were to be maintained on the north/south axis, however, intervention is required from a behavioural and physical aspect. Insertion of a long raised table wasn’t considered necessary if the street was narrowed at the main intersection with pedestrians to allow only one vehicle at a time to pass. This would naturally slow the buses and reduce the area of risk for conflict of pedestrian/vehicle • No car access except on East to West axis along from Seagate to Castle Street. Cars should not use Commercial Street. The width of the road should be narrowed
• Some shop floor space area is limited and therefore encouragement to use the streets would be to the advantage of social interaction and increased usable space • Planters should be used to encourage water collection and management • Additional planting should be encouraged in the street to create a sense of enclosure Interventions did not need to be costly; they just need to be right!
• A lighting strategy is required to illuminate the buildings and highlight the hidden architecture of the street • Owners should be encouraged to participate in improvements to the built fabric of their buildings, with information and education about the impacts of neglect on buildings and the responsibilities that they have
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Group 7 Commercial Street: Streets for all, emphasising inclusivity by sector, age and mobility Budget £100K Led by Ben Hamilton-Baillie
ANALYSIS AND ISSUES • It is no longer a commercial street, its use has changed so its design needs to change to encourage pedestrians and cyclists and make it easier to traverse the space if you’re in a wheelchair, a mobility scooter or pushing a buggy
• There is a lot of clutter all the way down the street, including large waste bins (often two or more together) and unnecessary and overly large metal tree-guards. The trees are large and don’t need this type of protection
• The road is very wide (approx.14m) but the pavements are narrow, leaving a wide road so that traffic is too fast and doesn’t always slow down
• There is no coherent lighting strategy for the whole length of the street. Some lighting columns look like large light sabers and are out of keeping with the character of the street
• It appears to be narrower at the southern end but has two-way traffic with buses, service vehicles and private cars coming from and going into Seagate • Existing public realm materials used as surface treatments are very variable and do not match or compliment the building fabric, which, overall, is fairly grand and high quality, especially in the upper half. There are cheaply done ‘road patch-ups’ using completely different and inappropriate materials • The brick paved ‘crossing’ of the High St/Murraygate is quite narrow and most people avoid walking on it as it contains the tramlines • The positioning of the traffic lights also gives a signal to drivers that green means go, that they have precedence over pedestrians 24 Streets Beyond: Beyond Streets
• There is no destination or focal point at the southern end; no sense of arrival as the street simply ends with what is currently a rather bleak vista out over lanes of traffic and the waterfront • The buildings at the top end are very fine, rather grand landmark buildings but at the southern end they are smaller and pretty dilapidated. Several have redundant upper floors and the backs of the buildings are run-down and uninviting. There isn’t 24-hour use despite the city-centre location so there is very little pedestrian activity at the southern end. This also encourages vehicles to travel faster than would be ideal. Less able people are at a big disadvantage
STRATEGY AND GOALS
INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIONS
• Reanimate the street as a people place with a greater diversity of uses (including residential)
• Split the street into three sections, rather than treating it as a single, linear unit.
• Create a sense of arrival and destination
• Redesign of each third of the street needs to define the idea; ‘flow speed’ for traffic which should be in the 10-12 mph range in order to allow easer pedestrian and bicycle movement
• Develop a coherent palate of materials for the public realm, in keeping and reflecting the architecture and quality of the area • Drastically reduce the flow speed of traffic to make the area accessible for all
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Group 8 Reform Street: Quality destinational visitor experience for visitors of all types, including the well-travelled Budget £150K Led by John Dales and Matthew Carmona AoU
ANALYSIS AND ISSUES Reform Street does not seem to be performing as it should be. It has a lot of potential as a destination, and needs to overcome issues such as need for pedestrian priority, vacant units and longer periods of animation to overcome this STRATEGY AND GOALS • Make Reform Street the place to be in Dundee ‘Reform follows funky’ play on form follows function. • Increase activity on the street through markets, pulling in additional footfall for units already on the street. • Create a visual feature that acts as a destination point • Prioritise people through visual cues that enable people to ‘own’ the street
26 Streets Beyond: Beyond Streets
INTERVENTIONS AND ACTIONS • Create an open street market image for the street, at least up to Bank Street, by curating stalls occupying at least a half-width, if not the entire width, during weekends. This could stimulate trade for the existing shops on Reform Street – existing food shops and cafes would be encouraged to extend their (tabled) eating activities out onto the pavement/street. Traffic would, thus, continue along the upper half of the street but no car parking would be permitted on Reform Street during weekends – rather existing car bays are to be used for bicycle parking (racks). In time, with success, the entire street might be given over to this weekend activity. The theme for this enterprise and image making, parodying the ‘form follows function’ concept, is ‘Reform-follows-funky’, i.e. a cool place to shop, eat and meet people • A landscape feature, definitive in plan but not obscuring (height) the view of the neo-classical school, acting as a visual stop-end to the north, could be introduced as an articulating break and along Reform Street. This might be as simple as brightly coloured asphalt on the ground
• As a way of reinforcing pedestrian priority, the footpath on the Bank Street side could continue across the mouth of its junction with Reform Street, although creating a slight indentation in plan back from Reform Street and the landscape feature cited above, rather than continuing straight • A selection of cartoon characters (Bash Street Kids) could stand at that T-junction and/or be placed in the window spaces on the upper floors of, say, three shops on Reform Street that face the junction • Money permitting, this proposed new funky node could be included on an App-based guide, including a way-finding map, real-time info and indicative travel time by different modes to and from Reform Street in respect of other parts of Dundee
Session Two: Future Streets, Future Solutions
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Conclusion The Streets Beyond: Beyond Streets event, including both the initial presentations and participative workshops, illustrated that: 1. There are a wide variety of ways in which streets and public spaces can be re-purposed and reprogrammed – there is not a singular ‘norm’, not should there be 2. These can affect the social activity and economic contribution not only of the facing buildings along, but also in the blocks and neighbourhoods that surround them – impacting beyond the street itself 3. Major benefits can also accrue to our health, to disadvantaged or vulnerable groups, as well as to small business and community sectors 4. Interventions and changes need not be high cost or iconic, nor indeed always be physical or long term – some can be low cost and temporary, such as markets, events or installations, such as sculpture of special lighting effects 5. Whilst exemplars help provide evidence and argument, there is a need to take care in promoting or adopting generic approaches drawn from elsewhere – and that place specific analysis and understanding is required, looking beyond the limited ‘surface crust’ of the frontages facing the street or space, to provide beneficial solutions 6. There needs to be clarity about the roles, starting point, objectives and also funding available, to have an informed and ultimately effective approach that targets positive change to public space 28 Streets Beyond: Beyond Streets
7. Much is to be gained from a creative, interdisciplinary approach that looks beyond an infrastructural, policy or narrow project mentality – to involve events and design, community and local enterprise, and ultimately have a wider and/or deeper impact. 8. We don’t have to accept streets and public space as we think we have ‘always’ known them. They can, and indeed always have changed, and we need to think critically how they may need to evolve in the future 9. Future thinking needs to be informed, aspirational, yet also practical, in a time of limited funds. There should ideally be multiple benefits 10. To enable and support the transformation of streets beneficially needs a new kind of imaginative, collaborative leadership in urbanism Finally, this event demonstrates that, after 10 years, The Academy of Urbanism has built up layers of learning, and networks of good practice and reflective practitioners, in a manner that can serve as a template for wider debate and progress as it moves into its second decade. Hopefully there will be plenty of opportunity to take such thinking, learning, and networked activity forward. Kevin Murray AoU, Director
Afterword Modern streets need to be socially as well as physically connective. They need a mix of offerings. When you have the right diversity and quality of activities they become places where people want to do business and choose to spend their leisure time. The social agenda has to be at the heart of street design. There has to be a shift from utilitarian corridors to ‘positive’ streets where people want to be – where they feel comfortable, safe and even inspired by their surroundings. The regenerative successes of northern European cities should act as an inspiration for those of us in the UK trying to revive our high streets. Over the past 20 years the centre of Copenhagen has become the financial engine for the whole city. People are spending four times more money in the centre. Why? Because they claimed their streets back and made them about people. Social needs should be put ahead of simply building hard infrastructure and this means people with specific skill sets driving change. Planners, architects, engineers and others who appreciate the social meaning of street and their links to identity, health and wellbeing are essential. We need people living, working and socialising in city centres as much as possible. Residents make city centres more vibrant and prosperous places and give them their character and identity. Workers go out at lunchtime and after work. The more that people spend money in town centres the more businesses spring up to meet increasing demand. Simple!
thing and to show businesses and retailers why they should be abandoning out of town developments for the city and not the other way around. Empty shop units are the most visible indicators of high street decay but the number of vacant properties above the ground floor is every bit as challenging. At the moment there is little or no incentive to redevelop city centre properties. Policy-makers need to collaborate with both private and public sectors. Let’s work together to design our city centres. The street and public spaces are about cultural identity and this is why we cannot meekly surrender our town and city centres – we need to fight for them and make them about people once more. Creative and thoughtful design and management of these public spaces can stimulate a range of human activity that can bring wider urban areas to life – streets and public spaces should be more equitable, inclusive and just, and provide more sensory experiences for all – sight, sound, smell and touch. Dr Husam AlWaer AoU For more information please visit the AoU website, academyofurbanism.org.uk
So how do we design our streets and public spaces? Firstly, we need to make our centres the ‘absolute priority’. We need to show people why living in a city centre is a good Conclusion / Afterword
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#AoUStreets + Adapting streets and spaces to enhance the urban experience + Understanding pedestrian & people movement patterns + Re-thinking the physical, social and economic roles of streets + Re-inhabiting streets and central urban spaces + Capturing ideas from different locations and spheres to inform policy processes
About the Academy The Academy of Urbanism is a politically independent, not-for-profit organisation that brings together both the current and next generation of urban leaders, thinkers and practitioners, engaged in the social, cultural, economic, political and physical development of our villages, towns and cities. We increasingly work with places to identify and reinforce their strengths, and help them recognise and overcome obstacles to greater success. 70 Cowcross Street London EC1M 6EJ +44 (0) 20 7251 8777 info@academyofurbanism.org.uk academyofurbanism.org.uk @theAoU