surf scotland's independent regeneration network · pdf filebuilding new streets or...

scotregensharing experience : shaping practice

SURFScotland's Independent Regeneration Network

• Scotland & USA – a different ball game? p4• Social movements of the welfare poor: p5• Health care and ideology: p16

• The politics of poverty: p17• Why playtime matters: p18• A return ticket to degeneration? p20

issue 48 : winter 2009/10

Master-planning is back

Design and architecture in place-making: Special feature p8 -15

scotregen : issue 48 : winter 2009/10/10

A view from the chair

Ian WallSURF Chair

Welcome to the Winter 2009/10 edition of

scotregen.

Rarely can the felicitation of ‘Happy New Year’ have soundedmore questionable. While some politicians and commentatorscontinue to claim sight of elusive ‘green shoots’, like over-optimisticbird spotters of the first cuckoo of spring, most of us remainconcerned about how best to cope with to the long-tail, negativeimpact of unbridled greed and hubris.

Scotregen offers an independent forum for sharing information andviews on how regeneration policy and practice can best help improve

the wellbeing of people and communities struggling with the impact ofpoverty and inequality, even in these difficult times. In this issue, as wellas our host of regular columns on planning, housing, poverty, health;etc. we have a special focus in this issue on architecture and design.This is in response to the revived interest in place-making and master-planning, which is currently sweeping through the regenerationpolicy field.

I hope that some of the articles will be informative and provocative

enough to stimulate further constructive debate on how we can work

together to make 2010 a year of progress towards something more

equitable and sustainable.

Like SURF itself, Scotregen is a collaborative effort, everyone

contributes their views and articles freely. As part of SURF’s extensive

cross sector network, your views and ideas are always welcome, and if

there are other aspects of regeneration you think we should be

looking at in future editions of Scotregen, please just email me at

andymilne(at)scotregen.co.uk

The purpose of this quarterly journal is to use SURF’s

independent position to raise discussion and debate about

important developments in regeneration policy and practice.

Scotregen is part of SURF’s regular output of publications,

events and discussions aimed at supporting more successful

and sustainable regeneration efforts across Scotland.

Editorial

Space to live and grow

One of the dangers of ‘regeneration’ is to give priority to things,especially buildings, rather than to the people; particularly as it isonly life, not things, which can be regenerated.

This is going to be less of a problem in the future as one of theoutcomes of the private sector crisis is that there will be cuts inpublic expenditure which will, as in the past, fall most heavily uponcapital expenditure.

With less capital to spend it will be important to spend it uponprojects that are relatively cheap but provide wide social benefits.Two ways, at least, one new and one old, should come to the fore inthe next period.

The new way is shared space for our streets. In summary,

building new streets or re-engineering existing streets to returnthem to use by people in all their guises and needs; from sitting out,to chatting , to having a kick about or driving off to the shops; thus itincludes cars and peoples use of them, but the streets are designedfor people.

The great social advantages to this are the restoration of acommunal social space and a reduction in traffic accidents. These arethe drivers but the financial benefits are substantial too. New buildrequires less land and has cheaper construction costs. Re-engineering existing streets is not expensive (a mile of motorway willpay for thousands of streets) and the savings in new build can beused to provide this wider community benefit.

An additional bonus is that re-engineering our streets is labourintensive and is thus even more valuable with unemployment risingfast.

The old idea is allotments. There is a national shortage ofallotments, waiting lists are growing all over Scotland yet there is noshortage of public land to meet it. Allotments, designed and built tohigh standards, as all public facilities should be, are very cheap andlend themselves well to training and self help projects. Meeting thisneed brings communities control over part of their environment andin doing so not only strengthens social links, wellbeing and respectbut creates beauty.

As the women textile workers of Lawrence Massachusettsdemanded at the beginning of the 20th century, “Bread and Roses”.

Andy Milne SURF ChiefExecutive

scotregen : issue 48 : winter 2009/10

The Scottish Government and COSLA published the jointstatement ‘Equal Communities in a Fairer Scotland’ inOctober, at the same time as findings from the ScottishIndex of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2009 were released.Here, Stephen White from the Scottish Government’sRegeneration Division outlines the statement and its keymessages.

For the past 30 years, programmes such as New Life for UrbanScotland, Social Inclusion Partnerships and the Community RegenerationFund have worked to address the disparity between our most deprivedareas and the rest of the country.

Excellent work has been done in many communities, and in-roads havebeen made in tackling deprivation and improving life for many. However,we are not complacent and appreciate the challenges that lie ahead.

Release of SIMD 2009 points to relative progress made in Glasgow andother areas, but we still have much to do.

The joint statement and the underpinning principles below confirm theongoing commitment of government at national and local levels totackling socio-economic disparities between geographical communities– using the combined power and influence of all mainstream resources.

“By working in partnership, focusing on long-term outcomes and using ourresources to best effect, the Scottish Government and Local Authorities will

seek to tackle the poverty concentrated in our most deprived communitiesand reduce the inequalities which exist between these communities and therest of Scotland”.

Principles:

• Focus on investment and services that address the root causes oflong-standing concentrated multiple deprivation, not only alleviate itssymptoms;

• Emphasis on making early interventions in vulnerable communitiesto address emerging problems as quickly as possible;

• Encouraging effective joint working between community planningpartners. This should include links to the third and private sectors;

• Focused action on improving employability and linking residents toemployment opportunities as a key means of extending opportunityand tackling high levels of local deprivation;

• Support for community empowerment, so that local communitiesbecome more resilient, can deliver change themselves and influenceand inform the decisions made by community planning partners.

In support of the policy statement, an Action Plan will be published,setting out how we will support policy makers and practitioners. TheAction Plan will be delivered primarily through the establishedCommunity Regeneration and Tackling Poverty Learning Network, inpartnership with COSLA, the Local Government Improvement Service,SURF, Scottish Poverty Information Unit and others.

Equal Communities in a Fairer Scotland:-

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/regeneration/fairer-scotland-fund/equalcomms

Community Regeneration and Tackling Poverty LearningNetwork:-

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/regeneration/pir/learningnetworks/cr

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 09:-

http://www.sns.gov.uk/

Stephen White

Regeneration Team LeaderScottish GovernmentStephen.White2(at)scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Creating Equal Communities

In a time of economic inactivity,dramatic reductions in public spending,rising levels of unemployment andpoverty, the focus of all regenerationefforts should be on practical, pro-activeand co-operative responses to the very realthreat of substantial degeneration across the board.

This key Scottish regeneration event will explore the assets and

resources that are at hand to support and sustain regeneration,

despite the increasingly difficult economic climate and related

challenges.

Be part of the solution. For Scotregen subscribers, furtherinformation about this special event is enclosed in a bookingand information form. Alternatively, details are available fromthe SURF website (www.scotregen.co.uk) or from DerekRankine at SURF (tel:0141 585 6879,email:derek(at)scotregen.co.uk).

SURF members

get a 33% discount

and we can provide

free places for

voluntary community

representatives.

Sustaining and reinventingcommunity regeneration

The 2010 SURF Annual ConferenceEdinburgh 24th and 25th of March


A letter from America

Denys Candy

Facilitator, Trainer andCoach in the CommunityPartners Institute (USA)denys(at)denyscandy.com

Seeking answers in action raised strategic questions: “Whatapproaches would leverage gains in all aspects of our health(economic, physiological, mental, ecological, and socio-cultural)? Howdo we re-energize tired methods of community engagement?” Fromall this, arose an experimental transformative agenda for people,places and organisations.

Dwayne and Myrtle Cooper (he a retired negotiator for theSteelworkers Union) had lived the Hill’s glory days of Black culture,rubbing shoulders with musicians, baseball players, artists, scholarsand entrepreneurs. They raised kids as things went downhill afterdemolition displaced 8,000 people for a “Civic Arena”. DwayneCooper saw a chance to “change the ballgame.” “This will shift howpeople see the place,” he said. Indeed, we have observed perceptionsshifting and the way opening to more sustainable investments in theHill and more nimble methods of organizing and engaging people incommunities everywhere – both of which are enabling conditions foraddressing structural inequality.

Like a bell ringing, Mr. Cooper’s words resound still, “How do wechange the ballgame?”

We do so by clarifying our stance, based on a three-fold approach.

Clarifying our stance• First, we pause outward activity to pay attention to the

environments we inhabit, the overall state of play at home, atwork and in our communities. Other elements also constituteparts of our environment such as our physical presence andpatterns of consumption (food and drink, television, books, theweb and so on). Paying attention is part of stance.

• Second, based on what we learn by pausing, we clarify and adopt(or re-adopt) an attitude and approach. For example, I heard aZen master say that our appetite for violent movies waters seedsof violence and despair in us. Therefore, our patterns ofconsumption can slip out of synch with our values, inadvertentlyfavoring despair over a more positive commitment to thecommon good, defined as equitable distribution of Society’sresources; increases in Gross National Happiness; compassion forthe planet. Pausing to adopt or re-adopt an attitude and approachallows us to re-align our actions with our values.

• Third, we re-enter the realm of action and interaction with others.We all do a lot. I’m not proposing we do more. Rather, that wepractice more awareness of patterns working in us and oursystems and cultivate our capacity for joyful and flexible action inthe face of wicked challenges.

Our stance reflects a response to global and local crises and getsreflected in how we act in the day-to-day. Stance has ethical andenvironmental dimensions and an action orientation, filtering into ourpractice and shaping how we use our skills.

Clarifying a stance is active and reflexive. We hold thequestion, “How does my work align with my values?” therebybegging collegial and managerial questions: “Together, whatdifference are we trying to make?” and “How do we align ourwork practices, time and resources to make it?”

How we answer these questions can influence not just ourteam performance, but our collective quality of life.

Scotregen’s regular USA columnist andinternational community facilitator, Denys Candy,reflects on his recent visit to these shores and howour work in ‘a messy realm’ is informed by our ownviews and values.

A DIFFERENT BALL GAME

On my recent visit to Scotland as a Fellow of the University ofEdinburgh’s Public Policy Network I encountered a network of oldfriends and new colleagues - administrators, researchers, students,community activists, policy-makers and practitioners who share acommon purpose – to re-make Scotland into a better (healthier, moreequitable and happier) place.

But how? I came away noting that:

1) Despite research, policy and practice aiming for healthier outcomes, poverty and inequality persist;

2) The interaction between research, policy-making and practice on the ground is fluid, non- linear;

3) The complexities inherent in regeneration work demand a clear guiding stance toward our work and lives.

Echoing concerns in the USA, one Scot said, “We spent huge energyand money over decades, met 90% of our targets, yet poverty flat-lined.” Why?

Our work in a messy realmIrrespective of our role inside or outside a given system, our workhappens in a messy realm. We often describe research, policy-makingand practice as if they were rational enterprises but the irrationalpermeates each stage. For example, when I tell the story of my workin innovative regeneration, as it plays out in Pittsburgh and its HillDistrict (www.findtherivers.net), I’m placing a retroactive layer ofanalysis and strategy over the narrative. The actual work involvedgenerating and adapting fresh ideas and older concepts intuitively andspeedily. Choices made to move in one direction over another, tofollow this lead rather than that, involved learning from experience,research, trial and error.

One can begin by loosely framing and re-visiting core questions as abridge from practice back to policy and theory. In Pittsburgh we beganwith, ”The city is planning a downtown waterfront so why not re-connect neighbourhoods to the rivers?” However, deeper questionsemerged (historically left hanging by the impact of Urban Renewalpolicies) such as, “How do people and places heal from the trauma ofdemolition and displacement? What if we move beyond fragmentedplanning for housing, commercial development and transportation toview the future of cities through the lens of their physical landscapes?”

Dr Alex Law

Lecturer, Sociology

University of Abertay,Dundeea.law(at)abertay.ac.uk

In the sixth of his regular columns on current andhistorical visions of urban environments, Alex Lawhighlights a striking report on the ‘Contested languageof Neoliberalism’

Unfree labour in New York city

In my day (and evening and weekend) job as a sociologist I get to

read quite a lot of academic writing on urban life and politics.

While some of this can be instructive and even imaginative on

occasion, if I am perfectly honest it can often be formulaic and a

bit of a struggle to wade through. In some ways this is

understandable. It speaks first of all to an academic audience,

often using specialised language that can seem willfully obscure

and impenetrable. Social

science rightly strives for rigour

and objectivity over personal

whims and biases. It should aim

to tell the unvarnished truth

about our cities, without fear

or favour. I should add that this

is an academic ideal, not a fact.

On occasion, an otherwise worthybut dull book on urban sociologywill reveal a genuine flash of insightand inspiration. And urbansociology tends to be a bit morelively than other fields. A book thatpositively quakes with ideas,passion and insight is John Krinsky’sFree Labor: Workfare and theContested Language ofNeoliberalism. OK, the title soundsa bit flat. But, for me at any rate,Krinsky manages to pull off the nighimpossible. Although he is necessarily technical in places, Krinsky analysesthe history of the ‘workfare’ experiment in New York City in an engaging,readable and innovative fashion.

Movements of the poorAs you may know, workfare forces welfare claimants to accept thediscipline of the workplace in return for benefit payments. It was taken upwith gusto by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s administration in New York City.In the process, the distinction between welfare and work becameobscured. It consigned the welfare poor into a grey area, denied regular

employment contracts and union rights while being forced to labourunder duress. Hence Krinsky’s ambivalent title: Free Labour.

Krinsky’s achievement rests in how he manages to demonstrate thatsocial movements of the welfare poor are able to challenge andameliorate even the most unforgiving urban regimes. Workfare wascontested vigorously by an urban coalition of antipoverty activists, cityunions, students, church groups, legal advocates and community

organisations. Campaignersdemanded that education andtraining be recognised as part of thecriteria for workfare, therebymanaging to dilute considerably thepure work-for-welfare modeladvocated by Giuliani and hiscronies.

Bold synthesisKrinsky doesn’t tell a heart-warmingstory of the little guy battling againstCity Hall. Instead, he weavestogether a bold synthesis, drawingon urban sociology, socialmovement studies, linguistics, andpsychology. Through an imaginativeuse of research methods –interviews, observation anddocumentary – he restores theactive, creative element in buildingurban coalitions. Neither does

Krinsky duck the practical problems and dilemmas as differentconstituencies in urban coalitions pull apart in different directions.

In this Krinsky follows in the tradition of other classics in urbansociology like Ira Katznelson’s City Trenches and builds on recentdevelopments on the contested language of urban politics, someof which was pioneered by Chik Collins of this parish in his studyof community partnerships in Paisley. Like Collins, Krinskyreminds us that language is always at stake in political strugglesto define and classify urban realities.

Urban Imaginings 6


“Krinsky manages todemonstrate that social

movements of thewelfare poor are able tochallenge and ameliorateeven the most unforgiving

urban regimes”


In this follow up article, Darryl Gunson responds to theexperts’ comments on his article on Ethics inRegeneration featured in the last issue of Scotregen.

It has been very interesting and illuminating reading theresponses to my article ‘The case for an ethicalapproach to regeneration’ in Scotregen 47, and itcomes as no surprise that everyone is broadly supportiveof the idea that regeneration work is an ethical enterpriseand that there is a role for ethics. As Dave Couslandsuggests, we cannot afford to ignore ethics.

An ethical approach has to be built on shared principles and values. AsIain Stuart comments, many of these may be obvious and thecommitment to values such as fairness and honestly, trust,accountability, and respect, may well be part of everyday ethical life.Other principles or values such as “empowerment” and “sustainability”that Jacqui Watt refers to may be more specific to the field. But,whatever the basic values and principles in the regeneration field, theyshould be the upshot of broad ranging discussions and debates betweenthose within the field, including those who are most affected byregeneration projects. This, in my view, is the basis for an ethicalapproach.

Common groundThe point of establishing common ground is to provide a frameworkthat acts as a reference point for what counts as ethical behaviour,including the behaviour of Government, consultants, volunteers andothers in the field. By reference to such a framework it will be possibleto ethically evaluate regeneration activity. Projects can be assessedaccording to whether or not they are conducted in accord with theagreed principles of the field and whether they embody its values.

Raising this question of ethics now does not imply that all regenerationwork has been unethical. Such an implication would, as Martin Stepeknotes, be quite “astonishing”. But, what would be equally astonishing isif people thought that the ethical record of the regeneration field wasbeyond reproach. Of course, many in the field already conductthemselves in accordance with the ethical guidelines of their ownprofession, and many others who have no such professional guidelinesobserve the common standards of ethical behaviour in everyday life. Butthat may not be enough. We can agree that “morality needsconsistency”, but we should also note that moral consistency requiresthat all understand the core values and principles that define the ethicsof regeneration and endeavor to act in accordance with them.

Government must, of course, be part of any way forward with respectto regeneration. But let us not be so naïve as to think that it has aperfect track record when it comes to doing what is in the interests ofthe poor and marginalised in society. If it had, then perhaps we wouldnot be discussing these matters now. At any rate, the kind of ethicalapproach advocated here involves articulating the values and principlesthat should inform work in the field. By doing this it provides itself withthe tools to critically appraise itself, and Government should not beexempt from this.

So, the real implication of raising the question of ethics in this way and atthis time is simply that there has been no serious attempt to define whatthe core values and principles of the regeneration field are.

Moral communitiesJim Rafferty also asks “who gets to define the right thing?” I wouldanswer that the values that inform such judgments should reflect theviews of the regeneration field as a whole, not just Government orother sub-parts. This does not mean that individual responsibility will beundermined, simply because individual ethical judgment will always berequired as to how the principles apply in particular contexts.

He also says that “the core of ethical behaviour lies at the individuallevel”, but this is only partly true. Of course, it is individual people thatdo, or do not, engage in ethical behaviour, but we do not invent theprinciples and values that inform our judgments by ourselves, andneither are individuals the final arbiters of what is right or wrong. Thesource of our values and the interpretation of them owes as much tothe existence of moral communities as it does to the solitary conscienceof individuals. So, yes morality does require consistency, but leaving it upto individuals to ‘go it alone’ is not the way to achieve it.

Whether people wish to take the next step will depend onwhether or not they see any value in such an approach. I tried todescribe what that value might be. There seem to be many forwhom an ethical approach does have value. If so, a crucial nextstep is to start the debate about the values of regeneration. The pages of this journal are a good place to begin.

Dr Gunson’s original article and the experts’ commentsfeatured in Scotregen 47, available from the ‘KnowledgeCentre’ of the SURF website at www.scotregen.co.uk.

Dr Darryl Gunson

Lecturer, Social SciencesUniversity of the West ofScotland

darryl.gunson(at)uws.ac.uk

An ethical response

Planning Aid for Scotland is a unique and independentnational organisation that helps people to engage in theplanning process. In their latest regular Scotregen column,Petra Biberbach notes the responsibilities we all share inplanning our collective future.

Planning Aid for Scotland was established as an independent national

charity in 1993 with the aim of promoting people engagement with

planning, and has recently been at the forefront of educating about

planning reform. Like many charities, Planning Aid for Scotland grew out

of the voluntary sector and previous hard work of dedicated individuals

who recognised the need for a free and impartial planning advice

service. It then diversified to deliver practical training seminars such as

Planning for People, Planning to Act® and peopleplaces; and continues to

be a volunteer-led organisation today, with 9 full-time staff, and over 240

volunteer qualified planners who give their own time to deliver training

events, assist with research projects or provide planning advice.

The real challenge in countering current negative perceptions of the

planning system lies in the myth that planning is all about promoting

development at any cost. Planning has to balance between often

strongly competing demands and has to finally justify why one, possibly

imperfect, option is preferred to the other. Because of its quasi-legal

status engaging with planning is more complex than any other form of

community engagement and often requires the facilitating role which

Planning Aid for Scotland fulfils.

Main Issues

In terms of development plans preparation, the Government is

expecting local authorities to focus on early and innovative consultation;

equally, individuals and community groups are being encouraged to put

forward their ideas about the future of their area in ‘Main Issues Report’

consultations (the first stage of development plan preparation),

alongside commercial developers. The annually published Development

Plan Scheme will set out a timetable of what is happening when; and

include a participation statement outlining what consultation will take

place.

In terms of development management (the process by which planning

application are assessed) the reformed system designates a three tier

hierarchy of developments; national (e.g. new Forth crossing); major

(e.g. more than 50 houses); and local (all other applications).

Prospective applicants for national and major proposals will be required

to undertake pre-application consultation - a minimum of one public

event to inform the local community, all affected community councils,

and all other interested parties of their proposals, and to hear their

views. While there is no requirement to incorporate all or any of the

opinions expressed - only to demonstrate in a report that meaningful

consultation has taken place – might this represent a step-change where

developers begin to value more fully the benefits of early community

engagement and of taking the local community with them as part of the

process?

As reform is rolled out, it seems that the Scottish Government is looking

for a different, and more mature, engagement with planning from all

stakeholders. Perhaps it is time to reflect on why we have our planning

system in the first place, what it has achieved; and to re-examine our

own responsibilities within it and what we want it to deliver for

ourselves and successive generations. We drive competing demands

fuelled by our lifestyle choices and personal values. If supporting green

energy in principle but objecting to the location of wind turbines in

practice, or having a mobile phone but not wanting a mobile phone mast

next to our house, are well worn examples of the challenge of engaging

with planning, they are also reminders that planning, ultimately, has to

be about the bigger picture and our collective future.

www.planningaidforscotland.org.uk

Planning Aid for Scotland Helpline: 0845 603 7602

Petra BiberbachChief ExecutivePlanning Aid for Scotland

petra(at)planningaidscotland.org.uk

Planning the Bigger Picture


Get connectedjoin SURF

SURF’s cross-sector membership is the backbone of its work.Become a SURF member and get:

• A guaranteed 33% discount on SURF seminars conferences, and study visits.

• Advance notice of all of our events.

• A complimentary invitation to SURF’s Annual Lecture and a free copy of the speech.

• Priority access to our programme of Open Forums

• Information on SURF’s annual Regeneration Awards for best practice and reduced rates for the Awards presentation dinner.

• Copies of our quarterly Scotregen journal sent directly to you and your key colleagues.

• Access to our members’ library of SURF publications and reports on our Website.

Get connected to a truly independent and informednetwork of regeneration organisations and individuals.Your support will help SURF to continue to be an effectivecatalyst for improving all our efforts to create successfuland sustainable communities across Scotland.

To find out more and for a form to join SURF, visit our web site atwww.scotregen.co.uk or contact Andy Milne directly by calling0141 585 6848 or email him at andymilne(at)scotregen.co.uk.

Architecture & Design in Re

As part of this issue’s focus on the role of design and architecture in regeneration, Diarmaid Lawlor ofArchitecture & Design Scotland makes the links between successful design and sustainable communities.

Is design a luxury? There is an idea that it is. This is the idea ofdesign as material, details, gimmicks and gizmos. In many casesthese elements can be a luxury, not a necessity. If we think aboutthe word “necessary”, we may think about words like health,housing education and jobs. How necessary then is design? In achanging landscape of economics and public sector resourcesthis is an important question.

At the root of design is a very simple principle, to provide for people. Toproduce places that work for people and enable people to make choicesabout the life they want to lead, their way. This raises an interestingdilemma – how do you create something physical that is fixed, study andlong lasting, but which is flexible at the same time? This is a problem ofdesign.

The Russian Doll Principle The simplest building thatenables people to make choicesis the house. Personalisationtransforms a house into a home.This environment of confidenceenables people to make somechoices; when the house isconnected to the community andthe system of theneighbourhood, additionalchoices open up. When theneighbourhood is connected tothe town as a whole, even morechoices are available. It’s theRussian doll principle. Everythingis connected, and the moreconnection there is, the morechoice there is. Theseconnections, physical, social andcultural, happen either byaccident or by design. If it is bydesign, it’s about decision-makingworking with the rightingredients at the right time toallow lots of possibilities to

emerge. Fundamentally, it is about joining things up, making sense of acomplex environment to enable confident choices.

“This is not how we do things around here”. Too often, instead of joined-up thinking, we think only about theindividual bits and pieces that make places; housing, schools, heath, allindividually. Too often better design in this context means expensivematerials, complex details, gadgets and gizmos. This is the idea thatsuggests an ordinary house with a windmill is sustainable. It’s not. It’san ordinary house with a windmill. To think sustainably we need tothink about what happens when you open your door in the morning.Where are the health facilities, the schools, and the amenities and howdo you get there? What are your choices, your ordinary every day,necessary choices and how does your physical environment help?

Creative solutionsIn a changed economic landscape, we need to think more aboutjoining up the parts, linking individual investments in health, schoolsand housing. We need to be more creative about how to achieve asense of place with basic ingredients which are well combined andwhich meet the challenges of climate change. Design as a process ofwell informed decision-making is crucial. In this context, less is notmore; more and better design is more value. It is necessary. It is achallenge. Let’s meet it.

Diarmaid Lawlor

Head of Urbanism

Architecture & Design Scotland

diarmaid.lawlor(at)ads.org.uk


Design. Who Needs It?


generation - a special Scotregen feature

Professor Catherine Ward Thompson

ResearcherThe I’DGO Consortium

idgo(at)eca.ac.uk

I’DGO (Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors) is aninnovative Edinburgh-based research consortium builtaround a core group of academic researchers. Prof.Catherine Ward Thomas, one of the key researchers, hereoutlines the need for urban design developers to considerthe needs of older people.

There is growing evidence that well-designed outdoor spacesenhance long-term personal health and wellbeing. At I’DGO, ouraim is to examine what this means for older people and theirday-to-day quality of life. When we think about lifelong access tooutdoor environments, we place older people at the heart of thesustainability and regeneration agendas. But does the latest‘best practice’ in regeneration design really meet the needs of allusers?

The first phase of I'DGO, which involved over 750 people aged 65+,found that many face significant problems in accessing outdoorenvironments. These range from a lack of pleasant spaces and well-maintained amenities to fears about crime and traffic safety. Physicalfeatures may not be the sole barriers to access, but they oftencompound personal limitations and social circumstances. A physicalenvironment that helps make it easy and enjoyable to go out can have acrucial influence on older people’s physical and social activity levels andthe ability to live independently.

Progress on the next phase of research, I’DGO TOO, is well underwayand we have recently submitted our ‘mid-term report’ to theEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. This focuses on thework of three leading research centres: the Edinburgh-basedOPENspace; SURFACE at Salford, and the Oxford Institute forSustainable Development. Our research is closely tied to ‘real world’sites across the UK. Methods include interviews, activity diaries andactivity monitors, as well as street audits, behavioural observations andquestionnaires.

One of the key areas in which current best practice may present bothbenefits and barriers to older people is in the design of pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods. Here the focus is on transforming residentialstreet environments into ‘shared spaces’, where pedestrians andvehicles have an equal share of the road space. The idea is to strike abalance between quality of life and local traffic flow. Home Zones, whichoriginated in The Netherlands in the 1970s, are probably the most well-known way of achieving such ideals.

‘Shared spaces’ are brought about through the physical alteration of thepublic realm to enhance the pedestrian experience – such as throughplanting and street furniture – and to calm vehicular traffic at the sametime. The OPENspace element of I’DGO TOO is looking specifically athow such interventions influence older people’s activity patterns. Ourlongitudinal study is the first of its kind in this subject area, in that itfocuses on participants’ experience before and after environmentalchanges are made.

I’DGO’s many partners have identified a number of planned HomeZones, or other ‘shared space’ developments, coming on stream in2009; Sustrans, a sustainable transport charity, has been particularlyhelpful. However, Scotland generally lacks retro-fit schemes – projectsinvolving improvements to existing streets. Therefore, for the Scottishcontext, we have used an alternative approach, talking to participantsliving in ‘conventional’ streets who are about to move into new-buildhomes in nearby ‘shared space’ developments, such as the PARCscheme in Craigmillar.

From the data collected so far – during the ‘before’ part of the study –patterns are already beginning to emerge. In line with what we learnedin the first phase of I’DGO, participants seem to place great importanceon being outdoors, whether alone or for social purposes. While people’sactivity levels vary considerably, they do not seem to relate to the age ofthe participant, with many people aged 85+ remaining actively engagedin outdoor hobbies. The ‘after’ part of the study will determine if suchactivities are enhanced by ‘shared space’ settings and seek to identifyparticular design features which make a difference to older people’soutdoor experiences.

Further information:For further information on the I’DGO TOO project, including ourmid-term report in full, please visit www.idgo.ac.uk. Details of other OPENspace projects can be found atwww.openspace.eca.ac.uk.

Outdoor Environments for the Elderly



Alistair Scott

DirectorSmith Scott Mullan Associates

mail(at)smith-scott-mullan.co.uk

Edinburgh based architects, Smith Scott Mullan Associates,are currently involved in two of Scotland’s six URC areasand have a growing portfolio of waterfront projects. Theytherefore decided to research the recent developments atHammarby Sjostad in Stockholm and Vastra Hamnen inMalmo. In this special article for Scotregen, SSM directorAlistair Scott looks at Hammarby in terms of planning,design and delivery as well as outlining a challenge for theScottish development and regeneration community.

We Scots draw many comparisons with our Nordic neighbours as

parallels of climate and culture make these countries good reference

points for our aspirations. Edinburgh, for example, was one of 10 North

Sea coastal cities studied in the 2007 Waterfront Communities Project.

Hammarby Sjostad is a current leading-edge example of waterfront

development from which we can learn on a wide range of topics.

Stockholm is currently expanding its 1.2 million population through hi-

tech and knowledge-based industries, directed by a strong political,

academic and industrial consensus. The city was unified physically in the

1980s by bridge and tunnel projects, linking the various islands. Their

2004 Olympics bid (Athens actually won it) was the catalyst to use

derelict industrial land, to create a new urban quarter.

Hammarby is a large development of around 200 hectares and has

created a new community where 26,000 people live and 10,000 work.

Comparable with projects such as Edinburgh or Glasgow’s waterfront

regeneration, it is a highly integrated mix of residential, retail, social and

economic uses and has a total cost of around 4.6 billion euros.

As a place, Hammarby offers a highly attractive lifestyle. It has a

waterfront setting and a great deal of care has been taken to maximise

access and views of the lake and there appears to be a good mix of age

groups and economic status.. It is constructed of apartment buildings

typically of six-storeys, organised with wide streets that provide

landscaped space for play and recreation.

Although this is a high density development, every element of open

space has been highly designed for people. All the apartments have

balconies, all the buildings have lifts and the semi-private areas provide

ample green space for bringing up families. Cars are present but they

are stored communally and the high density and good public transport

means their use is limited. Shops are within apartment buildings and you

do not see the single storey, car surrounded supermarket, so ubiquitous

in the UK. Government agencies take a similar approach and no one

seems to see a problem with a primary school sharing a building with

shops and apartments.

Environmental Objectives

The environmental objectives were part of the early project aspirations.

In addition to compact buildings, high insulation standards and

contributions from solar power, the key strategy is one of district

heating. As a result heating water is delivered to all the buildings in the

way we would receive gas, electricity or domestic water, creating an

extremely energy efficient basic solution.

Furthermore, much of the domestic waste is used for the generation of

energy. A highly impressive system is in place with three tubes (one for

organic waste, one for combustible and one for newspaper) located

outside each entrance. The residents place their waste in these tubes

and a vacuum system then sucks the waste at 40mph to the centralised

recycling depot!

Not an Eco Village

This concern with linking sustainability to lifestyle informs all parts of the

project and provides a common objective that helps bind the

HAMMARBY – LEADING BY DESIGN



community together. Water is metered, initiatives to encourage

sustainable travel are abundant and the buses are run on bio-gas.

Interestingly, one of the

initial objectives was to

clearly define Hammarby as

not being an “eco village”.

It was specifically

conceived as being a

“normal” piece of city,

where residents could live

a normal lifestyle and

where contributions to environmentalism did not require major lifestyle

changes.

Of key interest to us is how this was achieved. Sweden has general

political commitment to social equality and environmentalism and a

consensual approach to issues such as Planning and transport provision

at a local level. The city owned much of the land and set the overall

aspirations through a masterplan, while control over public transport,

power and water allowed these to be easily integrated. There were 30

private sector developers involved, all of whom signed up to the overall

quality aspirations and have appeared to stick to that agreement.

Swedes spend a large proportion of their earnings on accommodation

and the price of a private apartment is around £400,000. Thus the

development is essentially funded through creating a high quality place

that people pay to live in. There is no system of “social housing” in

Sweden, the city owns accommodation for rent and systems of rent

subsidy are applied.

City Making

Referring to Hammarby as “regeneration” is not strictly accurate,

classifying it as “city-making” would be more appropriate. It does not

attempt to revive a declining community, but builds a complete new

neighbourhood, appropriate to all. In the UK, our public agencies tend

to focus on improving existing neighbourhoods while our private sector

creates separate new ones. Hammarby is like Scotland building a totally

new piece of city, such as Morningside in Edinburgh or Woodlands in

Glasgow.

Our parting thoughts on Hammarby were almost exclusively positive

and it should be a standard visit for all aspiring politicians, planners and

everyone else within the development and regeneration community.

ALISTAIR’S CHALLENGE FOR SCOTLAND Can Scotland create a leading example of a new piece of city, a

place people would visit to see how the best is produced? We have

a number of good attempts and many current policies aim in that direction,

but we need to focus on some frustratingly elusive issues in order to get

up with the best.

• We need to focus on the quality of the place, rather than believingthat if we set up a complex enough process, a good qualityenvironment must surely follow.

• We need serious political champions at project level, to bringtogether teams of the best people and cut across the raft ofconflicting organisational agendas.

• We need to have confidence in long term planning. It is the onlyway we can provide the infrastructure required.

• Government needs to take a more active role in city making. Theprivate sector is vital, but the aspirations and the delivery of many ofthe elements are civic in nature.

My suggestion is to identify perhaps four “special waterfront

projects” in the Scottish maritime cities. Assemble four different

teams from public and private sectors and ask them to use the

basic structure and aspirations of the Hammarby model to create

four exemplary new neighbourhoods of about 5000 people. The

result would give us a model for future developments and show

the rest of Europe that the Scots are coming.

Any comments on this, or any other, Scotregen article are always

welcome – please email andymilne(at)scotregen.co.uk.



Ian Manson, Chief Executive of the Clyde Gateway UrbanRegeneration Company, outlines his plans for building onthe area’s proud industrial, community and architecturalheritage.

Clyde Gateway is the name given to an area that includes a large part of

the East End of Glasgow, including Bridgeton, Dalmarnock and

Parkhead, together with Rutherglen and Shawfield in South Lanarkshire.

These communities were once densely populated by skilled local

workers employed in the sorts of industries that brought prosperity to

the West of Scotland and which made immense contributions to the

local, regional and national economies. It is no secret that the area has

experienced a painful and long-term decline over the past four decades

or so – but now, with the imminent completion of the M74 Motorway

and Glasgow hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the conditions

are right to begin to revive their fortunes and for the Clyde Gateway

area to become an industrial and business powerhouse once again.

Our initial work and activities have been directed by an Operating Plan

covering the period 2008-11, containing some £77m of expenditure, the

majority of which will be spent on site assembly, infrastructure and

development in key locations. By the end of March 2009, we had

already acquired more than 20 hectares of land (some 50% of our 2012

target), and work is now underway in readying these for development,

including a major new Business Park on London Road close to the

extended M74.

We have also spent considerable sums of money on skills and training

initiatives for local residents, including 16 fully-funded trade

apprenticeships in partnership with City Building (Glasgow) and plans

are in hand for the creation of a further 34 dedicated places with

another major construction firm.

Clyde Gateway has an approach which puts an equal importance on

physical, social and economic change. We have held many discussions

with local residents and there is no question in their minds that bringing

jobs, training and employment opportunities back to the East End and

South Lanarkshire has to be the top priority.

But there is also a recognition among local residents that the image,

perception and look of the area has to undergo a dramatic change if

Clyde Gateway is to enjoy sustained success in attracting new investors

to the area.

Building on the past – investing in the future

So far Clyde Gateway has led on the delivery of two local environmental

improvements that will be completed by the end of 2009, while a third,

located in the most prominent location within our boundaries, will be on

site over the winter and due for completion in mid-2010. In addition, a

prominent landmark building which has been derelict for 16 years has

been purchased with a promise that we will be bring it back into public

use.

All of these physical changes came about as a result of Clyde Gateway

undertaking extensive community consultations and finding out what

sort of improvements were wanted locally, and we have avoided any

accusations of wasting valuable resources on schemes that no one

wanted.

• In Rutherglen we were told that the railway station, being tucked

away down a side street felt disconnected from the town, and also

that some residents felt there were safety and security concerns at

the main entrance. Our investment of just over £2m will see a

range of improvements including pedestrianised areas, changes to

the station entrance, new artworks and improved customer

services with real time rail information on Main Street.

• In Bridgeton, local residents had lobbied for many years to have a

derelict but important piece of ground brought back into use.

Situated between Tullis Street and Landressy Place, and overlooked

by a number of new flats and houses built over the past 10 years,

the ground was a former cemetery closed as far back as 1870 when

land in and around Bridgeton began to be heavily developed for

Ian Manson

Chief Executive,Clyde Gateway.

gatewayenquiries(at)drs.glasgow.gov.uk

Artist’s Impression oftransformed BridgetonCross Umbrella



industrial uses. Our investment of £315,000 created the Tullis

Street Memorial Gardens incorporating a new layout complete with

top-quality landscaping, planting and lighting, while repairs to the

historical boundary wall and entrances incorporated new artworks

that tell the story of the cemetery and its significance to the

Bridgeton community.

Having gained the confidence of local residents with the initial two

improvements, Clyde Gateway has just embarked on its most ambitious

and high profile physical changes so far with its work to completely

transform the historic Bridgeton Cross, famed for its A-listed structure

known locally as the Umbrella. New paving will be laid down, while new

street furniture, bus shelters and planters will be installed, along with

the removal and replacement of existing trees that overshadow the

area. There will be a memorial to Robert Burns in recognition of the

historical existence of the Bridgeton Burns Club, one of the oldest in the

world dating back to 1870. But the centrepiece will be a full restoration

of the Umbrella - originally a covered meeting place with octagonal cast-

iron shelter and clock standing at the junction of seven streets and gifted

to the city in 1875 – once again able to stand proud as a symbol of pride

and achievement in the very heart of the community.

And on the back of that work, Clyde Gateway has also again listened to

the views of local people and purchased the B-listed Olympia Building

which overlooks Bridgeton Cross with the long-term aim of refurbishing

it and finding a way for it to serve the needs of the community and its

residents. Originally opened in 1911, it served the area for more than 80

years as a theatre, cinema and bingo hall before being sold to a private

developer. It has lain unused since 1993 and indeed suffered substantial

fire damage in 2004.

Having bought the building, thanks to support from the Scottish

Government’s Town Centres Regeneration Fund, Clyde Gateway is

looking at spending as much as £9m with possible uses including new

sports facilities to complement the NISA and Velodrome being built

nearby as new venues associated with the 2014 Commonwealth

Games, along with quality office and ancillary spaces for small local

businesses and services, such as a café/restaurant.

All of these physical regeneration projects have been designed and

delivered hand-in-hand with the local communities with a strong local

buy-in to what we are doing. This approach is one that we will follow as

we embark on further key developments across our area, be it new

offices, business parks, housing proposals, sustainable urban drainage

systems, roads and infrastructure improvements and the like.

A proud legacy

Clyde Gateway can best attain success by creating a legacy that

local people feel part of. This legacy has to be constructed with

their support and their involvement at all levels. Failed efforts from

days of old have left many local people suspicious and indeed cynical

of plans and proposals on paper. Clyde Gateway is determined not

to repeat mistakes of not delivering on its promises, and our efforts

thus far have led to local people and businesses getting right behind

us and acknowledging that we provide a genuine ‘once in a lifetime’

opportunity to make a difference. In short, they believe us when we

say that what we are doing really is a whole new approach to

regeneration. It’s now up to us to deliver.



As part of our special feature on the key role ofArchitecture and Design in regeneration, the ScottishGovernments Chief Architect, Ian Gilzean, reflects on 40years of design and the key roll of communities inregeneration.

ARCHITECTURE, URBANISM AND REGENERATION

Our cities, towns and places are in a constant process of change

and renewal but, since the early 70s, the process of regeneration

in Scotland has been gathering new and sustained momentum.

The development of a concerted approach to regeneration has

underpinned a great deal of public and private sector investment

as well as being a major factor in many other cross-cutting policy

agendas over the past 40 years.

The move away from

the comprehensive

regional planning of

the post-war era

coincided with

growing architectural

interest in the

concept of ‘city

making’ and urban

design based on more

traditional street

patterns. In the 1980s

in Glasgow, in

common with post-

industrial revival

abroad in cities such

as Rotterdam and, in

particular, in the IBA

project in Berlin, we saw the emergence of post-modern urbanism

which was marked by a rediscovery of the importance of the ‘city’. The

regeneration of Ingram Square in Glasgow’s Merchant City, by architect-

led developer Kantel, is a good example of urban intensification with a

renewed focus on the public realm. The regeneration of existing

heritage, the reuse of existing facades, new infill, and greater focus on

the importance of the courtyard are hallmarks of the kind of mixed use

regeneration which has brought a new community into the heart of

Glasgow’s city centre. Individually, buildings express their period, but

the cohesion of the ‘city’ fabric and public realm is more important. This

emphasis on the

public realm has

been a key

feature in

regeneration

projects across

Scotland and, in

Dundee for

example, this has

been

underpinned by a

strong emphasis

on public art.

Restoring the community fabric

The ‘rehabilitation’ of many traditional tenemental areas had already

begun slightly earlier, and this was led mainly by local community-based

housing associations carrying out redevelopment with ‘grant’ assistance.

The reestablishment of the traditional tenemental form as a valid

building typology provided a valuable tool to stitch back the fabric of

many communities and, as this work moved on, new build

contemporary versions of the traditional tenement began to emerge.

This was the basis on which larger scope regeneration projects such as

the Crown Street in the Gorbals were later developed. Crown Street

was based on a Piers

Gough masterplan

which reintroduced a

traditional street plan

into the area. Within

this plan, the

tenement was again

employed as a valid

method of housing as

well as a means of

‘city making’.

Pioneering

communities

The direct

involvement of

communities was a

key feature of the

early regeneration

projects of the 70s

and 80s, and this led to the establishment of new forms of architectural

practice in order to respond to demands for technical aid and assistance.

The pioneering work of ASSIST Architects was pivotal in demonstrating

Ian GilzeanChief Architect

Architecture and Place DivisionScottish Government

ian.gilzean(at)scotland.gsi.gov.uk

EDI’s Tron Nursery, good design in historic Edinburgh

Crown Street, Gorbals, Glasgow

Public art in Gorbals



the scope for tenements to be repaired and reworked on plan, with

basic amenities such as kitchens and internal bathrooms introduced into

the floor plans. Community-led regeneration was also a key feature of

initiatives to tackle the

problems of isolation,

lack of social

infrastructure and poor

quality housing

common in many of

the post-war

peripheral schemes

such as Easterhouse,

Drumchapel and

Wester-Hailes. I was personally involved in two of these initiatives.

In the early 80s I worked within the Wester-Hailes community’s own

Design Unit where, on meagre resources, a new set of community

facilities were developed using and converting reclaimed temporary

class room units. I was also involved in a design unit based in

Drumchapel in the early 90s, which was one of a number of community

run services run under the auspices of the Drumchapel Initiative.

Catalytic Transformation

The large tracts of brownfield derelict land resulting from the decline

and closure of traditional industries have provided major opportunities

for regeneration, and the rehabilitation and revitalisation of many post-

industrial buildings and complexes (such as Stanley Mills in Perth) has

been a key design challenge over the past 30 years. From 1994, the

availability of capital funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the

Scottish Arts Council has acted as a catalyst for many projects of this

nature, including Richard Murphy’s Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA).

Built on the site of a former garage, DCA has been a major factor in

transforming the cultural standing of the city.

In Edinburgh, the success of new interventions in the old town fabric –

similar to the concept of ‘conservative surgery’ promoted by Patrick

Geddes in the late 1800s - has brought new life and activity to historic

closes. Much of this activity has been focused on the Canongate area on

the former brewery site masterplanned by John Hope, culminating in

the construction of the Scottish Parliament. There have been many

successful examples of this approach from architects like Malcolm

Fraser (Dance Base) and Richard Murphy (Fruitmarket Gallery) which

provide dramatic contrasts between the historic fabric and new

contemporary interventions. Another project which exemplifies the

Geddes approach is the Cowgate Under 5s Centre by Allan Murray

Architects.

Since devolution in 1999, ‘regeneration’ has continued to play a

significant part in Government policy and strategy. Much of the effort

over this period has been channelled through the establishment of 6

Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs) to push forward an holistic

approach to regeneration. This approach considers jobs, housing, public

space, heritage, public art, education and skills and mixed uses in a co-

ordinated

manner. Real

progress has

been made in

the early

established

URCs in

Clydebank,

Craigmillar and

Raploch.

Visionary,

design-led

masterplanning is at the heart of their success. Two of these URCs –

Raploch in Stirling and PARC Craigmillar - have been selected as

exemplar projects as part of the Government’s Scottish Sustainable

Communities Initiative (SSCI). The Government has provided significant

funding for the regeneration of our town centres - and bringing vacant

and derelict land back into productive use contributes to the

Government's Purpose of increasing sustainable economic growth. Most

recently, the Government launched the Town Centre Regeneration

Fund, a new £60m capital fund available to town centres and local high

streets from April 2009 to March 2010. By empowering and engaging

communities, the talent and creative potential of local people can be

realised to deliver successful solutions to local challenges. Three learning

networks connect people involved in community regeneration, towns

and high streets, or mixed communities to good practice in

regeneration. A key issue is the development of the skills and capacity to

deliver successful regeneration as well the resources to do so.

A challenging future

Significant regeneration challenges remain. The Danish urbanist Jan Gehl

once said that it takes 100 years to make a community - 40 years on

from the first tenement rehabs, we have come along way. However,

many projects now branded as ‘regeneration’ provide little more than

property development on brownfield land, and the credit crunch has

made recent models of public/private partnership much harder to

deliver. In addition, we need to address the challenges of climate change

and the need to reduce CO2 emissions. Successful sustainable places

with mixed use, walkable, neighbourhoods are recognised as helping to

deliver other policy benefits, for example, in encouraging healthier

lifestyles. What is clear from my own experience over the past 30 years

is that regeneration which is not genuinely community based, or well

planned and designed, stands a much

reduced chance of providing the successful sustainable places to which

we all aspire.

Drumchapel, Glasgow, underconstruction in the 1950sMalcolm Fraser’s Dance Base,

Grassmarket, Edinburgh


Dr Stirling Howieson of the University ofStrathclyde is interested in numbers. Fromunderstanding the ‘big bang’ to managing yourcredit card repayments, numbers hold the key toeverything. Here, in his regular Scotregen column,he offers some more interesting figures…

17.6% - Did Jesus have BUPA? The remarkably vicious debate surrounding possible changes to

healthcare delivery in

the USA is essentially

ideological in nature.

On one side we have

the free ‘marketeers’

underwritten by

billions of private

healthcare dollars, on

the other, we have a

reforming President

trying to deliver

healthcare to 75

million of his citizens

who have either no

insurance or are under insured. For this group getting sick is not an

option and a serious illness will result, more often than not, in

bankruptcy and/or destitution.

Those who can afford health insurance in the US - and by any standards

it is expensive ($14 000 per annum for a family of 4) - worry that their

exclusivity will suffer if 75 million additional bums on waiting room

seats are suddenly offered access to ‘their’ hospitals and medics. The

lobbyists are now up to ramming speed and their political

representatives are pulling out all the stops to defend the vested

interests of ‘big pharma’ and private hospitals. Sarah Palin - a woman

who came disturbingly close to the office of Vice President – has

described our own NHS as "evil". This of course is testable. We simply

need to check our nurses for cloven hoofs.

There are however, a few more sophisticated arguments being floated.

The US has an admirable bunch of economists doing some very clever

analysis, manipulating large data sets in innovative and creative ways.

When it comes to the health care debate however these economists -

who in the main believe cost benefit analysis is the way to resolve all

issues - have a serious numerical problem. Let me explain by exposing

the vagaries of the US car insurance market. To have your car insured

in Philadelphia costs on average $3600 per annum for a married man

over 25. This is over 6 times what we pay in Britain. So what is

happening to make US car insurance so damned expensive?

Philadelphians like most US citizens have the ‘freedom’ to drive around

uninsured. If you are unlucky enough to be hit by one of these

‘cowboys’ your only course of redress is to sue, but this can be a

tortuous and often futile exercise. The insured drivers comprehensive

cover has thus to allow for the relatively high likelihood of such a

scenario, resulting in much higher insurance premiums. Of course, as

premiums rise, the less affordable they become for the poorer driver,

and a mutually reinforcing feedback loop will develop. The parallels

with healthcare are inescapable.

In the UK, because

the state has taken

away this personal

‘freedom’ (or more

accurately has chosen

to stop people

behaving

irresponsibly)

premiums are much

lower, as the risk

burden is shared out

more equitably,

resulting in universal

benefit.

In 2009 the US is predicted to spend 17.6% of their GDP on

healthcare ($2.5 trillion). In the UK the figure is circa 8%. The NHS,

with all its imperfections, offers universal healthcare for half the GDP

per head. Sure, there is real and measurable excellence in the US, but

such little ‘islands’ are surrounded by seas of despair. These are the

crucial numbers that must drive healthcare reform in the States and

why we should keep the ‘free’ market out of the NHS.

As to the squalid hubris of Palin, let me quote from the prophet (as

opposed to profit) describing the actions of one unemployed joiner,

"He entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying

and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers

and the benches of those selling health care insurance”

Mathew 21:12:13

Jesus did not have BUPA!

The Numbers Game

Dr Stirling Howieson

Senior Lecturer, Architecture

University of Strathclyde

s.howieson(at)strath.ac.uk

There is real and measurableexcellence in the US, but

such ‘islands’ are surroundedby a sea of despair.


All Together Against Poverty?In the latest of a regular series of columns from thePoverty Alliance, Director Peter Kelly explorespoverty’s position on modern political agendas.

It was no so long ago that to mention of the Conservative Party

and ‘poverty‘ would have brought to mind Peter Lilley’s infamous

‘I have a little list’ conference speech in 1992 or Margaret

Thatcher’s insistence of their being no such thing as society,

‘merely individuals and families’. The content of David

Cameron’s recent Hugh Young Lecture speech, in which he

focused on the need to mend the ‘broken society’, is a sign of

how far political debate in this country regarding poverty has

changed. Poverty and inequality are now firmly on the agenda of

all political parties in a way that would not

have been conceivable 20 years ago.

Causes and Consequences

There is doubt that this is a good thing. The lack of

genuine debate in the 1980s about poverty, was

one of the factors that allowed it to slip down the

political agenda. The issue was kept alive by the

efforts of hundreds of organisations and thousands

of activists in the 1980s and 1990s. But we also

have the post 1997 Labour Government to thank

for putting poverty back on the political agenda,

largely due to the commitment to eradicate child

poverty, and making it necessary for anti-poverty

policy to be part of mainstream political debate.

We can be rightly critical of the lack of progress in

recent years, but at least it is now an issue that can

be properly debated by all political parties.

However, agreement over the need to tackle

poverty does not imply consensus on the means by

which to do so. In fact, it doesn’t even mean agreement on what the

problem is that needs to be addressed. For the Conservatives, it is

about repairing the ‘broken society’. The broken society is a collection

of familiar, and serious, social problems that have long concerned some

of what used to be referred to as ‘one nation’ Tories. Crime, alcohol and

drug misuse, family breakdown, teenage parenthood and gambling have

all featured in the reports from Iain Duncan Smith influential Centre for

Social Justice. Despite Cameron’s insistence that the new approach is to

focus on the causes of poverty, the issues that appear to be most

frequently mentioned are those which many people would identify as

the consequences. Much of this is familiar territory for the Conservative

Party. However, what is new are the references to problems of

inequality in income and power. The Hugo Young speech is full of

references to giving power to communities, of favourable mentions of

the work of Wilkinson and Pickett on inequality, and of the need to

address withdrawal rates in the benefits system.

Joining the fight – in the blue corner….

So does this mean that there is unanimity on how we best address

poverty? The Conservatives have suggested that the state is at the heart

of the problem of poverty. In particular, they contend that the

‘expansion’ of the state since 1997 has robbed people of the ability to

take control over their lives and their communities and has taken away

the incentive for many to work. For them, the “once natural bonds of

duty and responsibility’’ have been replaced with the “synthetic bonds of

the state - regulation and bureaucracy.” The answer for the

Conservatives lies in an enabling state, and an increased role for social

economy organisations and community activism. Readers of Scotregen

will have their own views on how far such an approach can overcome

the widening gap between rich and poor, speed the decline in child

poverty or ensure that resources flow into those communities that need

them most.

There are many questions that still need to be asked of

Conservative policy on tackling poverty and inequality. So far,

some of the proposed policy solutions don’t measure up to the

scale of the problems we face. But we should give an unambiguous

welcome to the Conservative Party’s joining of the fight against

poverty. Now we can look forward to issues of poverty and social

injustice being at the heart of the next election, and to evaluating

the commitments being made on all sides of that debate.

Peter Kelly

Director, Poverty Alliance

Peter.kelly(at)povertyalliance.org

photograph by Marcus Howaston

“with poverty rates in the UK above the EUaverage… there is much still to learn”


Swinging Success for Wellbeing This issue’s regular column from colleagues at the substantialhousing, health and regeneration research project, GoWell,outlines the benefits of investing in places to play.

Play nice nowChildren’s play areas were rated as ‘good’ by less than half theparticipants in the GoWell baseline survey in 2006 and so wereidentified as an important amenity to be improved during theregeneration of the GoWell areas. Since that time, GHA and GCC havebeen working in partnership to deliver a play areas improvement andrefurbishment programme across Glasgow with 42 play areasimproved/refurbished to date.

To evaluate the impact of the improvements and understand moreabout how the play areas are used, a series of evaluations wereconducted, including:

• before and after audits of the physical condition of a sample of playareas;

• interviews and focus groups with local housing organisations(LHOs) and residents living near the play areas;

• group discussions with children and young people to obtain theirviews.

Welcome improvementsThese studies showed that significant improvements have been made toplay parks across Glasgow as a result of the investment programme.Improvements were welcomed by local residents and LHO staff whoindicated that play areas are a vital community resource and that theimprovements provided more opportunities for play, with more use ofexisting play areas after refurbishment.

‘Every time I go past there are kids playing there’.

Residents also recognised that the refurbished parks provide anopportunity for parents to mix while children play.

‘It’s a well thought out area. On a nice day they’ve got benches for themums to sit out at, so that lets them socialise’.

Children said that play parks were important to ‘have fun’, ‘meet friends’

and ‘so you’re not sad and bored’. Overall, 66% of children were ‘veryhappy’ or ‘happy with their play parks. Many said it would be good tohave more equipment although it wasn’t just about that – ‘The tree

there, everybody climbs it – it’s not even a bit of equipment’.

Getting involved In some areas, they felt that parks could be cleaner and maintainedmore regularly, and suggested getting schools involved e.g. in cleanups.Both primary and secondary school children highlighted issues ofbullying and the threat of violence. They suggested that supervisedactivities, better lighting and police patrols would help.

The improvements described are also reflected in the GoWell 2008wave 2 survey (involving 4,600 residents from across the GoWell studyareas).

Some key learning points from the study findings are:

• Satisfaction and community ownership was higher where

there had been

effective consultation

in advance of

improvements.

• Facilities, such as

seating encourages

greater use and

interaction between

parents.

• Play parks would be

used more if children

and young people felt

safer as the threat of

bullying and violence is

a real concern.

• Natural landscapes

should be

incorporated more in

the design of play

parks.

The full evaluation reports are available from the research ‘nestedstudies’ page of the GoWell website at www.gowellonline.com

For more information on GoWell visit www.gowellonline.com or contact Jennie Coyle at jennie.coyle(at)drs.glasgow.gov.uk or 0141 287 6268.

gcphmail(at)drs.glasgow.gov.uk

Glasgow Community Health and WellbeingResearch and Learning Programme


In the third of a series of articles for Scotregen on theprogress of the Scottish Government’s Equally WellFramework, Karen Grieve outlines the approach beingtaken in concerted efforts to address the ‘wicked problem’of health inequalities.

Equally Well is the Scottish Government Framework for the

reduction of health inequalities in Scotland. The plan includes

action for all – across all portfolios in central government and

across all community planning partners. The ministerial

taskforce is due to reconvene in January 2010 to start reviewing

progress to date, with a review report expected Summer 2010.

This review is only the start of a process, with outcome

improvements along a continuum of short, medium and long

term.

Test Sites

In the Summer edition of Scotregen we introduced the 8 test sites

working within Equally Well. Within the autumn edition we explored

how we were testing the use of social networking sites to have live

interaction and dissemination of learning. In this article, I am going to

introduce some of the theories and approaches we are using with the

test site teams. We had a ‘1 Year On’ event this month, with all our

teams and their locals senior leads. Our hope is that these approaches

help us to “do different things, and to do things differently”.

Improvement & Complexity Science!

The word ‘science’ makes this feel very clever and clinical, but what we

mean by this is basic common sense! Service improvement methods are

already in use across NHS and local authorities. Some of these are quite

well known, such as the basic improvement cycle or ‘learning loops’ of

Plan, Do, Study, Act. Within Equally Well, we are trying to tackle a major

‘wicked problem’ in health inequalities. We needed to combine simple

‘test’ cycles using the PDSA model, with a more messy Complex

Adaptive Systems theory (see right). With the test sites, we are

promoting the use of ‘simple rules’. The idea being, that when people

working in services or communities themselves have hunches and ideas,

that this is supported and allowed to be tested without the usual

bureaucratic rules that tend to crush creativity. Part of this is, of course,

permission to fail and learning from that just as much as promoting what

works. It’s a huge mind shift for many working in large public sector

organisations, and not easy.

A great example of how one of our test site leads has found this, was

captured in an excellent blog on the network;

“We have created a space for change - a spacethat needs to be nurtured and developed butnevertheless a space for change. This space hasbeen created by generating commitment andinvolvement from the most senior people inlocal services and from local politicians; byengaging people with the fundamental injusticedescribed by the statistics of health inequality;creating leadership by identifying andsupporting champions in services andcommunity organisation; supporting learningabout how to tackle inequality and improvehealth.”

Steven Wray – Test Site Lead for East & Midlothian

Complexity Science: Key Ideas• The elements of the system can change themselves.

• Complex outcomes can emerge from a few simple rules.

• Small changes can have big effects.

• Continual creativity is a natural state of the system.

• Forecasting is inherently an inexact, yet boundable, art.

• Things can be orderly, even without central control.

• There are systems within systems, and that matters.

• Life proceeds forward through constant tension and balance.

Source: Paul E. Plsek, author of Creativity, Innovation, and Quality

and the developer of the concept of DirectedCreativity(TM).

http://www.directedcreativity.com/

Space for Change and Permission to Fail

Karen Grieve

Programme Manager,Health Improvement &Health Inequalities,

The Scottish Government

Karen.Grieve2(at)scotland.gsi.gov.uk

The social networkingEqually Well website canbe found at:http://equallywell.ning.com

SURF’s twelve regeneration wishes for a better 2010• A genuinely progressive tax system please

2. Support for community owned creative culture as the key to regeneration, not an afterthought.

3. Enforceable community benefit clauses for all publicly procuredcontracts

4. A dedicated and sustainable strategy for supporting small towns

5. A review of land ownership and taxation

6. An end to seeing houses as investments rather than homes.

7. A national programme of housing refurbishment to reduce carbon

and create jobs.

8. A greener tax system to encourage more recycling

9. The ‘re-capitalisation’ of ‘socially useful’ community and voluntary

organisations – small, but too important to fail

10. £1m Community Controlled Endowments for each of the 50 most

disadvantaged communities in Scotland

11. A grown-up relationship with alcohol

12. Adequate resources - they are vital (but remember the really

important things are still free)


A Return Ticket for DegenerationHousing is a key element of regeneration, bothas a fundamental necessity and as a driver forwider related activity, particularly via RegisteredSocial Landlords. In the sixth of a regular seriesof Scotregen columns, David Stewart warns ofthe dangers of repeating past mistakes at a timeof recession.

As someone who spends a good deal of time commuting

between Edinburgh and Glasgow, I get to eavesdrop on a lot of

conversations, whether I like it or not. From the businessman

from the south east of England running his team of hard of

hearing staff by mobile phone, to the teenage girl splitting up

with her partner in the style of Alan Sugar on ‘The Apprentice’,

all human life is there.

Earlier this week, I overheard a conversation that related directly to the

concerns of many involved in regeneration at this difficult time. Two

consultants were talking in a downbeat manner about jobs they were

working on, and one said; “Inevitably all councils will now only be

funding core services, and everything else will be dropped.”

Accurate or not, in my view, such an approach would be a huge mistake.

It could be argued that concentrating on the basics is what led to the

need for regeneration and the birth and growth of both housing

associations and the third sector. When in the past some councils

concentrated on only developing and managing affordable housing,

without thought to the wider amenities that make a community

sustainable, they created the peripheral, low demand estates that housing

associations and the voluntary sector are working to regenerate today.

In a similar vein, housing associations are aware that for their

communities to thrive they must be more than landlords. Over the past

few years there has been a great growth of wider role and social

enterprise activity by housing associations working in partnership with

the communities that they serve.

Cutting questions

It was a concern, therefore, that the draft 2010/11 Scottish Budget

proposes to cut Wider Role funding for housing associations from £12

million to £10 million. Wider Role funding is available to help housing

associations tackle poverty, especially in Scotland’s most deprived

neighbourhoods. Wider Role proposals from housing associations for

2009/10 and 2010-11 now centre on the themes of:

• early intervention with vulnerable households

• improving employability and helping people achieve

employment; and

• income maximisation for deprived tenants.

As one Housing Association Chief Executive told me, such a cut is

worrying at a time of recession, particularly as housing associations

match fund the grant they receive, meaning that it is effectively a

double cut.

With Wider Role Funding only guaranteed until the next Comprehensive

Spending Review 2010/11 these are worrying times. So what does the

future hold now for housing associations who engage in wider role

activities? What is the role for social enterprises? In the context of cuts

in public spending, increased competition for funding and increased

demand for critical community services what next for wider role? The

SFHA ran a conference in Edinburgh in November to debate and discuss

the issue in with Housing Minister Alex Neil speaking on behalf of the

Scottish Government – feedback from the event is available on the

SFHA website (www.sfha.co.uk).

A great philosopher once said that those who cannot learn from

history are doomed to repeat it – while times are tight and there

is downward pressure on public spending, we mustn’t return to

repeating the mistakes of the past. Roads and bins aren’t the

only essential services that government and councils need to

fund in a time of recession.

David StewartPolicy and Strategy ManagerScottish Federation of Housing Associations

dstewart(at)sfha.co.uk

SURF NetworkingProgramme Update

Notable among the outcomes were;

contrasting views on whether there is a design skills

shortage for place-making in Scotland, rather than that

existing skilled designers are not given sufficient scope

to produce their best; the asserted need for meaningful

engagement with communities and other stakeholders

for effective masterplanning; a plea that the most

urgent need for now is leadership on quality design

matters –especially in the private sector.

“ “


As SURF’s Networking Initiatives Manager, Edward Harkinsprovides Scotregen readers with a regular update onSURF’s networking programme of events.

Edward Harkins

Networking InitiativesManager

SURF

edward(at)scotregen.co.uk

The programme’s presence at other relevant networks and externalevents and meetings continues to be developed. This is commensuratewith the aim of repositioning the Open Forum and networkingprogramme, so that it is more directly regeneration policy focused.

Over forty participants attended the SURF Open Forum on ‘SustainableCommunities and place-making in a masterplanning context’ last October inGlasgow. In another popular and over-booked event, the programmeprovided plenary speakers and an open plenary Q&A panel. SURF wasfortunate in enlisting speakers Mike Galloway, Director of City Planning,Dundee City Council, and Scott Davidson Head of UK Regeneration,Halcrow plc. The other panel guests were Petra Biberbach, ChiefExecutive. Planning Aid for Scotland and Susie Stirling Principal Planner,Architecture & Place Division, Scottish Government. This provided agenuinely cross-sector perspective on the core objectives of this event,that were to:

• Facilitate better understanding of current policy and practice aroundmasterplanning and place-making in Scotland.

• Outline opportunities for (and significant barriers to) theenhancement of public

• policy around masterplanning and place-making.

Notable among the outcomes were; contrasting views on whether thereis a design skills shortage for place-making in Scotland, rather than thatexisting skilled designers are not given sufficient scope to produce theirbest; the asserted need for meaningful engagement with communitiesand other stakeholders for effective masterplanning; a plea that the mosturgent need for now is leadership on quality design matters –especially inthe private sector.

The précis paper from the SURF Food for Thought event this year on‘What do we know about poverty’ is available.

A couple of other events attended by the SURF Networking InitiativesManager merit particular mention. The first was a Good Places, BetterHealth Workshop on the ‘Physical Characteristics of Sustainable Places’, inOctober in Edinburgh. This was facilitated by the Good Place, BetterHealth Initiative; a collaboration between the Scottish Government, andhealth agencies and research partners. It aims to develop policy based onscientific research and good practice.

Modelling produced at the workshop was impressive with the factoring-in of the complexity, interdependence and ‘stickiness’ of drivers ofdeprivation and ill health. The aim of the programme managers toreport to their colleagues in other areas as well as health, was also re-assuring and consistent with the regeneration approach.

The second event was the manager’s keynote speech to a conference ofthe Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland(SOLAR) held in October in Motherwell Civic Centre. Arguments wereprovided on the better contribution that could be made to regenerationby new redeployments of the CPO process, alongside other planninginterventions.

Other events that the SURF Networking programme participated in,included:

• RICS half-day seminar on Aberdeenshire’s initiative on FutureInfrastructure Resources Needs (FIRS);

• Leading a workshop on sustainable mixed communities andRSLs, SFHA Conference Hampden Park;

• Plenary presentation on ‘RSLs and Regeneration’ at CharteredInstitute of Housing launch conference for their new‘Excellence in Regeneration Awards’.

A Food for Thought event is imminent, to be followed by an OpenForum in early 2010. Themes and detailed topics for both events aresubject to current discussions between a number of other networks andbodies, including our partners at the SCR, Scottish Government, and inthe various SCR Learning Networks.

The SURF Open Forum programme is funded by the SCR, with the aim of

facilitating independent feedback and opinion to policy makers in Scottish

Regeneration and Community Planning. Open Forum participation is open to

all without charge. SURF welcomes suggestions or offers of contributions for

future events with regard to the core programme themes of sustainable

development and sustainable communities, and tackling poverty and

inequalities through regeneration. Contact Edward Harkins;

edward(at)scotregen.co.uk or direct line 0141-585 6850

In the fourth of a series of Scotregen columns from theInternational Futures Forum, Andrew Lyon and Dr PeteSeaman offer some new horizons in future regenerationthinking.

Finding the value in workYou may have heard the news recently that Kemble, the last

manufacturer of pianos in Britain is to close. The image from this news

item which remains in our heads is of the Kemble employee happily

tinkling away, in the workshop, on a piano which he himself had helped

to create - an excellent example of meaningful and engaged

employment.

Contrast this with the statistics in Work and Worklessness among

Households in Scotland 2009 (The Scottish Government, 14 Oct 2009),

which shows that 295,000 (of 1,705,100 working age) households in

Scotland were workless in 2008 (17.3%). The proportion of course

varies across Scotland. In Glasgow the figure is 28.9%. What does this

mean?

There are many strands which we could pursue – the links between

worklessness and poverty in the UK (strong), the proportion of children

living in poverty (too high), associated injustice (unacceptable),

associated grief, sorrow, unhappiness and poor health (often

unbearable).

However, the report reminded us of a conversation we had with 100

Glaswegians in 2007 (http://www.gcph.co.uk/content/view/18/) who had

interesting things to say about work and worklessness, among other

things, which we would do well to heed.

Their starting point on the economy was indeed this question of

worklessness and how to link those currently excluded into its

prosperity. They went further and explored the limits to economic

growth and, a full year before the financial crash, expressed the fear that

we all had too many eggs in too few baskets particularly in relation to

debt and over abundant consumer credit.

The wrong song in the wrong key

This led the conversation to consider why we have an aspiration for the

city which seems to be economic growth and its concomitant, work,

above all else. This, rather than enhancing wellbeing and happiness,

created anxiety linked to a social premium placed on material

consumption and career success. And this in spite of the fact that post

war material improvement has not increased fulfillment or happiness.

So, consumerist economistic, materialistic ways of seeing the world are

obstructing the possibility of fulfillment and the achievement of

happiness for many of our worst off. This is compounded by the sense

of duty to work (in any job) rather than the right to fulfilling work. The

manner in which we offer help for others is increasingly shaped by the

priority given to economic growth – e.g. by making people more

employable.

Imagine

It seems a shame to ‘waste’ the current economic crisis by trying to get

back to where we were before the crash. Our conversationalists could

imagine a different kind of future in which a multitude of activities, and

not just work, are viewed as valuable. A world in which consumption is

based on need, rather than desire, in which endeavour reflects human

and cultural rather than economic needs, in which

people find greater fulfillment in the activities which

they undertake and such diversity is seen for the

resource that it is and worklessness is not synonymous

with poverty and all that goes with it. Cue piano…….


Future Vision 4

Andrew Lyon, Converger,International Futures Forum

(left).

Dr Pete Seaman, PublicHealth Research Specialist,

Glasgow Centre for Population Health (right).

andrew(at)internationalfuturesforum.com pete.seaman(at)drs.glasgow.gov.uk

This is the story of growing up in south side inner-city Glasgow. As Iread it, I believed Kieran’s story was my story. Kieran’s, activities werestartlingly close to home. Like Kieran, I’ve played in a back court,learning to climb on the middens and derelict buildings, like Kieran, Iplayed on the ferries across the Clyde, where, if you were lucky theferry man put you off on your own side of the river thus avoiding atwo-mile walk, which, at the age of eight was a nuisance. Kieran and Ialso shared experience of going to the swimming baths in Glasgow,jumping from the dale and having the man throw your towel into thewater if you did not come out on the first whistle. However when Iread his description of making a Tomahawk from a tin can and a pieceof stick, I was astonished; I didn’t know anyone else did that. LikeKieran, when the great day came and we flitted to a council house,

I followed the removal van on thebus. I shared his experiences ofleaving my friends behind. It was athis new house however, that thingschanged. The distinction betweenKieran and his brother Matt becamemore pronounced. The vivid portraitsof his brother being, in Kieran’s eyes,treated differently by his parentsbecause he was studying and doing well at a good school made me realisethat this wasn’t my story - it was mywee brother’s.

Kieran Smith - boy, James Kelman A review by Brian MacDonald

ISBN: 9780141014890


Chik Collins of the University of the West of Scotlandcontinues his personal look at the role language plays insocial change.

PR Meets Inconvenient TruthAn awful lot of work these days goes into PR and image management.The use and mis-use of language is an inherent part of it. One of theassociated dangers is organisations and professions involved tending to

believe it themselves. In Scotland we’re not immune. Regeneration inScotland isn’t either.

I first encountered Scotland’s regeneration folks in 1989. They werecongratulating themselves on their distinctively ‘Scottish Approach’ toregeneration. None of those nasty Urban Development Corporationsup here – that Thatcherite zealotry. We’d had GEAR and the SDA – allpragmatic and consensual, and just more, well, decent. Not so horrid tothe poor.

At the same time sociologists in Edinburgh were saying that decency wasa Scots ‘thang’. Our national development since the 1930s had made usdifferent – more principled. So we didn’t vote for Margaret Thatcher’s‘greed is good’ neo-liberalism. Even the elite in Scotland were principled,the sociologists said. Just better folk really.

There is an element of truth in this – but only an element. Regenerationhere = pragmatic, consensual, principled = BETTER. Regenerationthere = ideological, conflictual, unprincipled = WORSE. It looks like PR,and it comes up against inconvenient truths.

Looking back and moving onRegeneration in 1980s Scotland was distinctive, but more in the howthan in the what. In England councils fought the government and itsUDCs. But in Glasgow the council and the SDA were pioneering thefuture of the neo-liberal city – without the cafuffal. Looking back now,it’s ever so clear – unless folks don’t want to see it.

We certainly weren’t distinctive in that we transformed the lives of thepoor. But, moving swiftly on, surely relations with communities werebetter here? Well, I still have the GEAR Appraisal Group publications.It’s not how they saw it. But still some folks would insist that they saw itwrong.

Out of orderAs for that principled elite: The head of the SDA in the eighties laterbecame Chief Executive of RBS. During his stint RBS pushed hard forprivatisation of health and education. And Fred the Shred was hisprodigy. It’s hardly the CV of a social democrat. There was also the headof housing in Glasgow who pioneered stock transfers and then headedoff sharpish to set up the Nationwide’s private lettings operation. Notsuggestive of the deepest commitment to Glasgow’s poor tenants.

But some folks would just declare all of this ‘out of order’. Interestingwhat folks really object to, so it is.

And the relevance of this? It’s connected to Cathy McCormack’sautobiography – The Wee Yellow Butterfly. Cathy’s from Easterhouse,and she has produced a powerful perspective on poverty – anuncomfortable read. She finds the inconvenient truth, paints it in clear,simple lines, holds it in front of your face, and asks for your response.

Truth CommissionCathy says until we open our eyes to the horror inflicted on Scotland’spoor communities in the 1980s and after, often with the complicity ofour ‘principled elite’, we can’t begin to fix the damage that continues tothis day. She tells how activists from Soweto asked why educated Scotswere so keen to support their struggle, but seemed blind to Cathy’sown. She wants a Truth Commission here in Scotland – to get it all outand to begin the work of repair and recovery. Cathy, I think, is asking forpeople actually to be the better folk that some in their own PR thoughtthey already were. Me included.

LANGUAGE GAMESChik Collins

Lecturer, Social SciencesUniversity of the West of Scotland

chik.collins(at)uws.ac.uk

Full details of the Winning,

Highly Commended and Shortlisted projects are highlighted

in a special SURF Awards publication, which is enclosed for

Scotregen subscribers. The information is also available from

the SURF website (www.scotregen.co.uk).

Sharing Success with SURF

Housing and Communities Minister, Alex Neil presented theSURF Awards at celebratory SURF social event last December.

The SURF Awards for Best Practice

in Community Regeneration 2009

The SURF Awards are delivered in partnership with the

Scottish Government, with additional support in

2009 from Highlands & Islands Enterprise

www.scotregen.co.uk

SURFAwardsSURFAwards2009

SURF : sharing experience : shaping practice : celebrating successSURF


ScotregenScotregen is the journal of SURF, Scotland’s IndependentRegeneration Network, and is distributed free to its membersthroughout Scotland.

Editors: Andy Milne and Derek Rankine

Typesetting and production: Blueprint Productions (Glasgow) Ltd

Relevant articles are welcome but may be subject to editing.

Any contributions should be sent to Andy Milne,

SURF, Fairfield House, Ibrox Business Park, Govan, Glasgow G51 2JR.

Tel 0141 585 6848 Fax 0141 445 2024 Email andymilne(at)scotregen.co.uk

The views expressed in Scotregen are not necessarily shared by SURF,and therefore SURF is not responsible for the statements made orviews expressed.

SURF is an independent company Limited by guarantee.Registered in Scotland as ‘Scotregen Ltd’ No. SC 154 598. VAT Reg. No. 735 2880 21

Review: Architectures ofthe Near Future(ArchitecturalDesign)- A review by Edward Harkins, Networking Initiatives Manager, SURF

Architectural Design is a bi-monthly journal launched in 1930 that

remains globally influential. In the September/October 2009 edition

there are two especially notable articles in an impressive publication.

The first is by guest editor Nic Clear in which he looks to A Near

Future. He asserts that ‘architectural design is always about the future’

(perhaps The Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland has another view on

that?) and that, “Architects nearly always assume that this future will be

‘better’…” He then contra argues that ‘The architectural world has

proved completely incapable of suggesting what the future may hold…’

On his way to this argument he insightfully notes that “the most

important transformations in architecture over the past 30 years”

have not been in typologies, representation, materials or manufacture.

Instead, “The biggest single shift has been in the new economic

relations within the building industry and the new forms of contractual

relationships that this has brought about”.

He indicts the Private Finance Initiative as having “turned even health

care and educational building programmes into a speculative

enterprise”. The “ambitions of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and

Guy Debord have been replaced by the monetarist ideologies” of

Friedman and Greenspan. “The promise of an ‘urban renaissance’” has

left empty buildings and negative equity whilst “equity is once again

becoming the dominant economic value”.

But Nico still believes that the “profession is resourceful and in the

same way that all contemporary architects play the ‘sustainability’

game… we will, no doubt, see a gritty ‘new realism’ starting to appear

in architectural discourse”. Then, in a fascinating refocusing, Nico

unfavourably contrasts architects’ versions of future Utopias with

those generated by the Sci Fi genre. The Sci Fi writers, he argues,

depict a variety of different hues in their futures; not all of them

“rosy”, and therefore “more believable”.

This leads Nic onto something of a validation of J.G.Ballard; “Ballard is

of special significance largely due to that fact in so much of his writing,

architecture and architects play such a pivotal role”. Moreover, Nico

asserts that Ballard’s writing was prescient – Crash and High Rise in the

19070s dealt with technological fetishisation, urban anomie and

alienation – more recently, Millennium and Kingdom Come depict “a

Britain bereft of social values other than those of daytime television

and the shopping centre…”

There is here a willingness and ability in this author to build by linking

across different creative domains – something that is akin to what we

strive to practice in regeneration.

The other article by Professor Matthew Gandy is entitled, charmingly,

Urban Flux. This is a strong take on the urban physical apartheid

induced by wealth inequalities. This one extract should encourage

others to read the article; “It is striking how fear and disdain for the

urban poor remains so powerful today through the proliferation of

gated communities and the clearing away of informal settlements…

Whether in London or Mumbai, a vast army of cheap labour is needed

to allow the urban economy to function, yet the rich increasingly

prefer not to mix with these people”.

Published by John Wiley & Sons

ISBN 0003-850

£22.99, individual copies from cs-journals(at)wiley.co.uk

SURF is grateful for the support of its key sponsors, who are:

surf scotland's independent regeneration network · pdf filebuilding new streets or...

Documents