Mike Axon, global director of transport at SLR, argues that masterplanning is key to the vision-led approach needed for town-building, and investing in communities is how to get the most out of towns
How can we create new towns that flourish and best serve the communities living in them?
Given the extent of the housing crisis faced by the new Labour government, it’s no surprise that the idea of “new towns” is back on the agenda.
The concept has gone through several iterations since first being introduced as the country looked to rebuild in the aftermath of World War Two, but the basic principles have essentially remained untouched in the near-80 years since.
New towns will require a new approach
Having recently taken part in a panel discussion on new towns at the Labour party conference, it’s clear that there needs to be a shift in approach, whether these new settlements that are being discussed are the traditional new towns or the more in-vogue sustainable urban extensions.
Typically, it’s homes and amenities that occupy the forefront of planning considerations when it comes to new settlements, and while this is still important, there is an increasing need for these developments to put people’s activities front-and-centre.
This activity-based approach to design doesn’t ignore the need for new homes to be built at volume and suitable amenities to support them, but rather shifts the focus towards how people interact with those elements on a day-to-day basis.
When we look at existing, historic settlements, the rule of thumb is that two-thirds of all community activity is contained within its borders. However, by taking an activity-led approach to masterplanning, we can increase this number to two-thirds or higher, which will have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the people living in these new settlements – not to mention the environmental benefits of that increased internalisation.
Designing sites in a way that maximises this internalisation brings in concepts such as community hubs, which can create benefits for both social inclusion and climate impact.
A central community location can act as a micro-consolidation centre for package deliveries, a mobility hub, a base for a community concierge team – there really are a huge range of benefits.
Imagine being able to collect your Amazon parcel, have a cup of coffee with your neighbours that are doing the same thing, and organise a car-share or mini-bus trip into the nearest city to save you taking your own vehicle.
There is, of course, a huge element of forecasting that goes into planning for new settlements. As the pandemic proved, we have no way of predicting what seismic events may occur that fundamentally change the way we live our lives.
While the ability to work from home had existed for years before, no model would have projected that it would become as common as it has, as quickly as it has.
The question of “how can we design for something we can’t predict” is a foolish one – it’s simply not possible. But what we can do is design in a flexible way, so that we aren’t hamstringing future generations and tying them to decisions we’re making in 2024 – especially as those decisions are often made on the “predict and provide” planning method that relies on historical norms and expectations.
We know that things won’t be the same in 20 years – what will car usage look like, for example? Will working patterns be increasingly remote, will they plateau, or will they revert to more of a pre-2020 approach?
Transport matters
Travel to and from the workplace is often made out to be the be all and end all when it comes to looking at the transport logistics and infrastructure of a development. However, the reality is that this is only a small proportion of travel, and that’s before we take into account the spike in working from home since the pandemic.
The reasons for this are largely historical. Firstly, the data that’s been used to inform decisions has typically come from the census, which only ever looks at work travel and not leisure and education.
Secondly, common practice has been to look at morning and afternoon peak periods – your traditional “rush hour”. This led to a mindset that life must be made as convenient as possible at those times, to the detriment of all time periods.
Fortunately, the balance has tipped towards talking about communities across the entirety of the day. Yes, you may be travelling to work, but how are you living and interacting in the 18 hours a day you’re not in the office? On a recent project, we made sure that from the day of first occupation, residents had access to nearby schools – in this case, in an adjacent community – and had a shop on site.
This is not standard practice, as there is limited commercial value for a shop occupier in opening when there are only a handful of people living on a development. However, it is modern placemaking 101 – providing that shop is a statement of intent as to how you mean to go on, and it’s about seeing it as infrastructure rather than an amenity that has to have immediate commercial value.
This kind of planning is a perfect example of a vision-led approach. Those masterplanning these new settlements need to present a vision where people can live locally, with strong community amenities, while still connected to regional centres through active travel corridors and sustainable shared mobility services.
Fortunately, the tide is turning, and this approach is becoming increasingly common. SLR recently applied its vision-led planning to the Pickering’s Farm development in Penwortham, Lancashire, and its success at the very highest level of scrutiny sets a precedent for future schemes to continue to push for vision-led, low carbon and healthy communities.
There is no doubt that tackling the housing crisis is this government’s Everest, but if a vision-led approach to masterplanning can become commonplace for new settlements, tackling it will become much easier.
