The 2011 census and the need to re-discover regional cities

The 2011 census revealed an unprecedented rise in population between 2001 and 2011, of 3.7 million in England, the need to re-discover our cities is more important than ever before.

Over this period the population of London increased by over 850,000, around 100,000 people more than the entire population of Leeds; England’s 3^rd largest City. 

Despite this, London works as an urban entity. Its population supports a fully integrated transport system while providing the opportunity for a sustainable and compact living environment which other cities can only aspire to. 

Population densities illustrate the extent to which regional cities in the UK could be described as underpopulated.

The top 5 most densely populated London Boroughs (2011 Census)

1. Islington: 13,875 people per sq km
2. Kensington and Chelsea: 13,087 people per sq km
3. Hackney: 12,845 people per sq km
4. Tower Hamlets: people per sq km
5. Lambeth: 11,305 people per sq km

The least densely populated London borough is Bromley with 2061 people per sq km.

Now lets compare this with population densities of England’s 5 largest cities

1. Birmingham: 1,073,000  (4007 people per sq km)
2. Leeds: 751,500 (1362 people per sq km)
3. Sheffield:  552,700 (1502 people per sq km)
4. Bradford: 522,500 (1426 people per sq km)
5. Manchester: 503,100 (4350 people per sq km)

The largest population density outside of London is Portsmouth with 5081 people per sq km.

This Illustrates the extent to which all are major cities are desperately underpopulated, if Leeds were to have the same population density as Bromley, a suburban in character outer London borough, the population could reach 1,137,672, an additional 386,172 people. If it had the same population density as Islington an astonishing 7,659,000 people could be supported within the city boundaries.  

If population growth is to continue these figures illustrate the need to re-balance the regional economies before the densities in London become too high for services to adequately support and begin to negatively impact upon the quality of life of its residents.

My 5 point plan to create a more evenly focused economy

1. Regional centre’s need to look at attracting new start up businesses, all the cities I have listed are home to respected universities and business schools with thousands of graduates passing through every year.

Local councils should look at offering tax breaks and / or rate relief to start up businesses for at least the first 2 years of operation. This will help to rediscover the entrepreneurial spirit which powered much of the early growth of the UK’s regional cities.

2. Fiscal autonomy should be provided to give greater powers for regional cities to develop integrated transport networks without going to Whitehall.

3. Re-nationalise regional transport in a similar vain to London, refocus the aim of providing public transport on getting people from A to B quickly, rather than on profit margin and keeping shareholders happy.

3. New neighborhood’s should form part of the urban fabric of the city, Hulme in south Manchester provides a good low rise but high density starting point.

4. Develop High speed rail with a new hub airport at Birmingham.

Easy.

The alternative? London becomes more unaffordable and regional cities continue a damaging period of stagnation within an increasingly competitive European economy.

Future housing growth needs to be concentrated in existing urban areas as these offer the most sustainable living environments, reducing our carbon footprints and land use.

 Sources: 

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_270487.pdf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/interactive/2012/jul/16/census-2011-uk-map-data?intcmp=239

Masdar: The City of the Future?

'One Day all Cities will be like this' 


The self proclaimed city of the future is located on the eastern fringes of Abu-Dhabi, rather ironically next to the UAE capitals sprawling Airport.


Masdar is a new urban extension designed by the British architect Norman Foster and has being designed with the welcoming principles of sustainability and livability at its heart;  when complete it will be home to between 45,000 and 50,000 people; although not large the project is designed to act as a blueprint for how we can develop our cities in a more environmentally conscious age. The desert of Abu-Dhabi offering the perfect location to build such an ambitious project from scratch.

Masdar City Plan (http://www.masdarcity.ae/index.aspx)

The city will be home to a number of principles which Foster hopes will define the city of the Future, notably an underground personal rapid transport system; leaving the ground level free for pedestrians. Despite its location in the UAE which in recent years has seen Dubai and Abu-Dhabi construct some of the worlds most outlandish structures, Masdar takes its inspiration from a more traditional form of design with buildings of a scale more friendly to humans, located around narrow streets. This should promote low energy usage and ensure the City has a low carbon footprint. In a recent Interview Lord Foster uses the example of Copenhagen as a tightly knit metropolis which has twice the population density of Detroit but uses a tenth of the energy of the American City.


Foster also believes that a higher urban density correlates to prosperity, citing the examples of some of London's most prosperous areas such as Kensington and Chelsea also being the cities most sought after districts.  


In this instance I find Lord Fosters views slightly simplistic, he only has to visit his home city of Manchester to see highly dense areas such as Moss Side among its most deprived, while leafy areas such as Didsbury and Chorlton are more prosperous. 


The issue here is not simply density, it is the quality of the housing stock and the public realm on offer in these areas. Kensington and Chelsea are lucky that they contain a substantial amount of high quality housing at a strong density, which in turn has encouraged businesses and money into the area. 


It is refreshing in a way that Masdar looks to the pre-car city for inspiration, which is ever more important in nations such as China and India, where car usage and urban expansion are growing hand in hand. While I have long  and increasingly felt that even here in the UK our towns and cities are becoming unfriendly places for pedestrians; something which isn't helped with new housing often located that far away from any facilities, it is impossible for people not to have a car if they want to simply visit a local shop. This needs to change, not least before we forget how to use our legs and our kids all succumb to asthma and obesity. 

Masdar City, October 2009 (Google earth)

As for Masdar construction work is well under way (above) and the city is scheduled for completion by 2025, I hope by then we are not still looking at its design as the ordinary but the start for a new chapter in the way we view the city across the globe. 


I fully recommend visiting the Masdar City website for more information about the project: http://www.masdarcity.ae/en/index.aspx