Dr Ian Strange

This book presents state-of-the-art research and case studies on new approaches to the design, construction and planning of our cities. Emphasis is placed on the role of alternative and renewable energy in the development of urban infrastructures that enable sustainable futures. Reflecting the multi-faceted efforts required to successfully meet sustainability challenges, this book is a collaboration between practitioners and academics across a broad spectrum of specializations. Compelling research findings are explained in the context of practical implementation, enhanced by case studies from industry leaders in order to create a pragmatic reference across policy areas where environmentally aware decision making is required.

This paper explores the demographic futures of Europe by presenting two scenarios. The ‘silver century’ scenario is based on the continuation of current demographic trends and policies. In this scenario, Europe's population will continue to age and immigration will be limited. As a result younger people will increasingly tend to concentrate in urban areas while the retirees, who are able, will settle in suburban and rural spaces. In the ‘open borders’ scenario, the EU and most of the member states will introduce an open and actively promoted immigration policy. Most immigrants will concentrate in large metropolitan areas. At the same time there will also be some countries and regions with very limited immigration from abroad. At the local scale immigration will contribute to social and spatial segregation. Hence, without the regulation or at least management of types and destinations of immigration, demographic imbalances will not be addressed at the regional level. Furthermore while the freedom of movement may have some macro-economic benefits and address population imbalances in some (mainly metropolitan) areas, pre-existent trends undermining both socio-economic cohesion and sustainable patterns of development are unlikely to be resolved.

Over the last few years there has been a growing interest in the future of military remains created in the UK since 1945. This interest has been sparked by debates that have taken place in archaeology, heritage management and conservation. Our purpose in this article is to intersect with these discussions and practice in a number of ways. First the article sets the discussion of Cold War military sites into the wider context of the rise of military archaeology and heritage conservation more generally. Second, it reviews some of the literature relating to Cold War heritage, both in terms of land management and reuse, but more centrally as a potential national heritage asset. Third, it outlines how this potential asset is managed currently within the heritage protection system and the heritage challenges posed by these remains, particularly the attempts which have been made to incorporate them into a mainstream heritage agenda. Finally, the paper considers the successes and limitations of heritage conservation strategies, under the auspices of the Cold War Monuments Protection Programme (MPP).

The role of urban conservation as an aim of planning evolved through the twentieth century, shifting from the margins to the mainstream and in the process becoming an inescapable element of the way English cities remake themselves. This paper charts the development of conservation planning and in particular the historical trajectory of a variety of urban contexts including 'jewel cities', long acknowledged as historic, and the core English cities more recently accepted as having significant historic environments. Finally, we briefly discuss the changing purpose and function of urban conservation, reflecting on both historical and contemporary conservation policy and practice.

Public art has increasingly become associated with wider processes of regeneration and place shaping. It is increasingly part of the landscape of regions and cities across the UK which are competing for bigger, better and more iconic trophies to enhance identity on the international stage. In an evidence based policy environment, evaluation has a key role to play though there are pitfalls for the unwary. An evaluation of the Northern Way’s ‘Welcome to the North’ public art programme, undertaken by the authors, revealed that the management information normally associated with evaluation processes was in short supply. This reflected a number of factors including the uncontained audience which views public art, its outcomes and impacts being time lagged and a reluctance amongst the cultural community to be subject to scrutiny. There are good grounds for concern. Public investment in art is controversial and public perception can be mercurial. The paper outlines the evaluation process which developed logic models to understand the ‘theories of change’ through which the programme was designed to influence downstream impacts. This approach helped not only to identify how the programme worked but also the timescale in which, for example, increased visitor spend or changing resident perceptions might feed into house sale volumes in a given local economy. One key finding is the need to allow sufficient lapsed time for outcomes and impacts to become evident.

Bringing together authors from academia and practice, this bookexamines spatial planning at different places throughout the British Isles. Six illustrative case studies of practice examine which conceptions of space and place have been articulated, presented and visualized through the production of spatial strategies. Ranging from a large conurbation (London) to regional (Yorkshire and Humber) and national levels, the case studies give a rounded and grounded view of the physical results and the theory behind them. While there is widespread support for re-orienting planning towards space and place, there has been little common understanding about what constitutes 'spatial planning', and what conceptions of space and place underpin it. This book addresses these questions and stimulates debate and critical thinking about space and place among academic and professional planners.

Historically, cities have been the powerhouses of economic growth and development, the centres of major social and cultural change, and the sites of rapid movement and change in population. As we move more and more into the twenty-first century, it is clear that cities will continue to be the focus of economic activity, the key spaces of social and cultural interaction and the home for larger and larger urban populations. The first half of the twenty-first century is throwing up major challenges to cities, to their populations, and to those who seek to plan for their development. These challenges include a rapid and rampant process of economic growth and restructuring that often leaves some places as ‘winners’ and others as ‘losers’, the continuing pressures of urbanisation and demographic change, the call for the development of sustainable forms of urban transportation and infrastructure, the need to provide more secure and affordable homes, and the rising tide of local accountability as communities seek greater involvement and participation in local decision-making. A key question to ask is: How do cities, and those who plan for them, respond to these challenges so that urban futures produce fairer and more just places? Equally important is to ask: What are the technological challenges that face urban planners and decision-makers as they search for solutions to complex and multi-faceted urban problems while cities transition from their analogue pasts to their digital futures? What forms of governance and local democracy allow greater degrees of citizen involvement and participation in the making of urban futures? And, what is the role of the state in shaping the policy and political context within which cities can plan for their futures? Addressing these questions is the focus of this chapter, and as such, it will outline and discuss some of the complexities and difficulties of planning in, and for, the twenty-first-century city.

Bradford raised a few eyebrows with its bid to be City of Culture in 2008, but then demonstrated that its claim could not be so easily dismissed. In recent years, several of the region’s towns and cities have put cultural policies at the heart of their corporate visions and strategies in an effort to unite, develop and promote. This article reports on recent research on cultural policy making in Leeds, a city that clearly has a considerable 'cultural offer', but which has been making rather less of it than several of its northern rivals.

The rapid growth of population in the twentieth century and its continuation in the twenty-first century (pushing the world population to over 7 billion), together with ever-increasing demands on our planet's dwindling natural resources, has created a crisis of enormous magnitude that can no longer be denied. Numerous global initiatives led by the United Nations (UN) and other international and national agencies, aimed at the growing impact of environmental damage on every aspect of our lives, have created a sense of urgency to act (and to act now) before it is too late.