Tower blocks and Caribbean sun

I'm in Barbados, where the most pressing planning problem facing me is the cracked pavement in front of the appartment where I am staying (see picture).

However, I came across this excellent article by former colleague Scott Sayare on the demolition of an estate in the Paris suburbs (that caused quite a stir while I was in Paris) which merits sharing. I hadn't realised it was built according to Le Corbusier philosophy. Interesting that the great man's projects only seem to work in middle class neighbourhoods where people have jobs and cars to drive to ammenities (and elsewhere) and where on-site services are maintained.

These words are especially memorable: "Governments have been razing and rebuilding in this neighborhood for 25 years, hopeful that new architecture and new theories about how best to house the poor will solve the problems here. Residents and local officials, though, have few expectations that new walls and fresh pavement, whatever their configuration, can drive a deeper renewal.

“They’re not building shopping centers, they’re not creating jobs for young people,” said Soraya, 42, who was raised in Balzac and now lives nearby, requesting that her last name be withheld for fear of retribution by local thugs. “This will solve none of our problems.”

Balzac will be the fifth tower she has seen fall."

City Limits

So there's a zillion things I would have liked to blog about in these past dissertation-filled months. Localism, National Trust vs Government, National Planning Framework etc. But I'm demob happy having just handed in three months of intensive work, and the item on top of my in-tray is..... Latin American megacities being a drag on economic growth.

Inspired by this article in The Economist, I was intrigued to see that despite the eulogies of Andrew Marr, Edward Glaeser etc (both of whom include Latin American cities in their analysis), the mega-city may not be the panacea for sustainable and innovative living after all.

The Economist story is focussed on Latin America, but probably familiar to the good people of many a developing country metropolis: Lagos, New Delhi etc. Basically infrastructure, and particularly transport infrastructure, has failed to keep up with population growth and the daily struggle to keep up is grinding the population (and economic growth) down.

However, the article is still upbeat about the potential of cities (source of productivity gains). If only the planners did a better job....

After a recent trip to Rio, where the journey to the conference centre could take between 30 minutes and 4 hours, I have to agree.

Hiatus

Vandore Planning would like to account for the hiatus in activity by blaming her dissertation.

I am immersed in Tech City UK, the cluster of hi-tech, digital, creative types around Shoreditch (once known as Silicon Roundabout before the branding peeps at UKTI got involved) that the government is trying to encourage and possibly shift into the Olympic park, post 2012. I am loving the research, but its taking up all my time (and not just because I had to get to grips with twitter to understand them). Normal activity will be resumed post Sept 1.

Pop-up high street (in London) anyone?

I've not checked it out yet, but I just heard about this pop-up high street in Shoreditch called Box Park. I can't wait to see if it works.....This temporary use thing is really catching on. As for Box Park, Estates Gazette is a fan, but you don't need to be a fortune teller to see how it will probably end up. "Expect a big grumble from the 'cool kids' in 5 years time, when the temporary use comes to a close and the market has picked up enough for Hammerson and Ballymore to stick a spade in the ground."

Power Up!

I dropped into a Friends of the Earth seminar designed to empower community groups to take on the vested interests - with money - in the planning system. I admitted to the organisers that I wanted to come because I felt the UCL course was lacking in planning law, and I wanted to know more. And they still let me come to their drop-in session and enjoy free sandwiches! Quite impressive that so many people are willing to dedicate so much of their free time to causes such as fighting the closure of a local park. A lesson perhaps in how much spaces mean to people, and how much they invest personally in them.

Homage to the tube

Map of cities with planned or current mass transit systems. I love it!

Demos - The big society

Ben Rogers (son of Richard) has set up a new think tank, incubated by Demos, called Centre for London, just in time for the mayoral elections. I went along to a conference they organised with LSE on the Big Society, or rather the importance of the suburbs to the Big Society. Participants were mixed between those who think the suburbs will grow in importance (Laura Vaughan of UCL, who whilst on maternity leave discovered that her suburb of Borehamwood didn't shut down while commuters head to work) and those who think outer London (particularly the East) is getting too much attention.
The event was testing theories ahead of next year's elections. Contributions were interesting, but it was really an excuse to try to attach the topic du jour - Big Society - to what everyone credits for Boris having won the last election - focussing on outer London.