In 2014 I entered the Woolfson Economics Prize responding to their question “How would you deliver a new Garden City which is visionary, economically viable, and popular?”– fragments of my response still seem pertinent to how we might shape new towns and increase (and diversify) housing delivery.
Some of my ideas about structuring place strategically overlapped with the winner’s (co -location with existing settlements, landscape and transport led, design coded etc) but for me key was answering – Whose vision, how to be vital culturally and economically and how to be popular not through thinking of place as consumable but through enabling more citizens to be producers?
The response drew together interests gleaned from different roles and experiences. For example observations about (missing) cultural infrastructure from my experience of growing up with Milton Keynes contrasted with the ‘instant’ infrastructure of the music festival. Learning from my work with the North Devon Biosphere and their spatial concept of a bioregion delivering ecosystem services. Experience as a director of a community energy company tackling fuel poverty and of working with communities to co-create site development briefs. Experience of how large scale developent usually takes place and an ongoing obsession with Co-Housing and Baugruppen (group build) all informed the proposal.
Here’s an extract from a closing chapter ‘Step by Step’
‘As for the big decisions, arguments which tend to sway politicians and professionals rely on quantifying (how many, how much, how big?) questions about quality and equity which cannot be counted are too difficult, they get marginalised.’ Sue Clifford – Common Ground
A step by step process of stakeholder and community engagement and involvement would be set out. This would gradually invite people in, expanding upon and testing the guiding principles for a new Garden City offering opportunities for community ownership:
One – Identify new Garden City Regions
Set out the criteria for identifying new Garden City regions: these should deliver a ‘new deal’ for people and the environment offering the opportunity to improve; employment, learning and recreation opportunities, housing diversity, energy security and ecosystem resilience in the wider City region. Select sites by inviting competitive expressions of interest from partnerships of local authorities and communities – selecting those where a ‘compelling case in the public interest’ can be demonstrated for development.
Two – Set up new Garden City governance
Select the best areas to be designated as ‘new deal’ Garden City regions, where a new Garden City CIC will lead development. Establish the CIC with a skeleton team, set up a board and working groups representing relevant interests. Seek finance to support the first phase of work of the CIC and the costs of land assembly. Establish a Land Pooling Trust to create a partnership of landowner and community interests. Make the community entitled to a share of the value created by development.
Three – Co-Create a City Charter
Establish a Community Forum including key stakeholders from the city region. Through collaborative workshops the Forum develop a City Charter setting out agreed priorities for the new Garden City and City Region, identifying issues and opportunities. The charter could be illuminated by some readily communicable principles: e.g. no two main avenues the same, one new tree for every 100m2 of building, 33% of housing land to cooperatives or self-provided housing, a learning hub or university seminar room in every neighbourhood, etc..
Four – A Shared Framework for a Co-Created City
Commission through two design competitions running parallel; one for the new Garden City Framework and one for contemporary architecture(s) for the new Garden City. Judge the competitions with input from the wider public. Finalise a Framework Plan and strategic design guidance. Test this plan through a phase of open source scenario planning, using public workshops and physical and digital models to invite co-creators to populate the scenario in different ways.
Five – Develop Area Design Codes
Once the framework has been tested and revised to reflect the learning from the scenario planning begin phased share offers for the first phases of development. Develop more detailed codes for each area and consult on these – include development guidelines that will streamline further planning consents.
‘Just one eco-town would be great. If you want to change something for the better, you need one great exemplar that is deliverable in order to change people’s hearts and minds.’ Wayne Hemingway
With my proposal I was hoping for a so called light bulb prize but didn’t quite make it, only making it to the celebratory dinner! The process of developing a response became a way of using writing to sythesise ideas and influenced other projects, such as the West of England Placemaking Charter or Glastonbury Instant City.
Clifford, S. & King, A. (1996) From place to place, maps and Parish Maps: Common Ground
Hemmingway, W. (2009) Who Killed the Eco Town, 25.06.09: The Architects Journal
Image; milton keynes aerial – Helmut Jacoby 1974
bold visions and everyday place
… … …
July, 2024