Principles For Public Space Design, Planning to do Better Matthew Carmona

The Bartlett School of Planning , UCL

Planning for public spaces

The issue of delivering better public spaces is seen here first through the prism of planning because planners have a critical role to play in the creation and shaping of public spaces; a role that manifests itself in two distinct ways.

First, planners are often the initiators of public space projects, for example, recognizing the need and potential for new or regenerated public spaces in particular locations through the auspices of proactive site or area-based plans, frameworks and briefs, or otherwise encouraging them in policy. Second, planners are the guardians of how public spaces come into being through the regulatory processes of development management (granting or denying permission to develop).

Both are critical roles in ensuring that the public interest is fully served by public spaces, and as much heralded success stories such as Barcelona show (Monclus 2003,p. 417), arguably it is important to get the strategic decision- making framework for public space right before worrying about the detailed execution. This is all the more important given that, globally, more often than not it is the private sector that is actually designing and delivering new public spaces and which is ultimately also often responsible for their on-going stewardship. In such a context, planning is the gateway through which the public interest, as regards the design and management of public space, istested, and if the opportunity is not taken then to safeguard key qualities and interests, it is unlikely to quickly come again.

At this scale, the London research suggested that three key factors should be considered:

• What are the processes through which public spaces

evolve, and how does planning and other forms of regulation interact with them?

• What types of public spaces should be provided, and

where?

• How should rights and responsibilities for public spaces

be safeguarded over the long term?

These are ‘process’-related considerations and re-enforce the argument made elsewhere (Carmona 2014) that it is vital to understand and get the process of design right before focusing on desired outcomes.

Designing public spaces

Beyond strategic considerations relating to how public spaces evolve and are regulated, the balance of space types across an urban area, and how to guarantee rights and responsibilities; at a more detailed level, planners are also often the guardians of how new public spaces are created

and existing spaces are regenerated. Thus through their plans, ordinances, frameworks and policies, or through discretionary negotiations on development proposals during the regulatory process, planners have the opportunity to set out and implement clear principles for the sorts of public spaces they would wish to see. Whilst every public space will be different, and attempts to define universally

applicable principles for ‘good’ public space design are often based on little more than supposition and intuitive analysis (e.g. UN Habitat 2013), extensive empirical testing revealed a number of critical factors that are likely to be important in the design of most public spaces (Carmona

and Wunderlich 2012). These concern• How public spaces are clearly delineated from private

ones so that they feel and are publically accessible.

• How the uses surrounding public spaces contribute to creating engaging places for users.

• How spaces can be made more meaningful through the amenities and features they host.

• How the opportunity is taken to maximise the potential for a positive social environment in public space.

• How a balance between vehicles, pedestrians and other users in public space is set and safeguarded.

• How spaces are made to feel comfortable through their ability to foster safe and relaxing use.

• How robust public spaces can be created as a consequence nof their ability to adapt to changing demands across time whilst remaining distinctive.

The remainder of this paper takes these seven factors in turn and, drawing from the research, suggests in a little more detail why they are important and, in relation to each, which aspects planners might consider.