INTRODUCTION
| Leeds City Centre has many distinctive qualities. | An analysis of the urban design attributes of the City Centre (both new and old development) is set out to imply possible aspirations for the City Centre and to reinforce its local distinctiveness.
"For the purposes of this Guidance urban design should be taken to mean the relationship between different buildings; the relationship between buildings and streets, squares, parks, waterways and other spaces which make up the public domain; the nature and quality of the public domain itself; ________________________________________________________________ |
 |
| As Leeds has a vibrant City Centre, undergoing continuous economic change, it is important to consider the effects of evolving development needs on the streets, spaces, and buildings of the city. In this respect CCUDS could form part of the wider 'Vision for Leeds' process which is already well underway. CCUDS is developed by a multi-disciplinary team and is aimed at the many professionals involved in the design of the streets, spaces and buildings of our City Centre. The aim of CCUDS document is to provide a working tool which can be used to encourage good, distinctive design proposals appropriate to Leeds City Centre. It is expected that this will be achieved by promotion of urban design, management of change by development control processes, and investment in schemes/partnerships. |  |
Most importantly, CCUDS should also prove to be of interest to, and influenced by, members of the public who use and enjoy the City Centre.
This document draws most of its examples from Leeds City Centre itself. Many urban design approaches take a wide range of examples from other cities. It is considered that Leeds City Centre's streets and spaces can benefit from a more introverted approach, as reinforcing local distinctiveness is a key objective of the study. Wider references and texts are in Appendix 6 of this document and provide a national and international view of urban design.
 | The first stage of the strategy considers the City Centre-wide issues and provides a starting point for the examination of the Study Areas of the City Centre. The City Centre-wide stage has been considered as a scoping exercise which determined the broad issues which were re-assessed after the Study Area stage of the work. From the point of view of the Department of Planning and Environment, CCUDS has evolved from the policies and aspirations set out in the Unitary Development Plan - revised draft 1993 - as modified following the Inspector's report (modified RDUDP). CCUDS begins to consider opportunities for defining, developing and refining a few of the policies to further preserve and enhance the character of Leeds as proposed in the modified RDUDP : |
| Modified RDUDP Policy SA9 '....maintaining and enhancing the distinctive character which the Modified RDUDP Policy CC3 ' The identity and distinctive character of the City Centre will be maintained by : i) protecting the building fabric and style which makes Leeds a unique and attractive city ii) encouraging good innovative designs for new buildings and spaces iii) upgrading the environment where necessary to complement the needs of activities which are essential to the identity, vitality and | I N T R O D U C T I O NL e e d s C i t y C e n t r e |
Objectives
| The objectives for CCUDS are as follows (based on Planning Committee report (24-9-97)) :
|
______________________ |
Planning Context |  |  |  |  |
National initiatives and guidance have confirmed the views of many design professionals and members of the public and placed 'design' as a central issue in the development process. Indeed, design is one of the three themes which 'underpin the Government's approach to the planning system' (the other two are sustainable development and mixed use)(Planning Policy Guidance Note 1 : 'General Policy and Principles' (PPG 1)DOE February 1997). The Government's Quality in Town and Country Initiative (1994-continuing), the Urban Task Force report 'Towards an Urban Renaissance' (1999) and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment's (CABE) good practice guide 'By Design' (2000) are further evidence of this developing agenda. The Urban Design Alliance (UDAL), consisting of the key professional institutes, has been set up to respond to this agenda in an inter-disciplinary way (December 1997).
Local initiatives and policies affecting the City Centre are numerous, most of these are relevant to the wide-ranging issues of an Urban Design Strategy. Leeds pioneered initiatives such as the '24 hour', 'European' city, and the 'Quarters approach' to land use planning in the City Centre. Leeds' Transport Strategy is also highly developed, based on the pedestrianisation and ring road system which evolved from the Buchanan report of the early 1960s.
Over the past hundred years there have been urban design initiatives in Leeds based on cultural achievement, civic pride, traffic planning, shopping experience and conservation.
To achieve credibility, and to be of practical use in the planning of the city, CCUDS has to assimilate and complement the work of the various disciplines and departments. CCUDS should also provide new analyses of the City Centre, particularly examining the links between the themes of movement, form, space and use. The Department of Planning and Environment, Department of Highways and Transportation, Civic Architects team, City Centre Management, Leisure Services, Leeds Development Agency, and the Vision team each has an important role to play in redefining and refining the City Centre.
 |  |  |  |
| ||||||||||||||||||
In recent years, the Leeds Initiative, with our own City Centre Management, have provided a number of interesting proposals including the Millennium bid (1996). This was based on a broad urban design analysis of the city - issues such as gateways to the city, major public spaces and pedestrian linkages between these are all relevant to the examination of the City Centre at a strategic level. The bid developed to concentrate on the 'grands projets' of the squares (City Square, Victoria Square and Civic Square) and culminated in a dramatic proposal to redevelop Civic Square (now termed Millennium Square).
It is important, however, that CCUDS addresses the small as well as the large design issues in the city (the link spaces, the subservient building forms as well as the major public spaces and landmark buildings).
The urban design policies in the Unitary Development Plan (modified RDUDP) are well developed. These are contained in the chapters on Strategy, Environment and the City Centre in volume 1 and in the Appendices on Building Design, Landscape and Conservation in volume 2. CCUDS is to provide a site specific analysis to define and develop these policies further.
The City Centre, as defined by modified RDUDP, possesses eight conservation areas. It is clear that there are definite character areas within the City Centre which will require audit, analysis and aspirations to encourage and sustain 'local distinctiveness'. Modified RDUDP policies N21 and N22 propose the need to 'review...' and 'enhance...' the conservation areas.
The City Centre Urban Design Strategy fits into a broad design framework for Leeds District (Appendix 4). This outlines the needs for a variety of urban design strategies, conservation area appraisals, village design statements for the different settlement patterns of Leeds.
 |  |  |  |  |
Approach
| The City Centre City Centre-wide |  | __________ |
| The process of producing audit, analysis and aspirations is continuous. The City Centre-wide analysis was based on a provisional audit. Possible aspirations and detailed audit techniques were established at this stage, developed from the criteria of practitioners and academics (refer to Appendix 6). At this stage the City Centre was divided into nine Study Areas, representing areas of particular character. The Study Area stage examined the nine Study Areas. These areas were based on the Quarter designations of the modified RDUDP. A key objective of CCUDS is to enhance the distinctive qualities of Leeds City Centre by auditing and analysing its character areas. Most of the audit/analysis work in this stage was carried out by students at Leeds Metropolitan University's School of the Built Environment. These students have a variety of professional backgrounds including, Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Town Planning and Urban Design. The work has been closely supervised (and assessed) by the Department of Planning and Environment, LMU Course Tutors and multi-disciplinary workshop groups. Close consultation occurred with key interest groups throughout stage 1 and 2. Indeed, some of the audit work has been carried out in partnership. A weekend workshop occurred in February 1999 organised by Urban Design Alliance, Leeds Metropolitan University, and Leeds City Council. This involved approximately sixty people representing professional, community and student groups. The final Synthesis/Strategy stage assimilated and tested the conclusions from the two previous stages, developing the principles based on the themes already established. Some case studies applying these principles are set out on page 66. |  _________Process of CCUDS |
Urban design issues are grouped into themes
| Issues are defined/illustrated as the document unfolds. A glossary of terms | |
| Form
|  |
| Movement |  |
| Space |  |
| Use |  |
| _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ |  |
