Elephant tracks, fox paths, pedestrian’s revenge, desire lines… There are a multitude of names for the human-made paths that gradually form when people reject designed/designated routes and make their own way from A to B. These paths perhaps symbolise all-too-common failures in human-centred design. Firstly, designers and planners fail to appreciate Read more…
One of the co-founders of the New York High Line, Robert Hammond, surprisingly revealed in a recent interview that he considered the project to have “failed” in some critical areas [1]. In particular, Hammond pointed to the neglect of meaningful engagement with local communities from the start of the planning Read more…
I saw a notice by the entrance to my lovely local park the other day, announcing, slightly ominously, ‘Your park is changing…’ Reading on, I learnt that the car park, children’s play area and some other facilities were relocating. I wanted to know more – but could I find any details Read more…
Public consultation, community engagement, stakeholder participation, surveys, workshops, meetings… How can designers discover what people actually want when designing a scheme? These skills aren’t usually taught in professional training, and it’s easy to mishandle this sensitive and complex area – to the potential detriment of design, or worse, planning objections Read more…
Public space is a fascinating place. I wrote my MSc dissertation on an urban town square and the ways people use it. The space in question was Peckham Square, originally designed as a new civic heart for Peckham, that scruffy, maligned bit of south-east London that I once called home. A lengthy co-design process was Read more…