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Designing Places

Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire

framework
Sometimes the necessary framework of planning and design policy and guidance is missing

The fourth dimension

Urban design is often said to be a matter of working in three dimensions, compared to the two dimensions of land use or policy planning. In fact urban design should be four dimensional, the fourth dimension being time. Master plans generally show an end state, even when continuous change is much more likely.

We need to design and plan in the expectation that social, economic and technological conditions will change. A development brief, for example, should be a basis for dialogue between planners and developers rather than a prescriptive substitute for it. Arrangements for long term management and maintenance is as important as the actual design.

There should be scope for reviewing developments to assess how well the planning process worked. Councillors should visit representative examples so that they understand the consequences of the council's policies and their own decisions. Planning and design guidance should itself be reviewed periodically to ensure that it remains effective.

Much of what makes or mars cities, towns, villages and the countryside does not just consist of buildings, but is the consequence of the continuous application of, for example, highway standards (specifying the details of road design, signage, safety measures and traffic calming) and planning standards (specifying such matters as parking and the distance between buildings). Usually these are imposed for reasons far removed from any considerations of design. Often, without anyone noticing, places are shaped by the innumerable decisions that together can create the overwhelming impression that no one cares.

Culross, Fife	Falkland, Fife

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