I came across an item in Architecture Scotland, written by Willie Miller,
The item contains the words:
“Andres Duany of DPZ was recently described by Jim Mackinnon, Chief Planner at the Scottish Government as Ôthe Tiger Woods of town planning' and while he is lauded by the Scottish Government he, and the traditional urbanism project in general, are held in particularly low regard by many Scottish architects.” And,
“The Scottish Government has clearly taken urbanism issues seriously with a slew of publications aimed at increasing the standard of new development, a curiosity about how high standards are attained in other countries and initiatives such as Design Awareness Training for Council officers and elected members through the Improvement Service and the recent Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative.”
The item goes on to say,
“The reasons for this adoption of traditional urbanism are fairly obvious. Firstly, volume builder residential developments are not improving and there is little sign that they will. Planners are usually unable to make significant positive changes to these developments despite a plethora of conditions, design briefs and codes. Many are wrong from the outset. Secondly, a proportion of sites allocated in Local Plans for housing are often ill-chosen in relation to their potential impact on the town, transport, intrusion in the landscape and on habitats and a standard product residential development will usually exacerbate these difficulties. Traditional urbanism is by its nature sensitive to context and place and has principles and methods of practice that create developments embodying much of what is regarded today as best practice in planning and urban design so even on a poor site, it will create a more sensitive response.”
“One of the keys to creating this plan is that Moray Estates has been in the area for hundreds of years and intend remaining there and so can afford to take a long term view of the development. The current estimate is that it might take 20 years to complete so this is no short term business like most of the house building industry. “The parallels with Poundbury will not have gone unnoticed. On the face of it, Duany and the local communities around Tornagrain have succeeded in producing an well structured proposal for a mixed use settlement encompassing principles of walkability, variety of dwelling types, local shopping, schools and traffic attenuation.”
“Moray Estates maintain that over the twenty year development period for the town, it is inevitable that there will be variations in style but for now they are content to let the code produce an appropriate range of traditional buildings for the town.”
“What distinguishes this recent urbanism in Scotland is the emphasis on the principles of town making and urban structure, the inclusiveness of the plan making process involving local communities, the elevation of sustainability to the status of core issue and the de-emphasis of architecture as end product. Another factor common to all these developments is that they are all being promoted by major landowners who are in the developments for the long term.”
The full article can be found at:
http://www.architecturescotland.co.uk/features/267/Tornagrain.html
I sent out an e mail to members and contacts drawing attention to this article and a good number of responses were received. Some of the feedback included:
"The Charette process is a process designed to "achieve buy-in" to something the developers have already decided on..."
"The new town will be too big for a cosy village with an authentic village life (as pictures suggest) and too small (and old fashioned) for an exciting city life."
"I can only repeat that I feel this type of architecture and urbanism (Disney Land) does not reflect future life style and will not meet the needs/well being of future generations.
It is backward-looking and narrow minded."
"The whole article presupposes that the community's agree with the development ,did the author bother to ask for any local opinion or just quote a hand out from the developer..."
"Scottish Government seems hell bent on influencing the decision making process for the planning application for Tornagrain. What confidence do we have that councillors and in fact ministers should it come to that can now make an impartial decision..."
"I think both the Moray Estates and the Scottish Government are right to be concerned about urban town planning, and I can see why they have proposed the design they have. However it has not really addressed the issues of 21st c, and instead is trying to create a pastiche 18th c. Town. That's why 'traditional urbanism' is not much favoured by architects. It will be a fake like Disneyland. It would be better to go back to first principles and look at what sort of town we actually need now,-and where, and why."
"I was not personally involved in the consultations. However I understand that these focussed on details rather than the substantive issues and did not question the need for a town in the first place. I am not convinced this was the success it is claimed to be but may be wrong."
"I can see that the Scottish Government would seize on this as an example in trying to promote a change from standard development practice - it should get people thinking and that's good. But when you start to think about it, this is the wrong development, in the wrong place."
"Final comment on the comparisons with Poundbury - I did dig up something on the Internet in March that car usage in Poundbury is higher than the average for Dorset and also for the UK as a whole. I can try and find again if this is something that you wish to cite."
"My personal opinion was that it (the charrette) was a wonderful experience for me..."
Join the blog tomorrow to continue the debate on New Urbanism.
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