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Getting the big picture right A guide to large scale urban design

Published in 2010 by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).

Interestingly, we found the best projects contain elements of both local level self-organisation and bigger scale design. For example, in Germany the Emscher Landschaftspark in the Ruhr succeeded inachieving environmental quality and culture-led regeneration with localaction knitted into a broader strategy. Closer to home, Cambridge Futures faced up to large scale challenges, such as finding space for more housing, through a self-organising combination of local authorities, the university and private companies.

CABE has drawn on this best practice to develop new advice about large scale urban design. It is described briefly in this summary and there is a step-by-step online guide on www.cabe.org.uk

One of the most promising features of the new approach is that ituses a creative, workshop-based process to bring all interested parties together to design high-quality solutions. So this is not about micro-level interventions, hoping that they will add up to something that works at large scale. Nor is it about imposing inflexible solutions. Instead it embraces the complexities and uncertainties facing people today. It is a design process that allows people to shape the places they want.

It means operating in different ways. But there are plenty of examples of how we can design places well at a large scale. I hope that this guide will inspire others to create and develop their own good examples to add to the list.

Download the document . . .