Greenwich Peninsula

The first 'Millennium Community' inspired by Howard's garden cities the development of Grenwich Peninsula is supposed to bring urban development into the 21st century. A former industrial site cut off from the rest of London the essential to its success as Chris Choa suggested in his lecture on high density cities is a good mass transit system. The Jubilee Line reconnects the peninsula with the rest of London and the key transportation hub that is Waterloo.

Three large green spaces form the majority of the public space in the area and though the development is not yet finished you could see people beginning to use these spaces as the designers had intended. Almost as though you were walking around presentation images. However I found that the smaller spaces in between buildings which I believe are perhaps the most essential in terms of experience and the quality of the outdoor environment were inaccessible.

I believe that fences, barriers items that are supposed to protect an area result in the opposite effect. Barriers can not stop the determined getting into a space where they want to go, instead they only serve to hinder and discourage those who we wish to use the space. If these Millennium Communities are precedent for future urban design I worry about their understanding and use of small urban spaces.

Sedely Place

If one were searching for a little 'oasis' off Oxford St this would be it. A tiny little square with a green wall (which needs a bit of growing) and a water feature on the adjacent wall. The mind automatically springs to Paley Place in Manhattan, which I believe is a good precedent for small urban spaces and a the way in which we should be taking landscape architecture forward

Aldermanbury Sq

The concentration of wealth in this paticular part of the city was overtly obvious as was the corparate landscape. But I think it is worth challenging the stigma we attatch to corporate landscapes, just because there is wealth behind it does not automatically mean it is bad does it?

Corporate landscapes give us the opportunity to gentrify spaces without any social implications. Though I advocate the distribution of wealth these landscapes present us with an opportunity of a large budget and a high quality finish.

Parliment Sq

It could be said that London is lacking in quality and quantity in terms of civic spaces, Parliament Sq is no exception.

Surrounded by an impenetrable ring of traffic this space is almost inaccessible to the hoards of tourists crowding the narrow streets around Parliament. Though the space is non too exciting upon arrival anyway, its most significant feature being the protesters camped on its edge facing Parliament.

A feasibility study has been under taken to redress the balance between vehicle and pedestrian enabling people to stop and take in the heritage and sense of place of Britain's political heart

Chris Choa - 'The City as an Energy Saving Device'

Manhattan 'Green Machine?'

Per head cities are one of the most environmentally efficient ways of living. Due to the fact that the resources are shared. Though the environment might be much nicer in the country the rural citizen is less efficient in terms of energy, infrasturcture, transportation.
The irony is that "A fat man eating fries and watching tv in Manhattan is much more energy efficient than somebody in the country eating organic food and recycling all his rubbish". The city is more efficent because it prevents the individualisation of consumption.
The old, dense, mixed use cites are the equivalent of 'green machines'. I think that this bares reference to Batty's investigation on fractal geometry in the city i.e to find a successful model and replicationg it. Should we be looking back in order to go forward?

Dr Michael Batty - 'Fractal geometry and cellular automata in urban design'

Though the title may sound a tad scary the concept of the lecture was pretty simple.

Fractal Geometry is an irregularity that has order e.g coastlines and trees. Batty used the Kosch curve (aka snowflake curve) to demonstrate this

Kosch Curve

Fractal geometry occurs in nature because successful patterns are replicated. Batty hoped that by finding an efficient (successful) model of urban growth then we could replicate it.

Cara Robinson - 'Nightscapes and Leisure Spaces'

This was an interesting paper because it advocated the role of what we might see as negative spaces.

Robinson study followed youth subculture and the role of space within that culture arguing that space should be considered a member of the 'group' itself because it is an initiator, it enables the occurrence of events.

Poorly lit spaces such as parks and graveyards encouraged risk taking behaviour because at night it could conceal their occurrence. Robinson believed that such behaviour was essential to the development of the adolescent mind in acquiring its boundaries and mimicking the sorts of behaviour that they are deemed to young for.

From personal experience I can say that we sought out these spaces when we were younger many people had their first experiences whether it be smoking, fighting, sexual relations, consumption of drugs or alcohol. Away from the prying eyes of adults the you were able to do the things you ususally wouldn't be able to do. And the negative aspects of ones own personality and understanding the behaviour of others is essential in the development of young minds into balanced adults.

In a society where there is little amenity for adolescents is it fair that we intrude on yet another of their spaces? Perhaps young peoples utilization of space is more complex and essential to their development than we might think.

Robert MacDonald 'Paradox of Place'

Britain’s transition into a tertiary economy has been tough but since the 90’s economic growth has been both positive and steady. As the countries prosperity improves so does the living standard of its population and yet the gulf between rich and poor grows ever wider. Why is this so?

Professor Robert MacDonald’s research entitled 'Paradox of Place’ described how young people’s attachment to their social networks both ameliorated their position but paradoxically served to alienate them from mainstream culture making it perpetually more difficult to escape from the cycle of poverty.

MacDonald’s research served to counter many of the stereotypes and misconceptions we may have about many impoverished areas. His research centred on Kelby in Teeside (an area hit hard by both deindustrialisation and modernist construction). He found that people were getting jobs, they wanted jobs but the unfortunate matter of fact being that the jobs were undesirable and were generally being lost at the same rate of acquisition.

Turkey factory; biggest employer in the area (undesireable work)

MacDonald found that most people’s experience with education (the one thing our society prizes above all things and essential in escaping the cycle of poverty) was a bad one. Most didn’t finish school and from those that did under 10% left with at least 5 A–C GCSE grades. The poor standard of education in the area meant that attending students were ‘learning to labour’; no prospects presented themselves, no decent jobs to work toward.

Hit by the second heroin boom, in a poor area with poor jobs youngsters begin to see drug dealers appearing with fast cars, money, ‘bling’ etc. When the system has failed these people aids them with only token gestures and then shuns them for being impoverished, not achieving the expected then why should they comply? We are given the ‘American Dream’ as our goal the pinnacle of achievement the stick by which our lives are measured. Nice house, nice car, beautiful wife etc. But how are people supposed to attain this with little to no education no prospects and no respect? Is it any wonder that they see ‘alternative’ careers where they can achieve more than they could ever honestly? The system has failed them so why should they conform?

Social patterns are often more complex than we may think so to simply band round buzz words such as ‘community’ and ‘regeneration’ is irresponsible at the least. If we are to use these words then we must understand their meaning in the appropriate environment. If we are to work in these areas to actually help people who are struggling with the rigours of day to day life then we must be at our most astute, considered and sincerest state of mind. Our interventions must be delicate, understanding and informed by each sites unique situation. Under no circumstances should we be arrogant or pretentious ignoring the human element of place.

Dr Paul Hodkinson: Youth, Personal Space and Identity

Technology is often employed in ways other than that that was intended. Hodkinson's paper explores the recent phenomenom of social networking sites (SNS).

McRobbie & Garber's investigation into understanding the bedroom as a personal space for girls begins the investigation. Hodkinson notes the importance of 'personal space as a base point for identity' and the 'personlisatation of communications' i.e mobile phones

The bedroom was identified as playing 3 main roles:

• A canvas for identification, exhibition and mapping
• A private space
• A social space

Hodkinson then applies these roles to SNS. Let us take facebook as an example; a private space which only the user can access, a social space in which you can chat to friends and a safe space in that it presents no physical danger (as one might experience in a park or town centre late at night). The most interesting role however is the identification, exhibition and mapping of friends. One can see friends lists of other people who they are associated with and display their own associations in return. Though one may have hundreds of 'friends' on site Hodkinson found that young people talked to or considered to be real friends.

Provisions made for those between 13 and 18 are often few and far between, the age group is seen as unruley, undesireable. As young persons movements are often restricted by their parents (who's concerns lie with the saftey of their children) I believe that their adaptation of technology is both innovative and fufills social requirements that current society denies them.

Dr Charles Walker - Space networks and youth transition in proviancial Russia

This lecture concentrated on the ways in which young people from lower socio-economic backgorunds negotiate urban-rural and inter regional migration.

Russia's transition into a capitalist economy has compounded the problems of it rural population who are now heading into the cities "In order to get on you have to get out".












Walker's research concentrated on the Ul'ianovsk of Russia finding that because formal routes of migration were virtually non existant (due to Russia's housing question) that kinship networks had become an invaluable resource.

He also found that Western models had become a focal point for the ambitions of the populace, however because of the polarisation of the poplation which could be likened to the shape of an hour glass social geographic mobilisation for the rural workers had become extremely difficult.


Could a heavily subsidised transport system alleviate the geographic disabilities of the people on the peripheries to create a more mobile workforce?

Les Back - 'Damaged homes and places of refuge'

How do people particularly the young make the city home?

Professor Les Back of Goldsmiths College, London looks at the racial geography of the city. Gayle Lewis described London as "a checkerboard of go and no go areas"

Back used the idea of places that people considered safe an unsafe in his Deptford study entitled; Finding a way home. Back empowered the participants of that project by hading out disposable camera's and asking the participants to photograph areas they considered to be safe or unsafe.

Public places like libraries and interim spaces were often considered to be safe whereas wide open areas, playgrounds, and dark areas were often considered to be dangerous.

An interesting result of the project was that when asked what kind of places people considered safe participants often replied by projecting themselves into different spaces 'a home from home.

Across the Internet

It's always nice to see what your contemporaries are doing but what about students elsewhere?

I've been sharing work with Boya Xu a Chineese student of landscape contemplating taking her masters in Britain. Above is a work sample she shared with me