The Significance of 'Place'

Sense of place, authenticity, branding and creativity.  

These are some of the themes that emerged from two conferences sponsored and attended by The Urbanists last week.

The International Maritime Heritage Conference in Cardiff explored the value of maritime heritage for the tourism industry in different locations around the world.  For the tourism industry, where a large part of the product is 'place', it seems logical that ‘place making’ is at the heart of strategies for growth.  But what was striking about the conference was the consistent message that the essence of a sense of place must be combined with creativity and expressed consistently to be effective.

Alan Clarke, CEO of Northern Ireland Tourist Board, suggested that cities need to be defined more and more by their stories, and went on to explain how this had been developed in 'Titanic Town' Belfast which has attracted over 500,000 visitors in its opening six months.  Similarly Steve White, President of Mystic Seaport, The Museum of America and the Sea, referred to their shift from 'preserving' their maritime heritage to 'projecting' it to their visitors.  Visitor experience is key and at the heart of this must be an authentic and consistent message.  In this case branding is relates to the overall message and 'mindset' rather than the material that is put out to visitors.

These themes are not confined to capitalising on maritime heritage.  Indeed on the same day the annual Urban Design Group Conference in Oxford was debating the value of good design in face of the current challenging economic climate.  Here it was suggested that place making is an investment and should be treated as such in the allocation of time, funding and expertise. And it's the same message for our town centres; place making that responds to the unique characteristics of the location, its history and its people.

Neal's Yard, Covent Garden: form, creativity, activity and meaning produce a strong sense of place

There is a consistent message that the value of place making is as great as ever but also that the challenge of defining and capitalising on it should not be underestimated.   As urban designers we must continue to strive to create places of distinction and not blandness, safe in the knowledge that it does make a difference.  But we must not do it alone.  People are an important component of place and we must collaborate with local champions to foster greater authenticity and creative influences to interpret ideas.  

By Jen

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.