Urban Design 53 – January 1995

Urban Components

Contents of Edition 53

Cover Photograph: Cityscape by Simon Head
 
News and Events 4
UDG/RTPI Conference on Urban Design
UDG/Architecture Foundation Lecture by Dan Kiley
Lefebvre and the History of Space
 
Quality in town and country
UDG Response to the Secretary of State 6
Secretary of State's views on urban design 7

Quality in Town and Country was a discussion document published by the Department for the Environment in 1994 marking a positive change in government attitude towards planning and urban design.

Download Quality in Town and Country

 
Topic / Urban components
Knitting together the urban components
Kelvin Campbell defines the holistic approach which requires a new
approach to urbanism by the professions and funding agencies 10
 
Infrastucture and the life of cities
Alan Baxter describes the intestines of the city, the need to
understand them better and plan more flexibly for the future 12
 
Working cities: Transactional places
John Worthington analyses the changing nature of work and the
implications of information and communications technology 13
 
Animation: A plea for activity in urban places
John Montgomery makes a plea for encouraging street life and
urban culture and building a city's evening economy 15
 
The environment: Institutions friend or foe?
Francis Amos considers the financial institution's approach the
physical environment and whether users can play a bigger part. 17
 
Networked cities
Chris Gentle anticipates the impact of the information super highway
on the potential for creating a more open society 19
 
The public realm
Huw Thomas emphasises the role of urban spaces as an outward
expression of our social attitudes and values 20
 
The street
Richard MacCormac examines the ways in which the role of the
street has changed and its potential in urban design 22
 
The square and the park
Dan Kiley regrets that there are not enough parks and squares in our
cities and where they exist they should reflect today's needs 23
 
Monuments and civic buildings
Vincent Wang considers whether the future monument could be based
on information exchange or transport nodal points 25
 
Neighbourhood and community
Peter Calthorpe puts forward ideas for the structuring of
communities based on the neighbourhood, place making, human
scale, and diversity and balance 26
 
Regenerating the urban core
Tom Bloxham argues for more imagination and vision from
developers to consider niche marketing 28
 
The town centre
Brian Raggett reviews recent government statements about town
centres and ways in which centres can be improved 30
 
Book reviews
Reviews by John Billingham, Peter Howard and Helena Webster 32
© Urban Design Group
 
Practice profiles
Battle McCarthy
Nathaniel Lichfield
Livingston Eyre Associates