Design Skills Symposium. Glasgow, 20-21 March 2014

Posted on: 3 April 2014
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Architecture and Design Scotland is Scotland’s champion of good architecture and sustainable places. The Design Skills Symposium aimed at discovering transferrable lessons from the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Presentations are available online.      

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Building Futures Sustainable Design Toolkit

Posted on: 3 April 2014
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The Sustainable Design Toolkit aids decision making on sustainable design at the initial concept, pre-planning and planning application stages for development in Hertfordshire. By using open questions and best practice guidance, the Toolkit helps development stakeholders consider and implement the principles and practice of sustainable design in a highly visual, intuitive and engaging way.

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Industrious cities

Posted on: 2 April 2014
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Following decades of segregation and zoning, the Industrious concept supports with enthusiasm both the ideas of re-integrating a wide range of activities to cities and to re-appropriate business “parks”. There are already growing trends and incentives towards socially responsible practices as well as inclusive work environment and healthier lifestyles. This report aims to identify those trends, raise awareness about their benefits and inform decision makers and business owners about how quality design can support them for the mutual benefit of cities and businesses.

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Housing London: A mid-rise solution

Posted on: 27 March 2014
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This report from the Prince’s Trust seeks to place the question of urban form and housing typology at the centre of the housing debate that is currently taking place. The report seeks to explore the terms of the debate about London’s housing: to establish clearly the nature of the housing problem facing the city and in response, to explore the viable contribution that mid-rise housing has to make to the needs of London’s residents, present and future.

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Cities and energy: Urban morphology and heat energy demand

Posted on: 27 March 2014
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LSE Cities has published a new report and paper on the impact of urban morphology on heat energy demand in cities in collaboration with the European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The research focuses on heat energy efficiencies created by the spatial configuration of cities and is based on the identification of the five most dominant residential building typologies in each of the four largest European cities: London, Paris, Berlin and Istanbul.

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Rotterdam’s Water Square

Posted on: 27 March 2014
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On the Benthemsquare in Rotterdam, Dutch landscape architecture firm De Urbanisten has finally achieved what they set out to do seven years ago: create a water park for the community fed entirely by storm water. Instead of hiding runoff in underground pipes and cisterns, the square has been designed to make water the main feature. The designers say this is the world’s first “water square.”

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World class streets: Remaking New York City’s public realm

Posted on: 26 March 2014
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This report was produced as part of New York City’s effort to redevelop the City’s public realm. New York City Department of Transportation has instituted new design standards and moved forward to implement street projects in its multi-faceted World Class Streets initiative, which consists of these elements: Public plaza program; Broadway boulevard projects; Complete street projects and design standards; Safe streets for seniors and students;  Public art program; Coordinated street furniture; Weekend pedestrian and cycling streets.

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Face to the fjord: A look at Oslo on the release of their new PSPL

Posted on: 24 March 2014
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Gehl Architects’ Public Space Public Life study of Oslo was made public on 24 March 2014. This blog aims to initiate dialogue around the challenges and opportunities facing the public realm in Oslo and other cities.

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Environmental considerations in street design. London, 11 February 2014

Posted on: 20 March 2014
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Speakers at the event outlined current thinking on rainwater management, urban microclimates and air/noise pollution, which they illustrated with best practice case studies focusing on design, construction and maintenance. Later, industry experts gave a live demonstration of the latest sustainable option for street lighting – LEDs controlled by a central management system (or CMS). A summary of presentations is available online.

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Urban Design London

Posted on: 20 March 2014
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Urban Design London aims to help practitioners create and maintain well-designed, good quality places. It does this by offering training, events, meetings, design reviews and surgeries, online resources and more. Register for free to access material and contribute to the debate.

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