M I
GATEWAY TO CAMBRIDGE Visitors to Cambridge arrive witha mental picture ofa gracious city, of elegant historic and modern buildings slotted intoa green riverside landscape, an orderly market town. The expectations of those arriving by train are hardly reinforced as they step out onto the forecourt of Cambridge Station, to be confronted by one of Cambridge's most unkempt and shapeless environments.
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InMay 1933, architects, collaborating with other built environment professionals and members ofthecommunity ina weekend urban design workshop, investigated the
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review ofcurrent Architectural and Environmental Issues and events in the Cambridge area produced by theCambridge Association of Architects. The Views inthis newsletter are those of the individual contributors and not of the Association.
opportunities of urban regeneration in the Srarion Road area, commencinga search fora better image forCambridge. The workshop was one ofmany forminga nationwide exercise initiated by the Royal Institute of British Architects, and designed toraise awareness in thecommunity oftheopportunities for making our cities and towns more livable, and to inspirea shared vision of the city. The Station and its environs was chosen asa
topic because it embodiesa number ofkey issues which arepertinent to the City and irs future and because it is separated from thehistoric centre of the City and its issues. Within the circumstances of time and resource the process was seen tobe as important as the ideas that came outoftheworkshop. One of theaims was toobtaina better understanding of what we mean by Urban Design and toaddress the rhetorical question of who is responsible forthe design of the urban environment? Do we leave it to the developer, whose predilection in our enterprise economy is to gate their
developments and who generally are hostile to mixed development and people friendly envi-
ronments. It is common experience that mod-
ernplanning methods have failed to producea
satisfactory physical environment. The focus of
attention on Urban Design rests on the belief I/Tar planning controls cannot inthemselves produce satisfactory environments. Ouestions of form, shape, legibility, access and permeability, aesthetic quality, and the quality of life in our cir/es depend ona different level of attention and skill. Urban design is about theperception and sensory experience of our surroundings, together with the character and use of city space in the public realm. We cannot design cities; we can plan frameworks and we can design systems ofopen and built space, systems ofmovement. We can design fragments that will modify, and over time, merge wifh other fragments of the urban milieu. Planning is about coping with the in exorable process of change and urban design is about keeping on top and safeguarding, improving and providing the vision for attractiV'e forms ofliving. This cannot be done by conservation alone, holding on to the status quo, the comfort of the familiar. The dynamism oflife demands creative and forward looking attitudes that respect the past and are constantly enriching it and overlaying /t with innovative and fresh forms inparallel with the constant evolution of economic and technological forms. Cambridge is blessed with marvellous sets of