URBAN UPDATE
15th May 2015
Main news
from the Urban Design Group
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
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Join the Urban Design Group
http://www.udg.org.uk/join
Forthcoming UDG 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
http://www.udg.org.uk/events/4-x-4-manchester-every-wednesday-evening-may
Trouble viewing this email? Download as.docx document
http://www.udg.org.uk/udupdate/news/urban-update-15-may-2015
URBAN DESIGN Edition 134: 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.
http://www.udg.org.uk/events/udg-agm-garden-cities-ii
Join the StreetNW mailing list on
mailto:street-north-west@urban-design-group.org.uk
Other events
Enhancing Wellbeing: inclusive, community
collaborative approaches to place making’
Friday 15th May from 10-4pm at the Dalhousie Building
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.
http://www.udg.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/UDG_Executive_Nomination_Form_2015-16.pdf
(LT1, Ground Floor), University of Dundee.
Garden Cities Event
Follows on from the AGM
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
Yolande Barnes Head of Savills Research
reating value from places & funding large
volumes of housing
https://eventbrite.co.uk/event/16765849106/
Dominic Papa, co-founder and Director of S333
Architecture + Urbanism
Ebbsfleet & Almere compared, + models for
developing garden cities
Academy of Urbanism
Academy of Urbanism Congress X
Health, Happiness + Wellbeing
4-6 June 2015, Birmingham
Join the Academy in Birmingham for the 10th Annual
Congress where they will explore beyond conventional
aspects of city planning to embrace infrastructure and
mobility, happiness and psychological wellbeing, and
the aspirations for a better quality of life. Their keynote
speaker is Charles Montgomery, author of the awardwinning book Happy City.
View the programme online at:
Jim Coleman of Buro Happold tbc
making a business case for Garden Cities
Plus Rob Cowan on Ebenezer Howard
Chaired by Ben van Bruggen
Current edition sent to UDG members
Past editions can be downloaded on the UDG website.
http://www.academyofurbanism.org.uk/annual-congress-x-birmingham/
BOBMK Events
http://bobmk.org.uk/our-programme/
New on UrbanNous
Health and Urban Design
MADE
http://www.made.org.uk/events/calendar/
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 Witnesses
Part of London Tree Week
Wednesday 28th May
http://www.urbannous.org.uk/health-and-urban-design.htm
Terry Farrell – Lifetime Achievement Award
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 tickbox 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.
http://www.museumofwalking.org.uk/events/silent-witnesses/

Winner
Urban Design London
Events coming up – extensive programme some free,
some charged/£175+VAT (Free for subscribers)
http://www.urbandesignlondon.com/?page_id=3251
Network Meeting

19th May
Good Homes in London – Housing Standards
Explained

20th May
Urban Design Skills: Understanding the Structure of
Places

21st May
Jeremy Hernalesteen interviews Sir Terry Farrell.
Produced by Fergus Carnegie 11 minutes 20 seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBQ731KovMY
Networking Events: Design Review

26th May
Design South East / Kent Design
Greening the city:
Urban streets and verges
Event Calendar
Ian Hingley. Landscape architect, Urban Movement
http://www.kentdesign.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Event-Calendar-2015-16-edited-14.4.15.pdf
Making pre-application work for you
Ashford
27 May
Growing a Place
UCA, Canterbury
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
19 June
Assistant Urban Designers – PRP – London Office
http://www.udg.org.uk/jobs/london-and-south-east/assistant-urban-designers-prp
http://www.urbannous.org.uk/greening-the-city-streets.htm
CABE - Deputy Director of Architecture and the Built
Environment
London - NB Deadline is this Sunday
http://www.udg.org.uk/jobs/london-and-south-east/cabe-deputy-director-architecture-and-built-environment
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
Cornwall Design Review Panel
http://www.udg.org.uk/jobs/cornwall-design-review-panel
Ferguson, Hans Monderman and scores of others.
www.urbannous.org.uk
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
WC1E 7BT
Website: http://www.chinadesigncentre.com
Scandal over Prince of Wales “Black Spider” letter
invitation to Culture Secretary to attend event on
urban design
http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2080984-prince-of-wales-correspondence-with-secretary-of.html
Apparently the Culture Secretary was unable to attend
Urban Design around the World
Latest Research, Policy and Practice
Global
Natural Environment
10 cities that are shaping the future of urban living
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/11/future-cities-urban-planning_n_7222018.html
Human security at risk as depletion of soil accelerates, scientists warn
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/uoc--hsa050515.php
Wetlands continue to reduce nitrates
Australia
Melbourne’s growth needs careful planning
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/melbournes-growth-needs-careful-planning-20150511-ggz3nx.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/uoic-wct051215.php
Using biodiversity as a predictor of urban health
http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/using-biodiversity-as-a-predictor-of-urban-health
Feckless regulators let developers run riot on Sydney’s public land
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/feckless-regulators-let-developers-run-riot-on-sydneys-public-land-20150513-gh0cwm.html
Humans Health Society
Canada
Taking back the streets from cars could create a whole lot of housing (and
make much nicer streets)
Typhoid – the scourge of less-developed towns and cities– develops resistance
to antibiotics and is now found worldwide
https://www.sanger.ac.uk/about/press/2015/150511.html
http://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/taking-back-streets-cars-could-create-whole-lot-housing-and-make-much-nicer-streets.html
Bouts of measles erase immune system memory
Risk of developing pneumonia, meningitis or diphtheria
New Zealand
Motorway art won’t distract Wellingtonians, says NZTA
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/68511279/Motorway-art-won-t-drive-Wellingtonians-to-distraction-NZTA-says
Nigeria
Architects to check malpractices with project registration number
http://allafrica.com/stories/201505112457.html
UK
Interview: Second Home’s Rohan Silva on why property needs to ‘wake up’
http://www.propertyweek.com/interview-second-homes-rohan-silva-on-why-property-needs-to-wake-up/5074373.article
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27481-measles-leaves-you-vulnerable-to-a-host-of-deadly-diseases.html#.VVBWufnBzGc
Can diet and exercise prevent muscle loss in old age?
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/uos-cda051115.php
Elderly people who exercise 'live five years longer
Doing less than an hours exercise a week of light exercise had no impact on
longevity..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32735723
Study shows increased cardiorespiratory fitness may delay onset of high
cholesterol
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/acoc-ssi050715.php
Moving to a depressed neighborhood linked to weight gain
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/ehs-mta050415.php
City Devolution plans outlined for Manchester for housing, transport, planning
and policing
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32726171
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,
Switching to public transport or cycling/walking to get to work might help shed the
pounds
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/b-stp050515.php
Public unrest sends urban designers back to drawing board
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/12/public-unrest-sends-urban-designers-back-to-drawing-board.html
emergency services, civil protection, waste disposal, and strategic town and
country planning.
USA
New York is the world’s most wasteful megacity
http://www.citylab.com/weather/2015/05/new-york-is-the-worlds-most-wasteful-megacity-in-3-charts/392636/
Boston received hundreds of constructive responses to redesign city plaza
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2015/05/08/boston-received-hundreds-of-constructive-responses-to-redesign-city-hall-plaza/
Built Environment
Mapping every city’s most scenic routes, one photo at a time
http://www.citylab.com/tech/2015/04/mapping-every-citys-most-scenic-routes-one-photo-at-a-time/391775/
What a creative neighbourhood looks like
Movement
Six times more expensive to travel by car than by bicycle
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/lu-stm051215.php
Toyota launch hydrogen fuel cell car – the Mirai
http://www.toyota.com/mirai/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3074298/The-car-runs-FRESH-AIR-hits-111mph-water-comes-exhaust-no-s-not-science-fiction-buy-soon-affordit.html#newcomment
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.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/engineering/11595842/Greener-quieter-and-more-efficient-has-Rolls-Royce-created-the-train-of-the-future.html
http://www.citylab.com/work/2015/05/what-a-creative-neighborhood-looks-like/393038/
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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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