THE
01 FUNDAMENTALS
1.1 The importance of urban design 1.2 Key design principles 1.3 How the compendium is organised
Many urban regeneration and development projects require
public funding to help subsidise the costs of buildings,
infrastructure and open spaces and to make the projects viable.
The quality of design is becoming one of the most important
criteria in determining whether a project should be eligible for
public funding.
How should public funding providers evaluate the quality of
design proposals? There is a need for an objective approach in
assessing what forms of urban design work well and why.
Similarly, project applicants need to know where they stand in
submitting proposals.What is expected of them in terms of
their investment in project design?
The purpose of the Urban Design Compendium is to help equip
project applicants, funding bodies and interested third parties
with guidance on achieving and assessing the quality of urban
design in developing and restoring urban areas.
It is not an exhaustive text.The Compendium provides an
analysis of core design issues through the different stages of the
project process, from assessment of overall context to deciding
the detail of proposed developments. It is principally about the
substance of urban design in creating the product. In other
words, how do we change the urban landscape to create places
where people want to live, work and socialise, from the street
corner to the brand new settlement.The Compendium is not
generally intended as a guide on how design relates to the detail
of the planning and project management process. However, we
address these issues in the final Chapter by providing extensive
cross-references to other guidance which the reader may
find helpful.
The material within the Compendium reflects good practice
both in the UK and overseas, relying on the stream of new and
rediscovered approaches to urban design that have emerged
over the last decade.The regeneration movement has been at
the forefront of producing a new wave of thinking about how
design can position development in the market, change
perceptions of place and create value.There is also a strong body
of research to be drawn upon on what constitutes urban quality.
urban design compendium 9
1 the fundamentals
The Government has placed increasing emphasis on design and
quality in its urban regeneration and development thinking.The
publication of the Compendium flows from the work of the
Urban Task Force, established by the Government, to consider
how we can use a projected 20% increase in the number of
households resident in England over the next 20 years as a basis
for regenerating our towns and cities. In its 1999 final report:
Towards an Urban Renaissance - the Task Force calls for design-led
regeneration.The revised Planning Policy Guidance Note 3
Greenwich Millennium Village is set to demonstrate (Housing), published in March 2000 also focuses on issues of
new forms of city living design and quality and details how good design and layout can
help to make the best use of previously developed land and
improve the quality and attractiveness of residential areas.
The Compendium has been developed to complement the
DETR/Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
design guide By Design: Urban Design in the Planning System:
Towards Better Practice. This document, which was published in
May 2000, is intended as a companion to the PPGs series and
aims to guide local authorities and their partners to deliver better
urban design through the planning system.The new Planning
Policy Guidance Note 3, Housing, published in March 2000 in
particular focuses on issues of design and quality and details how
good design and layout can help to make the best use of
previously developed land and improve the quality and
attractiveness of residential areas.
Why English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation?
Over the last five years, English Partnerships and the Housing
Corporation have led the way on behalf of the public sector in
promoting innovation in the design of projects which they fund.
English Partnerships has always emphasised the importance of
design and quality and has put the latest thinking into practice
in its projects and those of its partners. Design standards are
incorporated into Development Briefs for its development
programme and its publications Time for Design,Time for Design 2
and Making Places have established the importance of urban
design in respect of regeneration and development, backed up
by flagship projects including the Greenwich Millennium Village,
and other Millennium Communities, and the Urban Regeneration
Companies.
10 urban design compendium
1 the fundamentals
The Housing Corporation enjoys a similar track record. Over a
number of years, the Corporation has worked with the housing
association movement to develop design guidelines that
combine innovation, flexibility and quality in built design.
Increasingly, the Corporation prioritises projects that bring wider
regeneration benefits to urban neighbourhoods. In recognition of
this, the Corporation’s former Chief Executive recently served as
Deputy Chairman of the Urban Task Force.
The Guinness Trust and Knightstone Housing
Who should use the Compendium?
Association have combined in Frome, Somerset, English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation intend to use
to create ‘The Piggeries’ – a mix of high density
housing that responds sensitively to local context the Compendium to guide their policy development and its
practical application in new development and regeneration.
These organisations have a significant leverage over the quality
of urban design but the Compendium’s relevance goes much
wider.We hope that it will inform and assist all those involved in
new development and regeneration and that its use will
contribute to the improvement of the quality of housing-led
regeneration projects and the promotion of sustainable
new development.
urban design compendium 11
1 the fundamentals 1.1 the importance of urban design
Urban design draws together the many strands of place-making -
environmental responsibility, social equity and economic viability, for
example - into the creation of places of beauty and distinct identity. Urban
design is derived from but transcends related matters such as planning
and transportation policy, architectural design, development economics,
landscape and engineering. It draws these and other strands together. In
summary, urban design is about creating a vision for an area and then
deploying the skills and resources to realise that vision.
Since the Second World War, this country has seen very extensive urban
development and renewal.While there are exceptions, a great deal of this
1
development has been third-rate and is lacking in any ‘sense of place’. At
worst, the results have been downright ugly and unpleasant. Fine urban
fabrics have been spoilt through the process of re-development.The
remarkable built heritage flowing from the English urban tradition has
yielded to banal and monotonous development, humdrum in design and
dominated by traffic.We have repeated standard housing types and layouts,
retail boxes and road layouts so many times, with little or no regard for local
context, until we find that now almost everywhere looks like everywhere else.
Unblocking the blockages
The development process, and the players within that process - central and
local government, politicians and professionals, developers, financiers
and builders – have become entangled in a system which produces
2 developments, but not places.We hope that this Compendium will fulfil a
useful role in redirecting efforts, to create a framework for development as a
contributor to the creation of quality places.There is a growing commitment
on the part of funding agencies, as well as planning law and guidance, to
underpin this effort to ensure that developments will not be considered
acceptable unless they address the issue of place and do it well.To make
quality places the norm rather than the exception means overcoming a
whole series of constraints, including :
• The compartmentalisation of professional disciplines - the traffic
engineer, chartered surveyor, architect, landscape architect,
planner - rather than adopting a multi-disciplinary approach.
• The lack of recognition of the legitimate role of the public sector to
3 promote high quality design through planning, site assembly,
procurement and investment.
• The predominantly conservative, short term and supply-driven
characteristics of the development industry - particularly the volume
housebuilders, who concentrate on the ‘house’product rather than
the creation of a ‘place’, lifestyle or community.
• The property and financial industries’preference for single use schemes
and buildings.
• A lack of innovation in development approaches in respect of
sustainable development, use of new technology, construction
efficiencies, and planning and design appropriate for the 21st century.
12 urban design compendium
1 the fundamentals 1.1 the importance of urban design
• Reactive planning and development control approaches and mind-sets,
applying quantitative standards (zoning, density, car parking, privacy
distances etc.) rather than providing qualitative advice and judgements .
• The lack of a reliable, robust and generally adopted series of guidelines
and procedures through which high quality design can be procured.
Everyone owns Design
Design is not just for designers and their acolytes. Urban design, like all
design, should involve a dialogue with the customer, whether the existing
people within an area or those likely to move in. It is a process that needs to
generate and draw upon consumer interest.The users hold the knowledge
5
of how an existing area works, its needs and possibilities. Collaborative
planning and design processes and a shared understanding of the issues
ensure attention to local concerns and reduce possible antagonism from
local communities to change.
Local communities can also have a role in implementing projects and
managing aftercare. Involvement and commitment can be harnessed on
these fronts through early involvement in the design process.
The commitment to dialogue extends, of course, to the professional
interests. Urban design is not the province of one professional group; it
should involve joint working between different stakeholders representing
different interests.This means that a full range of professional skills needs
to be involved at each stage of the design process, with the team members
6 testing and challenging each other, coming under continual scrutiny from
an informed client, and thus, through joint working, producing a single
cohesive product to which all are committed.
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6
5
4
7
By analysing existing places and the complex relationships between
their constituent parts we can learn to recognise and create the qualities
of a rich and stimulating urban environment
urban design compendium 13
1 the fundamentals 1.2 key aspects of design
Set out below is a summary of some key aspects of urban design which run
throughout this Compendium. These have been developed with specific
reference to regeneration and development issues and provide a basis for
starting to think about a site or area - whether an empty brownfield or
greenfield site, or for the refurbishment of an existing urban area. As such
they differ in emphasis although not in broad policy direction, from design
principles or objectives published in other design documents.
Table 1.1 – Key Aspects of Urban Design
Places for People
For places to be well-used and well-loved, they must be safe, comfortable, varied and
attractive.They also need to be distinctive, and offer variety, choice and fun.Vibrant
places offer opportunities for meeting people, playing in the street and watching the
world go by.
Enrich the Existing
New development should enrich the qualities of existing urban places.This means
encouraging a distinctive response that arises from and complements its setting.This
applies at every scale - the region, the city, the town, the neigbourhood, and the street.
Make Connections
Places need to be easy to get to and be integrated physically and visually with their
surroundings.This requires attention to how to get around by foot, bicycle, public
transport and the car - and in that order.
Work with the Landscape
Places that strike a balance between the natural and man made environment and
utilise each site’s intrinsic resources - the climate, landform, landscape and ecology -
to maximise energy conservation and amenity.
Mix Uses and Forms
Stimulating, enjoyable and convenient places meet a variety of demands from the
widest possible range of users, amenities and social groups.They also weave together
different building forms, uses, tenures and densities.
Manage the Investment
For projects to be developable and well cared for they must be economically viable,
well managed and maintained.This means understanding the market considerations
of developers, ensuring long term commitment from the community and the local
authority, defining appropriate delivery mechanisms and seeing this as part of the
design process.
Design for Change
New development needs to be flexible enough to respond to future changes in use,
lifestyle and demography.This means designing for energy and resource efficiency;
creating flexibility in the use of property, public spaces and the service infrastructure
and introducing new approaches to transportation, traffic management and parking.
The following chapters interpret these principles for each stage of
project development.
14 urban design compendium
1 the fundamentals 1.3 how the compendium is organised
Appreciating the context The scope of the Compendium
How urban design thinking interprets and builds The Compendium has been designed to assist at three levels of project
upon historic character, natural resources and the
development :
aspirations of local communities, and arrives at a
realistic vision of what a place might become.
1 Commissioning and setting up development projects
Ensuring that this complex process is done in a way that ensures that design
Creating the urban structure is integrated throughout the evolution of a project.Therefore, at the very
Working out the inter-relationship between early stages of a project, the Compendium insists that urban design issues
development blocks, streets, buildings, open space,
are considered, whether in respect of the economic appraisal, the
landscape and all the other features that make
up urban areas. preparation of an environmental statement, the development of a
community participation strategy or other tasks.
Making the connections 2 Designing individual schemes
Achieving sustainable movement systems – the Within an overall development framework, the Compendium provides
roads, streets, footpaths, public transport routes,
advice that will be useful in designing individual development schemes,
green corridors, and systems for providing service
utilities, all of which improve urban life . from an entire block to an individual plot. For example, the guidance can be
used to help construct individual site development briefs.
Detailing the place 3 Evaluating project proposals in design terms
Considering the detail of buildings and the public From major area regeneration schemes or town extensions to small
realm, and the crucial interface between them - the
applications for gap funding, individual buildings or spaces, the
corner treatments, the roof-lines, the pavement,
the street lighting etc. Compendium can provide the evaluating team with the triggers it requires
to ensure a comprehensive assessment of a project’s design potential and it
can point funding bodies in the right direction. However it is not a substitute
Implementation and delivery for project specific specialist advice.
Managing the design process to ensure that a
commitment to quality continues beyond completion
The structure of the Compendium
of construction.
The Compendium follows the chronology of the project development
process (see left).
The Structure of the Compendium
At times important advice is repeated but we make no apology for this. For
example, issues that are crucial to making the right connections may also be
essential to the pattern of the overall structure. To help the reader in making
the right judgements as to what is relevant and what is not, and to assist the
many readers who will want to ‘dip into’ the Compendium, rather than read
it cover to cover, there are frequent cross-references.
urban design compendium 15
1 the fundamentals 1.3 how the compendium is organised
The value of guidance
Taken together, guidance contained within the Compendium relating to
both the ‘product’and ‘process’of urban design provides a comprehensive
overview.Yet this is not a tick-box exercise. A note of caution is required. In
design guidance, as in other fields, there is a sort of inverse utility rule; the
value of new measures diminishing as a function of time. The more they are
institutionalised, the less their utility. A classic case is the original Essex
Design Guide - a first class piece of work in its time - rapidly adopted by
planning departments and then by the development industry. This led to
permissions being won on a ‘deemed to comply’basis, almost regardless of
the actual design quality. They learnt the tune but ignored the music!
For every piece of general guidance produced, there is an excellent place that
defies the guidance, or shows other ways of achieving high quality solutions.
Genius, or indeed serendipity, breaks the rules.
Important to the spirit of the Compendium is its encouragement of clients
and their designers to aspire to the creation of high quality places. Our
overall messages are that there is a need for everyone to contribute to a new
culture of high quality urban design and that there is no substitute for a
good design team.
How to use the Compendium
The Compendium has been constructed in such a way that it can be read as a
single coherent narrative, tracing the design of a project from first principles
to specific features, but at the same time it can be dipped into on a topic-by-
topic basis.There is no prescription in the Compendium but neither does it
shirk from giving quantitative advice where this is deemed helpful.Thus,
throughout the report, there are many rules-of-thumb and guideline values
that should be considered in drawing up design proposals.
Different parts of the Compendium will be relevant to different types of
project. In respect of significant area regeneration schemes, town
extensions or new settlements, most of the material contained in the
Compendium will be relevant. For smaller infill schemes, it will be a case of
extracting those items that are relevant in any given case.What is important
is that funding applicants do not sell themselves short. Even the simplest
infill scheme must, for example, have due respect for its site context and its
overall contribution to the neighbouring urban structure.
The Compendium contains a series of tables and checklists.These are
intended for practical use, to be employed in real project scenarios by project
promoters and evaluators, in testing the robustness of the design approach.
In the final chapter there is a particularly important flow diagram that
presents all the core elements of the urban design process. All significant
area regeneration projects should pass through each of these processes.
Smaller projects will need to employ some but not all of the stages.
16 urban design compendium
1 the fundamentals 1.3 how the compendium is organised
The Compendium also provides case studies to illustrate different
approaches and points of principle. Each case study has contact details so
that relevant projects can be followed up. As well as the Urban Task Force
report, organisations such as the Planning Exchange, the Urban Villages
Forum, the British Urban Regeneration Association, the Urban Design Group,
COM P E N D I U M the Civic Trust and the Resource for Urban Design Information (RUDI) web
URBAN DESIGN site (http: //rudi.herts.ac.uk) all provide alternative sources of case studies.
The Compendium has been prepared against a shifting and evolving
backcloth. It does not purport to be the final word. Fundamental
changes are taking place in public policy, technological development
and environmental thinking, which will continue to have significant
implications for urban design.
A best practice guide such as this derives its value from the projects and
Llewelyn-Davies
partnerships it informs and stimulates. English Partnerships and the
Housing Corporation want the Compendium to be used but we also desire
feedback from the experience of its use.What needs to be changed?
What is missing? What should not be there? What is difficult to understand?
What is difficult to implement?
All feedback should be sent to the following address:
Corporate Strategy and Communications Department
English Partnerships
16 – 18 Old Queen Street
London sw1h 9hp
From 1 October 2000
110 Buckingham Palace Road
London
sw1w 9sb
urban design compendium 17
