Local New Urbanism in Colombia

159

Urban Design

Summer 2021 Urban Design Group Journal Issn 1750 712x

the Northern powerhouse

URBAN DESIGN GROUP

1 159

Urban DesiGn

Summer 2021 Urban Design Group Journal ISSN 1750 712X

the northern poWerhoUse

Contents This issue has been kindly sponsored by Tetra Tech

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& Surveying | Environment

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Urban Design Group 70 Cowcross Street London EC1M 6EJ T 020 7250 0892 E administration@udg.org.uk W www.udg.org.uk Office Robert Huxford, Director Jacqueline Swanson, Manager Connie Dales, Events & Membership Coordinator Ken Suriyachat, Admin Team Chair Katja Stille Treasurer Christopher Martin Secretary Paul Reynolds Patrons Irena Bauman, Alan Baxter, Dickon Robinson, Lindsey Whitelaw and John Worthington Trustees Arnold Linden, Marcus Wilshire, Janet Tibbalds, Marion Roberts Editorial Board Patricia Aelbrecht, Matthew Carmona, Richard Cole, Richard Crappsley, Amanda Gregor, Tim Hagyard, Joe Holyoak, Sebastian Loew, Daniela Lucchese, Jane Manning, Chris Martin, Malcolm Moor, Geoff Noble, Judith Ryser, Louise Thomas Editors Sebastian Loew (this issue) sebastianloew@btinternet.com Louise Thomas louisethomas@tdrc.co.uk Book Review Editor Richard Cole Design Claudia Schenk, trockenbrot www.trockenbrot.com

We are grateful to the following who have provided the additional financial support to enable production of this extended issue: TOWN, Colin Haylock, Civic Engineers, AECOM, Optimised Environments, Graham Marshall, Planit-IE and Stephen Gleave

COVER

Commercial Wharf, Manchester. Photograph

by Carl Thompson

Update

3 — National Model Design Code, Part 1 and 2 4 — Future Work Webinar 4 — Water and The City Webinar 5 — My Favourite Plan: Dick Cole 6 — Urban Design Library #38 7 — Climate Change Global Digest 8 — Behind the Image, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, Hackney, London

Viewpoint

10 — Housing Delivery at the Expense of Urban Design, Tim Catchpole

DISSERTATION AND PROJECT RESEARCH

12 — Local New Urbanism in Colombia, Gonzalo Sanchez 14 — Germi-Nation: A New Urban Movement, Astrid Guthier

Topic: the Northern Powerhouse

17 — Introduction, Stephen Gleave, guest topic editor 18 — The Value of Place and Design Quality for Communities, Councillor Elise Wilson 19 — I n Service of The Powerhouse, Neil Murphy 22 — People are the Northern Powerhouse, Graham Marshall and Rhiannon Corcoran 24 — Riverside Sunderland, David Roberts

27 — Never too Early to Start, Jo Harrop 30 — Influences and Influencers, Leah Stuart 33 — Planning and Designing for a Growing and Diverse Urban Population, Matt Doran 36 — Yorkshire: Redefining Post-Industrial Areas, Jordan Butler and Andrew Clarke 40 — Driving Diversity and Entrepreneurship, Amir Hussain 43 — An Equitable Approach to Housing Design Quality, Vicky Payne 46 — Towards a New Northernism, Jaimie Ferguson 50 — The Net-Zero Northern Powerhouse and the Role of Urban Design, Andy Roberts 53 — A View from the Front Line, Graeme Moore and Colin Haylock 55 — Delivering Diversity in Urban Design, Stephen Gleave with John Ebo

Book reviews

56 — Diy City – The Collective Power of Small Actions, Hank Dittmar 56 — Ecologies of Prosperity for the Living City, Margarita Jover and Alex Wall 57 — Space & Anti-Space, The Fabric of Place, City and Architecture, Steven Peterson and Barbara Littenberg 57 — The Heart of the City, Creating Vibrant Downtowns for a New Century, Alexander Garvin 42 — P RACTICE INDEX 48 — E DUCATION INDEX

ENDPIECE

49 — The Name of the Roads, Joe Holyoak

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Urban Design ― Summer 2021 ― Issue 159

12 DISSERTATION AND PROJECT RESEARCH

Local New Urbanism in Colombia Gonzalo Sanchez applies its principles to a neighbourhood in Bogota Spatially, the existing roundabout and boundary fences have set up physical barriers to pedestrians and cyclists’ movement, which in turn have increased the risk of accidents and undermined the visual character and public life of the place. These negative features are common in other parts of Colombia, where the lack of governance and regulations has reinforced their vulnerability to problems such as spatial segregation resulting from gated environments.

Theoretical Approach

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In recent years most neighbourhoods in the Global South have been developed as gated communities (i.e. residential areas with restricted access in which normally public spaces are privatised). Whilst this might bring benefits for residents such as a sense of security, privacy, and in some cases good quality of design, gated enclaves also establish physical and social barriers which highlight social differences, prevent social interaction, and promote discriminatory behaviours. They can also deny urban activity on the street frontage and increase pedestrian distances to local services.

On the other hand, New Urbanism is an urban design approach generated in the 1990s for solving problems of urban sprawl and inner city degradation. It attempts to create sustainable neighbourhoods through principles such as diversity, connectivity, mixed use, and community engagement and using visioning charrettes in which residents, designers and developers co-operate to develop a vision for a project. Although this approach has a long tradition in the United States, its proponents claim that the principles might be explored in other contexts to improve the difficult situation of cities worldwide affected by urban marginalisation and spatial divides.

Focusing on the relationship between gated enclaves and New Urbanism, this project develops a set of design strategies for well-designed neighbourhoods within the masterplan for Bogota, Colombia. The informed design attempts to reshape gated enclaves by breaking down the physical barriers and encouraging both social exchange and well-designed places according to their context.

Case study and site project

Whereas Bogota, Colombia’s capital city, has traditionally grown via open neighbourhoods, the last two decades have seen the rise of gated enclaves with over 2.7 million people living in them. This phenomenon has resulted in a high level of spatial fragmentation and social divides between high and low-income neighbourhoods, made worse by the lack of planning and design regulations.

Accordingly, the site chosen for this project was an urban renewal area within the Puente Aranda district, near the city centre.

The area is characterised by industrial buildings, derelict warehouses, and a historic building that stands as a unique educational centre. There is a critical lack of housing and local services, resulting in feelings of inactivity and insecurity for residents and visitors.

Urban Design ― Summer 2021 ― Issue 159

This project argues that neighbourhoods designed on New Urbanism principles may have an important part to play in guiding urban development and discouraging barriers. Unlike gated enclaves, a walkable place usually involves high density, compact, mixed use, transit-orientated development and pedestrian orientated streets, which can bring further benefits to residents such as increased physical activity and social interaction, and less traffic congestion.

Furthermore, these attributes are supported by the theoretical concept of five minutes’ walking distance, which means that all basic community facilities such as playgrounds and shops, are within a radius of 400m from people’s homes. This catchment area can inform planning decisions at different scales including the region, city, district and neighbourhood to set up a strong sense of place and meet people’s future needs.

Design principles

The project developed six principles inspired

by New Urbanism. These seek to inform decision-making on how to create a better scenario for new mixed tenure neighbourhoods via a master plan. The principles are: Connectivity: This encompasses links and the density of intersections in a street network. If the number of links is high, the place will provide more route options and discourage car use by making pedestrianonly streets. In turn this might increase access to local businesses such as markets and local facilities.

Small blocks: Whereas block lengths of between 90 and 120m work well to create a high degree of walkability, larger blocks of 240m or more increase isolation. Smaller blocks can reduce walking distances and increase pedestrian activity.

Active frontages: These provide opportunities for urban activity and social exchange by extending indoor life at the front of the

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DISSERTATION AND PROJECT RESEARCH 13

1 Masterplan for Puente Aranda 2 Gated environment in Ciudad Salitre, Bogota. Image by Santiago Beaumé, María Luisa Cervantes and Federico Chaparro 3 Pedestrian corridors 4 Proposed inner spaces 5 Proposed linear park All other images by the author

buildings and vice versa. A street frontage is considered active when it has diverse functions and frequent doors and windows.

Active frontages also add visual interest and amenity to the streetscape.

Building types: A variety of building forms enhances the character and visual balance of a place. To achieve it, buildings designs have to be driven more by their attractive form than their use. This can maximise opportunities to accommodate multiple uses and to increase the area’s attractiveness.

Civic spaces: These include all streets, parks, plazas, and other open spaces with free access in the city. Plazas and parks have to be connected by a legible street network and conceived at different scales, according to local activities and building forms.

Well-designed civic spaces are fundamental to the structure of neighbourhoods and the public life of communities.

Mixed uses: These are defined as the spatial intensity and overlapping of land use types such as residential, retail, and recreation. A full range of uses can facilitate more walking, provide robustness to civic spaces, and add a sense of security for pedestrians.

Furthermore, mixed land uses discourage vehicle trips by increasing job opportunities near homes.

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were modified and distorted by the angle of street lines. This procedure delivered a large range of blocks with an average length of 80m, providing variety and opportunities to locate activities at the right scale.

3. The next step was to establish a new system of outdoor spaces linked by the street network. This created a sequence of small, medium and large spaces, where multiple activities could be located. For example, small parks within neighbourhoods are suitable for socialising and children’s play, and larger spaces on the edges of the area are suitable for physical activity and major sporting or cultural events.

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4. Based upon the urban structure, a mixed use plan was developed. This started with the location of commercial, industrial and public facilities on the site perimeter, in order to create an active, dense and legible edge close to the major transport systems.

Residential buildings were developed as a series of courtyards framed by row houses and apartment blocks, with community buildings to supply basic goods and services to residents and visitors.

The Masterplan

5. The last step addressed the functional and visual character by adding building types such as row houses, courtyard buildings, industrial pavilions and commercial blocks.

In addition, frontage types such as galleries and shopfronts were included to encourage activity on the ground floor.

The principles described above have been applied to a masterplan showing how the site could change over the long term. The aim was to repair the urban structure and deliver a well-designed place, capable of discouraging a gated environment. This has been developed in five stages: 1. The proposal started by establishing a hierarchic and permeable street network linked to the surrounding areas. It included a high street which would become the key transport link to other areas of the city, a green corridor to provide a direct connection between proposed uses, and later pedestrian-only roads to connect local housing units. Based on this, an integrated transport system was proposed to enhance mobility within and out of the site, including a new cable car line, cycle ways, a light rail line, and intermodal stations.

2. Following the street network, a new block system was shaped. Blocks derived from regular forms such as squares and triangles

Roundabout intervention

The proposed layout was supported by a major intervention on the existing roundabout consisting of reclaiming green areas dominated by roads and vehicular bridges.

This entailed building a tunnel for car traffic, and a new linear park linked to underground bus stations. The project aimed primarily to offer a functional and attractive green landmark to the city.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this work has examined the usefulness of New Urbanism to an urban design project within a masterplan. It has shown that both local demands and New Urbanism principles might provide a better scenario for the development of local neighbourhoods, and thereby contribute to reducing the socio-spatial segregation caused by gated environments.

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However, their applicability will depend on conducting charrettes as a means of involving residents in the design-making process.

Furthermore, it is imperative to consider local political support and the socio-cultural diversity of Bogota, increased by regular migrations from other parts of the country.

The project has also exposed an alternative method to the traditional manner of developing urban projects in the city, where unfortunately the physical character of place depends more on developers’ decisions and regulatory gaps, than on the principles of good design. This work aimed to open up the discussion about how the contingencies of a place contribute to New Urbanism’s differentiated forms, from the translation of the design principles into specific contexts such as that of Bogota, Colombia.

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Gonzalo Sanchez This project was undertaken as part of a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism, at the University of Manchester

Urban Design ― Summer 2021 ― Issue 159