Some Research Conclusions

In a vain attempt to get some of the multitude of books I seem to have accumulated back in the library where they belong, I've been reading a hell of a lot this last week. Listed below are lists of key sources and conclusions:

Urban Regeneration in Europe, Ed. Chris Couch, Charles Fraser & Susan Perry

• People need to forget about recreating the past, it's gone.
• There has been a general policy theme throughout Europe of sustainability (NB: this does not just mean building environmentally sound cities, although that is part of it. It means building cities and places that are going to LAST A LONG TIME.)

Disadvantaged by where you live? Ed. Ian Smith, Eileen Lepine & Marilyn Taylor

• The meaning of the word 'neighbourhood' is ambiguous and contested. Politicians like to use it when they don't really mean anything.
• Criteria for a 'successful' neighbourhood could include the physical environment (obviously), choicefulness (people wanting to live there) and social interaction
• Government policy can, inadvertently, make problems of deprivation and social segregation worse

Cities for People, Jan Gehl

• Heavy emphasis on design quality and improving the incentives for people to walk in the urban environment, as this increases social interaction: "[...] the wider perspective is that a multitude of valuable social and recreational opportunities naturally emerge when you reinforce life on foot." 
• People gather where things are happening. So create things to happen.
• Technology could encourage people to get out, rather than stay in, by emphasising/advertising what is going on in the urban environment
• Planning principles focus on short distances between people and events, integration of various functions and pedestrian priority

Towards an Urban Renaissance, Urban Task Force (led by Richard Rogers)

• Heavy emphasis on the public realm and design quality
• Commitment to social integration
• Public spaces should form 'network' through city. Cites Barcelona as example
• Highlights problem of density - spreading people out means that things to do are not within easy walking distance. This is particularly true of suburbs.
• Design principles focus on: Respecting the context and using what is already there to inform what should come next, prioritising design excellence in the public realm, mixing uses, easy pedestrian access and building environmentally sound buildings that last.

All pretty sound stuff. I think I'll probably have to collate all of this reading into a single piece of writing for the end submission though, there's just too much of it. It could be quite a nice intro to the project/explanation of the rationale.