The context
Academic research and recent national planning policy indicate the importance of well-designed places and neighbourhoods. Not only do these places create value for the wider community when they are designed well by the drawing in financial benefit and promoting social capital, but there is growing evidence to show that physical and mental wellbeing can be positively affected when places both look and perform to their best. There is also a growing realisation that places that are planned now will affect those who use them for the next 50 years, and probably beyond (CABE, 2006)
Within this context, North Tyneside has maintained its commitment to creating sustainable communities that “have a sense of place and identity” (North Tyneside, undated, p4). Its recently adopted Local Plan clearly acknowledges that successful places emerge from attractive environments. This is underpinned by National Planning policy which states that it is the planning policy and decisions, as well as the buildings that “should address the connections between people and places and the integration of new development into the natural, built and historic environment (DCLG, 2012, p15).
Your challenge
This project will look specifically at new housing developments that are proposed for North Tyneside and will grow out of the guidance already available to practitioners. Partly you will be asked to make the process of raising issues a more enjoyable one for young people. By involving young people from North Tyneside’s Youth Cabinet, the aim of the project will be to promote a young person’s perspective and interpretation of what they think makes a good place. A particular focus on this project will be on the environment, where interventions such as tree planting, removing street clutter, and placing play areas may be in focus.
You will work with the young people in North Tyneside’s Youth Cabinet, to develop a sense of the usefulness of this set of principles by which a new housing development quality can be assessed. This will involve discussing quality in existing housing sites and possibly going on a site visit to a development that is of particular interest. You will develop a manual prototype to use a number of assessment criteria and then test this against proposals in current or recent housing planning applications.
Your deliverables
You will deliver a workable idea for a digital method/ tool/ approach to get young people express their priorities for their neighbourhood. A methodology built upon a set of good design principles and shaped by the young people and their place based priorities. A prototype digital version of this method that allows the user to consider different aspects of the development and to score them; perhaps also help gather and share ‘evidence’ (images?) for further discussion and to help develop priorities.
Further, the project will broadly result in the following:
- Mapping and understanding of the needs and requirements for key stakeholders
- An easy-to-understand, implementable concept, explained via a ‘story board’ of your idea;
- A brief review of statements of community involvement supplied by the client to identify best practice
- An interactive prototype of your design concept
- As part of this, an outline of user or device interfaces.