Considering Sustainable Communities

By Jen Heal

On Monday I attended the ‘Working Together: Urban Communities as Sustainable Places Conference’ organised by the Sustainable Places Research Institute at Cardiff University. 

The emphasis of the conference was on collaboration to deliver social, environmental and economic sustainability within communities in Wales.   Exploring the relevance of ‘place’ and its contribution to identity within communities formed part of these considerations.  Sharing of best practice and case studies on how to develop communities that are truly sustainable was helpful.  In particular a case study on ‘Sustaining Dunbar’ explored how to really engage people in considering the future of their community and create a local resilience action plan with a vision for 2025 ‘beyond oil’. 

It was also great to hear an update from Dawn Davies on the Creation Development Trust in the Garw Valley.  The level of community engagement, capacity building and governance achieved here is remarkable. 

The focus of the day was, quite rightly, on the role of the public sector, the community and the third sector in developing sustainable communities.  However, there seems to be very little discussion on the role of the private sector.  Dawn pointed out in her presentation that many of the communities in South Wales were built around the coal mines.  Whilst the monopoly that the mining companies held in many areas brought with it its problems, there was no doubt that local industry and community were fundamentally intertwined.  Since this time large local employers have come and gone and the economic landscape of South Wales is now very different, but I do believe that private businesses still have a role to play in creating truly sustainable communities. 

Social enterprises are important but we are yet to see if these organisations can really stand up in the long term, become self sufficient and cut the umbilical cord to grant funding.  It seems to me that the private sector must be considered in any approach to integrated sustainability.  So then the question is how can local, national and international businesses be encouraged and supported to become more imbedded in and accountable to the local communities in which they are based?

Urbanists attend EcoBuild

We were inspired by the many new ideas and contacts that we made at EcoBuild last week, which was a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and see the latest ideas on sustainable placemaking.

On the second day of Ecobuild, our Urban Designer - Serena Yao, attended a meeting with other members of the Urban Design Group and urban design practicioners from China. This was an excellent opportunity to share cultural ideas about sustainability and placemaking and we hope to continue developing these kinds of international links.

EcoBuild is an enormous event and it can be difficult to fit everything in. From the tiny amount of the Expo that we were able to cram in the highlights were:

• The potential future changes to the Code for Sustainable Homes which could move towards a fabric first approach before on site renewables are considered. This is something that we are supportive of, following our experience of developing a Code Level  5 scheme at Mariner's Quay with Powell Dobson Architects (http://www.powelldobson.com/index.php?file=gallery&sID=10)

• Learning more about how to deliver a successful shared space public realm scheme. Exhibition Road, a scheme that we visited in 2011, was highlighted in the way that it has had to accommodate vulnerable street users whilst maintaining an environment without the usual visual and textural clues and references.

• We we also inspired by the SAGE project in Glasgow(http://www.sowandgroweverywhere.org/) which has been working with communities and the NHS to deliver high quality allotments.

Positive Transformation

As urban designers, landscape architects and regeneration practitioners, seeing our designs, ideas and recommendations implemented is really important to us. Sometimes imagining the moment of the ribbon being cut is what keeps us going! It was a pleasure to be present at yesterday’s opening of the revamped Village Square in Caerau.

What is particularly satisfying, is that the project was a prominent part the regeneration strategy that we completed for area in 2007. 

A prominent site in need of improvement

Once the site was acquired by the Council  we prepared a ‘concept design’ for improvements to the public realm and the buildings around it.  

Our design concept for the site

The scheme was implemented by Bridgend County Borough Council and formally launched yesterday morning.

It was great to see so many of the officers, Councillors and community members sharing in the success as it’s been a long and difficult battle for them, firstly to acquire the site that was previously such an eyesore and a real blight on the local community and then to improve it using such a small budget. We’re proud of the small part that we played in getting the scheme on the ground.

See the BBC report on the launch here.