Urban Update 4 October 2024
News and Research
Built Environment
What amenities drive footfall in UK town centres? A machine learning approach using OpenStreetMap data - Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science
The top 10 place features contributing to footfall predictions are
- hotels
- pedestrian ways
- named places
- clothing shops
- retail buildings
- general buildings
- restaurants
- tourism sites
- cafes, and
- theatres
And…. diversity of amenities drives footfall
The status quo of architecture and its impact on urban management: Christopher Alexander's insights - Journal of Urban Management
This paper relates Christopher Alexander’s critique of modernist architecture for its “emphasis on cold, machine-like efficiency, standardized forms, and a top-down approach, often [neglecting] the fundamental human need for connection, warmth, and harmony”.
It expresses his “new” vision for architecture that is “deeply human-centred, rooted in the creation of living structures that resonate with the natural and social rhythms of life”, before applying this to urban design more generally.
There is a presentation by Christopher Alexander on UrbanNous.
International
Masdar City: Rethinking Urban Design for a Sustainable World >>>>
England
Compulsory Purchase Guidance issued by Government >>>>
including Compulsory purchase compensation: Power to remove hope value >>>>
A factsheet explaining the power to remove hope value from the assessment of compulsory purchase compensation
Directions to remove hope value can be used where they include public sector led affordable or social housing, health or education uses, and are justified in the public interest.
Paul Reynolds, Chair of the Urban Design Group commented that “the use of CPO is likely to be an important tool in delivering an approach to place making that is based on good urban form (LINK TO UDG PAPER) and the potential to remove hope value in certain circumstances, if done right, will help to retain value in land and pay for better quality outcomes.”
Councils in England to get revised guidance on ‘middle-class fly-tipping’ >>>>
Few people know about the existence of the legally enforceable Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse, Litter Abatement Orders, There is a legal definition of waste.
Labour's plan to build 1.5m homes – can it be delivered? >>>>
Why building new towns isn’t the answer to the UK’s housing crisis >>>>
Article contends that new towns offer a slow route to delivery. It provides a chart of Proportion of new homes by development size by region, with areas such as Northern Ireland dominated by sites below 50 units in size, compared with London where half of new homes are in developments of 500 units or greater.
1930s Aerial photos of England made available by Historic England >>>>
Arthur William Hobart was an early commercial aerial photographer. By 1938 he had amassed a stock library of around 10,000 images. Our Air Pictures Portleven Collection contains 356 negatives. 242 of these show views of industry, townscapes and seaside resorts in England.
The UK’s 'Magic Roundabout’ named the Roundabout of the Year by the Roundabout Appreciation Society >>>>
Humans, Health, Society
How Urban Design Shapes Health and Sustainable Living >>>>
Further reading: Exploring the nexus of urban form, transport, environment and health in large-scale urban studies: A state-of-the-art scoping review >>>>
"Nexus" means connection. Compact city designs were generally advantageous for reducing harmful environmental exposure and promoting health, with some exceptions.
Charity warns 99% of playgrounds break air pollution limits >>>> Press release >>>>
Play spaces were attributed to local authorities, and analysed against government UK NO2 levels data.
The World Health Organization limit for Nitrogen dioxide is 10 micrograms per cubic metre annual average. The estimate was that only 429 out of 43,308 play spaces were in local authority areas that had average NO2 levels below the World Health Organisation limit.
How Heat Waves Are Rewriting Urban Routines
This study of USA cities found that
- People are more likely to stay indoors and avoid non-essential travel
- Leisure, shopping and socializing trips decrease
- People shift their travel to cooler times of day: early morning, late evening
- Car use increases, public transport use drops by nearly 50 percent – cars offering air conditioning.
- Low income individuals and elderly people who lack access to cars and are dependent on walking and public transport face challenge
- The paper suggests measures such as infra-red reflecting surfaces, tree planting, and measures to help less well-off people.
The behavioural house indicator: A faster and real time small-area deprivation measure for England - Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science
This research suggests that there are specific flash points of deep rural and highly dense urban deprivation areas that are not well captured by existing indexes.
Different types of greenspace within urban parks and depressive symptoms among older U.S. adults living in urban areas - Environment International
However, having a grassy park area near the home was associated with as much as 27 % fewer depressive symptoms. In contrast, non-vegetated park area was associated with up to 54 % more depressive symptoms.
NB – other research worth remembering…..
- Crime affects the perception and value of parks and greenspace. If crime levels are perceived to be high, parks can come to symbolise the danger and people will actively avoid them, and even pay to live further away from them.
- Research has found that people’s reaction to photographs of greenspace do not reflect their response to real-world greenspace . In real-world experiments people have been found to prefer enveloping greenery, something that does not show up in studies that are based on response to photographs
Vivid London: Assessing the resilience of urban vibrancy during the COVID-19 pandemic using social media data - Sustainable Cities and Society
This research used geotagged social media data such as Twitter and Flickr as a proxy for vibrancy.
The findings showed that central neighbourhoods with transport hubs, educational and healthcare facilities, eateries, and financial centres exhibit greater resilience.
U.S.: How the Government tests wastewater for Covid — and what it found in has been finding >>>>
Politics, Philosophy, Economics, History
Life for rent: Evolving residential infrastructure in London and the rise of Build-to-Rent (BTR) - Urban Studies
- Drawing on data relating to 373 Buy to Rent developments in London, this article finds that Buy to Rents are “up to 60% more expensive than comparable units in the private rental sector” and tend to be concentrated in neighbourhoods undergoing gentrification.
- It argues that the underlying business model “thrives on the ‘rent gaps’ associated with new transport infrastructure investment and rising land values in South and North London especially”.
- The study’s findings are said to align with previous work on permitted development which “suggests that housing quality suffers from local pressures to meet housing targets”.
Popular support exists for urban sustainable development – but people prioritise their own needs - Nature Sustainability
There is, on average, a high acceptance of urban sustainable development policies (72.61%) but with substantial discrepancies: while urban sustainable development policies predominantly prioritize issues, such as biodiversity, education and transportation, residents expressed preferences for issues linked to their essential and everyday needs, such as cost of living, public health and poverty.
Have City Deals delivered higher productivity in England? An empirical assessment of a broad-spectrum local growth policy - Urban Studies
Century-old Oxfordshire road maps made available online >>>>
Schools are preparing students for climate conditions that no longer exist >>>>
(In-)formal settlement to whom? Archaeology and old urban agendas for sustainability transitions in Ethiopia - Urban Studies
Natural Environment
Microplastic hotspots forming in offshore UK North Sea, researchers find >>>>
Beds, Cambs and Northants project finds unknown ancient woodland >>>>
Movement
How To Build New Trams In The Uk And Get Britain Moving – Create Streets
This is an important paper - set aside 10 minutes to read it. It covers lack of skills in local authorities able, the issue over utilities pushing up costs, and the problem of "gold-plating" that collectively mean that Trams are rarely built in the UK.
Energy and Climate Change
'Chaos' feared in planned Morocco to Devon power cable link >>>>
Geoengineering is now essential to saving the Arctic's ice >>>>
Scientists criticise UN agency’s failure to withdraw livestock emissions report >>>>
Mapped: The greenest countries in Europe >>>>
Greenest for the purposes of this article means the extent to which electricity supplies use fossil fuels.
What we need to address is the Total Energy Supply, not just electricity. For developed countries electricity represents as little as 1/5th of total energy used.