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The presence of parks, piazzas and gardens reveals the humane, interactive heart of our cities. They alone turn office, leisure and residential developments into neighborhoods. But when the public sector is relying on private-sector cash to fund these urban oases, do we get the kind of space the public wants?

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By Veronica Simpson

One of the most exciting and engaging exhibitions staged in London last year was Richard Rogers' Royal Academy show, Inside Out. It was a stirring essay on architectural humanism, a tribute to the importance of architecture that engages and entices people to interact both in and outside of buildings.

Rogers' early commitment to public space was writ large, starting with his biggest project as a young architect, the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The accompanying text paid tribute to the French government for agreeing to Rogers' and his then business partner Renzo Piano's bold insistence that half of the space initially allocated for this important cultural building should be given over to a public piazza. The Place Pompidou remains to this day a permanent outdoor forum for performances, festivities and general convivial milling around. Inspired by the great medieval squares in the cities of Italy, Rogers declared: 'When buildings contribute to the public realm they encourage people to meet and converse. They humanise a city.'

At the exhibition a quote from Jan Gehl, the Danish architect and public space champion (from Gehl's book New City Spaces), struck a chord: 'To construct cities around the idea that urban design and the public realm is secondary to land deals, planning policy and economic viability is to submit our cities to a form of vandalism.'

Well, the suspicion is that there's plenty of that kind of vandalism going on now, with a massive construction boom in recovering Western economies and continuing across India, China and the Middle East. New neighbourhoods and - in China and the Middle East - whole new cities are cropping up with startling speed, fuelled not by a public-sector brief to create liveable communities but by the private sector's drive to maximise profit from construction (facilitated by the public sector's desire to boost their own impoverished coffers).

Priory Green. The Priory Green Estate is one of Tecton's largest projects and has many of Tecton architect Berthold Lubetkin's design Hallmarks

There is certainly widespread interest and concern around these issues. As the world's population increasingly shifts from rural to urban, the quality of our cities, and how their diverse populations engage and socialise, has been recognised as absolutely central to their liveability. Last year, for example, saw the launch of a new global symposium, the Future of Places, in Stockholm, with attendees from 50 nations. This year's was held in Buenos Aires last month.

Noel Farrer, founding director of Farrer Huxley Associates, says that for urbanists and landscape architects like himself, 'This is a really interesting, topical debate. During Open House last year we led a debate all about public space. The topic was: "Are we destroying the city with sterile spaces?" We had room for 150 people and about 1,100 applied for tickets.

'What surprised us was the breadth of the people...Not just landscape architects, urban designers, architects... but also large-scale landlords, developers, stakeholders, engineers, planners, the lot. The subject gripped them all - the complexity of it. There is a big difference between a public space and a private building or space, which dictates how and who you will be and what you will do. The lovely thing about public open space is that it doesn't dictate. You have as much right to be who you are in it as anyone else.'

Farrer has worked on many inspiring schemes, trying to resolve pockets of disused or unloved land into places that knit communities together more tightly, whether that community is an inner city school (Golden Lane Campus), a massive social housing scheme (Priory Green), or neglected and socially problematic green space, such as its Mayoral-award-winning masterplan for South London's Burgess Park.

Farrer's approach to public space is informed by the belief that 'It's the social dynamic that combats the anti-social'. He is not a fan of gentrification by demographic 'cleansing' - the kind that 'improves' an edgy but interesting area by pricing out the former tenants and replacing them with better-paid professionals. He says: 'If you are going to have a socially sustainable development you should really deal with all of the problems you have. I do believe it is landscape architects who are better able to grasp this more holistic view of change, composing a thorough socio-economic proposition.'

Witherford Watson Mann's (WMM) Bankside Urban Forest project

His view is that the small, neglected side streets or squares need addressing to lift a neighbourhood just as much as the large, open spaces. This organic, inclusive and layered approach to public-space is also favoured by Stirling-prize winning architecture practice Witherford Watson Mann, which won a Southwark Council competition in 2006 with its vision for 'Bankside Urban Forest' - a massive and ongoing project to spread regeneration back from the riverside delights of The Globe and Tate Modern towards Elephant and Castle.

Says Stephen Witherford: 'Our idea of the urban forest was about transferring investment from the edges to the interior so that they start to bind together through a set of local spaces. There are no big parks in the area, but there is a very fine grain of small opportunities.' WWM envisioned these as 'clearings' within the urban forest and, by opening up and enhancing important pieces of public space, and engaging with all the communities, the plan could 'evolve as you go and different voices can be heard.'

The Urban Forest plan is being managed by a Business Improvement District (BID) called Better Bankside. Backed by Southwark Council and the GLA, and funded by local investors, landowners, and businesses, it works with all of these and neighbourhood and community groups in selecting and implementing improvements. established in 2000, Better Bankside was the UK's third BID. Valerie Beirne, Better Bankside Urban Forest manager says: 'Our role has evolved as we've evolved. We've tried to champion high-quality placemaking and public realm with really good design standards.

Farrer Huxley Associates' Golden Lane Campus project

We bring a private sector voice and resources to the table; we're a kind of not-local authority, we don't own land and we're fairly neutral in the grand scheme of different partners in the area.' Beirne says there is active and ongoing involvement from the 'rich network of people and community groups and organisations active in the area.'

But the battle for public space is about to enter alarming new territory - especially in the UK. Having had nearly £1bn of investment in the past decade, largely via the Heritage Lottery Fund, the UK's public parks are being slowly choked due to cuts of up to 40 per cent in local authority funding, according to Noel Farrer. 'New business models' for parks funding and maintenance are being sought to make up the shortfall and provide for future care and maintenance. According to the PPS, many US public parks have not just survived but thrived thanks to the establishment of enterprising community groups. The idea of local people taking on responsibility for their own parks and maintenance will not go down a storm in the UK, one suspects. The debate around public space, it seems, is about to get even hotter...

Case Studies

Bankside Urban Forest
Flat Iron Square
Witherford Watson Mann has been working with Better Bankside - a Business Improvement District (BID) consortium funded by and including many local public and private institutions - and other architects and urbanists, to improve the area between the Thames' eastern South Bank and Elephant and Castle since 2006. Using WWM's 'Bankside Urban Forest' masterplan, its main aim is to improve the streetscape in small but pivotal increments that benefit the whole community - particularly disadvantaged residents in this rapidly regenerating area.

Several initiatives have been completed so far, including WWM's Flat Iron Square scheme. WWM reimagined a lonely traffic island as a 'clearing in a forest', with an old public toilet - now a cafe - envisaged as a 'woodland hut'. Closing one little-used road allowed for part-pedestrianisation, joining the island and its cafe to a row of shops and offices on the south edge. A new oak canopy provides shelter and definition, bridging two ancient plane trees by the cafe, its roof densely planted with woodland ferns and flowers, and providing a demonstration 'green roof'. The square has become a gathering point for office workers and residents and hosts events from children's parties to a packed-out, DJ-fuelled launch in 2012 of Nokia's new Lumia phone.

Other improvements in the 'forest' scheme include planting and pavement enhancements, traffic-calming measures and the wrapping of a 30 sq m 'green wall' across a viaduct near Borough Market. Various artist-led initiatives include Heather and Ivan Morrison's 'skirt of the black mouth', a sculptural bench and black wall inserted into the Tate Modern Project construction site, reclaiming public space to the south of the gallery. Another initiative, Market Hall, is a striking glass building between Borough Market and Borough High Street, which provides a covered public space year-round for sitting, eating, relaxing and food and cooking workshops.

Client Better Bankside Business Improvement District (including Southwark Council, the GLA and local investors, landowners and businesses)
Masterplan Witherford Watson Mann
Timescale Ongoing

 

West Kowloon Cultural District
Hong Kong
January 2014 saw the arrival of a pop-up, 850-seat opera house designed by Hong Kong architect Raymond Fung and built from more than 12,000 bamboo rods, in the heart of Hong Kong's future cultural district, the West Kowloon cultural quarter.

A massive piece of reclaimed land at the edge of Kowloon, it has been masterplanned by Foster & Partners with no less than 17 cultural buildings - art galleries, performance spaces, auditoria and theatres. The area will be fringed with commercial skyscrapers and luxury apartments, though the location of the public buildings and parks along the water's edge means that all visitors will be able to enjoy 180-degree views over Victoria Harbour. Construction has barely begun, but the district authorities have staged a festival for all of January for the past three years, celebrating different performing arts genres; the structures are always temporary, always made from bamboo, and created by a different architects.

The idea is to encourage public engagement with the site and nurture cultural connections while building awareness of the future opportunities for performing arts events in the new venues. This year's bamboo structure is dedicated to Xigu, a distinctive style of Chinese opera. Over the course of a four-week festival, it hosted many Xiqu performances and screenings of historic films. The choice of this particular art form is to mark the start of construction on the new Xiqu Centre by Hong Kong-born architects Bing Thom and Ronald Lu, scheduled for completion in 2016.

Client West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
Architect Raymond Fung
Completed, occupied and dismantled 2014

 

Ruskin square
Croyden
Foster & Partners' central Croydon masterplan is a massive work in progress, with little to enliven the construction site vistas. So Liza Fior and her enterprising practice Muf have set to work weaving meaningful public spaces within the grid of corporate skyscrapers, most of them as yet unbuilt. Muf's first initiative was a 'meanwhile' use for 'Ruskin Square' - currently a patch of urban wasteland next to East Croydon station.

In the spirit of John Ruskin, Croydon's favourite Victorian nature-loving aesthete (his mother was a resident), Muf chose to find beauty in the humblest of things. Among the weeds in Ruskin Square are 76 species of native plants, which Muf has loosely framed as a wilderness garden, thanks to the addition of a circular walking path and hillocks.

The population of potential garden visitors it was looking to attract included people they didn't think developer Stanhope had in mind originally, such as Afghan refugee visitors to the nearby UK Border Agency Council, who love cricket and don't have anywhere to practice. Two practice cricket nets were installed, and arrangements made for training and coaching of children and youths through the summer months of 2012 and 2013. Office workers are also encouraged to use the space, thereby connecting parts of the community that would otherwise rarely interact.

More recently, Muf has landscaped a permanent new pedestrian link path between Hawkins\ Brown's new glazed pedestrian bridge over the station and Lansdowne Road, gateway to Croydon's main shopping area. Paved with Caithness stone, it draws on Ruskin's enthusiasm for geology and the Scottish landscape. Huge, unmanicured lumps of the same black stone sit at the top of the path - an ageless contrast to the frantic pace of commercial construction around them. Flat slabs of the same stone are placed as seating in a mini-piazza at the station end, which is to become home to a food and drink kiosk/restaurant. Trees are scattered at points along the path, providing relief from the relentlessly urban surroundings. Honeysuckle is planted along the fence, intended to spread and provide a fragrant screen against the construction site. Future elements include a water feature designed to look like a giant puddle.

Client Stanhope and Schroeders, for Croydon Gateway Limited Partnership, operating within Croydon Council's Connected Croydon Masterplan
Architects Muf
Completion Ruskin Square completed summer 2012; pedestrian link completed December 2013

Eastside City Park
Birmingham
Eastside City Park is Birmingham's first urban park in 130 years. A former brownfield site, with light industrial and commercial uses, it has been transformed into a public amenity space by Patel Taylor, in conjunction with French landscape architect Allain Provost (who also worked with Patel Taylor on the sculptural, award-winning Thames Barrier Park). As a crucial part of Birmingham's 'Big City Plan' and a pivotal element within the Eastside regeneration project, Patel Taylor's vision was to create topographical, historical and formal connections to the city through its design and planting. Says senior architect Alistair Gambles: 'The idea was to use the park as a bit of a focal point and link back to the city centre - like a green infrastructure link. It needed to be a destination in its own right but also part of a route.'

Eastside City Park. Birmingham

Patel Taylor's plan creates a clear order with a strong sequence of defined spaces and logical routes between them. Layers of activities and vistas increase the attraction of moving across and through the park.

A terraced area in the centre of the park is bisected by a main path going from the city centre to the canal. A series of corten steel fins provides a sculptural focal point and night lighting, scattering decorative shadows across the paving through leaf patterns lazer-cut into the steel.

Client Birmingham City Council
Design Patel Taylor/Allain Provost
Area 3.4 hectares
Completed December 2012