The Government should prepare a national urban design framework, defining the core principles of urban design, and setting out non-prescriptive guidelines showing how good design can support local plans and regeneration strategies. This would not only bring greater rigour to the way that public funders and planners assess the likely impact of development, but also create a valuable tool for improving urban design. Public authorities and regeneration partnerships can help raise the quality of urban design by producing more detailed and comprehensive development briefs. As a further step, we propose that regeneration projects should be made the subject of design competitions. Our site visits to cities in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany have underlined the benefits of well-managed, public competitions in securing better design, as well as value for money.
Public participation is crucial to the design process.
We recommend the creation of Local Architecture Centres in our major cities, to encourage stronger public involvement in design issues by sponsoring community projects, exhibitions and seminars. Introduce a national urban design framework, disseminating key design principles through planning and funding guidance, supported by a new series of best practice guidelines. Require local authorities to prepare a single strategy for their public realm and open space, dealing with provision, design, management, maintenance and funding. Amend planning and funding guidance to improve the use of density standards and to prevent urban development proposals with densities too low to support a sustainable and viable mixed use environment. Introduce a mandatory double performance rating for houses, combining an environmental and a running cost rating, so house-buyers know what level of building performance they are getting for their money.