From rags to riches: the case for better public spaces

Sir Stuart Lipton, CABE chair (1999 - 2004), explores good design as basic to quality of life using public space as an archetype.

Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen I am standing before you as Chairman of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. So you might well be expecting me to talk about buildings; instead, I would ask you to look into space.

Summon up for a moment your favourite public place. Think of an open space that you like to visit, that you enjoy walking through, where you take time to sit, read the paper, meet a friend, have a drink. It might be a town square, a small park, a village green, even a street.

For me it1s St James1s Square in London with its central garden surrounded by a fascinating and eclectic collection of buildings. Or perhaps Newcastle1s Grey Street , where the curve of the street and the simple dignity of the architecture draw me into the heart of Grainger Town . Both these places give me a lift as I walk through them, every time they are different with a new cast of characters and new events going on.

Failure and success

I find it hard to think of many examples of public spaces created during the past 50 years which have that same feel-good factor.

We are the 4 th wealthiest nation in the world, and yet we have chosen for a long time to dress ourselves in rags.

As a society we now seem to accept the poverty of our streets and spaces. A recent survey by the Urban Parks Forum shows that 30% of people will not use our public parks at all, mainly through fear. Many of them are children and older people, who should have the time and opportunity to enjoy our public spaces.

There are of course notable exceptions, some real winners. Here in London , we have the revived Mile End Park with its exciting Green Bridge , new sports facilities and modern planting schemes, and the Thames Barrier Park with its stunning piazza of fountains, sunken gardens and elegant riverside pavilion.

Some of our most notable achievements have been on a smaller scale. By creating a network of petits projets , a string of pearls, one can begin to create public confidence in the prospect of regeneration. To take just one example, the New Century family garden in Openshaw, East Manchester was an area at the back of terrace houses, blighted by fly-tipping, joy-riding, poor drainage and dangerous surfacing. As a result, children had nowhere to play. Now the area is re-designed, safe and secure, all initiated by the residents themselves, facilitated with Government money.

Children are at the heart of my case for public space. We have one of the worst child pedestrian accident rates in Europe . The kids want somewhere to play, they are driven to hanging around on the streets that are not safe, and tragedy or bad behaviour too often follows.

The other real losers when it comes to public space are the poor. The latest public parks assessment suggests that good parks in prosperous areas are getting better, poor parks in deprived areas are getting worse.

All this seems depressing in a country where billions of pounds are spent annually erecting new buildings. Too many buildings arrive with apparently little or no consideration for their context, particularly the public space around them.

We seem instinctively to know when little thought has been expended by developers. Where is the bench or tree to sit under? Where is the fountain, small garden, sculpture, street lamps, playground, cafe? As American urban design guru Jane Jacobs said " think of a city and what comes to mind? Its streets. If they look interesting, the city looks interesting. If they look dull, the city looks dull. "

I see how in other parts of the world the private sector goes the extra mile to care for the public space around its buildings, as exemplified by the US Business Improvement Districts or BIDs. We are now introducing BIDS in the UK but it is an attitude of heart, a cultural shift in British business culture that is required if owners and occupiers are fully to play their part.

The reluctance of the commercial players is symptomatic of a deeper malaise. Who owns the space around us, who controls it, who makes it work for us? In any street, there are probably 30 different organizations who have a right to interfere - utilities will dig it up, the telecom firms will plaster adverts on their phone boxes, the local authority will be reliant on a myriad of largely disinterested contractors. And the upshot is too often a mess.

And when we turn to our green spaces and public squares, we find ourselves victims of a postcode Lottery. In one borough, the local authority gives priority to looking after its parks and we all enjoy them. You get leadership from the very top. But in the borough next door, you may well find that similar spaces are under-managed, under-resourced no-go zones.

The five challenges

So I am here today to throw down the gauntlet; to lay down five challenges that I believe must be met to achieve better quality public space.

First, there is a poverty of creativity and innovation ; we are afraid to play, we need to start taking more risks, to experiment, to have some fun.

Second, we have to put quality back into the ordinary the totality of civic space is what matters, not just a few good buildings. Good design is for everyone.

Third, the way we set targets and measure them is wrong when it comes to the built environment; we need a better understanding of what constitutes 'best value'.

Fourth, the planning system is stuck. The profession and the process require a complete overhaul; they have to be at the root of excellence in urban form.

Finally, and most crucially, rights must be balanced with responsibility for creating a better civic environment. We each have a role, but without shared ownership change will not come.

Rights and responsibilities

You may ask where is the Government in all this. The harsh truth is that our public parks have lost £1.3 billion of public money since 1979 although things have picked up a little in the last three years. Money is not everything but without it, we are not going to get very far.

One of the historic themes of social democratic governance is that it should seek to tackle underlying causes of social problems, not just the immediate and more obvious symptoms of decline. Many strands of this Government's policy approach have admirably stretched further than a single electoral cycle in seeking to promote social welfare. One example is the Sure Start programme to improve life opportunities for very young children born in deprived areas. Another is the neighbourhood renewal programme, allowing communities to build capacity to solve their own problems over a ten year period or longer.

At the same time, the Prime Minister has always emphasised the relationship between rights and responsibilities at the heart of the Third Way project. So what is the 'right' that sits alongside the 'responsibility' to behave in an acceptable social manner. In my view, the corresponding 'right' is the right to live and work in a decent neighbourhood that offers the prospect of a decent quality of life.

In the last 15 years the personal quality of life for most people has improved beyond all recognition, reflected in our homes, gardens, cars and the services we choose to use and consume. And yet, when it comes to our local environments, we step grimly through the debris.

The consequence of public sector mismanagement and disinvestment in the public realm is disenfranchisement of people from their own immediate surroundings. In New York the focus of Mayor Guiliani's attack on anti-social behaviour is usually captured in the idea of 'zero tolerance'. However, such a policy could not have worked or been sustained if, at the same time, the Mayor, backed by a network of Business Improvement Districts, had not revolutionalised the quality of public space in the city and tapped into a mass of willing volunteer effort. That is the real story of Barrier Park , Bryant Park and Central Park , with the rigorous enforcement that followed essentially the means of maintaining a much broader and positive strategy.

While cultures differ, I am certain there is an army of citizens in this country who would be willing to improve their local environments if given the chance. The success of community-based organisations such as Groundwork, the British Trust of Conservation Vounteers and Sustrans is testament to that. Or look at the untapped potential of the DIY boom in home and garden, sustained by the power axis of Changing Rooms and B&Q. Imagine that creativity let loose on our parks and streets.

So let me be clear, Government action, at national and local level, is at the heart of every one of my challenges.

Transformation through innovation

My first challenge then is that we start taking some risks.

Look at how the once-nondescript industrial town of Bilbao reinvented itself, along with the world1s perception of the place, by building one fantastic art gallery set in a great new public square. Tourism has soared and the whole town1s economy has enjoyed the benefit. There are other examples - Seville , Copenhagen , Baltimore . So if they can achieve this, why not Ipswich or Bradford ?

Many British examples of place making have worked well, Gateshead has enjoyed a renaissance with its Angel of the North, the Baltic Gallery and the 'Winking Eye' Bridge. Look at the Walsall Art Gallery , the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff or the Mail Box in Birmingham . We have a huge bank of talent in this country, all we need to do is harness it and use it to best effect.

Most of us will have some special places that provide respite from the pressures of life, each one is like a small oasis. They also have a powerful social function. Here people meet, they watch others passing by or children playing, there may be a conversation, a chance remark, people are comfortable with each other. A civilised environment makes most people feel and behave in a more caring and responsible way so civility implies less crime, less vandalism, more humanity. It's not just intuition. All the empirical evidence backs this up.

The Romans had a tremendous feel for the public realm and built fantastic squares and spaces where the business of everyday life was played out. Medieval squares throughout Europe continue to be places where people live, shop, work and enjoy the urban environment. The Georgians provided us with wonderful squares and thoroughfares, and the Victorians after them, in their remaking of so many great city centres like Manchester and Leeds . And extraordinary estate villages like Saltaire, Port Sunlight and Bournville, knew all about creating a balance of good architecture and public space, and fostering a sense of civic pride.

Where are the 21 st century equivalents? Perhaps Greenwich Millennium Village or New Islington Village in Manchester . But I struggle, there are too few, far too few, dwarfed in number by the could-be-anywhere dormitory housing estates and business parks.

Let's adopt a commitment to make excellence the norm. Sometimes we will push too hard and get it wrong, but we can learn from our mistakes. What's important is that we use our creativity to create distinctive and attractive places where people want to live and work.

Quality creates value

My second challenge is to build in quality, putting the aspiration, pride and respect back into communities that have had the stuffing knocked out of them. I1m an optimist. I believe that with just a little extra thought, care and imagination, it is possible to transform poor quality spaces into places for everyone to enjoy, and that it is possible to create new public places, large and small, which will engender tremendous civic pride.

I am also a realist. I know that once places are created, we must have an effective and properly resourced management regime to look after them. There is little point pouring in capital resource, if there is no ongoing revenue funding to back up the initial effort.

The National Lottery bodies have already started to make these linkages. The Heritage Lottery Fund has rejuvenated the fortunes of some urban parks and the New Opportunities Fund has committed £175 million to green spaces and sustainable communities. But we need more, much more. With the New Opportunities Fund priority themes under review, public space must be a greater priority. At the present time, I understand public space gets 10% of the funding, why not double that for a start. I am sure most Lottery players would agree that public space represents a worthwhile cause.

Consider the scale of the current opportunity. We are in the early stages of a massive national housebuilding programme where millions of homes, if sensitively and imaginatively planned, could be built as a positive and lasting contribution to the urban and rural landscape. At the same time the government has embarked on a massive £36 billion a year public building programme which will leave its own legacy for future generations.

The NHS alone is planning to build 100 hospitals between now and 2010, as well as refurbishing 3000 GP1s surgeries and creating 500 one-stop primary care centres by next year. In each and every project I1d suggest there is an opportunity to add some valuable, high quality public space. We know that people recover faster and with less medication when they are in better designed healthcare buildings, so with wonderful outside spaces, the prognosis can only be better. And the implications are wider than just the effects on patients. An improved environment is good for doctors, nurses and all other staff too. Where there is a great environment, people work more efficiently and happily, and staff turnover is slashed.

At Christmas, I became the proud grandfather of twins, Kate and Max. Born prematurely, I got to know the comings and goings of St Mary's Hospital in London rather more closely than I would have preferred. With the twins now safely at home, I can reflect on two things - the amazing commitment and expertise of the staff, and the poverty of the environment in which they are forced to work.

Precisely the same thinking transfers to schools. Research shows that children in spaces with plenty of natural sunlight perform better in exams.

But the outside space is vital too, especially since there is so much concern about young people's health. Where there are great parks and playgrounds there is more chance of enticing even the most reluctant children to enjoy the outdoors.

Of course there1s always the old excuse that the cost of such work will be prohibitive, but I1d suggest that the cost of NOT taking care to make great public spaces will be greater in the long run.

Good design is not an added extra or a luxury, it is essential. There is an enduring connection between the state of our society and the state of our civic realm. It was Churchill who said we first shape our buildings but thereafter they shape us. It is time we got to grips with our civic infrastructure, the essential physical fabric, badly torn but capable of repair.

Measuring what really counts

My third proposition then is that we need to think again about valuation - to recognise that buildings and spaces have a value beyond price, and that some of this value is not easily captured by crude output-based measurement systems. We have indicators, we have targets, we have tables; we have Green Books, Blue Books and Red Books. But not one of them will ever give me a measure for beauty, for inspiration, for civility, for well-being, for delight.

When St James Square was laid out, do you think there were auditors at hand to work out the Net Present Value of the birdsong and the opportunity cost of the space given over to trees? When Nelson Mandela opened the Leeds Millennium Square , do you think his first question to the Leeds civic leaders was whether the paving had been procured from the lowest cost bidder?

I know the accountants will not put away their counting beans. And prudence need not leave the room. But please let us move beyond arguing over the pennies of capital cost, when we should be examining the pounds represented by a better educated workforce, a more effective health-care system and lower crime rates. Those are the reasons to invest wisely in our public buildings and spaces and each of those outcomes is measurable.

The great British public are already onto this. Repeatedly, in opinion polls, people put concerns about their local environment near the top of their list of social issues they are most concerned about - usually below the NHS but often above education. Voters think it is extremely important; but is this fully reflected in our political priorities?

Planning to succeed

Invoking past successes, the legacy of earlier communities with civic pride,

I am struck by a common thread, that of creative spatial planning. And so we come to my fourth challenge, to resurrect the planning system in this country as a force for positive change, rather than the dead hand of bureaucratic intervention; to make planning a verb again, rather than a noun; a practice, not a system.

I would ask you to consider what our grandchildren will have to say about some of the schemes that have been approved by our planning system in recent years - the French Gate scheme in Doncaster - a shopping centre extension that simply replicates the problems that city faces, an example of how not to plan. Or how about the Princes Bishop Shopping Centre in Durham , a development that has caused awful damage to the historic setting of the cathedral and market square.

I am sorry to say it, but planning as an activity, as a profession - has gained a reputation for being dull, uninteresting, riven with petty politics and blundered decisions. This is a complete reversal of past form and needs turning on its head. It is difficult to believe that in the 1920s planners were regarded as life savers, pulling people out of the slums and into decent housing.

Urban planning, once a noble and creative activity, the salvation of so many squalid industrial cities, needs digging out of its current mire. The connection must be made between vibrant, exciting places and the professions that create them. I1d suggest that attracting new people to the profession is paramount. New skills for those already in it are vital.

Take John Prescott1s Sustainable Communities Plan, launched last month. This could be viewed cynically as a quick fix to provide enough homes, schools and hospitals, or seized as an opportunity to make model, vibrant, thriving communities. I think the emphasis should be on making liveable neighbourhoods, places with clean, safe streets, good leisure facilities, a school, shops, local transport, easy access to work, affordable housing. Above all, these should be places knitted together by good design and that includes quality civic space. Indeed it is essential. High quality public spaces are one of the pressure valves for high density living.

I know John Prescott shares this vision but do we have the people and institutions to deliver it?

I encourage you to visit some of the best new housing schemes - the CASPAR scheme by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in Birmingham , or the Murray Grove scheme by Peabody over in Hackney. See the difference that good enclosed communal space makes to the living environment. And it's not just in the social housing sector. Some of the major house-builders are now getting in on the act as well, recognising that good public space is a competitive good - Countryside Properties, Crest Nicholson and Wimpey to name just a few.

A shared vision, a shared challenge

This brings me to my final challenge. I have a vision that all public space - every park, common, square, street, playground - should contribute positively to the local environment.

I have described the changes that I believe are needed to create this brave new civic landscape, but how can we carry this work forward? Whose responsibility should it be to ensure that buildings and public spaces add the maximum possible to everyone1s quality of life?

Essentially, I need look no further than around this room. I1d like to invite all of you to think again about your role in relation to public space. Whether you are a planner, architect, developer, business owner, MP, civil servant or councillor, I1d encourage you to make a positive contribution. If you are a journalist, write about the importance of public space. Raise its profile as you have done so admirably over the years for other social goods.

Along with the professions involved in the business of creating and caring for public space, I also have the ambition of encouraging more local people to take an interest in these places by getting residents involved in park committees or even undertaking some of the improvement work. It would be a triumph to see a cultural shift, to see people moving from being consumers to becoming citizens.

From rags to riches

So, in conclusion, more must be done to create the circumstances for ideas and projects to flourish. It is not a great step to unlock the creativity and talent that exists in this country. Being more appreciative of its existence, nurturing it properly, keeping it here. Above all, providing opportunities for it to be used, not stifled.

Forget any notion that good design is for the few or an expensive add-on. It is basic to quality of life and if we can accept this, truly livable communities will be the result. Building world-class environments gives a clear message to the world about the ambitions and attitudes of this country. And I mean that literally. Potential inward investors choose high quality environments for their workforce, tourists choose attractive and safe destinations.

CABE will be playing its part. As you know we are the government1s champion for architecture and the built environment. We have just received money from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to establish a new unit called CABE Space which will champion the cause for better urban public space.

Casting our minds forward what changes might we see? A rush to meet inflexible targets, places without identity, pride or a sense of ownership?

Or will we build and regenerate flourishing, living communities, places where people will choose to live, where they take responsibility, where civic space mirrors the ambition and aspiration of the local community?

What is it to be, wise investment in long term outcomes, the true definition of sustainable communities? Or mean short-term penny-pinching, making do with the least we can get away with?

Lets not continue to build ourselves as a nation dressed in rags; let us build a nation that exhibits its riches in its shared environment, that wears its pride on its sleeve.