Brasilitius: the clinical condition for civil servants living in Brasilia, who have work, home… and nothing else. ‘A beautiful plan, but an abject human failure’, to quote Professor James C Scott of Yale University at his recent lecture in Glasgow, kindly hosted by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health. Prof. Scott’s premise was that large […]
Archive | March, 2008
building in flexibility
Have you noticed how many projects have built-in obsolescence? Public realm schemes are a good source of examples, where soon after the redesigned street layout has been built it becomes clear that the design solves some problems but creates others – but it is so “fixed” that it can’t be easily changed in response. Paisley […]
travel demo towns
The Scottish Government has just announced £15 million to help create a series of ‘sustainable travel demonstration communities’ across the country. Why not follow the example of Bogotá in Colombia, and close the streets every Sunday until 2pm for people? Check out the video for the benefits that this could bring… Sustainable communities, healthy living, […]
jobs, houses and the Kirkcaldy & Mid-Fife Local Plan
I’ve just finished a small job for Fife Council Development Services as part of a team with TPS Planning, summarising and analysing the consultation responses to the initial ‘Issues and Options’ consultation stage on the Kirkcaldy and Mid Fife Local Plan, published in July 2007. Reading, summarising and analysing the consultation responses for the Council […]
broadening planning’s appeal
It’s good to see that community engagement in planning is making the national press – Scotland’s Sunday Herald is now getting in on the act too, with an article about the fashionably named Sustainable City Visualisation Tool that has recently been developed at the University of Abertay, Dundee. This new computer-based technique enables planners and […]