Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Ojama Akagwu, Elsbet Alen, Petra Barran, Elisabetta Bricchetto, Camila Cocia, Shirin Husseini, Martha Mingay, Francesco Pasta, Claire Quam-Wickham, Bethany Ritter, Yingdong Yan, Han Zhu
BU1. Transforming Local Areas: Urban Design for Development Camillo Boano and Melissa Garca Lamarca Second Term, 2011-2012 Urban Analysis for a Study Area in Elephant and Castle, London
SUMMARY
For this metropolis is not simply the final stage of a poignant narrative, of apocalypse and nostalgia, it is also the site of the ruins of previous orders in which diverse histories, languages, memories and traces continually entwine and recombine in the construction of new horizons (Chambers, 1990: 112). The Elephant and Castle stands at the precipice of the urban regeneration that has reshaped large swathes of Britains inner cities in the last fifteen years. With a critical awareness of the potential temporal, spatial and human disjunctures that have often accompanied these processes, Elephant & Castle In Between attempts to ameliorate existing proposals with both interim and permanent design and use proposals that attempt to address this disseverment by emphasising the local. This report is organized in 5 sections. The first one contextualizes the Elephant and Castle situation and the regeneration project. The second one is an Urban Design Analysis based on the goals as stated by Southwark Council and Lend Lease, and a critique to the implementation of such goals. Then, there is a SWOT analysis, based in the Urban Analysis produced in the stage one of this exercise. The fourth section presents our vision and urban design entry points, and finally the fifth section presents our seven proposals. Five of this proposals are grounded on the idea that the final image envisioned by the redevelopment plan assumes both a physical and social transformation of the area. However, it will take a long time to reach such transformation. The in between time will be considerable and likely to extend, so social processes should be considered in the intervention. The process that will occur during that in between will also transform the final image proposed. The other two are recommendation to the redevelopment plan in order to support more effectively these social transformations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1. Context 2. Urban design analysis 3. SWOT analysis 3.1 Housing 3.2 Economic activities 3.3 Open and public space 3.4 Movement, infrastructure and accessibility 3.5 Liminal spaces 3.6 Culture, arts, participation and social activities 3.7 Voids, emites, leftovers 3.8 Swot in the space 4. Vision and urban design principles 5. Intervention sites and design response 5.1 Training 5.2 Food Market 5.3 Gardening 5.4 Use of Shopfronts 5.5 Use of Heygate Spaces 5.6 Housing Typology 5.7 Roundabout Conclusion References 4 5 8 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 30 31
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Elephant and Castle opportunity area in London. Figure 2. The Elephant and Castle Theatre 1850-1950. Figure 3. Heygate original architects sketches from 1969 Figure 4. Housing proposed by Lend Lease Figure 5. Street activity proposed by Lend Lease Figure 6. Park comparison: Lend Lease proposal and Tavistok Square, same scale Figure 7. Green areas proposed by Lend Lease Figure 8. Housing generation architects plans from 2009 Figure 9. Liminal spaces Figure 10. Cultural activities in Elephant and Castle Figure 11. Strengths in the space Figure 12. Weakness in the space Figure 13. Opportunities in the space Figure 14. Threats in the space Figure 15. SWOT analysis summary Figure 16. SWOT analysis summary in the space Figure 17: A survey map of the Walworth Road paralleled with a map of the world, indicating the origins of the independent shop proprietors in relation to their position on the street Figure 18: Integrating neighbourhoods and boundaries Figure 19: Temporal aspect the lacunas of development Figure 20: Strengthening community networks Figure 21: City connectivity vs. Local accessibility Figure 22: Interventions and current uses Figure 23. Training: Localization of actors and interventions Figure 24. Training: Presence of local activities in new development Figure 25. Food Market: Localization of actors and interventions. now, in between, future Figure 26. Food Market in Elephant Road Figure 27. Mobile Gardens: Localization of actors and interventions. now, in between, future Figure 28. Allotments in Heygate Figure 29. Mobile gardens 1 Figure 30. Mobile gardens 2 Figure 31. Use of Shopfronts: Localization of actors and interventions Figure 32. Use of Shopfronts: Strata ground floor Figure 33. Use of Heygate spaces: Localization of actors and interventions Figure 34. Use of Heygate spaces. Figure 35. Expositions in Heygate spaces. Figure 36. Roundabout Figure 37. Conceptual diagram Table 1. A consideration of legal, market and policy realities and potential utopian flexibilitities surrounding the regeneration of the Opportunity Area Table 2. Stage 1 themes and SWOT Analysis Table 3. Entry points and Interventions Table 4. SWOT analysis and Interventions response
INTRODUCTION
This project was undertaken as part of the Bartlett Development Planning Unit postgraduate module Transforming Local Areas: Urban Design for Development at UCL. Research at the Elephant and Castle was over two months, between January and March 2012. The exercise took place in collaboration with the London Borough of Southwarks Planning Department, specifically Nick Wolff (Project Development Manager, Economic Development) and Tim Cutts (Head of Planning Policy). Meetings were also held with a number of key actors, including community groups, the Elephant Amenity Network and Lend Lease, a key developer for the Opportunity Area. We wish for our interventions to have maximum possible practical recommendation for the Opportunity Area, and for this reason we have attempted to ground them among key considerations of the legal, market and political realities of contemporary regeneration in London. However, we believe some of these realities contain a degree of flexibility should actors, particularly Southwark Council and the Mayor of London, reconsider previous decisions, particularly in regard to the housing split and plans for the Civic Square at the roundabout. Nonetheless, engineering such a change of framework at this stage would take a good deal of lobbying and co-operation. Our considerations of reality and utopian flexibility are considered in Table 1. This responsive report is based on extensive analsyis of the site along key themes that are assessed and categorized in our SWOT analysis. From this textured understanding of the Elephant, we propose a vision of the neighbourhood that functions successfully on every scale, but prioritises the local. To enable this, analysis and community proactivity suggest a temporal focus, expecting lacunas of development and with respect to the Elephants past, is vital. Our interventions are therefore designed along two strata: immediate interventions that can be grown through community engagement, and later, permanent suggestions for the Opportunity Area. While these perhaps conflicting strategies require varying constellations of actors and scales of finance and skills, such an approach is necessary to recognise and attempt to address the inherent potential of conflict in processes of regeneration. We aimed to design a development that respects, maintains and enables new beginnings of the deep connections the area has always attracted.
Table 1. A consideration of legal, market and policy realities and potential utopian exibilitities surrounding the regeneration of the Opportunity Area
Utopian Flexibility LEGAL: Public space should be managed by public bodies "in the public interest"
The UK Planning System Health & Safety - a possible conflict with interim use MARKET: Private sector MARKET: Development to achieve off-plan led development and so valuations so budgets must be profitable for interim use are protected Affordable Housing at a likely maximum of 35% A glut of commercial property locally and Londonwide - ensuring low rental value for commercial units over the period of development and beyond Ignore Lend Lease's trade off between unit size and the number of affordabe units
POLICY: The May 2012 POLICY: The declining autonomy of local govern- Mayoral Election: Abandoned plans for ment the Roundabout No political will to retain the Heygate housing blocks Grampian Planning Conditions to maximise interim use.
1. CONTEXT
All Roads Lead to the Elephant The Elephant & Castle, located within central, inner south London at the strategic junction of the A2 and A3, linking the central bridges across the Thames with the main Roman roads through South-East and South-West London respectively, is of undeniable metropolitan significance as a transport node. Given this situation, the Elephant is largely considered a roundabout by Londoners, earning it the colloquial reputation as the real centre of London. With South Londons relative dearth of London Underground stations, the connectivity of the Northern and Bakerloo Lines with National Rail routes alongside twenty-eight bus routes, this role is confirmed by its key location to South Londons public transport, a busy site of interchange twenty-four hours a day.
Figure 1. Elephant and Castle opportunity area in London
The post-war physicality of the Elephant reflects this situational significance to the capital. Given its arterial road and rail links, alongside the industrial economy of northern Southwark, the Elephant experienced heavy German bombing in World War Two. This erasure of architecture and urban form allowed the post-war prioritisation of the car, in the widening of the New Kent Road and the roundabouts that form the centre of the Opportunity Area. To this day, local mobility, particularly that of pedestrians, remains constrained by the infrastructure and built environment designed to facilitate the fast flow of daily dense traffic from Londons periphery to its core and back again. The extensive wartime damage is also evident in the abundance and large scale of post-war architecture, most significantly in
Figure 2. The Elephant and Castle Theatre 1850-1950.
the massive Heygate estate, commissioned in 1962 and complete for inhabitance in 1974 alongside the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre, Europes first on opening in 1965. But almost simultaneously to the Heygates completion, the proclamation of the The Failure of Modern Architecture (Brolin, 1976) saw the Elephants architecture and urban planning soon heralded as Londons carbuncular testament to the failure of the modernist, welfare state utopia. A reputation as muggers paradise (the Evening Standard 22/2/12), somewhat furthered by the estates use as a dystopic film location, came to blight the estate. In 1999, against the recommendations of a 1998 scoping report, the decision to decant the community and demolish the Heygate blocks for regeneration.
"Suddenly the place was being labelled a problem estate. This is all part of this regeneration discourse. Because there's nothing wrong with the buildings, they have to find an excuse to regenerate the place, ie knock it down and replace it." Adrian Glasspool, Heygate Resident, quoted in S Moss The Death of a Housing Ideal The Guardian 4/3/2011
Source: Authors Source: http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Elephant.htm
We Was All One But while the Elephant & Castle has gained a metropolitan reputation as an ugly roundabout, the Elephant, Newington and Walworth have functioned on the local scale as a neighbourhood. London experienced the steady depopulation of the Inner City until the 1990s and the area sank into relative decline as Britain shifted to a postindustrial economy, untouched by the transformation sparked by the deregulation of the City a mile north. Yet the Elephant became increasingly multicultural, the neighbourhood and its significant housing stock at first absorbing significant Caribbean and African populations focused on Peckham and Brixton, while the 2000s saw a growing role as the locus for Londons rapidly growing Latino population, with activity, economy and social encounter focused within the Shopping Centre. Statistics support the architectural and commercial signifiers of deprivation and diversity. The Opportunity Area spans the Cathedral, Chaucer, Faraday, Newington and East Walworth wards of Southwark, itself the 26th most deprived local authority of Englands 326. At the ward or Lower Super Output Area level, East Walworth stands as the most deprived ward in Southwark (2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation). Southwark saw a significant decrease in deprivation in the 2000s, but the deviated deprivation statistics confirm this is due to
falling unemployment rather than wage rises. As such, the population of 60,000 (approx.) across the four wards retains a significant number of low-wage households. But the neighbourhood also has a reputation as a successful site of multicultural diversity. The 2001 census, the last available, illustrates the diversity of the Walworth Community Council area.
Ethnic Group White British Black/African/Caribbean (Black African) Other Ethnic Minority Groups Percentage of Population 46% 31% 22% 12%
Southwark is becoming Shirley Porter's Westminster, clad in timber and Trespa Owen Hatherley, After the Heygate, a grey future awaits The Guardian 8 February 2011 As the post-war changes of the Elephant reflect the wider social history of Britains Inner Cities, it also portrays a top-down narrative of governmental attitudes to social housing and the inner city. The sheer scale of the utopian vision of the Heygate illustrates the ambitions and autonomy of local and regional government in the rebuilding of post-war London, providing Parker Morris standard homes for the low income inhabitants of the Victorian housing that survived. Following the outlawing of social housebuilding, the Right to Buy and stock transfer, London Boroughs are significantly constrained in their abilities to build and provide affordable housing in a context of rising demand, only able to negotiate with the market and encourage Registered Social Landlord development. Policy mechanisms to boost affordable housing from the regional scale, the Greater London Authority, have proved ineffective in both Ken Livingstones regular compromise of his 50% target and Boris Johnsons failure to achieve 50,000 affordable homes within his first three years. 6
Source: London Borough of Southwark Walworth Community Council Population in Walworth 2008
Residential statistics do not appreciate the economic and cultural contribution of BAME groups that work inside the area but live elsewhere. The Elephant and Castle has therefore recently proved a neighbourhood with rapidly increasing economic diversity yet the Equalities Impact Assessment of the Opportunity Area (p 9) recognizes the development could threaten the Elephants role in Londons low-revenue economy.
But social housing policy reveals a wider, ideological politics, of the legitimacy of the central presence of the low income within a World City, London a Global centre of command (Massey 2007: 39). Where once the Greater London Council defended inner Londons from commercial expansion, most notably at Coin Street, the Greater London Authoritys existence since 2000 has overseen a period of the subtle sprawl of commercial development to fill a widely drawn Central Activities Zone (the London Plan, 2004, 2007, 2011), evident in the continuous stream of flagship regeneration (Raco, 2009: 112) transformations of Paddington, Kings Cross and Battersea among smaller redevelopment areas. The Coalition Governments restructuring of the Local Housing Allowance, removing the ability of many to live in central, private rented accommodation, somewhat confirms a shift within London, towards a Parisian model where the poor are excluded to the suburbs. The Elephant in the Room: Contradiction and Conflict These residential and commercial pressures, encouraged by local, regional and central policy have sharpened considerably in the thirteen years since the decision to dehouse and demolish the Heygate estate, rendering centrally located, large scale social housing almost anachronistic.
Contradiction appears to characterize the area, not only as a testament to withered welfare statism, but its dual cognitive resonance as either a roundabout or a neighbourhood, alongside varying perceptions of its cultural and economic health. It is these contradictions we wish to retain through the redevelopment, as a continuity of place. There can be little doubt the decision to develop among these wider social pressures result in conflictual tensions arising locally and recognized by local politicians. This has already been seen in the communitys oppostition to regeneration as gentrification. Design interventions must acknowledge these tensions and seek to remedy them through inclusion and encounter. For this reason, as the material changes of the long term redevelopment begin, the diachronic perspective that informs our design analysis must begin with an appreciation for the rich texture of its rapidly disappearing past.
Source: http://southwarknotes.wordpress.com/heygate-estate/
"This new deal with Lend Lease amounts to little more than throwing Heygate residents out of their homes and building new luxury housing which they won't be able to afford". Cllr Peter John, now Leader of Southwark Council, prior to the 2010 election
"Up to 2,462 homes with a population of circa 4,000 people. A minimum of 25% of habitable rooms in the development will be affordable. The Lend Lease Influence of Consultation on the Masterplan 2012, emphasis added. Lend Lease refers to affordable rooms, not units, creating an artifical trade-off between the number of affordable units and the total of family sized housing across the split. There is also implications in terms of the long term effect of the regeneration on social composition of the area.
Source: http://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/
2.2 Increasing the communitys economic opportunities We aim to realize community, education, employment and business opportunities The Lend Lease Sustainability Pamphlet, 2012 p 1. Provides opportunities for local independent retail businesses, reflective of the diversity of the surrounding residential populations, to contribute to the distinctive identity of E&C The draft Elephant & Castle Master Regeneration Plan, (Version 16) 2010, p 9. Provides training and employment opportunities for Southwark residents both during construction and in the completed scheme The draft Elephant & Castle Master Regeneration Plan, (Version 16) 2010, p 9.
Retail The arrival of new communities with new demands is likely to lead to pressures for higher value, comparison goods, it is possible this could threaten the unique retail offers of the Elephant & Castle, particularly the diasporic retailers, products and other low revenue economies that have emerged due to the low rent per unit in the Shopping Centre. While Southwark Council aims to maintain more money within a local multiplier effect, the proliferation of UK and international chains, potentially attracted by the changing income profile of the area is perhaps less likely to ensure cash is retained within the local economy.
2.3 Culture-Led Regeneration Community, creativity and culture all will play a role in shaping the place that the Elephant and Castle will become, and in bringing forward the areas potential as a cultural hub of London Elephantandcastle.org.uk, The Lend Lease and Soundings information website. The denotion of the area as a cultural hub suggests a narrow focus on the economically productive creative industries, perhaps ignoring wider culture and creative practices. However, the question is Whose identity is the project building. Community, creativity and culture, if widely defined, are likely to decrease in the early stages of the development, particularly with the loss of participation space scheduled for early demolition, most notably the Crossways Church and the Community Club building on Rodney Place. As Stage 1 analysis indicated, the organisations using these premises are yet to find alternative spaces.
Source: http://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/
2.4 A New Park for London: Green and Public Space We aim to enhance the natural environment and increase the opportunity to interact with nature. The Lend Lease Sustainability Pamphlet, 2012, p 1. Contains a range of high quality public spaces The draft Elephant & Castle Master Regeneration Plan, (Version 16) 2010, p 9. Lend Lease boast of Londons first new park for 70 years, yet Figure 6 illustrates this park is approximately the same size as a Bloomsbury square, yet it will be surrounding by a considerably denser population with little immediate alternative provision. The development proposals also contain raised private outdoor spaces. The number of these have already been reduced following consultation, and it is preferable public space is open to all. Nonetheless, outdoor spaces with limited access may also provide an opportunity for spaces of participation e.g. childrens play areas, or raised allotments. Access to these spaces could be extended beyond residents of the development, perhaps to food businesses, providing valuable activities for embedding the new buildings within the wider neighbourhood.
Figure 6. Park comparison: Lend Lease proposal and Tavistok Square, same scale
Source: http://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/
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3. SWOT ANALYSIS
Thus contextualised, we recognised the need for the often contradictory and heterotopic urban fabric of the Elephant and Castle to act as the linchpin for our SWOT analysis if we were to propose instrumental, lasting and meaningful design interventions. Accordingly, while simply pinpointing specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of each thematic would prove a vital jumping off point, the critical component of the SWOT would be capturing the complexity of the network by drawing connections amongst the themes, matching strengths with opportunities and converting weaknesses and threats to inform the interventions themselves. We began this process by reflecting on the analyses from each of the Stage 1 themes. Conceptually, the analyses focused around the socio-political factors involved in the production of space, the democratic process and the uneven power relations amongst actors involved, the vulnerability of various groups and places in a temporal spatiality, the scalability of the local/metropolitan/global trifecta, and the transformations of utopic ideals into realistic circumstance. Out of these conceptual analyses came our considerations for practical and quantifiable characteristics (please see Table 1). From there we were able to draw parallels amongst themes and connections between the strengths and opportunities and the weaknesses and threats (please see Figure 15 in page 20). Across themes, social diversity, strong comOPPORTUNITIES Connection with East St. Market
munity, glocal links, centrality, and available space were highlighted as strengths and opportunities that should be reflected into the vision and design interventions. Weaknesses and threats across themes were particularly apparent with regard to crime and safety, fragmentation, awareness, incoherency, stigmatisation and displacement. Boiled down, the fractionalisation of both the built and lived environments in time and space severely affected the working viability of the area at all scales. In order to effectively overcome this fragmentation, design entry points must address themes of temporal and spatial disconnection.
Awareness/understanding/ease/Incoherency
WEAKNESSES
THREATS
Independent Businesses
STAGE 1 THEMES
Source: Authors
X X
X X
X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
X X
X X X X
X X
X X X
X X X
Over-Control of Space
Centrality/Accessibility
Centrality/accessibility
Car-centered Design
Top-Down Planning
Available Space
Social Diversity
Social Diversity
Retail Diversity
Fragmentation
Stigmatization
Displacement
Crime/Safety
Incoherency
Glocal Links
Community
Land Value
University
Branding
Location
Jobs
11
STRENGTHS
Strong community There are diverse cultural groups in Elephant & Castle and a strong cohesion has been developed within the community. High land value Land value is especially high owing to its strategic central position in the city.
WEAKNESSES
High crime rate The crime rate is relatively high due to the physical boundaries and ensuing trouble spots of the Heygate.
THREATS OPPORTUNITIES
Cultural Diversity The provision of more housing both in size and affordability in the regeneration plan will open up possibilities for a more diverse area as a whole, and the community benefits that attend it. Stigmatization Peoples impression of the E&C has not been updated and is handicapping the areas development. Displacement of residents and retailers The displacement of residents and retailers will damage economic growth and will continue to recede during the transformation process. Top-down planning Planning method does not consider peoples needs at the local level.
Source: http://southwarknotes.wordpress.com/heygate-estate/
KEY
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-Independent retailers The retailers are small, fairly tectonic businesses without a strong cohesion with each other. However, there are many possibilities for development in this sector.
-Need for training, diversification of activities and employment opportunities The future development of this area requires more training and educational opportunities.
Centrality: The highly active economy is due to its key central location. Accessibility: The convenient and prolific public transportation of the area brings business. Social Diversity: Social diversity contributes to the multiple options of different retailers. Independent businesses The businesses here are mostly on a small scale so have diverse possibilities. Strong community: Plenty of opportunities to harness the cohesion developed by small groups within the community for collective, commercefocused growth. Glocal links: The immigrant population contribute to the global-local links. The high land value is both an opportunity and a weakness to economic activities: On one hand it is possible to attract more powerful business but on the other it stands as a direct threat to the flourishing of smaller, less economically justifiable businesses.
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Limited retail offer The limbo of the area leads to a limited retail offer. Lack of jobs The lack of jobs would harm the activity of the local economy. High crime rate High crime rate stops outsiders participating in the local economic growth. Lack of awareness of situation Retailers relative obliviousness of the situation is not good for them in making plans going forward.
OPPORTUNITIES
University The students in the university could bring economic opportunities, both seasonal and long-term. Connection between E&C and East Street Market The connection between the Heygate and the EastSstreet Market could bring more economic opportunities and diversities. Branding Using Elephant & Castle as a brand could bring a new and exciting economic development point.
THREATS
Displacement of residents and retailers The displacement of residents and retailers could result in the death of local economic activities during the transformation period. Top-down planning approach The top-down planning approach would lead to a total economic transformation in this area with little or no remaining connection to past endeavours.
KEY
13
STRENGTHS
Social diversity Multiple user groups of open and public spaces infer a diverse social community base Old trees Old trees already in existence on the site are a good base for landscape design.
WEAKNESSES
High crime rate Unused public and open spaces by community are a potential space for criminal acts to take place Fragmentation Fragmented urban layout leads to contested open and public spaces Incoherent transport infrastructure Breaks spatial linkages to lead to contested open spaces Disconnection between E&C and East Street Market Misses the opportunity of achieving a coherent and critical mass of commercial/social public life Accessability
OPPORTUNITIES
Available space An availability of space will allow for new uses to emerge
THREATS
Top-down planning Planning is not giving priority to peoples needs for open and public spaces. Over control of spaces Restricts peoples sense of ownership of place and development of a people-driven community
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STRENGTHS
Centrality Located in Londons central area, articulated around one of the major traffic intersections of London Mobility Efficient public transport connectivity, available interchange between different transport modes
WEAKNESSES
Car-centred design Transport network design gives priority to car users and excludes other transport modes such as walking and cycling Non-safe High accidents rates , spaces of exclusion are many potential places for criminal acts Fragmentation The transport network has resulted in a fragmented urban layout Incoherent transport infrastructure Problems of obsolescence, lack of accessibility and connectivity
OPPORTUNITIES
Location and Centrality E&C has been identified as an Opportunity Area in the London Plan because of the potential it has due to location and make-up to become a thriving urban Centre. Strategic location and excellent access to transport links
THREATS
Top-down planning Car based planning is not facilitating multimodal access for a heterogeneous public. (Walking and Cycling) Local vs. Metropolitan transport node A transport hub which connects E&C with surrounding areas may exclude local residents and increase the areas fragmentation 15
STRENGTHS
Social diversity Multiple uses of liminal spaces by different groups suggest a diverse social community base
WEAKNESSES
Fragmentation Fragmented urban layout leads to contested liminal spaces Car centred design Breaks spatial linkages that leads to contested liminal space Blurred and indeterminate boundaries The freedom of public space constantly threatens private-sector appropriations (pavement dining, corporate events)
OPPORTUNITIES
Available space An availability of space will allow for new uses to emerge
THREATS
Displacement of residents Displacing the residents will reduce the diversity and complexity of the existing liminal spaces
Source: Authors
KEY
16
STRENGTHS
Social diversity Multiple cultural groups infer a diverse social community base Independent businesses A strong network of cultural shops and restaurants Strong community Organised, motivated and mobilised Glocal links Networks extend beyond Elephant & Castle to include wider London and further to other parts of the globe
WEAKNESSES
Perceptions of a high crime rate A stigmatization on the local cultures, with possible consequences for economic opportunities.
THREATS
Stigmatization A stigmatization of the area will lessen the cultural opportunities of the area Over control of space An over control of space will limit the visibility and opportunities of cultural spaces
OPPORTUNITIES
Available space An availability of space will allow for the uses which emerged from the voids to become more prominent University Strong linkages to training and cultural opportunities with the local universities Potential of glocal links Chance to expand and build on the existing networks
KEY
17
STRENGTHS
Social diversity Multiple cultural groups suggest a diverse social community base
WEAKNESSES
Fragmentation Fragmented urban layout leads to possible voids and empty spaces Incoherent transport structure Has a tendency to break spatial linkages, leading to voids and empty spaces
OPPORTUNITIES
Available Space An availability of space will allow for new uses to emerge
THREATS
Displacement of residents Displacement of the residents will reduce opportunities afforded by the presence of voids Stigmatization A stigmatization of the area will promote less liberal appropriation of the voids Over control of space An over control of space will limit the visibility and opportunities offered by voids 18
KEY
Source: Authors
Source: Authors
19
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Land Value Carcentred design Incoherency Limited retail offer Lack of awareness
Available spaces
Crime \ Safety
Glocal links
Social diversity
UnemployFragmentation ment
Location
Branding
Stigmatization
Top-down planning
Overcontrol of spaces
OPPORTUNITIES
Source: Authors
THREATS
Source: Authors
20
NETWORKED Maximising the physical, social, cultural and technological connections of the neighbourhood to the wider world: Fostering harmony in new social constellations through participation: preventing barriers between owner-occupiers and social housing residents. Increasing the ease of public transport interchange Opportunities in an increasingly atomized labour market. Connections across the glocal diaspora: a nexus for financial, human, knowledge and cultural flows and interchanges (Castells, 1996).
Figure 17: A survey map of the Walworth Road paralleled with a map of the world, indicating the origins of the independent shop proprietors in relation to their position on the street
21
From the findings of our SWOT analysis, and the vision of a Locally Grown, Globally Networked development allowed us to elucidate four key principles that would serve as guidelines for our design interventions. These principles are: 1. Integrating neighbourhoods and boundaries There is a recognition by all actors, including Lend Lease, of the importance of integrating the redevelopment with neighbouring areas, this is translated as street continuity, but doesnt necessarily consider wider spatial and social continuity. Urban design must recognise and embrace the potentiality of a symbiotic and reciprocal relationship, between the redevelopment area and the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Figure 18: Integrating neighbourhoods and boundaries
2. Temporal aspect the lacunas of development The final image envisioned by the redevelopment plan assumes both a physical and social transformation of the area. However, it will take a long time to reach such transformation. The in between time will be considerable and likely to extend, so social processes should be considered in the intervention. The process that will occur during that in between will also transform the final image proposed.
Figure 19: Temporal aspect the lacunas of development
Source: Authors
4. City connectivity vs. Local accessibility Elephant & Castle contains a spatial tension between its local and strategic functions. On the one hand, it has a role in terms of metropolitan connectivity, acting as a transport node. On the other, there is a commitment to improve the condition of pedestrian and cyclists. It is important to balance these tensions and emphasise the local where possible.
Figure 21: City connectivity vs. Local accessibility
Source: Authors
Source: Authors
3. Strengthening community networks The area contains a variety of communities with different identities and cultures. This entry point refers to the importance of recognising these communities as the main network that will support the transformation of the area. Therefore, is important to not just consider these networks, but boost them through the intervention.
Source: Authors
22
Projects 1.Training 2. Food market 3. Mobile gardens 4. Use of storefronts 5. Use of Heygate empty spaces Current uses Universities / higher education Schools Community facilities Retail Green areas Building sites Empty units
Source: Authors
Connection with East St. Market
Independent Businesses
Available Space
Social Diversity
Social Diversity
Retail Diversity
Fragmentation
Stigmatization
Use of Shopfronts
Housing Typology
Food Market
Gardening
Training
Training INTERVENTIONS Food Market Gardening Use of Storefronts Use of Heygate spaces Housing Typology Roundabout
X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X
X X X X X X X
X X X
X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X
X X X X
X X X X X X
Displacement
Crime/Safety
Incoherency
Glocal Links
Community
Land Value
INTERVENTIONS
X X X X X X X
ENTRY POINTS / PRINCIPLES Neighborhoods/Boundaries X Temporal Aspects/Lacuna X Strengthening Community Networks X City Connectivity, Local Accessbility
X X X
X X
X X
X X
X X X
X X
X X X
X X X
Over-Control of Space
Centrality/Accessibility
Centrality/accessibility
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Awareness/understanding/ease/Incoherency
THREATS
Car-centered Design
Top-Down Planning
University
Branding
Location
Jobs
Source: Authors
Source: Authors
23
5.1. TRAINING
The need to diversify and increase the employment offer appears to be the main challenge in terms of economic development of the area. A training programme would promote the creation of new capabilities and skills, and should be particularly focused at current residents of the Opportunity Area. This programme should be delivered in partnership with the local Universities (London South Bank University and the London College of Communication) alongside Southwark College, in order to boost the links between the educational sector and the regeneration. Additionally, programmes targeting specific groups, particularly the 18-24 demographic should be developed in partnership with local institutions including local schools, pupil referral units, the probation service, JobCentre Plus and the youth organisations that already exist on the area. The training program could predate the physical developmentIt must have a constant presence both during transformation process and continue after the regeneration, with a particular focus on embedding security in terms residents livelihoods and adaptation to the ongoing social and physical transformation. f economic development of the area is the diversification and increase of employment sources. A training programme promotes the creation of new capabilities and tools, especially to the currents residents of the area and their livelihoods needs. This program will be managed for the University of Southwark, in order to boost the links among the university and the new development. Additionally, the program will
include another groups as the youngsters, and institutions as school, job centre and the youth centre that already exist on the area. The training program can start immediately. However, it has to have a constant presence both during the transformation process and after the regeneration, with special focus on the residents livelihoods and their social adaptation to the physical transformation ongoing. HOW DOES IT SHAPE THE FUTURE? It will contribute to the adaptation and integration of current residents into the new physical structures as a process of social and economic adaptation. It will aim to permanently embed existing businesses in the new scheme. HOW DOES IT COMPLY WITH THE VISION? GROWN: Opportunities to attain new skills, catalysing the personal growth of residents. Actors: Southbank University, local businesses, youth, schools, Job Centre, youth centre NETWORKED: Connections across the glocal Diaspora: a nexus for financial, human, knowledge and cultural flows and interchanges. Actors: Local businesses, traders, residents and growers
Source: Authors
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Figure 25. Food Market: Localization of actors and interventions. now, in between, future
HOW DOES IT COMPLY WITH THE VISION? LOCALLY: Respect to local history: retaining and explaining culture and heritage. Actors: Traders, local community of diverse immigrant groups, Mobile Gardeners. GROWN: Growing the Creative offer, employment and economy of the local area. Actors: Traders, local and city-wide community
Source: Authors
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Figure 27. Mobile Gardens: Localization of actors and interventions. now, in between, future
HOW DOES IT SHAPE THE FUTURE? It will maintain a continuous element of identity during the whole process, by enhancing the appropriation of both liminal and final public space.
Source: Authors
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HOW DOES IT SHAPE THE FUTURE? It will contribute to the overall economic situation of the Elephant & Castle, helping start-up business and empowering local entrepreneurs. It will also improve the articulation of buildings at street level.
HOW DOES IT COMPLY WITH THE VISION? LOCALLY: Affordability: maintaining a mixed, stable community of people with varying lengths of connection to the area. Actors: The council, entrepreneurs (local residents and local community, past residents), Southbank University students, Space Makers Network GROWN: The desire of local economic growth to alleviate social deprivation of existing population. Actors: The council, EAN, local entrepreneurs NETWORKED: Opportunities in an increasingly atomized labour market. Actors: Southwark Council, students, local youth, local community
Source: Authors
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HOW DOES IT COMPLY WITH THE VISION? LOCALLY: Supporting and validating local memory and cultural expression. Actors: Southbank University, EAN, Southwark Council, local cultural groups/youth centres, residents. GROWN: Growing the capacity of the local community and voluntary sector. Actors: Southbank University, EAN, Southwark Council, local cultural groups, residents.
Figure 34. Use of Heygate spaces.
HOW DOES IT SHAPE THE FUTURE? It will contribute to creating a different memory in order to change the position of Heygate in the collective imagination, and counter the stigmatization that affected it.
Source: Authors
Source: Authors
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HOW DOES IT SHAPE THE FUTURE? This will help to enable the retention of the old families while attracting potential community members more akin to those already there, and thus will help to strengthen the urban fabric rather than destroy it. It will increase the diversity of the population in the new Elephant & Castle.
HOW DOES IT COMPLY WITH THE VISION? GLOBALLY: Increasing the ease of public transport interchange Actors: Lend Lease, Southwark, TFL, Network Rail
Source: Authors
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CONCLUSIONS
Our current times see a further significant wave of change through proposals for new developments and large scale regeneration. []Those involved appreciate that this is a long-term journey and are keen to ensure that the momentum, built up over the last year, is captured and generates the inspiration for the next stage (Elephant Amenity Network Interim Use, 2011: 6). Over the course of the Elephant & Castle In Between, we have aimed to nurture the growth of small-scale, local transformations in order to ensure the large-scale, metropolitan and global networks necessary to provide for the areas long-term vitality. Current proposals apply a hazy definition of community, and do not take into account the complexity and diversity that already exist, let alone include them in future plans. From the Opportunity Areas history to our SWOT analysis, it is clear that these communities host a wealth of strengths and opportunities already ingrained in the urban fabric. It is also clear that with the realities of the current market and the slow approach of development, the key to the areas future success lies in its ability to work within the lacuna of development. Accordingly, we widened the vision to include the multiplicity in actors and scales, uses and existing communities and, through design principles and interventions, have pursued the creation of a good city by easing the transition from the temporal realm into the reality of the developed plans. Each intervention - from the training center to the New Kent Road - strives to harness the areas undeniable strengths into the future plans; leveraging the benefits of the new development while maintaining a sense of place for its existing residents. By weaving the temporal into the future, we have presented a final image that aims to create rather than deconstruct, and shift slowly into the future without disconnecting from its past.
Figure 37. Conceptual diagram
NOW
REGENERATION PROCESS
FINAL IMAGE
NOW
REGENERATION PROCESS ROUNDABOUT MOBILE GARDENS USE OF STOREFRONTS USE OF HEYGATE SPACE
Source: Authors
CO-PRODUCED FUTURE
HOUSING TYPOLOGIES
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REFERENCES
Bibliography B Brolin (1975) The failure of modern architecture New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co M Castells (1996) The Rise of the Networked Society New York: Wiley I Chambers, (1990) Border dialogues journeys in postmodernity. London: Comedia D Massey (2007) World City Polity Press: Cambridge A Minton (2009) Ground Control: Fear and Loathing in the Twenty-First Century City London: Penguin M Raco (2009) Local government and the politics of flagship regeneration in London: the development of Paddington in R Imrie, L Lees & M Raco eds (2009) Regenerating London: Governance, Sustainability and Community in a Global City Abingdon: Routledge Policy Documents Departmenr of Communities and Local Government The Index of Multiple Deprivation 20-7 available here: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/index_of_multiple_deprivati on_imd_2007 [Accessed 17 March 2012) London Borough of Southwark (2011) Core Strategy London: London Borough of Southwark London Borough of Southwark and Lendlease (June 2010), The draft Elephant & Castle Master Regeneration Plan, (Version 16), London: London Borough of Southwark
London Borough of Southwark (2011) The Draft Elephant & Castle Local Development Framework/Opportunity Area Policy Document, London: London Borough of Southwark London Borough of Southwark (2011) The Draft Elephant & Castle Local Development Framework/Opportunity Area Equalities Impact Assessment, London: London Borough of Southwark Lend Lease (2012) Sustainability Pamphlet/ Consultation Board London: Lend Lease and Soundings (Accessed February 2012, removed by 16 March 2012) Lend Lease (2012) Influence of Consultation on the Masterplan London: Lend Lease and Soundings (Accessed February 2012, removed by 16 March 2012) News Articles [All last accessed 17 March 2012] M Blunden The Makover of muggers paradise Heygate Estate, the Evening Standard 22 February 2012 available at: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/london/makeoverof-muggers-paradise-heygate-estate-7445697.html S Moss The Death of a Housing Ideal The Guardian 4 March 2011 available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/04/deathhousing-ideal O Hatherley After the Heygate, a grey future awaits The Guardian 8 February 2011 available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/08/ heygate-estate-housing-gentrification
SE1.co.uk Boris refuses to back removal of Elephant and Castle roundabout 12 July 2011, available at: http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5407 SE1.co.uk Southwark still pursuing Elephant Civic Square Plan says regeneration boss 19 July 2011, available at: http://www.londonse1.co.uk/news/view/5430 SE1.co.uk Will Boris cough up for Elephant & Castle Tube Station plan after all? available at: http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5821 Websites Lend Lease & Soundings Community Website, available at: www.elephantandcastle.org.uk [Accessed: 16 March 2012] The Elephant Amenity Network available at: www.elephantamenity.wordpress.com [Accessed: 16 March 2012] Southwark Notes available at: southwarknotes.wordpress.com [Accessed: 16 March 2012] SE1.co.uk available at www.london-se1.co.uk [Accessed: 16 March 2012]
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