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.