Practically Realising Prosperity - Katie Williams

Sustainable communities in the South West: how can we achieve quantity and quality? Professor Katie Williams Director, Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments , University of the West of England, Bristol

Setting the context..
There will be large scale housing (urban) growth in the South West: 36%household growth, 40 urban extensions
The aim is to accommodate this growth in sustainable (prosperous) communities , not more ‘placeless’ single-use housing developments
We have had government guidance and a sustainable-communities focused rhetoric for over 10 years now
But we are struggling to deliver sustainable communities in the UK: we are failing in quality and quantity
What could we do to deliver better places ?

The presentation..
What is meant by a sustainable community ?
Why do we want them?
How are they delivered in the UK?
What progress is being made?
How could we do things better?
A more sophisticated vision of sustainable communities
Better evidence base
Better delivery processes
Some international learning

What is a sustainable community?
New or regeneration schemes
Mixture of physical and non-physical qualities
Balanced and integrated social, economic and environmental components
Emphasis on housing and other uses and needs of communities (now and in the future)
Mixed communities (not just social/private housing)

What is a sustainable community?
A community that has:
a flourishing local economy
strong leadership
effective engagement and participation (especially in the planning, design and long-term stewardship of the community)
active voluntary and community sector
diverse, vibrant and creative local culture
safe and healthy local environment
well-designed public and green space
good public transport and other transport infrastructure
buildings that can meet different needs over time and that minimise the use of resources
well integrated mix of decent homes of different types and tenures
good quality local public services
sense of place
right links with the wider regional, national and international community
sufficient size, scale and density and the right layout to support basic amenities in the neighbourhood and minimise use of resources (including land) (summarised from ODPM, 2003, p.5)

Source, image below CABE

Why do we want sustainable communities?
To avoid past failures
Mass social housing
Poor design (urban and architectural)
Ineffective regeneration
To address the sustainability agenda
As an acceptable solution to unpopular new development (including eco-towns)

How are sustainable communities delivered in the UK?
‘ Shared endeavour’ ( CLG, 2007)
Private, public and third sector agencies involved
Via spatial planning (national, regional and local levels)
A number of delivery partners : e.g. private development firms, local authorities, The Housing Corporation, English Partnerships
Key professionals: planners, architects, urban designers, engineers, utility providers
Phased over long time periods
Ingress Park development, image copyright Morag Lindsay

What progress is being made?
Difficult to assess
Still a minority of all new schemes (mainly in the South East): we identified 150 schemes in the UK
Performing better than norms in terms of urban design, energy efficiency, travel behaviour and community development
Not delivering on community cohesion : many just dormitory settlements (suffer from remoteness)
Not delivering joined up housing and service provision
Many initial sustainability elements do not get delivered
Findings from reports by Williams, 2007; Williams and Lindsay, 2007; Sustainable Development Commission, 2007; Power 2004; CLG, 2006; TCPA, 2004, RICS, 2007

Why is this?
‘ One of the shortcomings of the predominant build-for-sale housing model is that the developer does not retain long-term interest in the site . There is no incentive to produce a design better than the minimum needed to make a sale , and issues such as the design of the public realm and long term maintenance can be sidelined without any impact on profit. ’ (Liz Pearce, Chief Exec, British Property Federation)

Why is this?
Mismatch between partners (regulators and regulated) aspirations, objectives and timescales
Not enough local benefits from development: housing numbers seen as an imposition not a responsibility
Problems of complexity, number of agents, mismatched regulatory and funding systems, phasing of infrastructure and amenities etc.
Private investment is difficult to secure and maintain
Community participation is problematic - difficult to maintain momentum, manage expectations
Skills base is poor (within and between professions)

What could we do to deliver better quality and quantity?
1. Develop a more sophisticated vision of what we want to achieve:
Lose the obsession with finding ‘one model’ of developing sustainable communities: multiple guises, not one size fits all (could include different urban forms, designs, scales, more local solutions)
Find solutions focused around agreed principles (of sustainable development: prudent use of resources, equity) but then realise a range of solutions
Understand that with multiple visions go wide-ranging actions (some top-down, some bottom-up, large and small scale), and these vary in time and scale

2.Develop a stronger evidence base around sustainable communities and act on it.
Monitor what works and what doesn’t
Much good practice is now just ‘accepted wisdom’, and is not based on learning or evidence
The are no awards for learning from our mistakes!

Example 1. Source: Bramley and Power, 2009

Example 2: number of cars owned in ‘sustainable developments’ compared with national averages %
But sustainable behaviours increased in high quality environments
And when there were groups of features designed to support sustainable lifestyles

Example 3: study on the relationship between quality and social cohesion

3. Develop more sustainable and effective delivery mechanisms:
Maximise what we CAN do within the current system (learning from good practice in the UK)
Maximise the variety of public-private partnership models that can be used, depending on local circumstances (Studdert, 2009)
Ensure committed leadership from individuals or organisations, with medium or long term aspirations (could be from LA, architects, developer, community, land owner)
Develop teams with ‘mutual’ interests : often schemes with rental elements do better
Ensure highly skilled team members
Provide good project management and community engagement : so all stakeholders involved early enough
BUT: Many good schemes have ‘non-standard’ funding/land ownership etc. – so models hard to replicate

4. Learn from places where higher quality and faster housing delivery works, e.g. mainland European models:
Local authorities have greater local autonomy and financial independence, and work within more flexible regional planning frameworks : they lead in master planning and engagement
Local authorities are often landowners (or have some stake in the land) and can therefore demonstrate leadership; they can also borrow money at cheaper rates from municipal banks to forward-fund
A wider range of house-builders is involved self-procurement groups, private and social landlords, etc. Hence a wider choice of types and tenures of housing, and more long term interests.
Schemes have local support because of sustained involvement and visible benefits (Studdert, 2009; Falk and Hall, 2009)

Vathorst, Amersfoort NL Images copyright freeimages, Vathorst.com

Conclusions
It is possible, but very difficult to deliver truly sustainable communities in the UK
We need people involved who are skilled, more pro-active, confident and visionary
We need to base our actions on evidence of what works and doesn’t: especially how people want to live!
We need to focus on quality: would you like to live there?
We need to press for wider changes that move us towards the benefits of the European models

Conclusions
‘ The city is rooted in the habits and customs of the people who inhabit it. The consequence is that the city possesses a moral as well as a physical organisation, and these two mutually interact in characteristic ways to mold (sic) and modify one another’
(Park, 1915)

Publications by Katie Williams and Nicholas Falk

References
CABE (2009) who Should Build Our Homes?, CABE 2009
CLG (2007) Eco-Towns prospectus, www.communities.gov.uk
CLG, (2007) Homes for the Future, www.communities.gov.uk
DEFRA (2006) Sustainable Communities: A shared agenda, a share of the action, TSO, Norwich
Falk N and Hall P (2009) Why not Here? Town and Country Planning, Jan.
Falk N (2008) Beyond Eco-towns: The Economic Issues, URBED
Falk N (2008) Making Eco-Towns work: Developing Vathorst, Amersfoort NL
Guy S and Marvin S (1999) Understanding Sustainable Cities: Competing Urban futures, European and Regional Studies, Vol.6, No.3, pp. 268-275
ODPM (2003) Sustainable Communities Plan, www.communities.gov.uk
Park, RE (1915) The City: suggestions for the investigation of human behaviour in the city environment, The American Journal of Sociology, vol. 20, No 5, pp.577-612.
Williams K (2010) Sustainable Cities, research and practice challenges, International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 1(1)
Williams and Lindsay (2007) The Extent and Nature of Sustainable Building in England: An Analysis of Progress, Planning theory and Practice, 8(1), pp 27-45
Williams K and Dair C (2007) What is Stopping Sustainable Building in England? Barriers Experienced by Stakeholders in Delivering Sustainable Developments

Practically Realising Prosperity - Katie Williams

by South West Observatory on Apr 06, 2010

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Practically Realising Prosperity - Katie Williams — Presentation Transcript