Sustainable communities in the South West: how can we achieve quantity and quality?

Professor Katie Williams

Director, Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments, University of the West of England, Bristol

Setting the context..

• There will be large scale housing (urban) growth in the South West: 36%household growth, 40 urban extensions

• The aim is to accommodate this growth in sustainable (prosperous) communities, not more ‘placeless’ single-use housing developments

• We have had government guidance and a sustainable-communities focused rhetoric for over 10 years now

• But we are struggling to deliver sustainable communities in the UK: we are failing in quality and quantity

• What could we do to deliver better places?

The presentation..

• What is meant by a sustainable community?• Why do we want them?• How are they delivered in the UK?• What progress is being made?• How could we do things better?

– A more sophisticated vision of sustainable communities

– Better evidence base

– Better delivery processes

– Some international learning

What is a sustainable community?• New or regeneration schemes• Mixture of physical and non-

physical qualities• Balanced and integrated social,

economic and environmental components

• Emphasis on housing and other uses and needs of communities (now and in the future)

• Mixed communities (not just social/private housing)

What is a sustainable community?

A community that has:

• a flourishing local economy• strong leadership• effective engagement and

participation (especially in the planning, design and long-term stewardship of the community)

• active voluntary and community sector

• diverse, vibrant and creative local culture

• safe and healthy local environment • well-designed public and green

space• good public transport and other

transport infrastructure

• buildings that can meet different needs over time and that minimise the use of resources

• well integrated mix of decent homes of different types and tenures

• good quality local public services

• sense of place

• right links with the wider regional, national and international community

• sufficient size, scale and density and the right layout to support basic amenities in the neighbourhood and minimise use of resources (including land) (summarised from ODPM, 2003, p.5)

Source, image below CABE

Why do we want sustainable communities?

• To avoid past failures – Mass social housing– Poor design (urban and architectural)– Ineffective regeneration

• To address the sustainability agenda

• As an acceptable solution to unpopular new development (including eco-towns)

How are sustainable communities delivered in the UK?• ‘Shared endeavour’ (CLG, 2007)

• Private, public and third sector agencies involved

• Via spatial planning (national, regional and local levels)

• A number of delivery partners: e.g. private development firms, local authorities, The Housing Corporation, English Partnerships

• Key professionals: planners, architects, urban designers, engineers, utility providers

• Phased over long time periodsIngress Park development, image copyright Morag Lindsay

What progress is being made?• Difficult to assess• Still a minority of all new schemes (mainly in the South East): we

identified 150 schemes in the UK• Performing better than norms in terms of urban design, energy

efficiency, travel behaviour and community development• Not delivering on community cohesion: many just dormitory

settlements (suffer from remoteness)• Not delivering joined up housing and service provision• Many initial sustainability elements do not get delivered

Findings from reports by Williams, 2007; Williams and Lindsay, 2007; Sustainable Development Commission, 2007; Power 2004; CLG, 2006; TCPA, 2004, RICS, 2007

Why is this?

• ‘One of the shortcomings of the predominant build-for-sale housing model is that the developer does not retain long-term interest in the site. There is no incentive to produce a design better than the minimum needed to make a sale, and issues such as the design of the public realm and long term maintenance can be sidelined without any impact on profit.’ (Liz Pearce, Chief Exec, British Property Federation)

Why is this? • Mismatch between partners (regulators and

regulated) aspirations, objectives and timescales• Not enough local benefits from development:

housing numbers seen as an imposition not a responsibility

• Problems of complexity, number of agents, mismatched regulatory and funding systems, phasing of infrastructure and amenities etc.

• Private investment is difficult to secure and maintain• Community participation is problematic - difficult to

maintain momentum, manage expectations• Skills base is poor (within and between professions)

What could we do to deliver better quality and quantity?1. Develop a more sophisticated vision of what we want

to achieve:• Lose the obsession with finding ‘one model’ of developing

sustainable communities: multiple guises, not one size fits all (could include different urban forms, designs, scales, more local solutions)

• Find solutions focused around agreed principles (of sustainable development: prudent use of resources, equity) but then realise a range of solutions

• Understand that with multiple visions go wide-ranging actions (some top-down, some bottom-up, large and small scale), and these vary in time and scale

What could we do to deliver better quality and quantity?2.Develop a stronger evidence base around

sustainable communities and act on it.

• Monitor what works and what doesn’t

• Much good practice is now just ‘accepted wisdom’, and is not based on learning or evidence

• The are no awards for learning from our mistakes!

Example 1.

Source: Bramley and Power, 2009

Example 2: number of cars owned in ‘sustainable developments’ compared with national averages

%

• But sustainable behaviours increased in high quality environments• And when there were groups of features designed to support sustainable lifestyles

Example 3: study on the relationship between quality and social cohesion

Feature of quality of the built environment

Social interaction

Social networks

Sense of community

P’cipation in org’zed activities

Trust and reciprocity

Feelings of safety

Sense of place

attachment

High residential density weak very weak

Mixed land uses inconc. weak

Accessibility weak

Connectedness and perm’y

Legibility very weak inconc.

Attractiveness medium weak medium

Inclusiveness very weak1 very weak

Maintenance weak fairly weak fairly weak weak fairly weak

Safety weak fairly weak weak very weak

Character inconc. very weak medium inconc. inconc. medium

Perceived quality fairly weak fairly weak fairly strongweak-

medium fairly strong fairly strong

association is positiveassociation is negativeevidence exists but is inconclusive1 sports groups only

Dimension of social cohesion

What could we do to deliver better quality and quantity?3. Develop more sustainable and effective delivery

mechanisms:• Maximise what we CAN do within the current system (learning from good practice

in the UK)• Maximise the variety of public-private partnership models that can be used,

depending on local circumstances (Studdert, 2009)• Ensure committed leadership from individuals or organisations, with medium or

long term aspirations (could be from LA, architects, developer, community, land owner)

• Develop teams with ‘mutual’ interests: often schemes with rental elements do better

• Ensure highly skilled team members • Provide good project management and community engagement: so all

stakeholders involved early enough• BUT: Many good schemes have ‘non-standard’ funding/land ownership etc. – so

models hard to replicate

What could we do to deliver better quality and quantity?4. Learn from places where higher quality and faster housing

delivery works, e.g. mainland European models:• Local authorities have greater local autonomy and financial

independence, and work within more flexible regional planning frameworks : they lead in master planning and engagement

• Local authorities are often landowners (or have some stake in the land) and can therefore demonstrate leadership; they can also borrow money at cheaper rates from municipal banks to forward-fund

• A wider range of house-builders is involved self-procurement groups, private and social landlords, etc. Hence a wider choice of types and tenures of housing, and more long term interests.

• Schemes have local support because of sustained involvement and visible benefits (Studdert, 2009; Falk and Hall, 2009)

Vathorst, Amersfoort NLImages copyright freeimages, Vathorst.com

Conclusions

• It is possible, but very difficult to deliver truly sustainable communities in the UK

• We need people involved who are skilled, more pro-active, confident and visionary

• We need to base our actions on evidence of what works and doesn’t: especially how people want to live!

• We need to focus on quality: would you like to live there?• We need to press for wider changes that move us

towards the benefits of the European models

Conclusions

‘The city is rooted in the habits and customs of the people who inhabit it. The consequence is that the city possesses a moral as well as a physical organisation, and these two mutually interact in characteristic ways to mold (sic) and modify one another’ (Park, 1915)

Publications by Katie Williams and Nicholas Falk

References• CABE (2009) who Should Build Our Homes?, CABE 2009• CLG (2007) Eco-Towns prospectus, www.communities.gov.uk• CLG, (2007) Homes for the Future, www.communities.gov.uk• DEFRA (2006) Sustainable Communities: A shared agenda, a share of the action,

TSO, Norwich• Falk N and Hall P (2009) Why not Here? Town and Country Planning, Jan.• Falk N (2008) Beyond Eco-towns: The Economic Issues, URBED• Falk N (2008) Making Eco-Towns work: Developing Vathorst, Amersfoort NL• Guy S and Marvin S (1999) Understanding Sustainable Cities: Competing Urban

futures, European and Regional Studies, Vol.6, No.3, pp. 268-275• ODPM (2003) Sustainable Communities Plan, www.communities.gov.uk• Park, RE (1915) The City: suggestions for the investigation of human behaviour in

the city environment, The American Journal of Sociology, vol. 20, No 5, pp.577-612.• Williams K (2010) Sustainable Cities, research and practice challenges, International

Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 1(1)• Williams and Lindsay (2007) The Extent and Nature of Sustainable Building in

England: An Analysis of Progress, Planning theory and Practice, 8(1), pp 27-45• Williams K and Dair C (2007) What is Stopping Sustainable Building in England?

Barriers Experienced by Stakeholders in Delivering Sustainable Developments