AIMS

The course deals with place-making in different social and cultural contexts with specific regards to the cross over of the disciplines of architecture, planning and urban design. Students will look into its past, present and (projected) future and will be exposed to different methods of reading and making the city, recent urban morphologies and architectural topologies. The research will enable them to formulate their own approach and design an urban framework at a later stage.

PARAMETERS

DESIGN GUIDANCE
The final component of the process will be an individual synthesis of the themes uncovered during the semester leading to an appraisal of the site with focus on the specific themes and formulating a design guidance employing the following headings:
§ Vision Statement – general + theme specific
§ Background – Site and context appraisal – general + theme specific
§ Policy Review
§ Planning and Design Principles – including: (a) Indicative design concepts, proposals and (b) Details of the proposed development process
§ Phasing

Primary Focus
Public Edge
Retail Commercial Edge
Dwelling Housing Edge

Vision
What vision of the futures of the place has inspired this guidance?
The vision will be developed through a process of appraisals, consultation and collaboration, and creative thinking about planning and design principles. The process may involve any of the methods of planning, urban design and architecture, and in particular techniques of vision-building. Particularly in illustrating the vision, the document should make clear whether these are ideas for which the costings, phasing, timing and implementation have been worked out, or if these are merely visualisations of some initial ideas about what the place could become.
What sort of place should this become? Theme related.
§ What are the key words or phrases describe the qualities that it is hoped development will achieve?
§ What character and uses would achieve these qualities?
§ What timescale is the guidance looking to: temporary uses, short-term uses, or long-term?
What objectives should development aim for, and which of them are most important?

Background
§ The site
What are the boundaries of the site?
§ Purpose of the guidance
Why has the guidance been prepared?
Reasons such as:
§ Provide a starting point for dialogue or negotiation with developers
§ Tackle particular problems that the place presents
§ Respond to 2010+ development pressures
§ Promote high standards of design
§ Identify development opportunities
§ Provide a framework for developmental control

Policy Review
With regards to your theme:
What policies and guidance apply, and how should they be interpreted in relation to this site?
§ Regional planning policy and guidance
What regional policy and guidance is relevant here?
What requirement of public bodies need to be taken into account?

Site and context appraisal
What aspects of the site should be taken into account in planning and designing development?
§ Plans
What are the appropriate plans?
§ Illustration of the site + area
These should include:
§ Photographs
§ Drawings
§ Contextual plans and diagrams (annotated diagrams showing the significance of the various features of the area, summarizing what the area appraisal describes in greater detail in regards to the below themes).

Planning and Design Principles
What planning and design principles should be followed in developing the site?
§ Performance criteria.
This is a means of assessing the extent to which a development achieves a particular functional requirement based on:
What is the central idea on which the design is based?
What land uses would be preferred, acceptable or unacceptable?
What mix of uses is appropriate?
How should future uses be arranged on the site?
Which of the area’s buildings or landscape features should be kept?

Key issue
In the form of new development eight aspects of development form will be identified. These are; urban structure; urban grain; landscape; density and mix; height; massing; details; and materials. (Urban structure and urban grain are aspects of layout; height and massing are aspects of scale; and details and materials are aspects of appearance).
The guidance should describe how development form can help achieve the seven objects of urban design (character; continuity and enclosure; quality of the public realm; ease of movement; legibility; adaptability; and diversity).

Phasing
In what stages should the development be phased?

Conclusion
A summary of the above, problem statement, lessons learnt, a way forward and future projections.