PARTICIPATION
Participation
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The CCUDS process has involved three distinct stages of work : City Centre-wide, Study Area and Synthesis/Strategy. The process flowchart on page 18 shows the detailed items of work, including involvement of inter-departmental team and consultees. PARTICIPATIONLeeds City Centre | Consultation and participation has been central to the CCUDS process. This has led to an inclusive approach at each stage of the work. Close consultation has occurred with key interest groups throughout stage 1 and 2. Indeed, some of the audit work has been carried out in partnership. Key interest groups included : Leeds Architecture and Design Initiative (LADI), Advisory Design Forum (ADF), Leeds Civic Trust, Victorian Society, Leeds Initiative, and Urban Design Alliance (UDAL - including, Royal Institute of British Architects, Royal Town Planning Institute, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, Institution of Civil Engineers, Landscape Institute, Urban Design Group and Civic Trust). Most of the audit/analysis work in the Study Area stage (2) has been carried out by postgraduate urban design students at Leeds Metropolitan University's School of the Built Environment. These students have a variety of professional backgrounds including, landscape architecture, town planning and architecture. The work has been closely supervised (and assessed) by the Urban Environmental Design Course Tutors and Department of Planning. Other built environment professionals and interest groups have also commented on this work at urban design workshop events. An example of each Study Area submission is included in Appendix 1, and the analyses have been used as the basis for the Study Area section of this document. |
The decision to involve students has extended the original CCUDS programme of September 1997. The additional time has provided the opportunities for further work, publicity and participation (including exhibitions and workshops).
A number of possible detailed City Centre-wide studies were suggested in CCUDS stage 1 (to complement the broad analyses under the themes of form, movement, space and land use). The particular emphasis is to examine the urban design characteristics which make Leeds distinctive. CCUDS stage 1 document identified possible City Centre-wide studies including :
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Trees in the City Centre
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Mixed use study of the relationship between activity in the street and land use (vitality and safety/surveillance)
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Railings in the City Centre
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New/old debate (style, materials, relationships)
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Tall buildings strategy
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Corner treatments in the streetscene
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Spaces in the City Centre (audit and categories - varied scale and purpose)
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Street furniture (lighting, seating, balustrades, paving, planting boxes, signage)
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Riverside (lighting, street furniture, floorscape and access)
Six of these possible studies have been carried out by students at LMU since stage 1 of CCUDS (four of these studies have been undertaken by students on the BA Urban Development course at LMU as Client-based studies. Others have been tackled by an inter-disciplinary group of undergraduates from LMU and third year Landscape students :
Summaries of these are in Appendix 2.
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Greening the City (Urban Development undergraduate)
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Railings in the City Centre (Urban Development undergraduate)
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City Centre Land Use Analysis (Urban Development undergraduate)
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Tall Buildings (Interdisciplinary undergraduate group)
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Riverside - lighting, street furniture, floorscape and access (Urban and Regional Planning undergraduates)
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Spaces in the City Centre (3rd Year Landscape Architects)
| Exhibitions have been set up in shop windows to publicise the work and invite comments at key stages of CCUDS. Planning and Building Centre (44 The Headrow) - December 1997 to January 1998 Victoria Quarter (shop unit 35) - September 1999 (Urban Design Week) |  |
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Leeds Civic Trust Annual Conference (Saturday 25 April 1998) involved a presentation by Environmental Design Group, Department of Planning and Environment and led to some debate on CCUDS. The theme of the conference was public participation. It was clear that CCUDS was promoting and provoking discussion of good design in Leeds by practitioners and members of the public. The strategic approach to urban design audit and analysis was supported and the developing CCUDS was welcomed at the conference and a series of meetings in 1998.
Leeds Civic Trust produced a report ('Whose waterfront is it ?') analysing the riverside area in September 1999. The various booklets of the Walkabout series have also provided good background information for the CCUDS process - observing the distinctive attributes of Leeds, such as its Waterfront, Statues, Civic Pride, Churches, and Briggate Yards and Arcades.
The Victorian Society has supported CCUDS and provided some valuable audit and analysis work of two of the Study Areas on the periphery of the City Centre (Area 6 : North Street / Clay Pit Lane, and Area 9 : Western / Little Woodhouse / Kirkstall). A main concern of the Victorian Society is that the peripheral areas should be integrated into the City Centre, with its investment advantages whilst retaining their own particular character.
 | Workshops A Living in the City workshop was held on Saturday 10th October 1998 at Brunswick Building (LMU). This workshop examined the potential for increased housing in the City Centre. The analysis focused on the CCUDS audit of the streets, spaces and buildings of the City Centre. The nine Study Areas provided appropriate character areas to explore the variety of residents and housing types the City Centre should attract. |
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A day workshop on CCUDS ('Designing the City') was held on Saturday 13 February 1999 at Brunswick Building (LMU). This was jointly run by UDAL, LMU and Leeds City Council. This event was attended by approximately sixty people (professionals, students, community/interest groups and an elected member)
The workshop addressed the work so far on CCUDS and considered possible directions/ aspirations for future urban design of Leeds City Centre.
After a brief presentation of CCUDS, the participants split into workshop groups examining:
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The presentation session at the end of the day demonstrated a number of interesting views and ideas of value to CCUDS (refer to Appendix 3 for detail).
Leeds City Centre Urban Design Strategy has benefited from the broad skills and enthusiasm of local professionals, students, elected members and community/interest groups. The two year programme for CCUDS allowed the team to explore a variety of consultations and participatory processes which enabled valuable ideas to come forward from a number of sources in and around Leeds.
 | PARTICIPATIONLeeds City Centre |
