Nicholas Boys Smith argues for beautiful ‘gentle density.’ For too long a fixation on urban high-rises has taken priority over more popular houses with gardens Over 20 years ago, Lord Rogers proposed an urban renaissance. His task force argued that Britain’s towns should be better places. The argument was strong. It has led to many […]
Over many years during my long housebuilding career, planners and local residents have often screamed for a mixed use content within new housing developments. Not a real surprise as we all recognise its contribution in society and its convenience particularly if its a general store and after all new purchasers of our beautiful houses for […]
Pick up any article about the Government’s views on planning and you’ll find it hard to miss an emphasis on “beauty”, “gentle density” and “community engagement”. As with all public policy the acid test lies in its delivery. This is the story of the first test of “gentle density” in London. Benedict Wharf has been […]
‘Moving on, moving better?’ Rachael Unsworth questioned in last week’s blog post, considering what cities can learn from the current crisis. With our present lives on hold it also brings about the time and opportunity to rethink our future, and the way that we design and live in our cities. City-makers from everywhere are responding […]
Urban geographer and director of Leeds Walking Tours, Rachael Unsworth, asks how we can learn from the lockdown. Across the UK, quite rightly, city leaders are planning for life after lockdown. Where I live, in Leeds, City Council Leader Judith Blake has told the Yorkshire Evening Post ’Our task will be to reset and restart […]
The Create Streets team were delighted to recently attend the launch of the new Colouring London platform and support the fantastic work of Polly Hudson in partnership with University College London. Colouring London is a free website designed by University College London that collects, collates, visualises and allows people to download statistical data about every […]
Far too many political commentators assume that state intervention in land use decisions ‘started’ with the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, and is mainly about the green belt preventing urban expansion.
On February 21st Create Streets and Onward hosted the Creating Communities 2019 conference and U+I’s headquarters in central London. The speech by John Myers of London YIMBY and the YIMBY Alliance is reproduced below: In 2017 our campaign said villages that wanted to build more homes next to the village in their own green belt should be allowed […]
Yesterday Create Streets and Onward hosted the Creating Communities 2019 conference and U+I’s headquarters in central London. An incredibly broad range of people and perspectives gathered for a day of discussions, presentations and debate; the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government; the Chairman of Homes England; the Chief Planner; Tony Pidgley; landowners, […]
Now that we’ve been going for just over two months we wanted to write a little about our mission. We exist because we think there is a gap in urbanist advocacy in the US that needs to be filled. There are many fantastic groups already encouraging planning solutions from transit-oriented development, to zoning reform, to […]