Living space: tomorrows city

Over one billion people need to be adequately housed in developing countries. That will require looking more closely at the evolving needs of cities

plan design enable

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In less than two decades another 10 per cent of the worlds population will be city-dwellers. How can planners deal with this trend and other serious pressures on the urban environment?

Todays masterplanners are faced with burgeoning global populations, the uncertainties of climate change and the breakneck growth of emerging economies. On this volatile stage, they are finding ways to combine innovative and inspiring design with essential sustainability and functionality.

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Rising incomes and populations worldwide are altering the shape of the modern landscape. Planners are looking ahead to the city of tomorrow.

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From China to Panama, economic zones combining tax incentives and planning breaks are turning underdeveloped areas into thriving commercial hubs.

Planners in the Gulf need a holistic approach to cope with the diversifying economies, rising populations, extreme weather and infrastructure co-ordination challenges that lie ahead.

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Research on extreme weather systems and coastal floods over the past decade paints a disturbing picture of what rising global temperatures could mean for the worlds cities.

Governments and planners must walk a very fine line, sustainable urban growth as an economic driver

Tourism is changing and planners are catering to this shift in attitude by retaining the individual identity of new developments and encouraging local visitors.

Competing forces of commerce, environment and geography must all be reconciled by city planners when guiding rapid urbanisation.

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Railway station rejuvenation isnt only about improving a transport hub. Italsoprovides opportunities toregenerate an area and serves as a catalyst for urban development.

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Todays waterfronts draw people together, offer unique opportunities for business and provide a focal point for communities.

A city is only as resilient as the plans underpinning its growth. How can masterplanners design for the long-term future of our urban centres in todays fast-changing world?

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The rise of Indias middle class means a countrywide shift to urban living. Planners need to produce neighbourhoods to suit these new lifestyles and communities.

balancing the need for with the needs of the people

The changing cityscape

As engineers, architects and planners, we can imagine spectacular structures, reinvent skylines and design essential infrastructure literally building the cities of the future in the process. But shifting demographics, climate change and a volatile socio-economic landscape are redefiningthe story. What does this mean for the city of tomorrow and for those taking partinits creation? By Richard Alvey, managing director, environmental planning.

changing cities
by Richard Alvey, managing director Environmental planning, atkins

The city of tomorrow needs to be planned with the bigger picture in mind and that picture is now bigger than ever. Governments and planners must walk a very fine line, balancing the need for sustainable urban growth as an economic driver with the needs of the people who live and work there. Half of the worlds population already lives in cities and, by 2030, that number is expected to hit 60 per cent or higher. Whats more, according to the State of the Worlds Cities 2010/2011 report published by UN Habitat: Between the year 2000 and 2010, over 200 million people in the developing world will have been lifted out of slum conditions. India, China and Africa are all witnessing the rise of a new middle class, aspiring to the kind of lifestyle to which people in the West have been so long accustomed. This is one of the largest population migrations the world has ever known and were all watching it happen. In these economies, the emphasis is on highlevel transport and infrastructure planning, to meet the changing needs of their people. Lifestyles are becoming increasingly energy-hungry and home ownership is on the rise. For example, in Oman, Atkins has recently planned a new city district for Suhar in order to meet the needs of a growing populace while also attracting investment and driving economic growth. The more mature markets of Europe and North America, meanwhile, are coping with the increased expectations of a well-established population, as they strive to retain that population and maintain

economic stability. This means paying greater attention to issues surrounding public realm from more shared public spaces to improved pedestrian and cycling options. What does this mean for the cities in which we live? It means were facing some intriguing challenges and some truly remarkable opportunities. Business, transport, infrastructure, climate change and a host of other practical issues need to be addressed in our march to urbanisation. Add to this the various socio-political and economic pressures we face today and city planning becomes more complicated than ever.

The people paradigm

Planning a city is more than just designing buildings and creating suitable infrastructure. Its more than water, power and roads. Its about the ebb and flow of the people who will live and work and travel within that space, and anticipating the way in which all of these pieces will both intersect and interact. If the needs of the population are not understood, the original spirit of a plan can be lost. Its an essential distinction: masterplanning can play a key role in the long-term agenda of a city or region. Take the recent redesign of the crossing system at Londons Oxford Circus, by Atkins. On the one hand, the iconic crossroads was notorious for heavy traffic and pedestrian congestion, a frustrating bottleneck of shoppers and tourists. Any plan to update the site had to solve these fundamental issues in order to function.

Business, transport, infrastructure, climate change and a host of other practical issues need to be addressed in our march to urbanisation

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per cent of the worlds population will be living in urban environments by 2030, raising serious questions about the sustainability of the current urban model.

But the work produced by Atkins sought to do more. By introducing a scramble crossing strategy popularised in the famous diagonal crossing in Tokyos Shibuya district pedestrians are able to go in whichever direction they choose, rather than having to cross in a set fashion. It transforms the whole intersection from a cluster of clogged arteries to a welcoming space that allows everyone to go with the flow. Similarly, by re-routing vehicles away from the north side of Londons Trafalgar Square and allowing for it on the south, as well as providing more pedestrian crossings and viewing points, Atkins has been able to redress the balance between the needs of all users. The layout now works on both a traffic and a pedestrian level, converting a semi-permanent bottleneck into a more attractive space for longer visits by tourists and Londoners alike. This same strategic approach is being applied to masterplanning projects around the world. The same long-term attention to detail demonstrated in London can be seen in the economic zone being planned by Atkins in Chinas Pearl River Delta. It is at the heart of the masterplanning work being done on the capital city of Baku in Azerbaijan, taking the citys heavily industrialised heritage and turning it into a living, breathing space for its people today and in the future. And it can be seen in Atkins work on the UAE Holistic Plan, the long-term blueprint for the UAEs five northern emirates, which is planning ahead to 2030. The decisions made in each of these projects have the potential to impose limits or open doors for generations to come. Its up to those of us engaged in the work to make certain the right decisions are being made every step of the way.

The coming storm: climate change

Consider the long-term strategic thinking needed to mitigate against climate change and plan for its potential impact. The best way to undercut

the potential future damage of climate change is to minimise the causes now, wherever possible. For Atkins, this begins in the planning stage. The company has established itself as a champion of a low-carbon future, implementing a Carbon Critical Design philosophy in project planning and using bespoke Carbon Tools to measure the whole lifecycle carbon cost of any project. By identifying sources of carbon at all stages of any project from the raw materials to the building methods to the long-term emissions from any given development it is possible to make informed decisions that will help reduce that carbon. Even if we can slow the pace of climate change, of course were likely to have some consequences for years to come. Rising sea levels, more frequent extreme weather systems, severe changes in temperatures these could all have a life-changing impact on the urban environment. How can cities plan for the future when issues like climate change are shifting the landscape so dramatically? How can planners anticipate and understand possible vulnerabilities and adapt to these conditions? More important, how can possible disadvantages be turned to strategic advantage? To find answers to these questions, there is a need for very strong governance and decisions to be made with the bigger picture in mind. There is a need for risk assessment at city or higher level, one that works in tandem with the economic and social development of the city. There is a need for careful planning based on a vision of the future, one that goes beyond the end of a build. For example, investment in new office block developments could attract new business. However, any new build and the people working in that space will have a long-term environmental impact. By taking the risk of this impact into account, planners can help to mitigate the potential negative effects before they happen. They can also assess whether the bad outweighs the good.

From building heights in Abu Dhabi to flood risk management in the world heritage site city of Bath in the UK, Atkins has been working to help cities understand and manage the threats posed by climate change for years, and to implement solutions that look beyond the immediate threats.

Creating a new horizon

Turning a city into a successful, vibrant and positive force is a laudable goal and the broader significance of this goal should not be underestimated. Such cities can drive business and help grow economies on a national scale. With the proper planning, they can even help tackle climate change and meet the needs of a changing populace. What does the urban environment of tomorrow look like? Cities from Belfast to Copenhagen are paving the way without an excess of paving. Pedestrians are being given priority over cars. Passers-by can hear people talking and birds singing, and are not constantly running from pavement to pavement to get away from the traffic. People are discovering that they are able to work and live in these cities, not simply biding their time while hoping to escape. Finding the right balance between the needs of the public with any future growth and development priorities that may be required is the key. Its the only way you can get back to a sense of something basic and sensible. Good public spaces are even better when they can adapt to new situations or circumstances. In this special edition of Angles, we consider the challenges facing the city of the future, from changing demographics to new environmental threats, and explore some of the solutions that are now being implemented. In responding to the challenge to think differently about how we build cities and how we occupy and settle the land, we are already building better cities for tomorrow.

How can cities plan for the future when issues like climate change are shifting the landscape so dramatically? How can planners anticipate and understand possible vulnerabilities and adapt to these conditions?

Atkins new city district for Baku includes a mall, offices, residential areas and a central business district.

Growth in the Gulf

Planners in the Arabian Gulf face quite a task. To ensure long-term and sustainable growth, they must imagine a future that involves diversifying economies and rising populations. Could a holistic approach hold the key?

growth in the Gulf

Integrated planning

The challenges facing governments throughout the Arabian Gulf are considerable. To reduce dependence on oil revenues, they must diversify their economies while catering for the needs of growing, often largely expat, populations. Whats more, economies such as the UAE must tackle internal development disparities and provide an attractive environment for the inward investment on which the economy depends. The Arab Spring may have compounded the challenge. Its likely that much-needed foreign investment will prove more difficult to secure. However, the World Banks private-sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has stepped in, setting aside some $1.5bn for 2011 to improve education, support SMEs and generate employment through infrastructure projects. By 2014, the investment could be as high as $2.5bn per year. Professional Emiratis are aware of the issues and are driving the agenda to address precisely these challenges, with the aim of achieving sustainable prosperity in a post-oil world. Atkins has worked on a strategic blueprint to assist the UAE in this and, importantly, it is one of the first examples of coupling a plan for social infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, with a long-term development strategy. Known as the UAE Holistic Plan, the blueprint covers the UAEs five northern emirates, with a combined population of more than 1.3 million, and looks ahead to 2030. It encompasses all the facilities provided by the UAEs Ministry of Public Works, such as schools, hospitals, health centres, sports facilities and community centres. These five emirates are mostly rural and lie within desert or mountainous areas, says Martin

Tedder, senior planner with Atkins. This plan considers the need for new and upgraded facilities to serve the population over the next 20 years. Instead of thinking about where your facilities might go over that period, we had to first develop a spatial development plan and think about what was the most sustainable pattern for development. Rather than having the community facilities as a bolt-on at the end, youve got the two reinforcing each other, says Tedder. The work included initial economic forecasts and analysis of existing development plans, through to projections about population migration and location, coupled with an analysis of the different services that would be required. It also includes, potentially, new link roads to improve accessibility, renewable energy schemes and other public realm projects. The main aim is to derive a list of projects that will help support population growth in the northern emirates, adds Tedder.

The future expat population cannot be predicted using standard indices of fertility and mortality, says Tedder. However, it does respond to the performance of the economy and the attractiveness of the UAE relative to other countries. Forecasting what the expat population will be and how it might be distributed in 20 years is a critical part of the development of UAE-wide economic forecasts. Atkins interviewed more than 2,500 citizens to find out what makes the country tick. Its not just looking at empirical data: its collecting primary information on what people think about public services how they could be delivered better, how far they have to travel, what they think about quality. That was a critical element in our approach.

A focus on sustainability
The plan also provides a blueprint for sustainable development. Cheap energy and rising incomes have led to a reliance on road transport in the UAE and, with daytime temperatures peaking at more than 45C, its easy to see why so many citizens make use of energy-guzzling air conditioning in their homes and offices. The climate presents challenges because you need energy for air conditioning. But it presents significant opportunities as well, notes Tedder. Theres potential to harness solar energy and also energy from the wind coming off the Indian Ocean and over the Hajar mountains. Sustainable development is also about avoiding duplication of resources such as hospitals and schools and providing a framework for communication between neighbouring emirates. Perhaps the greatest contribution this project can have on sustainable development is the introduction of a more collaborative approach to planning and service delivery, observes Tedder. Service delivery can be quite fragmented and its constrained by emirate boundaries. But a more co-ordinated approach could ensure that services are built closer to the areas of greatest need. This means theyre better used and closer to centres of population, with less energy required for transport. One hundred miles up the coast, the Kingdom of Bahrain faces dwindling oil reserves, prompting the government to diversify into financial services,

Predicting the population

This level of long-term planning requires an understanding of the future scale, distribution and characteristics of the population a task that was far from straightforward. The citizen population people born in the UAE with full citizen status can be estimated using cohort projection, so we consider factors such as fertility and mortality by age groups, explains Tedder. But citizens only account for about 15 per cent of the population the other 85 per cent are expatriates. The expat population is of vital importance to the UAE. Migrant workers both skilled and unskilled are the linchpin of the economy. They need facilities, services and a good standard of living if they are going to stay.

The population [of Bahrain] is goingto increase from 1.1 million to perhaps 2.1 million over the next20 years, so its a large amountof growth to accommodate in quite a small space

northern emirates have been included in Atkins UAE Holistic Plan. It couples a plan for social infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, with a long-term development strategy.

Atkins projects often involve engaging with local communities in the field for example, our strategic planning work across the Middle East.

industry and tourism. Bahrain is an island state and the northern part of the island which includes the capital, Manama is densely populated. Its a matter of finding ways to extend that urban structure to meet future development needs, says Roger Savage, associate director with Atkins. The population is going to increase from 1.1 million to perhaps 2.1 million over the next 20 years, so its a large amount of growth to accommodate in quite a small space. Bahrains National Planning and Development Strategy was launched in 2005 to address the changing landscape. It began by setting out the spatial plan for the country and now the focus is on turning that plan into a reality. The work being done now is on implementation to take the strategy forward. This covers planning tools, drafting an updated planning law, and also preparing a suite of regulations and guidance to go with that things like planning and design guidelines, and addressing how development should be delivered in certain areas, says Savage. Implementation includes a new strategic transport model, making it possible to assess the

traffic effects of new developments. It also considers how infrastructure and land are managed, and crucially how its all to be funded, including developer contributions for infrastructure. This goes beyond straight planning, says Savage. The public sector is involved in planning and subdividing some areas, but youve also got privately led schemes, which are almost self-contained gated communities that fall completely outside of the current remit. It requires a balance between private and public sector involvement, making sure that open space and public access to the waterfront are delivered and that there are adequate community facilities to serve these developments.

Risk management
European nations have a tradition of statesponsored planning. The same is not true in the Gulf, where governments have generally taken a less prominent role in directing development of private land. But thats changing. Theres growing awareness of the benefits of strategic planning and its ability to bolster economic resilience.

understanding where demands are likely to be made allows government to be more efficient in making its own investments

Theres a realisation that the more speculative approach to development may not be the best way to deliver large-scale projects, says Savage. Schemes that have been successful and are ongoing involved a long-term approach to managing land and development, and phasing the infrastructure. Crucially, planning can play a decisive role in attracting new investment and thats of critical importance as countries such as Bahrain continue to diversify away from oil: Institutional investors see having a robustly formulated plan as a way of managing risk, says Savage. If you have a proper strategic plan, it can flex to accommodate changes in the market. Strategic plans also help reduce financial risk for governments. If you pay for major infrastructure development from the start and then everything changes, you cant be sure it will be able to accommodate what comes next. Thats costly. Understanding where demands are likely to be made allows government to be more efficient in making its own investments, says Savage. Integrated development supports diversification and delivers tangible economic benefits, observes Savage. But it also provides some of the more intangible ones, including a better quality of life. It is hoped that tackling the complex economic and social challenges facing nations in the Gulf using a sustainable and holistic approach, as in the UAE, will pave the way to an even brighter future.

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per cent of the UAE population are expats. Migrant workers both skilled and unskilled are the linchpin of the economy.

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The Shizhimen New CBD Masterplan in Zhuhai, China, is intended to act as an additional economic engine for the Pearl River Delta.

A recent World Bank study estimates that, as of 2007, SEZs still accounted for about 22 per cent of national GDP, about 46 per cent of FDI and about 60 per cent of exports and generated in excess of 30 million jobs

economic zones
stimulating development

Urban economics:

in the zone
You cant force economic prosperity and relevance on alocality, or turn a once-underdeveloped area into a thriving commercial hub over night. But careful planning and design could act as a catalyst for change.
In October 2010, the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) submitted a paper on the growth strategy for Uttar Pradesh to the states chief minister. It predicted that, by using so-called special economic zones (SEZs) to support sectors with export potential, it could increase gross state domestic product (GSDP) by 64 per cent by 2020. Its a bold claim but one that is backed up by the short yet successful history of the use of SEZs to stimulate economic development. Pioneered in India in the 1960s and then further developed in China under Dengs government in the 1980s, SEZs saw huge tracts of undeveloped land earmarked and ring-fenced for industrial use. Infrastructure was built, thousands of rural dwellers moved in to provide labour and special incentives were created to attract as much inward investment as possible. Shenzen in China was the first globally recognised major economic zone. Some measure of its success comes from the fact that it went from a fishing village on the Guangdong coast to an industrial city of nine million people in less than 30 years, purely on the back of planned investment in chemical and electronic production. It now boasts eight provinces, an industrial and software park, and even has its own stock exchange. According to Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, SEZs played a key role in Chinas move from a poor agrarian economy to one of the worlds largest manufacturing centres. Special economic zones were a test-bed for economic reforms, for attracting foreign direct investment, for catalysing development of industrial clusters, and for attracting new technologies and adopting new management practices, he said in September 2010. Even though their importance has diminished over time, a recent World Bank study estimates that, as of 2007, SEZs still accounted for about 22 per cent of national GDP, about 46 per cent of FDI and about 60 per cent of exports and generated in excess of 30 million jobs. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, President Hu Jintao hailed the success of Shenzhen as a miracle in the worlds history of industrialisation, urbanisation and modernisation, adding that it had contributed significantly to Chinas opening up and reform. The president urged future SEZs to be bold in reform and innovation in their roles as the first movers. He was right to encourage new thinking. Times have changed and the centrally planned zones dedicated to industry have evolved to a new type of economic zoning. It used to be mono-functional and focused on one type of industry, says Roger Savage, associate director with Atkins. The Chinese experiment essentially involved putting together a package of incentives to encourage inward investment and letting it develop along a single track. But the lessons learned in some early Chinese zones with inflexible infrastructure, minimal social amenities and pollution issues have prompted planners to adjust. Planners have realised that they need to develop services and communities to support these zones, and that means they need to be more integrated in the range of amenities and activities they offer residents, with more attention paid to the quality of the environment, says Savage.

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These new zones are based less on heavy industry and more on services and hi-tech sectors. They are better planned
Future flexibility
The watchword now is diversification. Whereas the early SEZs were built around a single industrial process chemical production or heavy industry, for example now, planners are trying to find ways of building on a diverse set of functions in order to allow adaptability for future use. These new zones are based less on heavy industry and more on services and hi-tech sectors, says Savage. They are better planned and often managed by a single organisation that coordinates the infrastructure and the amenities. Planners working on zoning development now focus on incorporating broader sectors of the economy and attracting more highly skilled workers to populate the zones. The theory is, the wider the economic base within the SEZ, the greater the chances of long-term prosperity. Added to that, just bussing in migrant workers with no thought to the wider social consequences both within and outside the zone simply wont be tolerated by local communities. Its about creating a community that people actually want to live in, says Savage. The lifestyle aspect has become much more important with the rise of service industries. If you look at the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in India, these are high-tech sectors and occupations and you cant just lay out a standard industrial estate and expect skilled people to go and live there. So the modern SEZs are more like a refresh of the old company towns you used to have in the US with amenities and social provision at their heart. But while the mining towns and the company suburbs pioneered by US industrialists like Levitt ultimately fell victim to stagnation, todays planned economic zones are far more integrated and focused on long-term benefits both for workers, companies and the host country. In common with many cutting-edge economic and urban development projects, the UAE is leading the way on this. John Barber, an economist by training now consulting with Atkins, has seen the theory and practice develop through his work over 17 years. Having relocated to China in the summer of 2011, Barbers previous work in the Middle East focused on the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi project, supported by the emirate. The project involves 420 square kilometres of land and Atkins has been looking at a range of development opportunities in terms of heavy industry, as well as downstream industry in chemicals, the metal sector and the construction material sectors.

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There is a lot of hydrocarbon money involved in this, says Barber. It is perceived as pump-priming from the public sector to kick-start the private sector. Khalifa is seen by many as an exemplary project of its type, in that it combines a mix of industrial, commercial, social and residential developments. It has been planned as a more organic project designed to adapt to changes in the macroeconomic conditions and not as a rigid, mono-functional factory-state. Similarly, the Musaffah Industrial Area serving Abu Dhabi City is being upgraded in its role as the prime location for light industrial and business uses in the UAE. Atkins was brought in by Abu Dhabi Municipality to prepare masterplan proposals covering everything from land use to circulation patterns, and urban design and landscape strategies for public spaces.

Some NEW THINKING

Panama Pacifico: This is a clear example of the new thinking currently surrounding economic zones. Given the countrys history the Panama Canal took over 40 years to build and virtually turned the entire country into a special economic zone it was only fitting that it should adopt a similar approach for the 21st century. The area, on the outskirts of Panama City and near the eastern mouth of the canal, is designed to attract foreign and regional investment to the area. Tax incentives, labour benefits and planning breaks were also introduced. Situated next to one of the worlds most important trade routes, the zone is looking to leverage its natural advantages to attract commercial, industrial and freight companies. The masterplan has been praised for its sustainability credentials, including an award by former US President Bill Clinton as part of his Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). The CCI recognises projects around the world that address the dual challenge of climate change and urbanisation. Clintons foundation created the Climate Positive Development Program to meet these challenges by encouraging and supporting sustainability in large-scale urban development. The CCI selected Panama Pacifico as one of just 17 initial projects across the globe, saying: A key highlight of Panama Pacifico is the ecological sustainability plan... Efforts in restoring and protecting nearly 1,400ha of wetlands and other native habitats, as well as integrating natural processes with their innovative storm water management plan, will act as a tool for sequestering large amounts of carbon. The CCI goes on to highlight Panama Pacificos masterplan, citing concepts from the international standards of Smart Growth, New Urbanism and sustainable land use. The new design includes a healthy jobs-housing balance, ensuring future success and growth in the community and making Panama Pacifico the first of its kind in Latin America, according to the CCI. With its diverse mix of business and residential elements it is a truly modern planning project.

Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi is seen as an exemplary SEZ project and includes provision for a range of sectors.

Open for business

While SEZs are being made more diverse in order to attract a broader range of potential investors and workers, ultimately their purpose is to drive investment and attract capital. However, the way in which this is achieved has also changed. The business environment is probably one of the most important aspects, says Barber. Because there has been so much development in the free zones around the Middle East, and the world as a whole, it is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate between them. Clearly, the earlier approach, which gave rise to a kind of walled city where everything inside the gates worked towards the zones economic success with no regard to anything outside, can no longer be sustained. Barbers

work in the Middle East in particular has demonstrated the value of greater integration. Those planning zones now have to look much more closely at ensuring the benefits are accruing for the local economy, and the zone does not become a sort of export haven where the economy isnt going to be touched by the activities in the free zones, says Barber. This is important because SEZs have been criticised in the past for being too exclusive. One of the longest running concerns about SEZs has been the lack of benefits accrued by the indigenous population. The use of migrant labour has also been highlighted as a notable downside to planned development. However, over the last few years, especially in the Middle East, that issue has been addressed in several ways. By coupling cutting-edge design and planning techniques with strong central direction and a skilled and increasingly mobile workforce not simply importing cheap labour but attracting the right talent as needed many emerging economies are now viewing SEZ development as a shortcut to imposing economic prosperity on previously under-developed areas. Thankfully, these zones are now playing a greater part in spreading prosperity across sectors and economies. In Savages view, weve come a long way: They used to be one-dimensional and werent very lively or interesting. Now its about incorporating broader sectors of the economy and attracting a wider range of businesses and workers. Alongside that, in the emerging economies, the planning and implementation phases tend to overlap a lot

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per cent of national GDP in China comes from SEZs. They have played a key role in Chinas move from a poor agrarian economy to one of the worlds largest manufacturing centres.

more now: you do the first phase and see how that goes, and then factor in economic changes, and see which aspects become successful and adapt accordingly. The timescales have also decreased, Savage continues. In Europe you might be looking at five or ten years between phases, but in some of these emerging markets it can be more like two years in and theyre already thinking about the next phase. They can only do that because of the speed of economic growth and the advances in design.

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Panama Pacifico: an updated approach to SEZs in one of the worlds original planned economic zones.

modern cities
planning for urbanisation

The new face of the old city

By 2050, the largest city in the world will probably be in China and it hasnt been built yet. Demographics are altering the shape of the modern landscape from Shanghai to Mumbai. Masterplanners are defining that new environment. From central business districts to mega city regions, rising incomes worldwide are changing the game and planners are looking ahead to the city of tomorrow.

The city is undergoing a renaissance. People who once aspired to live in the widening suburban sprawl on the edge of metropolitan areas now want to be at the heart of city life. In Europe and North America, widespread gentrification and the regeneration of industrial districts such as canals and dockyards is replacing some of the blight and decay of the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in new cityscapes that are a pleasure to live and work in. Outside the West, exciting new city developments are appearing everywhere from Baku and Nairobi to Abu Dhabi and Seoul, either in the form of huge extensions to existing cities or completely new cities built from scratch. Often working with fewer constraints, city planners are fundamentally re-imagining what the city is all about. Driving this surge in planning is a wide range of factors including new national wealth, dramatic population shifts from rural to urban areas, the need to respond to demographic

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new cities have been added to Chinas landscape since 1978. China is leading the way when it comes to big developments and mass migration from rural to urban areas. By 2040, the urban population is forecast to expand by 400 million, or about 15 million people per year.

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changes, and ambitious efforts to create sustainable places with better access to technology, financial centres or culture. Emerging economies are providing most of the biggest developments, because their needs are often most urgent and they are generally more willing to think big and do away with the old. By contrast, in the West, the tendency is to preserve, renew and infill cities partly because of a lack of space, but also because public opinion tends to be less prepared to embrace new construction. In the developing world, there is a desire for growth and modernity though this comes at a price, according to Dr George Martine, co-author of a 2010 study on urbanisation published by the International Institute for Environment and Development and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Massive urban growth in developing countries loom as some of the most critical determinants of economic, social and ecological wellbeing in the 21st century, he says.

East Asian tigers

As in so many things, China is leading the way when it comes to big developments. Since 1978, it has added roughly 500 new cities to the landscape and it already has 160 cities of more than a million people (by comparison, Europe has 35). Over the next 20 years, the percentage of Chinese expected to live in cities will grow from roughly 50 per cent today to 70 per cent. By 2040, the urban population is forecast to expand by 400 million about 15 million people per year. Whats happening in China is the rapid urbanisation that we have already seen in Japan and the tiger economies,says Mark Harrison, senior technical director forAtkins urban planning consultancy in Beijing. Its the same as what happened in Britain and Europe following theIndustrial Revolution, and in America in the last century. Were seeing a rapid urbanisation, and a mass migration ofpeople to urban areas.

The tremendous growth in China and elsewhere in East Asia is leading to a new phenomenon: mega city regions, where cities coalesce to form uninterrupted urban stretches. Examples include: the Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Guangzhou region in China, which is home to 120 million people according to a recent UN report; the Nagoya-Osaka-KyotoKobe corridor in Japan 60 million people; and the MalaysiaSingapore area. These regions are economically sound, but they do pose many challenges. For example, how do you reflect local or regional identity in these very large areas, if only from an aesthetic point of view?Harrison says. Another big challenge in China is planning for a society that is evolving so rapidly. China is changing from a socialistto a market-socialist system, so that changes the way the cities are. If they werent exporting to the West, forexample, there wouldnt need to be these massive

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million people will be living in cities in India by 2030, up from 340 million in 2008. Thirty per cent of the population already lives in urban centres. Over 90 million households will qualify as middle class by then, up from 22 million today. Urbanisation in India is going to be paramount.

new cities that are being developed in China, India and the rest of Asia are going to be able to draw on the latest thinking, where we design cities that are sustainable at every level
exportprocessing zones or ports, or for central business districts, retailers, leisure, and so on, says Harrison. centre is being developed on the outskirts of Baku, aiming to reclaim lands that were once polluted with oil pits, rail yards and other industrial facilities. Other new purpose-built cities include Mussafah on the edge of Abu Dhabi. Mussafah is designed as a designated industrial area and is one of several projects designed to reduce the regions dependency on oil and build the necessary foundations and infrastructure to support a sustainable society in the future. According to Abu Dhabis Urban Planning Council, some $200bn will have been pumped into various infrastructure projects in the Emirate by 2013. Cities have always been built according to proximity of basic resources like water, but its now possible to build in all kinds of places, even in previously inhospitable environments such as deserts. In a potential precursor to a futuristic world altered by climate change, it is perhaps comforting to know that purpose-built virtual cities can be situated anywhere. Whereas in the past cities were located in places for almost prehistoric reasons, that doesnt need to be the caseany more, explains Matt Tribe, director at Atkins. Indealing with climate change, sea-level rises, and other natural processes, planners may now go through a process of taking people away from risk areas, by understanding thebest place to locate them.

Changing times
In another 20 years, India will have caught up with China in terms of population. Whereas Chinas one-child-per-family rule is resulting in an ageing workforce, Indias burgeoning population is projected to be growing at around 0.6 per cent a year. Thriving urban areas will be key, as the country will have to handle the challenge of accommodating a population growing at a faster rate than Chinas within a smaller land area. New McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) projections show Indias urban population soaring to 590 million in 2030. The country will also become a nation of upwardly mobile middle-class households. By 2025, the Indian middle classes will have expanded dramatically to 583 million people some 41 per cent of the population. In fact, cities are being built for the emerging middle classes in many areas of the world. In Azerbaijan, for example, a 200-hectare urban

Planning perfect cities

The advantage of new cities is that sustainability can be built into every aspect of the design. The new cities that are being developed in China, India and the rest of Asia are going to be able to draw on the latest thinking, where we design cities that are sustainable at every level. That means how we design individual buildings, and how we find the optimal mix of land uses so we can reduce the need to travel. This is much harder to put in place once youve already built your city, Harrison says. He asserts that sustainability is an increasingly important part of developments he is involved with in China most recently, a financial district in Chengdu and a new business district in Beijing.

million people are expected to live in Abu Dhabi by 2030. The Emirate is making a strategic leap towards a new environment that will achieve sustainable urban planning and economic growth.

We try to focus on the key areas of sustainability, like carbon, water, energy and waste. The important thing is to look at those things early because its then that a lot of them can be designed out. You can bring population and employment into balance, minimising the trips people make and encouraging as many people as possible to use public transport. Depending on the location, we also want to react to climate conditions for heating and cooling, he adds. Harrison says China is likely to be a good learning ground for masterplanners in the future: Im sure a lot of the complex urban questions that were now facing around the world will have some answers in China, just simply because of the numbers of people involved, the scale of the development and the relatively free hand. With sustainability in mind, it is likely that cities will become increasingly dense. Future cities are probably going to have public transport taking a more dominant role, perhaps even personal rapid systems, if its feasible. But to do that you are going to need high densities of people, rather than people spread out across a city. You need to have high concentrations around stations to make them economically viable, says Harrison. I think there will be more transport-orientated developments which will be very dense, but there will also be clustering as well, suggests Tribe. Rather than megatropolises like the Chinese are developing, I think there will also be compact densities that are highly linked. That means either physically with super-fast trains or IT with fast broadband. The move to denser urban environments is already evident in Europe and North America, particularly where sprawl is a concern. After the Second World War, the tendency was to build outwards, creating new suburbs and commuter towns. In recent years, however, that sort of construction has become increasingly unacceptable, according to Harrison. Politically, its quite difficult to plan any kind of new growth in the UK at the moment. This is due in part to the recession of course, but also because the countryside and heritage is very much valued. So, its all about infilling particular city sites, and a sustainability agenda of having denser cities that use land more effectively. And then theres the realisation what wonderful architectural assets are to be found in the older hearts of cities, often in buildings that had a previous use, says Michael Hebbert, Professor of Town Planning in the School of Environment & Development at the University of Manchester. Urban renaissance is partly building renaissance rediscovering old buildings.

The Guangzhou East Tower in China uses the cultural association with bamboo to define its form. It consists of a five-star hotel above serviced apartments and offices.

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As well as investing heavily in cities like Liverpool, Bristol,Leeds and Cardiff, the previous UK government announced plans for up to 10 eco-towns around England. Itwas hoped that these settlements would address the pressing need for affordable housing while being sustainable and carbon neutral. Plans included smart meters for residents to track their energy usage, plug-in points for electric cars and large spaces for parks and playgrounds. However critics doubted the eco-towns ability to attract the necessary infrastructure, such as transport and schools, and to meet the ambitious environmental standards. The plans have since been downgraded considerably to four eco-towns. These are now slated for 2016 and still need to make it through the planning approval process. The UK has a fairly robust policy to sustainability, but because we are building in much smaller volumes, itismore difficult to affect some of the fundamentals of landuse planning, says Paul Fraser, a senior urban designerat Atkins.

By comparison, Fraser was part of the team working on Mussafah in Abu Dhabi, which is of a sufficient size to support a full range of public services. Ideally, you have a hierarchy of public services. Within atypical five-minute walk, you would expect to find a local shop, post box and so on. A bus network would allow you to get to a health clinic and a bigger set of shops. And then regional facilities like hospitals would be accessible with at least one mode of transport. It is essential that you create an effective network that allows you to access as many of these things as possible without using your car, Fraser explains. There is tremendous latent demand for urban buzz, says Hebbert. You can see it in the take-up rates of residential opportunities close to city centres. It is about a rediscovery of everything that an urban, as opposed to a suburban, lifestyle can offer. So the value of proximity is going to increase and, with that, encouragement for a highquality, high-density urban residential offer. I believe thats going to be the trend of the coming century.

Living with climate change

climate change
planning for global warming

From extreme weather systems to coastal floods, research over the past decade paints a disturbing picture of what rising global temperatures could mean for the worlds cities. How can planners today anticipate a changing climates influence and prepare for tomorrow?
While the precise effects of climate change are still impossible to predict, it is becoming clear that strategic planning could hold the key to reducing its social and economic impact. Intelligent approaches to planning cant come soon enough, as many of the worlds cities lie on the coast or in fluvial zones, making them especially vulnerable to any changes in water level. As highlighted in the UNs State of the Worlds Cities Report 2008/09, 3,351 of the worlds cities are situated in low-lying coastal zones 64 per cent of which are in the highly populated developing world. Meanwhile, 35of the 40 largest cities in the developed world (including Japan) are situated on the coast or along a riverbank. The report predicts that most coastal cities will feel the effects of climate change. The issue is one not only of geography, but also of demographics. In its most recent World Disasters Report, the International Federation of Red Cross highlights what it calls the urban risk divide the disparity between well-planned wealthy cities and poorer ones. Physical infrastructure, land planning and the size of informal settlements are the biggest factors determining the impact of disasters on cities, says N M S I Arambepola, director of urban disaster risk management with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre in Bangkok. With so many people migrating to the cities, many of the most vulnerable urban populations settle in the more disaster-prone areas where no one else wants to live.

Planning for the unknown

If the experts are right, climate change will mean coming to terms with a world where extraordinary weather events such as tropical cyclones may become far more frequent. Speaking at an Environment Agency conference in November 2010, chairman Lord Chris Smith said: We mustnt underestimate the enormity of the environmental challenges that lie ahead of us in the next 20 years. The science of climate change remains compelling and during this period we will begin to see its impact: more extreme weather patterns; a more unpredictable climate; changing agricultural conditions; and a sea-level rise. There will be more floods and more droughts. Finding ways to cope is vital for rich and poor nations alike. In January 2011 the Brisbane River burst its banks, causing the worst flooding in the city since 1974. The bill for cleaning up after the devastation has been estimated at $440 million, largely to construct new homes, repair transport infrastructure and restore power to homes and businesses.

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per cent rise in the UKs peak riverflows over the next two decades could have significant implications.
for the 20km2 development, which is being led by Atkins, were set with sea-level changes in mind. Bahrain has expanded quite dramatically since the mid-1960s, when the first reclamation projects took place, says Savage. The practice of reclaiming land, which can provide an opportunity to build in flood protection, is one way of dealing with the problem of rising sea levels. The Gulf benefits from the fact that it is relatively sheltered and the violent storms associated with exposed coastlines are rare. But global sea-level rises would have an impact despite this. There has been flooding of some of the more vulnerable coastal villages over the past two years, says Savage. Part of the strategic plan covers the marine environment. This integrates coastal zone management and looks at the evolution of the coastline and how that may need to be adapted to respond to those challenges. Masterplanning of this sort is about setting long-term objectives and achieving those objectives through incremental changes. These include mechanisms to steer new developments to areas where they are likely to be sustainable and encouraging energy-efficient urban design to protect citizens from rising temperatures. Traditional Islamic cities were built with shaded streets and narrow alleys. Buildings were constructed in such a way that they cooled naturally, notes Savage. Its possible to use some of these principles in modern developments. They can be enshrined into development and design guidelines at the neighbourhood scale. Locking-in sustainable growth means bigpicture thinking and attention to detail. And the effects, he emphasises, are cumulative. Its about channelling projects as they come forward. Some of those will be quite large and will clearly make large steps towards delivering the strategy. Some of the things
It is estimated that it will take billions of dollars and several years to repair the damage of the Brisbane 2011 floods.

The idea of taking long-term environmental changes into account in planning policy has been slow to take root. But thats starting to change, and one place where this is happening is in Bahrain. The kingdom an archipelago of more than 30 islands in the Gulf has a population of more than 790,000. Accommodating climate change is a pillar of its National Planning and Development Strategies, which are being formulated by Atkins. Roger Savage, senior planning consultant with Atkins, says that parts of Bahrain are quite low-lying, so a temperature rise of two degrees in global mean temperatures would have significant consequences. The question is: how do you encourage development and protect communities? One way is to ensure that new developments meet rigorous resilience standards. Durrat al Bahrain, a massive new island reclamation project at the southern tip of Bahrain, is an example. Reclamation levels

will be much more incremental. The key is that it needs the plan to set the direction.

On the rise
Climate change is a major concern for coastal communities the world over. Some of those communities have long and painful experience of adapting to environmental change that has all too often come out of the blue. Communities along the Lincolnshire coast in east England are a case in point. Records stretching back 800 years paint a picture of the awesome power of the sea. Its a roll call of flood defences breached, towns washed away and land lost beneath the waves. The Lincolnshire coast is susceptible to flooding for two reasons. The first is the risk from storm surges: mass movements of seawater funnelled down through the North Sea. The second is isostatic readjustment: since the end of the last ice age, southern Britain has been slowly sinking, so relative sea levels continue to rise. The Lincolnshire coastal study, conducted by Atkins and completed earlier this year, is the first comprehensive undertaking of its kind. The study considers the complex web of relationships between a huge range of environmental, social and economic factors. These include rising sea levels, coastal flooding, economic regeneration, housing, agriculture, tourism, transport and health. Planning for a period of 20 years is nothing when you compare it to natural phenomena such as rising sea levels, stresses Savage. We need to look at a much longer period of time: 50 or 100 years. The study considers how the roles of coastal towns could change over the coming decades roles that could be shaped significantly by strategic planning and spending decisions. It raises some tough questions. Do you freeze development as it is now and put in protection measures to stop flooding? Do you start gradually moving people out of some of the smaller

The practice of reclaiming land can provide an opportunity to build in flood protection
immediate locality, but its an unsightly solution and critically it simply shunts the problem further downstream. Large-scale engineering fixes of this sort do have their place, but building them is disruptive. And, like Baths proposed subterranean flood channel, which was ruled out on cost grounds, massive civil works can come with a prohibitive price tag. By appraising all of the different options, a flexible strategy was developed that could provide greater protection over time and a funding strategy was launched that involved developers making a contribution, says Savage. One of the approaches was to embed resilience in each individual development by providing space for water on site and raising buildings to minimise the impact of flooding. That can have an impact on development viability, though, says Savage. A more strategic approach is required as well. This involves providing a larger flood storage area upstream. Developers contribute in proportion to the volume of water storage they would have needed to provide on site. It solves the problem in a far more cost-effective way. When you look at issues such as climate change, a lot of emphasis is placed on hard technology smart gadgets, smart infrastructure, says Savage. Whereas planning is more like soft infrastructure its about dealing with people, dealing with concerns, finding mechanisms to work through these different problems. A plan is a good way to do that. Planning for climate change means taking account of the possibilities and then guiding development through local, regional and national planning mechanisms.The key is an ability to assess risks that may lie years or even decades away. And as the strategy for Bath confirms, creative approaches are likely to become increasingly important.

Land reclamation has been a big part of Bahrains growth as well as its efforts to cope with the impact of climate change.

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areas and provide new villages? Do you allow for growth but sacrifice some of the best agricultural land in the country? You must develop methodologies to answer these questions, says Savage.

The big picture

Figures published by the UK Environment Agency suggest that global temperature rises could have significant implications for the UK, with peak rainfall intensity rising by 10 per cent and peak river flows up 20 per cent in the next two decades. In February 2010 Lord Smith spoke of the Environment Agencys long-term investment strategy, published in 2009, which highlightsthe scale of investment required to protect England from flooding. Our modelling suggests that we need an increasein investment in building, improving and maintaining defences from current levels up to more than 1bn a year by 2035

to ensure that present levels of protection are sustained and improved in the face of climate change, he said. The predicted effects of climate change are, however, aggregate figures, intended to paint a general picture of the sort of changes that could occur. So what could changes like this mean at the level of an individual city? And can anything be done? The city of Bath lies on the River Avon in the west of England. Theres nothing unique about Baths riverside location: most major settlements are sited close to rivers or oceans. But local topography exacerbates flood risk. Bath a world heritage site is tucked into a relatively deep valley at the southern end of the Cotswold hills. Heavy rainfall in the citys hilly catchment area can turn the Avon into a torrent within hours. The higher peak flows predicted by the Environment Agency are potentially bad news for Bath, which is already prone to

flooding and has a high concentration of homes and businesses in its river corridor. In spring 2009 Atkins was commissioned to prepare a flood risk management strategy for Bath & North East Somerset Council. The study identifies ways in which sites at risk of flooding can be built on without increasing the risk of flooding elsewhere. The key is balancing the need for economic development with flood protection. A lot of the future brownfield development sites in Bath are along the river frontage, explains Savage. The possible effects of different flood events on the city had to be considered and options explored for mitigating those events, through planning policy, with both on-site and off-site solutions. Flood management is one of the trickiest areas of strategic planning. Water has to go somewhere but where? Raising the height of river walls provides protection in the

Cities: The people PARADOX

Cities in the developing world are struggling to cope withanunprecedented influx of people. Tackling slums isoneof the challenges facing city planners, but municipal centres also need to address how sustainable urbanisation can sustain an ever-expanding population, by devising solutions that will remain viable across the decades.
The issue of how to design cities has vexed planners since the days of the pyramids. The competing forces of commerce, environment, geography and culture must all be reconciled as a city grows beyond its beginnings. Ensuring that the population is safe, fed and free to move around, while positioning it to develop economically, has in essence been the goal of city planners through the ages. Cities have been around for 4,000 years, says Lars Reutersward, director of the global division at UN Habitat. Of course, some of them have a military basis or strategic importance, but fundamentally most of them grew up to provide a market for products and ideas: universities and religions and industry. In the 21st century, city design and urban planning has had to keep pace with enormous social and economic changes. Thats particularly evident now in the developing world, where high population growth and massive wealth inequality fuel urban development on an exponential basis. In that context, designing urban systems has become as much an art as a science. Cities need to be able to change, while their geography and make-up need to respond to indeterminate, unpredictable forces. From Lagos, Mumbai and Delhi to Dhaka, as well as Shanghai and Jakarta, there is clearly the need for a new type of development approach. Reutersward believes that the need to adapt planning techniques is pressing: Over one billion people need to be adequately housed in developing countries. So that will require not only technical improvements in construction techniques but also looking more closely at the evolving needs of a city.

Holistic planning
Africa represents the biggest challenge for urban planners. Cities such as Lagos, Kampala and Luanda are all experiencing rampant population growth. But while they attract more people and investment, the strain is beginning to show. Are urban plans for a city of two million really fit for purpose when the population has swelled to eight million? For Atkins, finding a solution to this has become the biggest single planning challenge in emerging cities. Looking forward three decades, the fastestgrowing cities will be those in Africa and Asia. In many African countries, for instance, planning authorities believe a longer-term approach is needed and some have taken the pre-emptive step of asking for a masterplan to oversee and control growth. Paul White, director of planning at Atkins, has worked on many urban regeneration projects. He says that, because its impossible to put a definitive time on the lifespan of any plan, the focus for planners is largely on setting the direction of travel. Having worked on several sustainable projects, White and his team have perfected the process of consulting the relevant parties local authorities, planning consultants and community leaders in order to set up a base camp and produce a basic initial design plan. After a few years you revisit this to make sure that the assumptions you made are correct, he says. Once thats done, you can readjust it, and the likelihood is that planners modify that in some way because circumstances will change. Ultimately, it would be pretty unusual for a plan to remain live and current for the duration.

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city solutions
sustainable urbanisation

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The big challenge is to design a plan with the resources necessary to provide for aN INCREASING population one that is going to grow exponentially in the next 10 years
And thats the key point: sustainable development has at its centre the idea that what works now the rail network can carry the desired number of passengers, say may not work in ten years time. Flexibility of design therefore becomes just as important as keeping costs under control. In Whites view, the vibrancy of a transitional city can be both a blessing no successful city can continue to thrive without attracting new migrants and a curse. The big challenge is to design a plan with the resources necessary to provide for an increasing population one that is going to grow exponentially in the next 10 years. The twin issues of housing and transport pose the most complex challenges. Providing sustainable housing is one thing, but it is complicated by the demographic changes that most developing countries are experiencing. Increased economic activity inevitably leads to a growth in the professional class. The key with transitional cites that act as honeypots is dealing with the housing issue, says White. Given the predominance of rural-to-urban migration (in some cases caused by civil war or unemployment), people have flocked from other parts of the country and from the countryside into cities. As a result, a large proportion of those people are housed in poor conditions often in suburbs with little transport or sanitation to serve their needs. What we really have to do is to produce a plan for the future development of the city, says White. That plan begins to take shape during the optioneering phase, where a number of scenarios are explored. We have a workshop while were doing that, and we get stakeholders to help formulate those options. Then we evaluate and develop a range of criteria in terms of the environmental impact, transport benefits, socio-economic effects, financial side-effects and so on, White explains. This is refined so that a plan emerges which has a fair measure of support from the various stakeholders. Take housing, for example: in previous years, the approach to tackling widespread slums would be to demolish them. A look at how some urban development has proceeded in some parts of China would give an illustration of the temptation to do that. But that is only a short-term solution. What happens in 10 years when more slums have grown in their place? White believes that a more sustainable and integrated approach must be taken. The plan presents a combination of keeping the existing slums in situ but upgrading them, with some demolition and redevelopment where we thought it was necessary to, for instance, put in new transport routes, White says.

Suhar, Oman: a sympathetic and sustainable approach to planning for population growth.

What we were trying to do was to strike a balance between maintaining communities and the necessary modernisation that the city needs to undergo, he adds.

Setting an example
The Middle East, and the UAE in particular, is leading the way with many cutting-edge economic and urban advances. Suhar in Oman is a compelling example of how sympathetic development planning can produce robust solutions that last. Previously the ancient capital of the sultanate, Suhar sits some 200km north of Muscat. As a coastal city it offered developers the chance to build on existing transport links and, in common with other Atkins sustainable development projects, the plan was based on extensive consultation with community representatives. Suhar is primarily a trading city, a port with historic links and significant opportunity to expand. Any plan to develop it would need to take this into account. The main drivers would be the development of downstream industries linked to the port, as well as forthcoming infrastructure such as

theGulf Cooperation Council railway linking the major UAE hubs, which is under construction. For Atkins, the key challenge of Suhar has to be preserving its appeal to the population as a place to live while allowing as much room for the port and the associated industries to flourish. So far the signs are positive: trade volumes continue to grow at the port while a few blocks to the north the foundation stone for the citys new university has been laid. Suhars sustainable approach to growth putting flexible transport and industrial development at its heart is mirrored elsewhere in the Middle East. Bahrain, for example, has recently kicked off its national planning and development strategy, which will see the kingdom build 180,000 housing units in the next 20 years to cope with the kingdoms projected population growth. Its a clear indication that authorities in the region are aware that sustainable, flexible development strategies are needed to harness and capitalise on growth and planners are waking up to the need to plan for 2050 and beyond.

Beyond the great wall

The typical Westerners going abroad view of tourism inChina is being redefined with the ongoing rise of the countrys middleclass. New approaches are emerging thatseek to meetthis new demand while embracing localdiversity andretaining individual identity.

changing tourism
building for the modern traveller

Tourism in China is changing. The middle classes areon the rise, bringing with them greater disposable incomes as well as a genuine interest in exploring their home territory. This is prompting a mini-boom in local tourism for communities and historically significant sites throughout the country. For Steven Ng, technical director for urban planning with Atkins in China, the masterplan has become a vital tool when establishing a tourism strategy that addresses these changing demands. Its a question of balance, he says. Visitors increasingly expect authenticity in their travels. Any masterplan must bring out the best in a local space. Ng points to the recently completed Xunliao (Oceania Point) resort in the east of Shenzhen City, in southern China, which was designed around 16km of coastline: It was planning gold you could even compare it to the Gold Coast in Australia in aesthetic terms. Behind the resort are the mountains and padi fields, and within the delta the salt and fresh water meet. In order to maximise the natural surrounding assets, the plan allows for sea views for 60 per cent of properties and mountain views for 30 per cent. We consulted the nearby fishing communities and made the rivers a feature of the development,Ng explains. We even built a fishing village into the development based on traditional Chinese architecture. Sometimes a resorts existing assets will also work on a practical level. For example, mangroves are attractive indigenous flora but they also help to prevent coastal erosion and not stripping them turned out to be a sensible strategy for the Xunliao planners. Unobtrusive solutions such as these tend to be preferable. Xunliao had to fulfil some requests for private spaces, so the plan clustered spots throughout to create public and private areas. The gaps between the 16km stretch are long, which encourages people to stay in the public areas,says Ng. Clustering does not always work, he adds, but in aesthetic terms it is preferable to fences or barbed wire. Harmonious solutions within the planning framework also needed to extend to transport. Road and air networks for Xunliao were enhanced.

We looked at developing ferry links to surrounding coastal cites such as Hong Kong and Macau to open it up as a destination, says Ng. Tourism from within this huge country is not to be underestimated. For example, this development, which was planned for 60,000 people, can survive on the local market alone and hotels are filling up with business conference travellers.

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km of coastline will help to turn Xunliao in the Pearl River Delta into a prime destination for Chinas growing internal tourist trade.

Developing destinations
Chinas vast size means that its possible to experience very different environments without ever leaving the country. For example, many northernbased Chinese people are keen to travel to warmer areas. Ng says that many Chinese people are very patriotic and keen to experience the highly individual corners of their fascinating country. Ng worked on a Chinese development called Xia Sha and points out that the local ethnic Keija culture ignited collective imaginations. Alongside the scores of professionals the economists, tourism consultants, property development consultants, hotel specialists and golf course consultants that worked on Xia Sha and developments like it, the team also engaged ethnically Keijan designers and planners for their specific knowledge.

We wanted to preserve and celebrate the local diversity by developing land that didnt have an impact on cultural heritage. After all, many of the community wanted to stay. What was important is that we didnt just drop something into the area, says Ng. As a consequence, circular buildings, which are integral to this ancient culture, were introduced into the development as a core attraction. Ng says that these celebrate the culture of sitting in a circle and eating with the family. China is becoming ever more affluent, he adds. Its economy may still be evolving on the world stage, but this growing tourist infrastructure illustrates the countrys rapid growth. We look at the whole natural resource of an area and we plan our development to fit in with that, says Richard Alvey, managing director of environmental planning with Atkins. Its vital to make sure that a tourism-based project has a sense of context, place and character. In the highly competitive world of tourism it is not only responsible to take into account the local surroundings but it also makes good businesssense. Creating a unique tourist identity isessential and can be of great importance to anydeveloping economy.

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Xunliao in China: a new tourism and resort destination that includes beaches, mangroves, padi fields and fishing villages.

resilient cities
designs for change

READY FOR ANYTHING: THE CITIES OF THE FUTURE

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Cities are feeling the strain and its not likely to get any easier. According to projections, the worlds population will continue to grow until at least 2050. Complex environmental changes will alter the climate in which cities operate, the supply and availability of materials that are used in cities construction and maintenance, the energy that is required for their economies to function, the supply of food and clean water for their inhabitants and the provision of sustainable modes of transport to enable mobility. New and existing cities will encounter shocks and stresses associated with environmental change, energy scarcity and global population issues that remain difficult to predict reliably. Only by attempting to understand these complexities will planners, designers and creators of sustainable societies be able to successfully meet these challenges head on in the future. Why do we need these discussions and what do we mean by resilient and adaptive cities? Nick Roberts: We need to have these discussions to explore the relationships between socio-economic, political, cultural and environmental change and their potential effects on cities over long periods. A resilient city is in essence about adaptability and diversity. The ability of a city to change, morph, adapt and reinvent itself continually is the key to sustainability. Elspeth Finch: There is a huge range of factors that affect a citys resilience and adaptability. Cities need to be physically durable to withstand the physical shocks associated with future climate change. This can mean designing mitigation measures to guard against potential floods or securing food supplies in case of long-term water shortages. They also need to be diverse in terms of their sources of energy, the economy and public institutions because with greater diversity comes an increased ability to survive and bounce back from these shocks.

Changing climates, increasing populations and varying industry trends are affecting how cities function. Can masterplanners design for these developments? And how can a citys resilience and adaptability be maximised when it comes to future unknowns? Nick Roberts, managing director of Atkins environment business, addresses these key questions in a round-table discussion with colleagues ElspethFinch, futures director, and Guy Mercer, associate director for land and development.

The question is: how do we plan for adaptation to city being built with a 50- to 100-year lifespan?
Roberts: Thats right, and Id also suggest that, with increasingly global flows of people and capital, its important to consider resilience in economic and social terms, as well as the more obvious physical durability and issues related to climate change. As weve seen in recent years, economic shocks can have major effects on cities and these can often be much harder to recover from than natural disasters. And, as inequalities in wealth become greater in many cities, its important that we start to think about how this could generate conflict between different social groups and affect resilience. Finch: I agree that we need to source locally, especially as this can help to reduce carbon emissions. But I think we need to remember that, because were living in a very globalised world, there are many external influences that will actually affect the ability of that city to adapt and thrive. Itsimpossible for cities to build walls around themselves and think that theyll be secure. Many cities have varying degrees of control over their own wealth, their own direction. So, unless we take the global dimension into account when looking at a city, we cant look at the resilience. Mercer: The key factor here is making sure that we have reliable and diverse supply chains for a wide range of essentials: food, water, energy, building supplies etc. Finch: Thats very true and, in order to understand what the city needs to be resilient (from an infrastructure context), we also need to understand how these things connect, because a city is made up of different components: transport, energy supplies, buildings etc. If one element goes down, it can have major implications. Understanding these dependencies is critical to understanding resilience. Linked to this, Id suggest that some redundancy needs to be built into a system. This means that, if one element is compromised, other parts of the system can fill in for it. I think my one comment about what infrastructure needs to be in terms of being resilient and adaptive is simple. We cant know exactly what the future will hold. If infrastructure is too over-designed and specific, it makes it very difficult to adapt for different ways of working when change happens, as it always does eventually. Roberts: Youre absolutely right. The simplicity of infrastructure and its ability to be used in different ways leads to a realchallenge in the way we approach design. Its about saying: How do we provide something thats inherently simple so that it has an adaptive use? Finch: If you look at cities such as Torontoand Helsinki, they have much wider temperature fluctuations than London and very different climates. As a consequence, their infrastructure has to be much simpler and more flexible. It has to be resilient to being under snow for five months of the year. Its all about the levels of tolerance thatwe design for. Designing for that tolerance may be more expensive, but how do you weigh up those upfront costs againstthe potential cost to a city of severe weather, theferocity and frequency of whichwe cannot be sure? Mercer: Without a doubt, being adaptive or resilient will cost and the economic questions are complex. There are other elements (beyond infrastructure alone) that need to be understood in the context of an adaptive and resilient city. For instance, recreational and open spaces are good examples of land that has a clear economic value which is often not directly accounted for in terms of a financial yield per square metre or traditional rental income, yet they form an inherent part of a modern city. Parks are not considered examples of getting maximum return on investment, but they draw in value for other parts of the citys economy and that value stands to be at risk if a city is subject to unforeseen shocks and stresses. How will adaptive and resilient cities look across the world? Finch: I think the first question we need to ask is: what does each city need to be resilient to? So should we be looking at resilience to flooding or water shortages, which will affect food? Is it legislative changes, is it political unrest is it major population growth?

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Guy Mercer: The impact of global influences is enormous and increasing every day. We need to take the global dimension into account when looking at a city, or we cant look at the resilience. The ability of a city to adapt and be resilient is as much an issue about commerce as it is about people and where they want to live. What are the essentials that every resilient and adaptive city must have? Mercer: Food, water, energy and shelter are just some vital ingredients that enable a city to thrive economically and socially. A resilient city would seek to feed people within its own effective boundaries and be less reliant on global food chains. It will use local building materials for shelter and sustainable energy supplies to drive its economy and provide people with basic sustenance. By delivering essentials locally, cities make themselves less vulnerable to external economic and environmental issues. A secure flow of goods in and out such as water, sewerage, food etc, make up the basis of resilience.

resilient cities shouldnt only be about designing an insurance policy against negative shocks its not just an additional cost. Its an opportunity to build better living environments
This principle extends to buildings as well as infrastructure where requirements for the type and size of buildings can sometimes change incredibly quickly with economic and technological developments. If you consider Victorian housing stock in London, it has been remarkably adaptable to changes in society. It is a relatively simple design, but it has been able to accommodate huge changes in family size for over a century. This has undoubtedly played some part in supporting Londons resilience to economic and social change.

tation to these societal and local issues for a

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Mercer: In other words: what are the major threats to a city? Finch: Exactly. Cities in different parts of the world will face different issues of resilience and adaptability. We need to understand the local climate and the cultural elements. Understanding the local context and how people want to live in that particular environment (including the family structure and how that needs to be supported through the built infrastructure) is important to enable the resilience of that city from a societal perspective. We need to learn lessons from the past and implement those for future design. Roberts: The question is: how do we planfor adaptation to these societal and local issues for a city thats being built with a 50- to 100-year lifespan? Mercer: If we had to look back over five or 50 years, what would the evaluation criteria for a successful city be? What is a successful city from a resilience perspective? I dont think were asking the right questions yet. We have a feel for what such a place should look like in crude terms, but we dont know what the success criteria are. This needs to be considered now and, however imperfect such criteria might be at the outset, it will need to be adopted and refined as we learn from lessons throughout our journey. Finch: But in some ways there could be a really simple answer to that: a fundamental aspect of a resilient city is that its a place where lots of people want to live and will continue to want to live 50 years from now. Keeping things simple, if you want to live there rather than having to live there, its probably because of the choice of jobs, the attractiveness of the urban realm and so on there are lots of different aspects. Whether or not people want to live in a city is a good measure of its adaptability and, therefore, its potential resilience. Mercer: Heres a dilemma: to make a place really attractive/resilient costs money. How how are you going to achieve that in the developing world and at the rate required? Finch: Thats the question isnt it? No one thing will make a resilient city and the costs involved will be different for every city. In most cases, though, the upfront costs of building for resilience should be small against the potential savings. We need to come up with innovative ways in which these investments can be funded, especially in the developing world. But I think what this discussion has highlighted is that building resilient cities shouldnt only be about designing an insurance policy against negative shocks its not just an additional cost. Its also an opportunity to build better living environments, improve environmental quality, encourage diverse communities to live together and secure a better economy that improves everyones living standards. Thats got to be the key to a resilient city. Mercer: And, ultimately, how far can we or should we take resilience? What should we be realistically looking to control and adapt, and how should we be factoring this into our cities of the future, at the same time making them places in which we want to live and can afford to live? More work on this topic will be explored by our Cities Board in the coming months and we look forward to sharing this with our clients and partners as we embark on this journey together.

moving forward
learning from public transport

Atkins proposal for Birmingham New Street Station included both comprehensive redevelopment and reorganisation of interchange facilities.

All change: public transport

Some railway station schemes are simply about transport, says Warwick Lowe, transport development director at Atkins. They improve the concourse, add a few shops and clean up the immediate environment but thats about it. Others do more. They take the chance to regenerate an area, spark economic activity and bring communities to life. There is this concept in home design of indoor-outdoor living, where the outdoors is brought indoors and the indoors is brought outdoors. That is how it should be for stations, says Lowe. The ideal railway station ends up in a large open square, with space on all sides for cafs, that pedestrians, cyclists and buses can all navigate easily, allowing people to flow naturally into the city. It blurs theline between where the station ends and where the city begins. Lowe highlights Atkins recent proposals for Belfasts Great Victoria Street Station, Euston in central London and Barking in east London. Each, he says, offers tremendous possibilities as catalysts for urban improvement. Most of the time, proposals focus on cosmetic improvements because they generate more passenger revenue than when it was falling down. At Belfast, Barking, and Euston we have proposed new public spaces that allow the station to function better as part of the community, he says. Its not only about adding a few shops to the stations. The real benefits are in making the station the hub for local activity; improving the flow of the area. There are lessons to be learned from successful urban station projects abroad, too. Luca Bertolini, professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Amsterdam, says that the best examples can be found in Asia. Tokyo station is the icon for this kind of idea. Stations in Japan are urban centres. Urban centres and stations are totally intertwined. These places have great potential for

The condition of railway stations across the UK is under fire, criticised for failing to meet basic standards in terms of facilities, appearance and ease of access. Faced with funding difficulties inherent to the current economic climate, what can we learn from successful overseas public transport models?
cities, for accessibility and sustainability. But the challenge is to develop them as places, not just as an interchange, says Bertolini. Building outside the city is easier, but inside you already have other things already there. If you can integrate them, you can offer much more to people.

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Go with the flow

Great Victoria Street Station dates from 1839, but was closed in 1976. A new station was opened near the original site in 1995. But, according to Lowe, it remains hidden fromthe main street, one of Belfasts most prestigious thoroughfares. The most important rail services (serving Dublin, for instance) operate from Belfast Central, which is not as central as Victoria Street. The masterplan, created by Atkins and which Lowe helped to draw up, re-establishes a footprint on Belfasts main street and reconnects the station with the communitiesaround it, he says. The area behind the station used to be at the centre of a turf war between Protestants and Catholics, but is now available for redevelopment, allowing boulevards and commercial spaces to be constructed. The plan also improves the station itself, addingbus bays, platforms and facilities such as waiting areas and toilets. Its about improving the functionality of the station and its connectivity with the city, and exploiting the former yards for maximum commercial return. The station needs a flow that boosts economic activity. The easier you make it for people to get from A to B, the more likely they are to make that journey and generate economic activity, says Lowe. It is vital, he adds, to create open, walkable spaces around station developments. He cites the example of the new St Pancras as a scheme that has done this successfully.

In 2009 Only twothirds of customers were satisfied with Britains stations. Just halF of customers were satisfied with station facilities.
[Source: Better Rail Stations Report 2009, UK Department for Transport]

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What you need to create is some space that allows a wider circumference of development to happen. There has been an ongoing debate about preserving the piazza between Kings Cross and St Pancras because the land is worth so much. But they were right to keep it because it allows St Pancras to flow better with the local area.

Developing areas
The scheme at Barking is similarly ambitious, involving plans not only for the station but also the town itself. Although Barking is well connected with rail services to
The refurbishment of Barking station is intended to provide office space in tandem with leisure and retail areas.

London and the building itself is grade II listed, the station itself is unwelcoming and the surrounding area is underdeveloped, according to Paul Reynolds, a senior urban designer at Atkins. There is an opportunity to clean up the concourse, taking out poor-quality shops and removing advertising hoardings that block the windows, and to refine the area outside allowing better access for pedestrians and cyclists. At the same time, the stations refurbishment could be used to spur development of the wider area. The regeneration masterplan for the area around the station is designed to develop a stronger office market,

improve the quality of its retail stock and address areas of strategic focus, says Reynolds. The idea is to provide office space in tandem with retail and leisure areas. There is very little to do in Barking town centre in the evening and the population is quite transient as things stand. The regeneration is part of a plan to attract a demographic with a higher degree of permanence to the town. The blueprint for Euston does something similar, although on a larger scale. For example, it creates a new entrance to the station, rationalises the bus station out front and improves disability access. It also takes the underground entrance out of the railway station so that Tube passengers no longer clog up the main concourse. Theres a huge opportunity to have a look at the whole area, says Reynolds. Atkins produced the plan on behalf ofSydney and London Properties, which owns tower blocks at the front of the station. Theres plenty of scope for masterplanning that would come about from the opportunities initiated by the station development.

Finding the funding

The obvious problem with the station development-asregeneration model, however, is that it is more expensive than a station-only project. Moreover, regenerating a whole area inevitably involves a larger range of stakeholders, including landowners, transport authorities, regional development bodies, councils and mayors.

The development plan for Londons Euston Station includes anew entrance and keeps Tube, railand bus passengers separate.

the benefits of thorough and well thought-out station renovations are numerous. The challenge for the UKs planners is to integrate these new layouts effectively into our chaotic urban landscape
At Barking, the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation has funded a detailed design for the space immediately outside the station. But other potential financers, including Network Rail and the train operating company that has a licence for the station, have yet to step forward to pay for other elements. Reynolds says the lack of funding shows the inherent limitations of the UKs train franchise system, where companies hold licences for relatively short periods and therefore lack incentives to make significant longterm investments. Reynolds and Lowe agree that the financial crisis and public spending cuts have hit funding for station projects. In Eustons case, the redevelopment scheme is further complicated by plans for the High Speed 2 rail link (HS2), which envisages Euston as the main London hub. Shouldthat go ahead as planned, Euston would need to beextended again, both southward and westward. The problem, says Reynolds, is that Euston needs redevelopingsoon, rather than in 10 or more years, which is the probable timeframe for HS2. The planning and funding difficulties around inner-city stations such as Eustonmeans that some observers think the UK should consider different approaches, including building further out of town. One HS2 proposal considers Old Oak Common, to the far west of London, as a potential site seeing the disused railway yards as a much easier redevelopment opportunity. The disadvantage is that Old Oak is 40 minutes outside central London, which would limit the value of a highspeed service in the first place. redevelopedareawith surrounding communities, says Mark Harrison, senior technical director for Atkins urban planning consultancy in Beijing. The development is intended totake advantage of the high level of accessibilityofferedby the new station, with its high-speed rail links toHangzhou. The area was planned as a new mixed-use business hub within Shanghai also serving the wider region. The challenge in the UK is that planners are unable to drive large-scale rail projects, changing the purpose of wholeurban areas as a result. We dont have that luxury, says Reynolds. When were talking about Euston, were talking about an existing urban context. We cant simply clear two miles and build a whole new city. Nevertheless, we can recognise from successful overseas models that the benefits of well thought-out station renovations are numerous. The challenge for the UKs planners is to integrate these new layouts effectively into our already chaotic urban landscape, while anticipatingand incorporating future requirements of the transport network.

Model stations
But the edge-of-city approach is one that has been taken in France, and to a greater extent, China. In China, they have built a lot of high-speed stations wherever the land is available. They have then built cities largely around the new stations, says Reynolds. An example of this is Shanghais new South station, which Atkins has been involved in masterplanning. Themajor challenge was to redevelop the former railway yardsand associated land and to reconnect the

transforming the working waterfront

Historically, urban waterfronts were viewed primarily as ports: the point at which goods arrived from all corners of the Earth. But many of todays waterfronts are being transformed, becoming a gathering place for locals, tourists and businesses and a valuable focal point for masterplanners.
Situated between Robben Island and Table Mountain in the heart of Cape Towns working harbour, the Victoria & Alfred (V&A) basins were once a hub for trade activity. Back when container shipping was the main method of handling cargo worldwide and the Suez Canal had been reopened asa major freight route, this South African waterfront welcomed ships carrying products from around the globe. But, despite their importance to global trade, such spaces did not always fare well. Many fell into decline owing to new developments in manufacturing and freight delivery methods. This is now changing. The V&A waterfront continues to welcome visitors, but for very different reasons, having been transformed into South Africas most visited tourist destination. Asthe key interface between land and sea, waterfronts have always played an important role, says Helen Doe, teaching fellow in the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies at the University of Exeter. Although modern port operations have mostly movedout of cities, the waterfront has now become a key leisurefocus and continues to draw people to the waterside. With shipping no longer at the core of these projects, the skill for the modern urban planner is to ensure that these often derelict spaces will be revitalised and crucially link in with the rest of the urban framework. How can masterplanning reduce the threat of any future decline? Cape Towns harbour has undergone numerous changes over recent years to bring greater public access and appeal, and Atkins is part of a team working to develop the V&A waterfront further. The challenge is to present a viable masterplan linking the waterfront with the city and the new football stadium at Green Point. Along with plans for one of the most expensive hotel developments that Africa has seen a seven-star R450m luxury destination the reinvented waterfront offers a wide range of visitor attractions and has successfully reinvigorated the area.

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Long-term appeal
Its all about creating pockets of interest, says Janus Rostock, design director for architecture with Atkins in the Middle East. Rostock has worked on projects around the world and is well aware of the changing face of waterfront development and its implications for planners. The instinct for humans to interact in and aroundwater is something that all waterfront developments, whether new or transformational, recognise. They have the ability to draw people together and offer unique and attractive opportunities for business. Andcreating a destination with long-term appeal is of utmost importance for the regeneration of all waterfront projects. We always think about the future when planning any project, says Rostock. We prepare the design and create spaces so that people will enjoy them.

The V&A waterfront in Cape Town is now one of South Africas most visited destinations.

urban planning
waterfront developments

Although modern port operations have mostly movedout of cities, the waterfront has now become a keyleisurefocus and continues to draw people to the waterside

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familiar faces
neighbourly thinking

Community by design

The rise of Indias urban middle class means that by 2030 the number of people needing homes that match their aspirations and incomes will quadruple leaving India with the significant challenge of meeting this demand in less than two decades. Howcan rapidly developing cities create neighbourhoods that are suited to these new lifestyles while incorporating the sustainable and economic demands of the modern world?
One way to find out is to ask the communities. Birmingham City University has been working closely with Atkins on the subject of community-led design since 2008 as part of a new government-funded initiative through a knowledge-transfer partnership (KTP) linking academia and business. Working with Delhis School of Planning and Architecture, 40 residents of different ages came together through the KTP in 2009 to take part in design workshops devised by the university and Atkins. With the help of attending engineers and after-education to aid understanding and engagement, the residents undertook the design of appealing new neighbourhoods for their capital city. Working in teams, they formulated design briefs and concepts for detailed block layouts, providing real insights into what was actually required from their living arrangements and the surrounding infrastructure. Sanjay Tanwani, senior urban designer withAtkins, says the aim of working with communities in this way is to eschew a formulaic approach to urban design and to tailor the work to specific circumstances, whileincorporating cultural traditions wherever this is appropriate. Community is often considered only at a later stage of the process, says Tanwani. We bring in the community first, involving it from the word go. We design, based on what the people need, and then analyse the structure, putting aesthetics and concepts behind it. Youcould say its a hyper-rational approach. India was chosen not simply to help address the growth challenge Atkins has an office there already. Another key reason was the cultural synergy with south Asian communities in the UK a focus of the KTP later in 2009. Neighbourhoods in India are already quite successful in terms of social capital and cohesion, says Tanwani. We wanted to take inspiration from that. Indias vernacular neighbourhoods have hardly been designed at all. They have mostly evolved over the years and we wanted to understand how. Now were transferring these design principles to multicultural communities in the UK. There arestriking similarities between what people want in the two. British lifestyles are generally not very neighbourly, according to Tanwani. Thesedays, in many parts of the UK at least,we hardly know each other. We dont

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By giving local people a voice in the design and planning of their community, developers and city planners hope to forge a closer bond between people and the places in which they live

In this project we try to talk to people about what they feel should underpin the neighbourhood; how a site will affect their wellbeing and otherwise benefit them
know people living five houses away from us on the same street. And, if you look at the backs of our houses, there are long, thin, private gardens with fences that rise above eye level, he says. There is little or no interaction. Privacy is increasingly seen as the ideal, while strangers can all too often be the focus of fear and mistrust, so opportunities to engage are missed. But the benefits of a clearly defined community are clear: reduced crime, greater social cohesion, security in numbers for both children and the elderly etc. As a consequence, there is now greater focus on the regeneration of local areas being conducted in close consultation with residents. By giving local people a voice in the design and planning of their community, developers and city planners are hoping to forge a closer bond between people and the places in which they live. In India the need for community-led design goes beyond these extensive social benefits. According to Jitesh Brahmkshatriya, Atkins masterplanning team leader in India, many of the existing Indian community-led masterplans focused on what or where, rather than how or when. As he points out, such projects often fail to include robust delivery mechanisms for dealing with the practical viability and long-term management issues that inevitably arise in competitive markets such as India. As a result, Atkins noticed a number of good concepts failing in the Indian market. We believe that every innovative concept should be backed with a robust delivery mechanism tailored to suit the needs of the users without compromising viability. Obviously, we want to understand the ways in which different cultures place different value on the significance of public spaces, but we need to make sure we can then produce a realistic plan for reflecting these cultural needs. wellbeing and otherwise benefit them, says Nasser. There is also the issue of value systems. People from different cultures place different values on the significance of public spaces and how their neighbourhood dynamics work. Brahmkshatriya adds that communityled masterplanning enables local communities to implement and control theprocurement process through their own organisations, often resulting in moreopenness and accountability, reducedcorruption and wastage, better value for money, increased use of local workers and contractors and better-quality works and services.

Becoming more engaged

In many ways, it comes down to a questionof relying on what we know. The general feeling is that urban design today is very much a cut-and-paste exercise, says Birmingham City Universitys Noha Nasser, founder of the Centre for Urban Design Outreach and Skills, which examines the academic side of the equation. There are certain urban design principles that tend to be used, no matter where work is being done. Tanwani agrees: Through this initiative were developing new characteristics for neighbourhoods, where people interact more often because of the physical form of the neighbourhoods and not just because they have to. The secret lies in the physical form of the neighbourhoods were designing: people just happen to bump into each other more often. The secret of the initiatives success is the involvement of members of the community at a very early stage in the design process: during the initial brief, before first ideas are formulated and the standard concepts take over. In this project we try to talk to people about what they feel should underpin the neighbourhood; how a site will affect their

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Social possibilities
Through the workshops, Atkins identified a number of essential features for Indian residents. These included neighbourhoods that cater to all age groups; plenty of opportunities for interaction; mixed-use high streets where commercial and housingproperties coexist; houses that cater for all extended family members; and walkable neighbourhoods. One example of the ideas resulting from the workshops is a cluster form of some 15 houses, Tanwani explains. These residences have much smaller back gardens than would normally be the case in the UK (about 30 square metres, rather than the typical 70 square metres), all of which converge in a semi-communal space. Together with small, low walls, theyeach become more of a semi-private area than a private area of the house, he says. Similarly, a semi-private porch at the

front includes seating areas that are shared with neighbours. Nasser adds: Were proposing more engaging front doors and thresholds with the public realm. Were creating streets that are sociable streets places to play, sit and take advantage of the sun and microclimate. At the backs were also designing communal spaces where people can come together around social activities such as growing food. Factoring these social requirements into the designs helped to create a neighbourhood proposal that reflects the

Left and opposite page: Atkins knowledge transfer partnership scheme with Delhis School of Planning and Architecture involved working with a panel of 40 local residents to develop design solutions.

social and cultural lifestyle needs of middleincome Indian families. But these social advantages werent the only positive suggestions to come out of the workshops. Together with the residents, Atkins designed a sustainable and biodiverse environment suited to Indias increasing resource challenges. Partly because of the desire for interaction, the masterplans cover a much smaller gross area than would typically be allocated for such a development, reducing infrastructure costs and saving space for future development or agriculture.

The modular designs allow for flexible construction. This means that no houses will sit empty and people can move while construction is still under way. The plans also include areas dedicated to biodiversity and spaces where residents will be able to grow their own food. At the residents request, the neighbourhoods have been designed to allow for maximum social interaction providing socially sustainable communitieswhere people can develop long-term friendships. This will aid retention and help to develop supportive,

self-reliant communities. Resource conservation was another key consideration throughout the design workshops, so solutions such as rainwaterharvesting and storage have been included throughout.

Forward thinking
The main challenge, Nasser says, will be mainstreaming the workshop way of building the briefs so that it can be adopted across the professional world. Its resource-intensive, because youre spending time listening to people as well as

building local capacity. Were also educating the people to engage with the design process in a meaningful way themselves. There is a certain resource required to make that a success. Nevertheless, the KTP has already begun testing the concept with the Homes and Community Agency, sparking interest in showcasing the work with regeneration agencies particularly in areas such as the West Midlands, where cultural diversity is especially high. Indeed, it is partnering with the Ashram Housing Association that serves the region. The associations chief executive, Jas Bains, is a strong advocate of community-led design. Cuts in public-sector funding mean that community voices risk being lost in the shuffle, Bains says. Community-led design is about more than putting up four walls and a roof over someones head. Its about encouraging involvement where there may not have been before. Its about defining community in a real and physical way, and giving local people the chance to have control over their environment. Atkins is planning to run a series of workshops and seminars with local authorities, land developers and publicprivate partnerships to form strategies to deliver the concepts developed through their research. We intend to develop new ideas in masterplanning by using the findings from these workshops, says Richard Alvey, chairof Atkins Masterplanning network. Were hoping that this will help to derive new patterns, structure and building typologies for multicultural communities, and that we will be able to expand this concept both within the UK and overseas. With about 800 million square metres of commercial and residential space needing to be built in India by 2030 the equivalent of a new Chicago every year these new masterplanning ideas could just be the key to solving the countrys looming growth challenge.

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By 2050, the largest city in the world will probably be in China and it hasnt been built yet. From central business districts to mega-city regions, rising incomes worldwide are changing the game, and planners are looking ahead to the city of tomorrow.

www.atkinsglobal.com
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