The urban village and the city of tomorrow revisited

Abstract

The paper describes the application of space syntax in the development of strategic masterplans for the redevelopment of two problematic modern housing estates in the United Kingdom. The estates examined are Chalkhill Housing Estate in Wembley, North London and Marple Square Housing Estate in central Nottingham. At first glance, the formal design philosophies of each estate would appear to be quite different. One could be characterised a ‘city of tomorrow’ model based on high-rise, high density, generous provision of green space and elevated ‘streets in the sky’, whereas the other as an ‘urban village’ model incorporating low-rise flats aggregated on a hillside geography and a pedestrianised pseudo-street system. Both possess a rigid separation between pedestrians and vehicles. It is suggested that despite this differing formal design philosophies, they both exhibit a common spatial design philosophy based on enclosure and repetition (Hillier, 1988). The paper proposes that careful analysis of patterns of movement and space use, and the urban context, can provide a powerful diagnostic tool for use in redevelopment aimed at improving the quality of the urban environment in existing housing areas.