Date: 11 September 07
Email this Article
| Click to Print
“The rapid growth of commuter and car-orientated developments has filled Scotland’s Central Belt with inaccessible or under-used spaces , creating a weak and watered-down suburbia,” says Gillian Lambert of Voluntary Design and Build. “Increasingly, people live and work in environments designed around how quickly it takes to leave, not how pleasant it feels to linger.” In SLOAP SHIFTS Voluntary Design and Build in partnership with Eva Dalman from Malmö and Gerry Grams, Glasgow City Council’s design adviser propose a fundamental shift in attitude towards the small corners and strips of land that are currently left over in the planning process. Theirs is a vision is for a future where urban sprawl is limited and people are encouraged to use currently unused urban space (Space Left Over After Planning).
The inevitable consequences of this approach will certainly be on the one hand the shrinking of some existing towns and cities and on the other the incorporation of scattered communities around the edges of towns into the urban centres.
“The metamorphosis of the region will be encouraged by advances in technology, and greener and more efficient transport systems will soften relationships with the street,” adds Lambert. The distinction between roads and paths will begin to blur; car-parks will change to parks, transportation hubs will become bustling markets and the verge becomes a place to live. Building materials with intelligent and responsive properties will become readily available, and future dwellings will have the flexibility to become less permanent. Customised landscapes will use even the most awkward left-over space.”
The Propositions
GRAS - M8-PARK
Cadell2 - The Counter Tectonics
VD&B - Sloap Shifts
Collective Architecture - The Muckle Canal
Be the first to comment on this article click here.
