Main news
Jobs – CABE – PRP – Cornwall Design Review Panel
Typhoid returns – antibiotic resistant
“Feckless regulators let developers run riot on Sydney’s public land”
Moving to a depressed neighborhood linked to weight gain
Six times more expensive to travel by car than by bicycle
Toyota launch hydrogen fuel cell car – the Mirai / from the Urban Design Group
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ForthcomingUDG Events
UDG AGM – Garden Cities Part II
Speakers: Rob Cowan, Yolande Barnes, Savills,
Chaired by Ben Van Bruggen
10 June -6:00pm-8:10pm
Street NorthWest
4x4 Manchester - STREET NW
4 events every Wednesday in May
Join the StreetNW mailing list on
mailto:
Other events
Enhancing Wellbeing: inclusive, community collaborative approaches to placemaking’
Friday 15thMay from 10-4pm at the Dalhousie Building (LT1, Ground Floor), University of Dundee.
Integrating approaches to urban morphology:
minimum elements and generic structure
Wednesday 20th May 2015 (1700-1830)
Location: Malet Place Eng 1.20, Malet Place, London
Academy of Urbanism
Academy of Urbanism Congress X
Health, Happiness + Wellbeing
4-6 June2015, Birmingham
Join the Academy in Birmingham for the 10th Annual Congresswhere they will explore beyond conventional aspects of city planning to embrace infrastructure and mobility, happinessand psychological wellbeing, and the aspirations for a better quality of life.Their keynote speaker is Charles Montgomery, author of the award-winning book Happy City.
View the programme online at:
BOBMK Events
MADE
Designing and Planning for Cycling
19th May
Movement for Liveable London
Sustrans are taking over running the Street Talks following years of effort by Bruce McVean and team.
Museum of Walking
Silent WitnessesPart of London Tree Week
Wednesday 28th May
Urban Design London
Events coming up – extensive programme some free, some charged/£175+VAT (Free for subscribers)Network Meeting
- 19th May
- 20th May
- 21st May
- 26th May
Event Calendar
Making pre-application work for you
Ashford
27 May
Growing a Place
UCA, Canterbury
19 June / URBAN DESIGN Edition 134:
Current edition sent to UDG members
Past editions can be downloaded on the UDG website.
New on UrbanNous
Health and Urban Design
Terry Farrell – Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
Jeremy Hernalesteen interviews Sir Terry Farrell. Produced by Fergus Carnegie 11 minutes 20 seconds
Greening the city:
Urban streets and verges
Ian Hingley. Landscape architect, Urban Movement
UrbanNous Catalogue available on-line
Go to the home page and move your cursor to where it says “Hover here to bring ideas to life”
Highlights include Christopher Alexander, George Ferguson, Hans Monderman and scores of others.
UK-China Green Hospital Design Summit
Summit: 28th May 2015 at 9:30 am - 6:00 pm
Exhibition: 19th to 30th May 2015
Location: Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E7BT
Website:
Scandal over Prince of Wales “Black Spider” letter invitation to Culture Secretary to attend event on urban design
Apparently the Culture Secretary was unable to attend / Urban Design Group AGM
+ Garden Cities Event
The AGM of the Urban Design Group takes place on 10th June 2015 at 6.00pm. Followed on by the second in the series of events on Garden Cities
There are many people who volunteer for the Urban Design Group – please show them your support by attending the AGM. There will be reports on what has happened over the past year, and plans for the future.
Urban Design Group Executive Elections
Any member of the UDG may stand for election to the UDG executive. The Executive is responsible for the overall operation of the UDG. It meets in central London five times a year. If you would be interested in standing for election, or would like to nominate someone, please download the form from the UDG website.
Garden Cities Event
Follows on from the AGM
Yolande Barnes Head of Savills Research
reating value from places & funding large volumes of housing
Dominic Papa, co-founder and Director of S333 Architecture + Urbanism
Ebbsfleet & Almere compared, + models for developing garden cities
Jim Coleman of BuroHappold tbc
making a business case for Garden Cities
Plus Rob Cowan on Ebenezer Howard
Chaired by Ben van Bruggen
Democracy
and Urban Design
"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” So said Winston Churchill in a 1947 House of Commons speech. A debate on the fairness of the UK electoral system has been one of the consequences of the recent elections, with votes per elected MP ranging from 4,000,000:1 to just 26,000:1. But this discussion about national decisions ignores the local level where many of the decisions that affect people’s lives are made. Urban design, highways and planning are foremost in those areas. From the 1980s onwards the importance of public consultation was loudly trumpeted and incorporated formally into planning procedures. Yet sceptics refer to Arnstein’s ladder, and rail against tick-box tokenism and manipulation masquerading as transparency and inclusiveness. Indeed, there are rumoured to be planning authorities who actually believe that they communicate their vision for the future of the area to the public through planning documents, when the reality is that very few normal people know there is a planning system, let alone planning documents.
One of the challenges is that the decisions about towns and cities have long term consequences running into centuries and millennia. Which citizen is so prescient that they are competent to make such decisions? The oft quoted Churchill quipped that “the strongest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter.” But most professionals feel instinctively that citizens should be involved, but to do this effectively requires a genuine interest and understanding of their communities, and this in turn requires education and encouragement. Not only do people need to understand the impact their decisions have on the rest of society, but they need to involve themselves directly in their local streets, neighbourhood, town or city.
Recently, the publication New Scientist reviewed the different forms of democracy, including representative democracy, liquid democracy (where a collective debate goes on before a decision is made) and direct democracy, where everyone takes part in decision making. The increased use of smartphones and social networks opens up new possibilities for direct democracy. The Placecheck web app is one such example. It is said that streets are the basic building block of democracy. Is not this the way to build a stronger democratic system?
Jobs
Assistant Urban Designers – PRP – London Office
CABE - Deputy Director of Architecture and the Built Environment
London - NB Deadline is this Sunday
Cornwall Design Review Panel
Urban Design around the World
Global
10 cities that are shaping the future of urban livingAustralia
Melbourne’s growth needs careful planningFeckless regulators let developers run riot on Sydney’s public land
Canada
Taking back the streets from cars could create a whole lot of housing (and make much nicer streets)New Zealand
Motorway art won’t distract Wellingtonians, says NZTANigeria
Architects to check malpractices with project registration numberUK
Interview: Second Home’s Rohan Silva on why property needs to ‘wake up’City Devolution plans outlined for Manchester for housing, transport, planning and policing
Though portrayed as a radical and progressive development, this move takes Manchester back to near where it was before the abolition of the Metropolitan Counties in 1986 – where there were powers over main roads, public transport, emergency services, civil protection, waste disposal, and strategic town and country planning.
USA
New York is the world’s most wasteful megacityBoston received hundreds of constructive responses to redesign city plaza
Built Environment
Mapping every city’s most scenic routes, one photo at a timeWhat a creative neighbourhood looks like
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Latest Research, Policy and Practice
Natural Environment
Human security at risk as depletion of soil accelerates, scientists warnWetlands continue to reduce nitrates
Using biodiversity as a predictor of urban health
Humans Health Society
Typhoid – the scourge of less-developed towns and cities– develops resistance to antibiotics and is now found worldwideBouts of measles erase immune system memory
Risk of developing pneumonia, meningitis or diphtheria
Can diet and exercise prevent muscle loss in old age?
Elderly people who exercise 'live five years longer
Doing less than an hours exercise a week of light exercise had no impact on longevity..
Study shows increased cardiorespiratory fitness may delay onset of high cholesterol
Moving to a depressed neighborhood linked to weight gain
Switching to public transport or cycling/walking to get to work might help shed the pounds
Public unrest sends urban designers back to drawing board
Movement
Six times more expensive to travel by car than by bicycleToyota launch hydrogen fuel cell car – the Mirai
The Daily Mail seems to think that because the vehicles emit water vapour there could be problems with fog and icing on the roads. This rather forgets the point that all vehicles that use hydro-carbon fuels emit water vapour – it is less noticeable as it is emitted at a high temperature
Rolls Royce develop hybrid train
Powerpack uses a diesel engine, battery and regenerative braking increasing fuel efficiency by 25 percent and substantially reducing noise.
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If you don’t want to receive it, please reply to this email, or phone Robert at the Urban Design Group on 020 7250 0892.
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