Fundamentally, cities have evolved as centres of economic and social capital. They have grown as the focal point for manufacturing, trade, and social interaction.
In the case of the latter, these are challenging times. The switch to remote working has seen a flight from cities to market towns, as people exchange the confines of city apartments for houses with gardens and access to nature. The rise in home working and online retailing foretells a significant drop in commuters and shoppers – both of whom underpin the current role of city centres. However, humans are social animals, so while online communication platforms provide some visual connection, there will always be a place for face-to-face meetings – for both work and leisure.
So, as the epicentre of social interaction, cities and city centres are here to stay.
How might they change in future?
As outlined by the High Street Task Force, cities and centres need to reinvent themselves. In fact, they have been doing so for a long time… but this needs to accelerate. Their decline as places to work and shop alone needs to be matched by a corresponding growth in their role as multi-functional places to live, work and play, with more diverse retailing, collaboration, and experimentation space (through pop-ups and co-working), social activities, cultural facilities and access to public services (such as libraries and health centres).
The ‘spatial efficiency’ of development is critical to arresting rising global temperatures. Higher-density, mixed use development focused on a network of centres, linked by public transport and acting as the focal point for ‘walkable’ neighbourhoods has long been recognised as the most sustainable model of development for cities globally. This has not changed – dispersed rural and suburban sprawl are incompatible with these aims. Development needs to be capable of reducing travel distances while, in parallel, enabling social distancing. So, the ease with which people can walk and cycle to a range of goods and services needs to increase. Under such circumstances streets and open spaces take on even greater importance – for movement but also wellbeing.
The pandemic has also highlighted issues surrounding the quality of higher-density urban housing, as dark, cramped flats lacking outdoor space affect people’s mental health and inhibit efforts to enforce self-isolation. Therefore, in future, spatially-efficient development needs to provide spacious, light, and well-ventilated accommodation with adequate outdoor space.
Inequality also needs to be addressed. The impact of the pandemic on those with lower incomes and from BAME backgrounds has been striking. Concentrations of people living in crowded conditions, in lower-paid, frontline work are suffering from higher COVID incidence and mortality rates in the short term, and are projected to be disproportionately affected by the long-term economic impacts. This is creating a vicious cycle that needs to be tackled systemically, lest we see social disorder of the type witnessed recently in the US, but potentially on a larger scale. Therefore, in future, the delivery of good quality, affordable housing in mixed income development supported by appropriate facilities remains paramount.
How can we shape this change?
Central to this should be a visionary planning system that offers a pro-active role – whether the new White Paper offers that is a subject of much debate. This should be matched by devolved funding which allows cities to meet any ambition with the resources to guide change, including streamlined processes to acquire and assemble land where necessary. This should focus on re-shaping cities to be walkable ‘15-minute cities’ of the type seen elsewhere in continental Europe.
Embodied carbon will also be a key watchword, given that 80% of the buildings in existence today will still be here in 2050 (UK Green Building Council). Therefore, brownfield regeneration and building re-use needs to be prioritised over new build greenfield development, together with coordinated retrofitting programmes essential to meeting our carbon commitments. Energy efficiency will also be central to new development, with passivhaus standard development or its commercial equivalent required across the board, complemented by city and nationwide strategies for renewable generation and low carbon energy supply.
To respond to the ecological emergency, there will be a need to double down on ‘green infrastructure’ provision in new developments to re-wild our cities, with the incoming Biodiversity Net Gain requirements only needing to be ramped up.
As for technology, it has a key role to play in reducing travel demand – itself responsible for 38% of carbon emissions[1] – through remote working, but also facilitating easier access to a range of public services. ‘Smart’ technologies can make service delivery more integrated and responsive, while also empowering people to engage more meaningfully with the planning and development process, through online consultation portals, VR and AI.
A change in perspective
So, in terms of need, many of the fundamentals have not changed, but the extent has. Much of the above requires a change in the starting point, as per this infographic. Cities need to place sustainability at their core, including the multi-faceted UN Sustainable Development Goals and net zero carbon objectives. It is encouraging to see Bristol and its One City Plan leading in this field.
For built environment planning, design or regeneration advice, contact Nash Partnership.
[1]Department of Energy and Climate Change (2013) Energy Consumption in the UK 2013 www.gov.uk/DECC/publications