Context 167 - March 2021

C O N T E X T 1 6 7 : M A R C H 2 0 2 1 27 URBAN DESIGN The built environment requires a cultural change that goes beyond the use of emerging technology and the application of complex tools. It is time to question the role of each specialism and how they relate. Radical reform As radical as the white paper Planning for the Future might seem, change will not happen by application of logics that did not work before. The reform will be meaningful if it is accompa- nied by a cultural change that emerges from a clear understanding of the context in which all built environment fields currently operate. The main issues are: 1. The mechanistic engine model was adopted to resolve the problems of modernism. Today’s problems require an ecosystem approach. 2. Innovation must focus on resolving the issues of the system, looking at how fields of expertise relate, rather than developing further field- specific tools. 3. Achieving sustainable development requires levelling-up the economic, environmental and social spheres, developing a sphere-specific way to measure outputs. 4. Regulatory frameworks within planning must focus on governing accountability, and making every party responsible for increasing capital in all three strands in equal measure. 5. Legislative frameworks must have a clear emphasis on relations, hierarchies and synergies, rather than focusing on outputs. Delivering place quality requires an understanding of how things happen, more than looking at what will be delivered. 6. All component parts within the system and all fields of expertise should be reviewed, at all levels. The first step should focus on the regula- tion of built-environment education, investing in a robust long-term multi-disciplinary reform. There is wide recognition that the UK plan- ning system is not working, that it became obsolete some time ago and that new models are required. The pandemic has given the whole world an opportunity to reflect, rethink and create an improved ‘new normal’. When doing so, we must not forget that in any project, no matter how large or small, the quality of contextual analysis is always what makes the dif- ference between success and failure. Resolving the built-environment crisis is not an exception to this rule: we must understand what we have in order to plan what to do. A hand-drawn sketchbook study of a window for a private house commission by the illustrator Marc Turley. He writes: ‘Drawing by hand opens up a process that can divulge many secrets that lie behind the study you are focusing on. Photographs are good but you are only recreating the camera’s interpretation of the world, instead of your own unique human view.’ Laura Alvarez is senior principal urban design and conservation officer at Nottingham City Council.