Unit B6 Urban environments

1. Unit B6 Urban environments New stuff

2. Key idea 3: Changes occur as urban environments age and the needs of people change. • The nature of, and reasons for, the changes taking place at the edge of HIC cities (eg retail complexes, business parks and industrial estates). The ‘greenfield’ versus ‘brownfield’ debate. • Areas of social deprivation and poverty in HIC cities: symptoms and locations. The changing fortunes of inner-city areas. • The roles of managers (planners, politicians, property developers and industrialists) in urban regeneration and re-imaging. • Annotated sketches of urban change based on the analysis of photographs and maps. • A case study of one named urban area in an HIC to explain how and why changes are taking place.

3. The Rural-Urban Fringe • It is the area where the city meets the countryside. What is the rural-urban fringe?

5. Today we are going to talk about … • ..the rural-urban fringe, which is area between the edge of the built-up area and the surrounding countryside. • The discussions that take place over what should happen between various groups – whether and how much of the greenfield land should be developed

6. Recently there has been increasing demand for land on the RUF because: • Land is cheaper • There is less traffic congestion and pollution • There is easier access and a better road infrastructure • There is a more pleasant environment with more open space

7. What do developers want the land for? • Housing developments as urban sprawl continues • Science and business parks • Hyper-markets and superstores • Office developments • Hotels and conference centres

8. Shopping Centres Why do they want to locate at the RUF? Cheap land Room to expand Close to motorways Space for parking Leisure facilities can also be provided Local suburban work force

9. More housing is needed as more people are living alone and living longer. Land is cheap Peace and quiet Less crime Easy access to motorways Good access to countryside Housing Why is housing built at the RUF? But do check out P165 in the textbook for a really good table on the pros and cons for greenfield v brownfield

10. What are the problems caused by developing the RUF? • Large areas of countryside may be lost • Buildings may be out of character with existing rural buildings • Villages become suburbanised • Traffic is likely to increase ( both cars and lorries) • There may be some noise or pollution • NIMBYism

11. Where the managers of change come in • All these ideas need people to plan what is the most appropriate. • It is not just the planners in the planning offices of local authorities that decide what can and what cannot be built and making sure all the building regulations are followed. • It is the local and national politicians who decide the policies, who permit or forbid individual developments, who decide what publicly-funded building they can finance. • It is also these people who are setting out what they want to achieve, the objectives for the development – how many houses to build and where. • Together with private sector designers, they create an image to fulfil their objectives

12. Other people who are involved in the planning process • The people who own the land, on which development are to be built, have a say in how much it will be sold – not much of a say in the current climate but up until 2007, it was very much a matter of think of a number! • The developers decide where they want to build (within the limits of government policy), acquire the land and organise the finance. • The architects and builders plan and carry out the work. • Industrial business, housing associations and pressure groups all have ideas about how the built environment should change.

13. As we know… • … there was widespread inner city development immediately post WW2. But this did not create enough housing units for all those who needed them. • Others were built on the edge of towns and cities, as we discussed earlier, when talking about the suburbanisation of London. • Most of the residential growth is outwards into the suburbs. Population density is lower than in the inner city and the houses are usually larger as the land is cheaper. • From the 1970s, out of town shopping centres took advantage of cheaper land prices and more space. • After that many companies moved their offices and factories to the edge of the urban area for similar reasons, where they could take advantage of better transport links as well.

14. From the late 1970s, many cities have lost population to counter-urbanisation – people leaving the cities for a variety of reasons. • People want a better quality of life in quieter, cleaner rural surrounding • More people are willing and able to travel further to work • Relocation of businesses to places with better transport links and cheaper building costs • Flexible working and new technology have increased part-time homeworking. • Retired people leave the city where they once worked. • This has led to the smaller towns and villages in areas with good communication links to expand – a lot of ‘in-filling’ has taken place. In-filling is building in gaps within the village or town boundary (known as the village/town envelope).

15. All this extra building on city margins and in villages and towns has led to a long debate. • For many years, just adding a bit here and there, mostly on easy-to-develop undeveloped or Greenfield sites appeared to be the way to go. • During WW2, the UK lost a lot of housing in air-raids and much of the Victorian stock was not really habitable so more houses were needed fast. • This meant that the planners were keener to see any houses, rather than look at the best environmental solution, which could take up valuable time to achieve. • In 1944, government legislation went through establishing a ‘Green Belt’ around London and other big cities. It meant that building was forbidden within these zones, it was the government’s attempt to stop the suburbs growing and to give the city some ‘lungs’. The only permitted development in these areas was to provide open spaces and sporting facilities for those who lived in the cities.

16. Once this was established, the planners saw no reason not to build everywhere else. • But in the meanwhile many sites, that had been used previously – Brownfield site – were left derelict. The builders were not keen to develop them as the preparation was too expensive. • Why so? Often they were polluted from previous industrial processes and rubble has to be removed – so much easier (and cheaper) to build on land that had never been used before for building

17. So what is the argument in the greenfield –brownfield debate?? • It is about sustainability and not concreting over swathes of countryside. It is about making good use of services that are available – reducing the need to drive long distances, making it possible for people to walk to where they need to go or have reliable public transport if they need to go further. • Greenfield sites, because they are undeveloped do not have gas, water, electricity or sewage systems put in – all these have to be installed, requiring lots of materials and a lot of disruption to the surrounding land. • Brownfield sites have all these nearby. They occur where there is public transport and so cut down on the carbon footprint of those living there.

18. A lot of interest groups want this development to go ahead • Where green fields meet built-up area. The open land – greenfield sites – in great demand for shopping centres, housing, recreation, reservoirs, sewage works. • Why move out? • Push factors: • Houses too close together, poor air quality, not enough space for factories, offices, parking • Pull factors • Land is cheaper so larger housing plots, more space for factories, parking etc • Near to main roads, rings roads etc • Easier to reach by car – fewer traffic jams

19. Not everyone happy with loss of countryside around the cities. • Environmentalists want brown field sites used for reasons of sustainability • Farmer fear damage from visitors. They dislike their farms being split by new roads that carry more traffic. They resent the loss land to redevelopment. • Village people resent changes: more people live there, as more houses are built. This often leads to house price increases, which prevents the young people from the village buying a house there. The ethos of the village changes.

20. So you end up with a conflict of interest • Many want suburbanisation and/or counterurbanisation to take place • While there are those who believe ‘urban sprawl’ and such other developments should be stopped. What is urban sprawl? I don’t want any more townies. They trample my crops The public like out of town shops Business cut cost by being next to the motorway My farm is split in 2 by the new motorway

21. Retailing • In HICs great increase in out-of-town superstores and shopping centres • The number of superstores in the UK rose from 733 to 1,147 between 1990 and 19981. • 29 Asda supercentres! • Why? More people own cars – free car parking – easy access – bright modern surroundings – more facilities e.g. bowling , multiscreen cinema, • Why not city centre? Traffic congestion, expensive parking, crowded narrow pavements.

22. The major out of town shopping centres in the UK • Prior to 1980, all new shopping centres were within the city centres, eg the Arndale in Manchester. • After 1980, more out of town developments were built • The map has names and shop numbers on it http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?gbv=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114294639013811556926.000475bae77cc455b6e36&ll=53.278353,0&spn=6.703442,19.621582&z=6

23. Their success has exceeded expectations! • The shoppers love them and many are hoping to expand. • Bu not everyone is in favour! • The local councils and the shopkeepers in the CBD are not in favour! Both are loosing money as some shops close as they no longer have the footfall (the number of people coming through the door) that they used to have. • The high street deteriorates and even fewer companies want to invest. Income from business tax fall and the council becomes concerned. • This is a spiral of decline.

24. More opponents • The local authority planners and the environmentalists are against large greenfield sites being swallowed up, and the encouragement to increase car use that goes with the development. • As a result, the owners and developers have dropped the ‘out-of-town’ label. They say that in fact they are really new towns. This view is supported by the 5000 new homes planned to be built around the Bluewater site that was built in 1999.

25. There is no specification element about a RUF case study but …. • … it helps illustrate problems to have a real example to refer to. • I am sure most of you will have an example of Tesco or a building developer wanting to build near you? Think about who would have been happy to have it and who wouldn’t. Usually there is a lot in the local press about new plans. Ask your parents what they can recall of the debate – a couple of choice examples from those for and against it. • If all else fails, make it up, but make it sound convincing – the marker of the paper will not be from your area and so will be none the wiser! • If you are really unhappy to do this – follow this link to read about the case of Tesco at Machynlleth under this lessons notes on http://newigcsenotes.wikispaces.com/6+Urban+environments

26. This is the last part of Urban Environments • As I have said, this will not be examined this time. • However, that is a very good reason why it might occur the next time around! • So what we do not do today will be looked at again, probably when we are revising. • Here is what is covered:

27. Key idea 3: Changes occur as urban environments age and the needs of people change. • Areas of social deprivation and poverty in HIC cities: symptoms and locations. The changing fortunes of inner-city areas. • The roles of managers (planners, politicians, property developers and industrialists) in urban regeneration and re-imaging. • Annotated sketches of urban change based on the analysis of photographs and maps. • A case study of one named urban area in an HIC to explain how and why changes are taking place.

28. Cities are always changing • In Manchester, both world wars had a big impact. The textile industry suffered during WW1 as they could not use their major supplier, India but has to source cotton from elsewhere. After WW1, the cotton from India resumed but tailed off as the century progressed, dying completely after India became independent and developed its own textile industry. • During WW2 over 70% of the old inner city was destroyed by German bombs. • The engineering skills were put to good use making aircraft and weapons. This made them a target for the enemy.

29. So, in the first half of the C20 the CBD was the hub of the town with shops, offices and public buildings. • By 1950s the centres were suffering from congestion, pollution, noise and overcrowding. • The redundant buildings were cleared to make way for redevelopment. Older building were replaced by skyscrapers. Main shopping streets were pedestrianised. Inside shopping centres were developed. Multi-storey car parks were provided as part of the redevelopment.. Where the old narrow streets remained, one-ways systems altered the flow of traffic. • An alternative was to permit out-of-town shopping centres, so if they were not to loose out completely, CBDs has to change fast. 1960s coop building

30. Signs of social deprivation and poverty • The inner cities also needed attention. There were large areas of waste ground – some due to war damage and others due to the loss of Victorian factories. • Many of the small rows of terraces were boarded up and unused. • Empty buildings were a target for vandalism, squatting and spray paint. It was all very decayed. • Those who could afford to move out did, leaving the unemployed and those on low wages. • Crime rates were high. • The number of old or single parent families and immigrants was well above average.

31. This leads to a cycle of deprivation • You may recall this one from before? (also cycle of poverty p 169 in the textbook)

32. 1955 - 75 • The first wave of redevelopment was in the 1960s and 1970s. • Over 90,000 of the worst houses were demolished and replaced by tower blocks in the inner city and ‘overspill’ communities in the suburbs. • The feeling at the time was to provide as many units as possible in a new clean and modern environment. • Tower blocks were seen as the answer. The case for tower blocks was pretty clear from the start: slum clearance. • It allowed high density (on average 200 people per acre) and the saving of urban land, which even 40 years ago was scarce. • A British dwelling that offered better light, an inside toilet and bath, central heating, electrical fittings, cleaner circulating air - all within a dry building set on a landscaped green - might, even now, seem like a thing worth having. What was seen as beautiful in the 1960s …

33. Architects decreed that the sun, not the streets, should determine the orientation of homes. But they made too little allowance for the way people actually live indoors, especially when occupying closed buildings with shared lifts and other amenities. • Very soon, those who had wrapped ribbon around their first set of inside bath taps on the day they'd moved in, wanted out - and preferably to somewhere not unlike the place they'd left so triumphantly a short while before. • Looking out from a central stair well killed the sense of community. Soon enough gangs set fire to the stairwells, sprayed front doors and went joyriding on top of the lift, shouting abuse and terrorising old people. • The surrounding shops and pubs were closed or fortified in the face of serial robberies.

34. The planners began to see the error of their ways. • They began to think that the design caused the problems, that the particular type or shape of new blocks might, itself, encourage vandalism. • But some others took a long time to learn. One planner in Glasgow is quoted as saying ‘My idea of fulfilment is to draw up the car and see the lights of …a scheme shining out and think of all the families translated from gloom to happiness'. • But what did the people say?

36. The CBD • In the city centre by the mid-1960s, the inner city area was ready for some serious redevelopment. It had grown up haphazard and hotchpotch, many of its old cobbled streets were shabby and congested. • Begun in 1972, on completion in 1979 the Arndale was the largest covered town shopping centre in Europe, encompassing some 12 hectares (30 acres – big!!) in the old city centre, with over 200 shops, major department stores, restaurants and fast food outlets with over 75,000 shoppers a day! • The Centre had an 1,800 space multi-storey car park, shopping malls on two levels, office space in the tower, residential flats, and a bus station.

37. The CBD • However, it was not a popular development as it obliterated some of Manchester's old streets and alleys and a cement monolith clad in beige tiles which have got tired over time – there was little natural light and no window on the outside. It went way over budget and many investors went bust in the process.

38. The CBD • However as luck would have it the IRA blew a big hole in part of it in 1996 – and this redevelopment was far more attractive How has it changed?

39. The CBD is not the only place that has changed…. • Within 20 years many of these tower blocks have been replaced by low rise accommodation, in attempt to take more notice of the people’s need for community as well as good facilities. • Some of tower blocks that remain have been upgraded with internal security from a caretaker and an entry phone system. • Young professional people who work in the CBD and some retired folks find them attractive and safe and compact.

40. People involved in the planning process • All these ideas need people to plan what is the most appropriate. • It is not just the planners in the planning offices of local authorities that decide what can and what cannot be built and making sure all the building regulations are followed. • It is the local and national politicians who decide the policies, who permit or forbid individual developments, who decide what publicly-funded building they can finance. • It is also these people who are setting out what they want to achieve, the objectives for the development • Together with private sector designers, they create an image to fulfil their objectives

41. Other people who are involved in the planning process • The people who own the land, on which development are to be built, have a say in how much it will be sold – not much of a say in the current climate but up until 2007, it was very much a matter of think of a number! • The developers decide where they want to build (within the limits of government policy), acquire the land and organise the finance. • The architects and builders plan and carry out the work. • Industrial business, housing associations and pressure groups all have ideas about how the built environment should change.

42. How did it all go wrong in the 1960s? • As we see, the aims put in place by the politicians and made into a realizable form by the designers is where it went wrong. • They aimed to improve the physical circumstances, while ignoring the social ones • But this happened all over the world in the 60s and 70s. • It was not until later that slowly people began to see that this simply did not work

43. One of the worst horrors in Manchester A closer look – if you want it! Aerial view of the Crescents in Hulme - 1970'

44. As we have said cities are always changing. Where there are major schemes, these take many years to plan and implement. They usually involve many different types of project, shops, offices, industry, housing and transport. These are known as urban renewal or regeneration. • These 2 words are used interchangeably. • They both mean the revival of old parts of the built-up area by either installing modern facilities in old buildings (known as ‘improvement’) or opting for redevelopment. (knock down and start again). Urban regenerationis a process to improve economical, physical, social and environmental condition of an area.

45. However, some cities take this even further. Where there is widespread need for modernisation, and where the city feels it is known not for the good things about it, it attempts to change the perception of how the city is seen through it regeneration. This is called re-imaging. • A well know example of this has been the re-imaging of the London Docks. • It was known to be old and decaying, a good place for criminal gangs to operate, where life was short and hard. • Now when we think of the London Docks, we think of it as a very select area where you do not live without serious money, the centre for National Newspapers and other high-tech industries and as a financial centre – all in about 30 years!

46. A bit of a change? The blocks on the left of both pictures are part of the same place!

47. The Image of Manchester • Can you remember mentions of how Manchester was seen in the past? • Given what it was like in the 1950s, can you see in your mind's eye the kind of images people had of it from elsewhere in the UK?

48. Manchester in 1960-80 was a city in decline. They were no longer able to compete with many industries which produced much cheaper in the MICs and LICs. • There was a recession in the UK (just like now – they happen every so often). • The Trafford Area, in the 1880s one of the first UK industrial parks, was loosing companies at an alarming rate, declining from several thousands to a few hundred. • The docks on the Manchester Ship canal which joined it to the big port of Liverpool, finally closed and lay derelict.

49. It was made an Enterprise zone, with all the grants and development help government that came with that status, but little happened. • It then became an Urban Development Corporation in 1987 and things moved much faster. • Opportunities were made for industrial, residential, commercial and leisure facilities. • It has become a major area of finance and the arts (Lowry Centre) in an attractive landscape along the old ship canal (in a similar way as Docklands in London). What is the image that they are trying to show the world?

50. Re-imaging often applies to areas within a city • Good transport and excellent facilities have been important features of Manchester’s success. • Motorways link Manchester to the rest of the UK. It has a rail-freight terminal. • It has the metrolink system for travel within the city. • It also has a large international airport for links to the continent and USA. What is the image that they are trying to show the world?