London is not normally associated with having a beach, although there are several historic photographs of kids playing by the banks of the Thames. When walking along the South Bank when the tide was out, I observed how distinctive it was, as an attractive sunspot, but with few venturing onto the sand. The cast of […]
Although Derry is a city, we assessed it in the towns category because of its size. I found the journey it had travelled in the last 10-15 years to be quite impressive. The physical place had changed but, more importantly, the social and cultural dimensions had been key building blocks, with Culturlann and The Playhouse […]
I was invited to be a judge on the Kilcreggan Design competition, set for the village of Kilcreggan on the Rosneath Peninsula by the Glasgow Institute of Architects (GIA). I visited the day a great many architects, old and young, local and from further afield, came to talk with the locals. They explored lots of […]
As part of a weekend exploring sites along Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, we go to Vindolanda, an amazing walled town that has been carefully excavated. It is fascinating to view the juxtaposition of the formal walled town with the informal, more organic settlement outside. Both are important and needed in their own way, as most […]
We undertook a series of consultation events across the city as part of our engagement commission on the Future Glasgow project – a 50 year visioning process, promoted by the Leader, and reaching nearly 3,000 people. We consulted business, civic groups, community councillors, schoolchildren, politicians and many others. Here we are working with Ice Cream […]
I revisit my home town to assist in creative workshops with the Scottish Heads of Planning groups. It was nice to meet some old faces, as well as some new ones. The picture shows us all visiting the Union Terrace gardens, where proposals for a new City Gardens are being promoted by Ian Wood and […]
CLG Director Richard McCarthy spoke to the Academy of Urbanism end of year review, setting out some of the Coalition government’s thinking behind the Localism Bill that was announced at the beginning of the same week. Clearly not all the processes and criteria are fully thought through yet, with some elements to follow as national […]
The feature on the Prince of Wales’ ‘big society’ role (Guardian 27 November) identified a set of opportunities, as well as risks, in the way a participatory democracy might take planning and design issues forward. There is clearly a need for more local participation and arguably less top-down direction from Whitehall, especially on matters of […]
The Academy Awards passed for another year, with all the finalists celebrating their achievements in making better places at a lunch in Westminster’s Church House. Finalists at all levels had demonstrated considerable achievement, often implemented over several decades, with the three in the City category explaining their back story at a seminar on the preceding […]
KMA has been appointed to lead the place momentum consortium in preparing an Integrated Urban Development Plan for the Ayrshire town of Kilmarnock. For decades now Kilmarnock has been losing once important industrial activity, with the next major closure due to be Diageo (and the world renowned brand of Johnnie Walker) in 2012. The challenge […]
