The debate: Panel discussion and questions from the floor
Ben Kochan, consultant, and author of Achieving a Suburban Renaissance, published by the Town and Country Planning Association in September 2007, and Pat Tempany, Head of Urban Renaissance and Housing at SEEDA joined the panel, for a debate chaired by RUDI chairman Peter Stoneham.
Q: What needs to be done to improve the quality of design of new developments?
Stephen: ‘Housebuilders produce the mediocre, it’s easy to fall back on what they know. There is a great cynicism in housebuilding.’ Pat: ‘Local authorities need to develop a real vision for their places. At the moment, we end with lots of individual sites that incrementally make up places. There is a lack of communication, developers and councillors do not talk to each other.’ Ben: ‘We need a suburban task force, we don’t really have any policies for our suburbs. For example, do we need a density maximum?’ Peter: ‘Developers tell us their margins are tight. But we are never given any real numbers. We need hard figures.’ Nicholas: ‘There is a ridiculous bidding up of land values, we need to get the price right. Also, two thirds of the infrastructure costs comes from the public sector. We need to create a mechanism for collecting money from the developers to pay, instead of people moving in, and finding there’s no school.’ Q: One reason for the success of suburbs is their adaptability. How do we plan for this in the long term? Stephen: ‘We have a rose-tinted view of suburbia, I’m not sure if it is a good model for the future. There are so many wasted front gardens: we can rethink that. I think we have to be more imaginative with our housing stock.’ Ben: ‘There are problems with environmental performance – most suburbs are low performing.’
Q There has been little mention of other activities, for example providing for small businesses such as hairdressing.
Sir Richard: ‘I agree. We need to look at commuting patterns, and what the economic life of suburbia might be.’ He warned of the problem of the development of ‘edge cities’ in the USA consisting of ‘endless shopping malls’. Nicholas: ‘Some of the most distinctive places in Britain are peripheral estates. We need to find new models – the concept of ‘wired up’ communities with people sitting in front of computers depresses me.’ Ben: ‘Independent work spaces are needed. I like Wayne Hemmingway’s idea of an Enterprise Centre with a coffee bar.’
Q: What are the elements of suburbia we should seek to preserve?
Sir Richard: ‘The concept has to be evolutionary. The image of the equivalent to a tiny little stately home should be fading away. If you don’t have front gardens you can have bigger back gardens or village greens.’
Q: How can we persuade people to use their local facilities?
Nicholas: ‘The trick is to grow new developments onto existing communities. I am astonished at the waste of land around stations, for example. Our declining railway stations should be at the heart of new development. Peter: ‘Do we want to bump into people, or remain anonymous?’ Sir Richard: ‘Brick Lane is a virtual community, people meet pottering in and out of their front doors. There’s a sense of community.’
Further information
See also the MacCormac Jamieson Prichard website for articles about suburbs, including Sustainable Suburbia.
| 
