Anna on Urbanism
Next up in our meet the edge team series is our Associate Director Anna! Here she talks about the masterplanning process, temporary urbanism and the learning journey.
The process
Throughout my career as an urban designer and masterplanner, I have always been fascinated by process. For me the focus is not necessarily on the end product but more about the journey; the layers of understanding a place, analysing, engaging, collaborating and developing ideas and a narrative that can shape a vision and framework for something new. This fascination in process also applies to how a place is delivered and brought to life. In the 5 / 10 / 20+ years it takes for a masterplan to take shape, particularly in the new settlements we are involved in, it is so important to consider how a place will evolve over time. What is it like to live there on day 1? What facilities are on offer? How do people move about? How can a community grow from scratch? These early stages are so crucial to the success of a place and we need to ensure the vision and framework has the flexibility to evolve with the place over time. Having been fortunate enough to be involved in projects from the visioning through to delivery, it’s so rewarding to see how the chapters of a projects’ story unfolds, learning from every stage.
Temporary urbanism
Way back when I was studying (eek!), I developed a keen interest in the idea of temporary urbanism and the many forms it takes. This ties back to thinking about how places evolve over time, and, in particular, what happens in that in-between stage of a place on its journey to becoming something new. So often in our cities we are faced with urban sites left redundant, awaiting that big shiny new masterplan, that inevitably does not land overnight. As a reaction to this, we see more and more examples of temporary interventions reviving redundant or stalled space – creating places of joy and intrigue, often activating communities in parallel, and bringing a sense of cohesion between people and place. These interventions and projects can inject life into a place as it grows and develops from a very early stage, contributing significantly towards social value. The temporary, ad-hoc nature of these projects do not necessarily bear substantial costs but can reap huge benefits for both the existing and future community. The challenge is then how you capture that value and give it space to thrive throughout the journey of a project. It was such an intriguing area to study and has certainly further influenced the way I think about the process of creating and delivering new places; taking care to consider what benefits a project can deliver through every stage of its development.
The learning journey
At edge, we are involved in such a wide variety of interesting projects, including a number of new settlements in their infancy and it’s such an exciting time for us to be developing ideas around how these places could grow. The thrill of engaging with a new project and shaping a vision and framework, with a strong narrative will never get old. I love collaborating with the wider project team, collectively building ideas that aim to capture the aspirations and latest thinking from all disciplines. This is what makes urban design so exciting, we never work in isolation, every project is different and we are always learning. This learning journey has always been important to me, and at edge I am championing our CPD programme to continue to challenge and broaden our understanding of the built environment and the world of architecture and urban design. It’s been an exciting first three months with the edge Team and I’m so intrigued to see where this next chapter takes us!
Written by Anna
