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Designing Places

Homes for the Future 1, Glasgow

vision
A framework for design can work at any scale

Setting a framework for design

A framework for design can work at any scale - from a small building, at one end of the scale, to preparing an urban design framework or master plan for an entire area, at the other. There are a number of distinct stages:

1. appraise the local context; 2. review whatever policy, guidance and regulations apply;
3. conceive a vision for the place; 4. find out what is likely to be feasible; 5. draw up a set of planning and design principles; and 6. agree on the development process.

Those six stages might be anything from the paragraph headings for a simple design statement to the chapter headings of a major planning and design guidance document. How fully the relevant questions will be answered will depend on the scale and sensitivity of the site or area.

Design framework

The Hays, Craigmillar, Edinburgh

1. Context appraisal

What do we understand about the place and its setting?

Context appraisal is at the heart of designing places. A successful balance between the inevitably conflicting interests of various uses and users can be achieved only through understanding the place and its people. Local context can be appraised in terms of the six design qualities - identity, safe and pleasant spaces, ease of movement, a sense of welcome, adaptability and good use of resources.

2. Policy review

What policies, guidance and regulations apply to this area or site?

The policy question cannot be ignored, if only because a development proposal contrary to policy is likely to be refused planning permission. Exploring how policy can be interpreted in relation to a specific site or area should be a collaboration between applicants, planners and others, each of whom have an interest in understanding each other, reaching agreement, and avoiding unnecessarily entrenched attitudes and delay.

3. Vision statement

What sort of place do we want this to become?

The vision question is too often ignored, sometimes because the designers are thinking about buildings rather than places, sometimes because no one has thought that there is any alternative than to respond blindly to the pressure of events.

Homes for the Future 2, Glasgow

Back Wynd, Aberdeen

4. Feasibility appraisal

What use or uses are realistic and achievable in view of legal, economic and market conditions?

This question does not imply that the market will support only more of the same sort of development as has been built in the past. Good design should have a positive effect on what is possible to achieve.

5. Planning and design principles

On what planning and design principles should development be based?

Planning and design principles are a means of thinking about and discussing the basic ideas on which a design is or will be based, without getting involved unnecessarily in the detail of the design.

6. The development process

What processes should be followed in developing the place?

The issues covered and the level of detail will depend on the particular kind of planning tool: for example, whether it is an initial development brief or a master plan. The processes of public participation and stakeholder collaboration must be carefully planned. Other possible issues include site disposal, development phasing and management.

Buchanan Street, Glasgow

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