The latest from London - Growth: form or function?

Annalise V Johns, London-based urban designer brings us the latest discussions from some of the most interesting urban design discussions around London. Want to share what's being discussed in your city? Email us.

In the space of a week, both London First and The London Society held talks on growth. The London Society talk included a panel of four: an academic Transport Planner from University College London, an economist from the Greater London Authority, a London Architect and a spokesperson from Shelter, a homeless charity. This panel of experts explored the many aspects of growth that need to be considered to meet the demand of London’s increase in population by 2050. The most eye opening aspect of this discussion was the evidence provided by Shelter regarding the plight of homelessness, and the impact the lack of affordable housing is having on the health of the working poor and displaced in the UK. “1 in 5 English adults (21%) said housing issues had negatively impacted upon their mental health in the last 5 years. 3 in 10 {…} said they had no issues with their mental health previously”. The evidence Shelter put forth showed how “coordinated reform and investment from a government willing to make housing a central priority” could address this. Shelter’s contribution was indeed a disturbing illustration of our staggering crisis of housing and mental health, but also a compelling explanation of how this can be ratified through design and a shift in local economic reform.
 
The London First talk was hosted by VuCity, a new software that has created “an accurate interactive digital city model”. This planning tool enables detailed information relating to individual development proposals to be evaluated in situ before consent is given. The tool, dependent on the accuracy of the information it is fed, is capable of determining impacts such as wind at street level, views from a neighbouring property, daylight shadow diagrams, the list goes on. Currently, the software has been adopted by The City of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Transportation for London. The aim is for adoption across the UK to support local authorities by providing more knowledge of possible impacts, and to test the viability of design quality of developments of all shapes and sizes.
 
On the same day as the London First talk, an APPG (all-party parliamentary group) met to discuss the role of tall buildings, whether they offer a solution or not. High quality design is always emphasised as critical; however the elephant in the room is universal health and it is never placed at the heart of the argument to shape the quality of design. Mise van der Rohe (actually Louis Sullivan) is often quoted “form follows function”, which is the argument that design must relate to its intended function. The reason issues of growth, high density and tall buildings have become so emotive across London and the world, is at the heart of this is our realization that our cities are devoid of a relationship to the majority of those who occupy them. The majority in London specifically, are struggling on £25K as a combined household income, they are working long hours, they are travelling longer distances between work and home, 1 in 3 of them have mental health issues and Shelter’s evidence would suggest 100% of this has some association with housing costs, poor urban quality and uncertainty. “There are millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness” yet this remains in the back drop of arguments over tall buildings and growth.
 
In the LSE’s (London School of Economics) Conference Report: Cities, Health and Well-Being, there is much discussion about using the “LSE Cities’ mapping of health outcomes at a fine grained spatial scale which could contribute to a better understanding of health risks in different areas.” Were this system of mapping layered with the Vu City model this could be a life changing way of bridging the function with the type of form. Public Health England, located in every borough across the country, has all of the up-to-date information on local health. Would it not be simple to combine this information with VuCity and each borough to bridge this gap? It would help if copies of The King’s Fund Housing and Health report 2018, was made available to the APPG, New London Architecture and to the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to inform built environment professionals of what the need looks like to empower them to design accordingly. 

About the Author

Based in London as an Urban Designer for the past 15 years, Annalise V Johns specialises in designing multifaceted spaces that improve environmental resilience while maximising social determinants of health. Her experience with complex places means she is called on to provide solutions focused on sustainable transport, sustainable drainage and air quality improvements based on evidence and innovation.