Jeff Risoms and Maria Sisternas presentation for the 2nd Annual International Conference on Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development, held in Amman, Jordan, July 2010.

1. Revisiting London’s first Garden
Cities: failed utopian vision or a
sustainable 21st century model?
Jeff Risom
MSc. City Design and Social Science LSE 2009 (Distinction).
Associate at Gehl Architects, Copenhagen
Faculty Danish Institute for Study Abroad
jeff@gehlarchitects.dk
Maria Sisternas
MSc. City Design and Social Science LSE 2009
Urban Development Project Manager at MedCities, Barcelona
Lecturer University of Barcelona
mariasisternas@gmail.com

2. 1. Compare and Contrast Garden City Vision and Compact City Policy
2. Critical Examination of the Compact City Policy (Urban Renaissance)
a) The redevelopment of Brownfield sites
b) Density targets: regional focus versus local context
3. The myth of polycentricity
a) difficulty in creating a ‘centre’ in a suburban context
4. Garden City 100 years on
Assessing the Leaf proposal for the Arcadia site in Ealing
How to recapture the Garden City ideal within Compact City Policy?
a) Socially
b) Physically economically
5. Conclusion

3. 1898 – Response to congested, 1999 – Response to urban decay
dirty central London at the National Level

5. THE BEST OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
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6. •
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7. The Urban Renaissance through
A regional metropolitan plan
'compact city':
socially
economically
environmentally
Designates
areas for growth
areas for intensification

8. •
•
•

10. ”Slumless and Smokeless”

12. Ealing built The ’leaf’
density site under
1903 regional
planning
guidance

16. The redevelopment of Brownfield
sites
London 2007-2017: + 326 000
homes (of which 182 000
affordable)
BUT:
Restricting available land Employment growth is not
increases housing prices (Green necessarily coinciding with the
Belt) location of available brownfield
land (more pressure on car use,
People value open space and contradicts the compact city)
underdeveloped land more than
greenbelt outside the city (social Brownfields tend not to be easily
costs) accessible by foot

17. 'maximizing the potential of the
site'
… in places that have a high level of
Public Transport Accessibility
Level (PTAL)
Density matrix:
Central
Urban
Suburban
Does not adequately take burden on services, cost of housing, access
to green space, etc. into consideration

18. •
•

20. Arguments in favour for high
density:
Economies of scale
London's competitive
advantage for knowledge
economy
BUT:
… leads to smaller (undesirable)
units:
… conflicts with integrity of existing
places
... Pressure on local services
... Uncomfortable density

21. •
•
•
•
•
•

22. Polycentricity
A market response to a congested
Central London
Public sector trying to optimise physical
expansion of the city
'pseudo suburbia': the suburban model
is vastly degenerated
How sub - urban are London's suburbs?
What makes them less urban?

26. The geography of London for the highly Polycentrism is crucial in terms of
skilled is decidedly more polycentric social justice: as soon as a centre is
than for the low-skilled (GLA defined, another zone becomes
Economics, 2009, p. 4). peripheral

27. T
T
o

28. T
T
o

33. Only one Unitary
Development Plan
(6 years-old)

34. It is not ONLY a matter of
judgment
1) suburban landscapes as a problematic market-
driven form of urban expansion
2) compact city is only a myth: people's preference
diverge
3) economic growth argument: the welfare state trusts
market to come up with the best solution
4) local communities: aesthetic and other hidden
prejudices (protect their property values)

35. The Queen of the
Suburbs today
number of migrants has increased
by 50%.
Ealing borough is increasingly
polarised (average income in
Ealing Broadway is £40,000 per
annum, the Southall Green and
Southall Broadway wards have an
average income lower than
£27,500 per annum)

36. Lack of affordability of the housing
stock (due to ‘Right-to-Buy’
programmes, the Council looses
around 50 properties per year, out
of a stock of 13 400 tenanted units)
19% of Ealing households (32% of
Southall Broadway) were estimated
to be overcrowded in 2001.
Ironically, there are around 2500
vacant properties in the borough
Interestingly, in Ealing, an already
low median density of 55 residents/
Ha gives place to a congested
urban atmosphere.

37. Empower those who are deprived
from public life participation through
the analysis of a broader
informational basis
Land values were high
Implementation of the London Plan
successful in terms of stimulating
the market.
Ealing has excellent qualities as a
low dense suburb. Hence, this built
environment should help ensure a
prosperous future, instead of
contributing to suburban blight.

38. Removing barriers to
development and physical
interventions
barriers to housing
aesthetic prejudices
overcoming the obsession with
density

39. Removing barriers to
development and physical
interventions
infill strategy
a more durable built
environment

40. Removing barriers to
development and physical
interventions
boundaries of open spaces
lack of services and amenities

44. Additional criteria for identifying
similar characteristics – local
Contribute to a more place based
complementary policy to regional
guidance
New tools to facilitate cooperation
between non-competing local areas
Facilitate more beneficial ‘inter-
local’ relationships (areas where we
live, work and play)

45. LIVABILITY SUSTAINABILITY
LOCAL GLOBAL
QUALITY OF LIFE SUSTAINABILITY

46. LIVABILITY SUSTAINABILITY
LOCAL GLOBAL
QUALITY OF LIFE FEAR OF DISASTER

47. Jeff Risom
jeff@gehlarchitects.dk
Maria Sisternas
mariasisternas@gmail.com