Jan Gehl and me recovering from a faux pas in Adelaide
South Australia is producing some great stuff on the future of public policy and on how to transform cities. It is providing a model on how a place can punch above its weight in strategic discussions of international significance while also effecting change in its own back yard . Have a look at the work being produced from the ‘Thinkers in Residence’ programme in Adelaide and by the Integrated Design Commission. My former colleague and always friend John McTernan is the current Thinker in Residence ,though as a top level advisor to Blair I thought of him as a contract killer kind of intellectual. He knew where the bodies were buried because he put them there. I’m a big fan and think that the role of violence in bringing about public change is hugely under-estimated. And yes, I’m kidding,more or less.
The South Australian Integrated Design Commission is the other great initiative worth a serious look. Run by the excellent Tim Horton ,whose glass is never just half full but positively brimming over – optimism is a vital force in urban regeneration in my experience – the IDC has just come to the end of a series of meetings and workshops aimed not just at identifying the best design solutions for the future of Adelaide but how you deliver them. Experienced and long suffering readers of this blog will know that I have a short fuse on the subject of ‘design-led urban regeneration’ if that means ignoring economic realities and how ‘visions’ can be mad real, as is so often the case. I remember the overkill of fact-free masterplanning and reality-lite design guides which flowed from the Urban Task force in the UK. To be fair, the Task Force did have other recommendations other than ‘good design’ but that one thing got focussed on and a lot of paper subsequently flowed. The result? Some better designed buildings and places in towns that still didn’t have any economic rationale and remained dysfunctional. I exaggerate for effect.
The IDC notion of design – to its great credit- embraces an understanding of the economic imperative and driver of change – and the need for delivery tools and vehicles to implement the vision or the design approach – whilst retaining all the planning,design and architecural excellence you’d expect in an organisation so named. Find out about them.
Why the title? Oh, Mr Horton forgot to tell me that the genuinely great – though not always right or applicable in all circumstances- Nordic planning guru Jan Gehl was in the audience when I spoke at an IDC event today. When asked about Comrade Gehl I said ‘I think Jan Gehl is great but in thiscontext I think he’s a miniaturist when what we need is the big picture’. I meant that urban regeneration requires an answer to the question ‘what is the place for and on what economically will it live?’ and that the Gehl approach does not answer that question. It addresses itself to a level of detail below that big picture. But I probably came across as sneering at genius. And then the chair says:’and Jan Gehl, would you like to respond?’! I burbled my appreciation of his ability and then sulked for half an hour….
I still think I’m right of course but civility is always a virtue.It was kind of funny – and at my expense of course , which I’m sure regular readers and indeed friends will appreciate. I’ll get my coat….
