Urban Design Study
Urban Design Strategy
Masterplan
Urban Realm Strategy
Urban Strategy
Urban Vision
Design Strategy…

Call it what you like the list goes on, but how do we go back and ‘constructively critique’ what has been done to see if we achieved the objectives that are so easy to write, if at all?

The Farringdon Urban Design Strategy:
‘The study aims to set out strategies and recommendations for how to integrate a high-quality public transport interchange within Farringdon, and how to increase capacity within Farringdon in terms of public space and new development.’ http://www.lda.gov.uk/projects/Farringdonuds/index.aspx

and…

Six urban design objectives were identified and agreed:

•Make Farringdon more Farringdon.
•Increase synergy between uses, places and stakeholders.
•Create an integrated public transport interchange and movement strategy.
•Make the most of the public realm.
•Make the most of new development and uses.
•Make Farringdon more sustainable.

Make Farringdon more Farringdon, what does this mean? How can you be sure if this has been achieved? Who’s the person/s that will assess this, judge and tick or cross the box depending on their findings what ever they may be?

I’m as guilty as the next person for writing what some would call ‘inspirational goals’, its easy to write them: Make London more London, does this mean more iconic black cabs, red telephone boxes and poor transport infrastructure!? Well I suppose it depends on what London means to the individual! My perception will differ wildly from a visitor, resident or commuter, so perhaps an object such as this is personal?

Make Farringdon more sustainable a reasonable objective and one that could be easily measured if your definition of sustainability is recycling or energy efficiency. I suppose what I’m getting at is, its easy to write a sound bite, harder to deliver it.

Definitions

wayfinding
The process of following a route from A to B, which is broken into two phase; planning and navigating.

information system
An integrated set of visual and pyhsical components for communicating/delivering wayfinding and interpretational information.

Interpretation
The appreciation and understanding of a place or destination by communicating its stories, history and social and cultural contexts.

destination hierarchy
How destinations are represented in the information system across prodcuts and services.

information hierarchy
The order and postioning of how information will appear across individual product types.

Designing Independence

As well as the glamorous cosmopolitan cities there are the town centres and high streets of the UK. How do you promote places that are losing their character and becoming ‘clone towns’, where large brands dominate the high street and slowly erode a destinations identity?

The decline and rapid disappearance of many of Britain’s Independent stores and traditional shops has long been a major call for concern from many associated and connected to the retail industry.

Many people are attributing the downfall of Independent retailers to a mixture of local and national government policies, the aggressive business manner of large retailers and an a open-minded approach taken by the competition authorities in the UK.

The paradox is that socially there is a discernible trend by consumers to rediscover the urban shopping experience, an opportunity being exploited by Tesco Metro, Sainsbury Local, M&S Simply Food et al. But the convenience store seems to be letting this pass them by.

What role if any can design play in the long-term future of the independent retailing industry. What point would there be to going in and giving your local shop a new logo and ripping out the interior and replacing it with a brand new one when there is no strategy or framework to support it?

'It would be like putting up the wall paper before you have built the wall'

I believe that to survive independents must evolve but there is always that fine line between radical change and incremental change if you rip out the soul of the store those things that make it special you may as well be Tesco.

This is an attempt for me to expand on those twitter posts I've become so keen on and for me to talk about my passion for design and all things related. I hope to turn this blog into a useful resource and place for comment and debate, please enjoy.