1Phillip Gibb

Housing in an Ageing UtopiaDesigning multi-generational homes and planning for the integra-tion of older people in Britains post-war planned neighbourhoods

2Looking to the future, as they themselves enter major phas-es of renewal, the New Towns today offer an interesting lens through which to view the prospect of building sustaina-ble communities in a changing world.Anthony Alexander, Britains New Towns; Garden Cities to Sustainable Communities, (London & New York: Routledge, 2009), p. 6.

3

4

5

6

7

8Todays British population approaching sixty is the postwar baby-boomers. They have had different life experiences from those of their parents higher standards of living, more free-dom of movement, more exposure to different cultures, greater labour market participation, fewer children & more divorce.Brenton, Maria, Older Peoples CoHousing Communities, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 169-188.

9Todays British population approaching sixty is the postwar baby-boomers. They have had different life experiences from those of their parents higher standards of living, more free-dom of movement, more exposure to different cultures, greater labour market participation, fewer children & more divorce.Brenton, Maria, Older Peoples CoHousing Communities, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 169-188.

This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text.

AcknowledgementsFirst, a thank you to all the residents of Harlow who have generously given their time to talk to me about all the things I wanted to and have agreed to let me take photographs and use them in this thesis. Thank you especially Moira for introducing me to so many other people in the town. In this regard my thanks are also due to Ron Bill, who let me look through his own research.

At Harlow Council, thank you to Angela Street, and Maureen Pearman and to Colin Endean and Andrew Russell for their inside knowledge and insight on planning issues in the town. Thank you Russell especially, for the population data. Thank you also to David, Chris and Claire at the Museum for their help in the pilot project. The thesis would not have the background it does without the continued help and encouragement of Dawn Hicks. Thank you also to the rest of the sheltered housing team for being so accommodating.

Here in Cambridge, Id like to acknowledge the gentle encouragement of my tutors, Ingrid Schroeder and Joris Fach which has kept this thesis going when the going got tough. Thank you Joris for careful guidance on design issues at key moments, these have been much valued. And thank you, Ingrid, for help, inspiring stories about home environments, as well as vital guidance on the structuring the work. I would like to thank the librarians of the department library for ordering an endless number of books that aided research I would also like to acknowledge the support of Phd candidates Jamie Anderson and Patrick Fleming in their respective fields.

Otherwise, I would like to thank my fellow students, for their encouragement and camaraderie throughout the three terms in Cambridge. Thanks especially to Ed for hardware help, and Tom, Matt, Afra and David for listening and commenting on aspects of the work and for being great climb/swim club team mates. Lastly, a thank you is well overdue to my housemate and landlord Tom for reading through early drafts of the writing and for being a patient and thought provoking host during my studies.

11

At home over HarlowHomes for an ageing population - From sheltered housing to integrated housingHomes for an ageing utopia - Ageing with Harlows modernist planning todayResearch questionsStructure of the design thesisDesign research and the neighbourhood

A test bed for modernist urbanismNeighbourhood Centres & wellbeingRemodelling the Stow to ensure thermal comfortGreen wedges, no parksReappropriating remnant green space at the heart of the neighbourhood

Improving connectivityBuilding on new investmentUrban capacity in the neighbourhood

Beyond independenceThe dawn of a new era?Putting International Style back in the New TownThe town house - a typology for the New TownCommunality and comfort in Harlows future housingTodays 45 year old in 2032 - A co-houser?

ConsultationDesign GuidanceThe future value of design research

List of Images and IllustrationsBibliography

C o n t e n t s

1712182022

2436505972

7890102

116121132134146162

169170170

173181

Introduction - Design Research and the Neighbourhood

Reinvigorating the Neighbourhood Centre - Thesis Masterplan Phase 1

Reinstating the Neighbourhood Centre - Thesis Masterplan Phase 2

Making the Neighbourhood Centre a Place to Live - Thesis Masterplan Phase 3

Conclusion

Jack at Home outside the Stort Tower

1I n t r o d u c t i o n

Design Research in the Neighbourhood

At home over HarlowJack was searching through some bins when I met him. I wanted to get inside the tower block overshadowing us both to take some photos, but I wasnt too sure if he lived there. In his shorts and a baseball cap, wielding a broom, Id first shied away and thought it better to stake it out. After a little while waiting though I plucked up the courage to go and ask him, at first from distance, whether or not he could help me. The response I got was unexpected. An architecture student? Do you know who designed this block? A few months earlier Id been to look at the drawings of the nine storey point block in question at the local museum but, taken aback, I fumbled for an answer. Jack got there first. German architect. Its the first tower block ever built in Britain. Brilliant compact interiors. I dont remember it that way, but before I

can reply he gets there again. I live on the ninth floor, in the top storey, number 27. Go straight up. My wifes name is Vera, shell be pleased to meet you.1 Jack and Vera live in a two bedroom flat on the top floor of the Stort Tower, in the town of Harlow in Essex. The building is a Y form plan point block, providing three flats in each storey with spectacular views out over the surrounding landscape. (p. 2-5) As Vera points out to me, you can see planes landing at Stansted airport in one direction and, on New Years Eve and Guy Fawkes Night, when there are fireworks in central London on the Thames, her friends all invite themselves up to come and watch the show. Weve been here over twenty years now she tells me in her

1 Vera is not the real name of Jacks wife. This story and Jacks photograph are included under his permission. His wife didnt agree to be photographed.

2The Stort Tower

3

4View from flat 27 looking East over the Mark Hall/Netteswell Neighbourhood - The Water Tower visible from the M11 is on the Horizon

5

Flat number 27Scottish accent. Its a fantastic flat, dont you think? It would be great to have a garden, but its been too long now. When I ask if I can take some photos Vera replies with great enthusiasm, guiding me around the flat and down the hallway with the aid of a collapsible walking frame. She puts a brave face on, but as she explains, the chronic arthritis she suffers from is highly debilitating and prevents her from getting out as much as shed like to. With its carriage clocks, drapery and classical statuary, its clear that shes all the more proud of her home as a result.

70 25 50 100km

0 50km2510

Fig. 0.1 The Position of Harlow and the Mark-1 New Towns within the South-East Region

Homes for an Ageing Population - From sheltered housing to integrated housingThe significance of a persons home and the impact it can have on their well being in later life has been well established by those who study older people in the field of gerontology. As Sheila Peace, Professor of Social Gerontology at the Open University has stated; housing is fundamental to the physical, social and psychological well-being of older people.2 Seen in this context, the choices available to older households like Vera and Jack throughout the UK become increasingly important - not just to them, but to society as a whole. Like the rest of the UK, the proportion of the population of Harlow over the age of 65 has recently risen to its highest levels since census statistics began.3 Unlike the rest of the UK however, the growth of this generation in Harlow has been a much less gradual phenomenon. Harlow was one of six new settlements created around the metropolitan area of London under the first phase of Britains post-war New Towns programme.4 (Fig 0.1) In its first stages of its growth throughout the 1950s and 1960s the town became home to a very young population. Over the twenty years from the 1951 to the 1971 census the town grew from the initial settlement of 5,000 people to one of 80,000.5 At this moment, over a third of the towns population were under the age of 14. By contrast, just one person in every twenty was over the age of 65. Services provided by the New Town Development Corporation and the town council that succeeded it were targeted at this young demographic throughout the towns growth as a result. (Fig 0.2) Thirty years later, the number of over 65s has quadrupled, and within areas of the town, is as high as one in three.6 (Fig 0.3) This has had a great impact on housing in the town, in the range of options and services available to older households.

2 Peace, Sheila; Wahl, Hans-Werner; Mollenkopf, Heidrun; & Oswald, Frank; Environment & Ageing, in, Bond, John; Peace, Sheila; Dittmann-Kohli, Freya & Westerhof, Gerben J., Eds, Ageing in Society: European Perspectives on Gerontology, 3rd Edition, (London & Los Angeles: Sage, 2007), pp. 209-35, this quote, p. 220.3 Thefirststatisticsreleasedfromthe2011censussuggestthattheageingbaby boomers now make up one in six people across the UK. See; ONS, 2011 Census - Population and Household Estimates for England and Wales, March 2011, p. 11.

4 The history of the New Towns Programme has of course an extensive literature. For a review of Harlows history see Morton, Jane, Harlow: The story of a New Town, (Stevenage: Publications for Companies, 1980) Aspects of the towns history not coveredtherecanbefoundinthefirstessaythatsupportsthisthesis,A Town without History by the author.5 Figures taken from census data in Morton, Op. Cit., Appendix VII. For population statistics of all New Towns in Britain see; Anthony Alexander, Britains New Towns; Garden Cities to Sustainable Communities, (London & New York: Routeledge, 2009), p. 49.6 HDC: Population Data, Disc 1. (Harlow: HDC, 2011) These statistics are based on ONS population projections of 2009.

80 2 4 6 8 10 12

% Total Population

0>4

5>9

10>14

15>19

20>24

25>29

30>34

35>39

40>44

45>49

50>54

55>59

60>64

65>69

70>74

75>

Age Group

Harlow Population Profile

HUD 19710 2 4 6 8 10 12

% Total Population

0>4

5>9

10>14

15>19

20>24

25>29

30>34

35>39

40>44

45>49

50>54

55>59

60>64

65>69

70>74

75>

Age Group

Harlow Population Profile

HUD 20010 2 4 6 8 10 12

% Total Population

0>4

5>9

10>14

15>19

20>24

25>29

30>34

35>39

40>44

45>49

50>54

55>59

60>64

65>69

70>74

75>

Age Group

UK Population Profile

UK 19710 2 4 6 8 10 12

% Total Population

0>4

5>9

10>14

15>19

20>24

25>29

30>34

35>39

40>44

45>49

50>54

55>59

60>64

65>69

70>74

75>

Age Group

UK Population Profile

UK 2001

Fig. 0.2Demographic Spreads in 1971 (Left) and 2001 (Right) for the UK (Light Grey) and Harlow (Dark Grey)

The demographic specificities of Britains New Towns have been noted by a number of recent reviews including those undertaken by the Department for Communities and Local Government.7 As the 2002 report, The New Towns, Their Problems and Future stated: The population profiles do not reflect national age structures, and the concentrations around particular age groups is placing increased demands on social services, particularly when the population ages.8 As it was though, this analysis had come too late. For many of the towns, the networks and mechanisms to cope with an ageing population had already been established in the decade and a half before this. Sheltered housing and care home schemes proliferated in Harlow throughout the 1980s and early 1990s as part of the expansion of special needs provision in line with government housing policy. Sheila Peace has described this best:

During the second half of the twentieth century the development of age-segregated institutional and residential settings providing both housing and long-term care was of special interest to policymakers, providers and regulators in North America and Europe concerned with quality of 7 The problem of ageing featured again in the follow-up report to this of 2006. See DCLG, Transferable Lessons from the New Towns, (London: TSO, 2006) An earlier recognition of the problem can be found in: Harman, R. and Joy, D. Growing elderly problem in new towns, in, Town and Country Planning, Vol. 56 (Nov 87), pp. 298-9. And also: Potter, Stephen, New town legacies, in, Town and Country Planning, Vol. 61, No 11/12, Nov-Dec 1992, pp. 298-302.8 DTLGR, The New Towns: Their Problems and Future, (London: HMSO, 2002), p. 28.

care, capacity and finance. Consequently, for many years issues concerning these planned micro environments have overshadowed not only a wider interest in the general housing stock accommodating the majority of people in later life but also their engagement with and attachment to age-integrated communities.9

As gerontologists have recognised the importance of the built environment to the subject of their study in recent times, so they have begun to unpick this history and the effects that these age-segregated environments have on their older residents. The foremost concern that has arisen out of these studies has been the effects of isolation. As ethnographic study by John Percival has shown, amongst the beneficial aspects of being part of an environment in which their strategies for maintaining self-esteem are shared and strengthened, there are also negative effects.10 As he says: the age-segregated setting may exacerbate feelings of loss, loneliness and alienation, emphasise tendencies to exclude others and limit availability of, or desire for, social interaction with fellow tenants.11

9 Peace, Sheila; Wahl, Hans-Werner; Mollenkopf, Heidrun; & Oswald, Frank; Environment & Ageing, in, Bond, John; Peace, Sheila; Dittmann-Kohli, Freya & Westerhof, Gerben J., Eds, Ageing in Society: European Perspectives on Gerontology, 3rd Edition, (London & Los Angeles: Sage, 2007), pp. 209-35. This quote p. 217.10 Mcgrail, Brian; Percival, John and Foster, Kate, Integrated Segregation? Issues from a range of housing/care environments, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 147-168, this quote, p. 165.11 Mcgrail, Brian; Percival, John and Foster, Kate, Integrated Segregation? Issues from a range of housing/care environments, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 147-168, this quote, p. 165.

9Fig. 0.3Proportion of Harlows Population over the age of 65, in 1971 (Top), 2001 (Middle) and in particular areas of the town today (bottom).

1971

2001

Mark Hall Today

10

The possibility for a household to move in to sheltered housing is itself becoming an increasingly rare opportunity at the moment. Within the last few years, many sheltered housing schemes throughout the UK have begun to be decommissioned as some properties have become unattractive and hard to let.12 In Harlow with the provision of sheltered housing being reduced by almost a quarter. 13 Beyond how the buildings look however, this is also a result of changing public attitudes to age-segregated environments. Within the UK these changes are still in their infancy, yet surveys taken in the US suggest the sentiments and aspirations that future generations of older people may bring to the question of how they are housed:

Perhaps because the [baby] boomers are watching their parents and grandparents struggle with these choices, [institutional care environments] or perhaps because of their generational commitment to remaining youthful and independent, only 9 to 20 per cent of boomers say they want to live in an age-restricted environment.14

The next twenty years will hold changes at the fundamental level of what our conceptions of life in old age are. If, as gerontologists predict, the current trends in older people living alone continue, this will provide a new problem for, and add further impetus to, housing older generations.

50% of the second baby-boomers may be expected to live alone at the age of 75, compared to 38% of the older cohort born in 1930. We can therefore see that, as they age, younger groups will be even more likely to live alone in later life than the present population of older people and living alone is one of the major factors which can lead people to seek alternative living arrangements.15

12 Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland, Housing an Ageing Society, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 1-26. This quote, p. 15.13 CorrespondencewithDawnHicks,ShelteredHousingOfficer,HarlowTown Council14 Dunham-Jones & Williamson, Op. Cit., p. 180.15 Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland, Housing an Ageing Society, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 1-26. This quote, p. 8.

11

Jubille Tea Party at Katherines House, HarlowFor many individuals, especially women, sheltered housing has great social benefits. But this is not the case for everyone. As Sheila Peace suggests: In practice the ageing of tenants has led to greater dependency on

warden and care services, to some extent putting off younger retired people.

12

A

B

E

F

G

H

IJ

K

LM

N O

P Q

S T

U

V W

X

Y

Z

AA

BB

CC

DD

EE

FFGG

HH

II

JJ

KK

LL

MM

NN

OO

PP

C

D

Homes for an Ageing Utopia - Ageing with Harlows Modernist Planning TodayWithin the planned urban structures of the New Towns however, this will not simply be a problem of an ageing population. The New Towns themselves are ageing and this will add a further dimension to decision making about how older people are housed within them. Growth and change within towns that were planned as finished entities are far more difficult to effect than in urban areas that have emerge d organically. For Harlow and the other Mark-1New Towns one side of this has simply been the lack of opportunities and incentives for investment. With their planned economies that were based around light manufacturing, the employment markets of Mark 1 New Towns declined in step with the rest of British manufacturing as the last century drew to a close. And over the last twenty years in particular, the New Towns have acquired a reputation for deprivation. Government reports set out to outline their social and economic problems 16 and a number of commentators confirmed their rank with numbers drawn from the Indices of Multiple Deprivation:

Worryingly, three quarters of the 20 English new towns are among the 50 per cent most-deprived authorities, with two in the worst ten per cent. All bar two are more deprived than the county

16 DTLGR, The New Towns: Their Problems and Future, (London: HMSO, 2002), p. 7.

StevenageHarlow Basildon

Fig. 0.4The Mark-1 New Towns Neighbourhood Structures

in which they reside.17

Although some New Towns like Harlow and Basildon were targeted as points for housing growth as a part of the last Labour Governments Growth Areas plan, the neighbourhood structures of their urban plans, has limited development to the fringes of the towns. (Fig 0.4) (Fig. 0.6, p. 16) In Harlow, the actual built reality of housing growth throughout the 90s in the Church Langley area and more recently over the last decade at New Hall has improved the image of the town in the public eye.18 Yet, as a glance at the indices of deprivation suggests, on many levels, including employment and crime, because of the nature of both these areas as further stages of the towns initial neighbourhood plan, they remain discrete districts working in their own spheres, separate from the New Town. (Fig 0.5) For older people resident in any of the four neighbourhoods of the original New Town, these new areas offer little in the way of new forms of housing targeted at their needs and levels of affordability. And so, resigned to their fate, Harlows older generation remain, trying to adapt to the urban structures that were initially designed to house them as children.

17 Joey Gardiner, The New Towns, in, Regeneration & Renewal, (Oct 29, 2004), pp. 19-23, p. 20.18 See for instance: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/newhomes/3323279/Urban-chic-finds-a-home-in-the-countryside.html

13

A

B

E

F

G

H

IJ

K

LM

N O

P Q

S T

U

V W

X

Y

Z

AA

BB

CC

DD

EE

FFGG

HH

II

JJ

KK

LL

MM

NN

OO

PP

C

D

Crawley Bracknell Hemel Hempstead

Fig. 0.5Harlow Mapped by Government Statistics in the form of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation. Total (Left) And Employment (Right) In total 38 separate indicators, which are grouped into seven domains each of which reflects a different aspect of deprivation, are used to produce an overall Index of Multiple Deprivation score for each small area in England. The domains used in the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010 are income, employment, health, education, crime, access to services and living environment. Each of these domains has their own scores and ranks allowing users to focus on specific aspects of deprivation. (DCLG, English Indices of Deprivation, 2010, p. 1)

14

Harlow Today - An aerial view of the town and its context in west Essex

The lighter dots highlight the areas where housing is currently being constructed. New Hall is the lowest of these on the right. Other greenfield development at Gilden Way and New Hall Farm (Top right) is considered very controvercial and is being blocked by the local council and residents. It is currently under planning review.

15

Ginicerum publine cum nos etendeesta vignaterviri potius Cati pero Catum ego Catus are macchuis nulla nitil unt. Mulabitiae con inti pri porum vendi, quem aucon per lis ina, unt faudam issilnequa que cote non vest ina, quam. Onius egitam dem vagin dit. Adem aciaedo, unum quis conihil iurora rei satiortemque caperem.Ilicoer vicatri, comne tiamdium dii consum pes ius cont vere, publi fac reviver ectum, porte, serei se confec me in sendam iaequod in terius sicaeludet ari sim diem a destrum omnene que telarbis. Ti. Num re num acente, que nos mei ia quam intere re fac ret Catiur us? Forariver hilissoltium sulis ia diemus hors et, ureoraticem igna, caes hostritia ca;

16

Population

HDevC Completions

Private Completions

17

Fig. 0.6Plans for growth in Harlow

Harlow itself has never really been far from new plans for housing growth. In the decade from 1963 to 1974 its Development Corporation, the body established by government to oversee the construction of the town, was required to draft up no less than five plans to expand the original masterplan for the town. 1 The first of these, the 1963 Expansion Plan, saw the town expanding by 150% to a population of 120,000 from the original 80,000. Though all of these came to nothing, following a report by the sociologist Ruth Glass that made population predictions of a total shrinking to under 50,000 people, new building work again became prioritised, though this time, to be undertaken by private enterprise.2 With the approval of plans to expand Stansted Airport in 1984 Harlows position at the halfway point between Cambridge and London gave rise to the sixth neighbourhood Church Langley and ultimately the seventh; Newhall. Until the East of England Regional Plan was revoked by the incoming government in late 2010, development at New Hall and Church Langley had also been planned to be accompanied by another 10,000 homes (22,000 people) in Harlow North - the equivalent of another three neighbourhoods of the New Town.

1 Morton, Op. Cit., Chapters 9 & 15.2 Morton, op. Cit., p. 342.

18

Research QuestionsSo how can older households be integrated more successfully within the existing planned structures of post-war new towns? How do the rigid planning mechanisms and neighbourhood structure of a town like Harlow impact on the wellbeing of older people living there today? And how can this structure and the built forms within it be remodelled and adapted to support an ageing demographic whilst remaining open to future changes as it evolves?

Structure of thesis/schemeThis design thesis structured in the form of a masterplan to reconfigure the neighbourhood centre of the Mark Hall/Netteswell neighbourhood in Harlow. Through the addition of new, integrated, multi-generational forms of housing in which older households are mixed with younger families, the small commercial centre at the heart of the neighbourhood is re-imagined as an inclusive, extended home environment for the neighbourhoods ageing population. The masterplan has three phases. (Fig 0.7) Each, builds on the former as part of an investment framework to reinvigorate, reinstate and then re-imagine the centre.

Fig. 0.7Aerial view of the Thesis MasterplanPhase 1 - Revitalising the Neighbourhood Centre - Remodelling of Neighbourhood Centre Block B and reap-propriation of adjacent remnent greenspace - orangePhase 2 - Reinstating the centre - supermarket and courtyard block - bluePhase 3 - Making the centre a place to live - Town House Rows - red

19

20

The first phase involves the remodelling of existing underutilised space within and around the centre. This includes the adaptation of the existing retail units within the neighbourhood centre blocks through a change of use to dwellings for older people. It also encompasses areas outside the immediate neighbourhood centre site through the reappropriation of a network of remnant green spaces to mediate the availability and poor access to green space within the neighbourhood today. The second phase deals with the extension of the neighbourhood centre ensemble as investment from a medium sized supermarket retailer becomes available. This is based on the real brief produced for a planning application already made for the site which is then developed further to incorporate the supermarket around a new central public space. At this stage of the masterplan, proposals are also made to develop the connectivity of the centre. The third phase of the thesis masterplan speculates on the renewed ability of the local council to invest in its housing stock in the near future and the emergence of new forms of self-build co-housing in the UK that might work in conjunction with this. At this stage a proposal is made for the development of between fifty and a hundred new dwellings to be constructed on the service yard area that currently makes up the back of the centre. Each of the sections deals in turn with different issues related to the wellbeing of older people, moving from the impact of public open spaces to the interior itself. Though the home environment remains present throughout, the majority of design work at this scale takes place in the third phase. The sections are weighted to reflect this accordingly, becoming increasingly detailed in their design outlines as the requirement for intervention develops.

Phase 2Phase 1

Fig. 0.8Section through the Thesis Masterplan

21

Phase 3

22

Design Research and the NeighbourhoodDesign is present throughout the thesis as a propositional research method whereby the process of making and altering proposals is monitored to garner knowledge about the issues in play. This is supplemented throughout by a more ethnographical and historical set of research methods. In this way the thesis contributes to the existing literature on New Towns and housing for older people in the UK to demonstrate what the field of architecture can offer within cross-disciplinary research. For, as Sheila Peace has remarked about the field of gerontology:

There is a tendency in scholarly work to de-contextualise human ageing from the environment, the day-to-day surroundings in which a persons growing older really takes place.19

By spatialising proposals for more inclusive, integrated forms of housing for older people, architectural design clearly has a role to play in furthering the research of gerontologists.Indeed, this has already begun to happen in other parts of the world, as publications emerging in the last twelve months demonstrate.20 But the attention of the thesis to the Mark--1 New Towns and Harlow in particular has another dimension as research. As Hugh Barton, Professor of Planning, Health and Sustainability at the University of the West of England has suggested:

Neighbourhoods can be cast as a pivotal spatial scale for change. Neighbourhoods have a special role in a transition to sustainable settlements. Their unique scale in human habitation makes them small enough to reflect the personal lifestyles, social networks and quality of life, yet they are also of sufficient size for their nature to affect the environmental impacts and economic functions of districts, towns and cities.21

19 Peace, Sheila; Wahl, Hans-Werner; Mollenkopf, Heidrun; & Oswald, Frank; Environment & Ageing, Op. Cit., p. 210.20 Two particularly good examples are: Cisneros, Henry, Dyer-Chamberlain, Margaret and Hickie, Jane, Eds. Independent for Life; Homes and Neighbourhoods for an Aging America, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012) and within a New Town context in Japan; Andrew Scott & Eran Ben-Joseph, ReNew Town: Adaptive Urbanism and the Low Carbon Community, (London & New York: Routeledge, 2012)21 Hugh Barton, Marcus grant and Richard Guise, Shaping Neighbourhoods; for local health and global sustainability, 2nd Edition, (London & New York: Routeledge, 2010), p. 5.

The principle of the neighbourhood planning was a major force in British post-war town planning and when it came to putting the theory into practice, the New Towns, and Harlow in particular, were the testing ground for its application. From the standpoint of today, as Barton has also highlighted; theories about neighbourhoods have progressed little since the era of new town plans, and any skills developed then have been forgotten or sidelined.22 This thesis is also about re-engaging with this legacy. In the context of current legislation such as the Localism Act and the neighbourhood plans it wishes to promote, the thesis might also be used to assess the potential of making small scale interventions that have a broader impact at the scale of the town. To be sure, in its masterplan, the thesis does not pretend to have the scope to take on the whole of a New Town, and in using Harlow as a case study, it acknowledges the specificities of each of the six settlements. Although, as Barton describes, the neighbourhood does hold answers to the problems perceived by many to be found in a place like Harlow.

22 Hugh Barton, ed., Sustainable Communities: the potential for eco-neighbourhoods, (London: Earthscan, 2000), p. 4.

Out and about in Harlows Mark Hall/Netteswell neighbourhood

23

24

25

of uses for living, working and recreation and the segregation of circulation separating vehicular traffic from pedestrians. (fig. 1.0) Alongside this, borrowed ideas, such as those developed before the war in the U.S. at the new commuter town of Radburn were promoted by the Ministry of Town and Country Planning. 3 A broad look at Harlow today shows how some of this structuring has remained with the continuation of what have now become very familiar industrial estates at Pinnacles to the West of the Town and Templefields in the North East corner. The towns sub-network of pedestrian and cycle routes that run throughout it are also still an aspect of its make up as a place. In places they brush up against the direct routes of the arterial road system that divides the town. However, the most significant structuring device in the Harlow plan - one that, as historian Nigel Taylor confirm s was evident in the master plans for all the post-war Mark-1 new towns - has undoubtedly been the neighbourhood unit. 4 (p.14-15)

3 Anthony Alexander, Britains New Towns: Garden Cities to Sustainable Communities, (London & New York: Routeledge, 2009), p. 77.4 Nigel Taylor, Urban Planning Theory since 1945, (London: Sage, 1998), p. 33.

Reinvigorating the Neighbourhood Centre

Thesis Masterplan Phase 1

A Test bed for modernist urbanismAt a broad, generic level, many of the complications encountered in the New Towns due to the age of their fabric are relatively well documented. As test beds for the architectural modernism of mid-century Britain, the planning of the New Towns drew on a broad range of ideas and subsequently as the few complete examples of this moment in design history they have become a key touchstone for historians, with much written about the genealogies of the design thinking behind them. 1 A number of the key principles of functionalist urbanism laid down in documents such as the Athens Charter were brought to the table by the architect-planners employed.2 These ideas included zoning

1 See Bullock, Nicholas, Building the Post-War World: Modern Architecture & Reconstruction in Britain, (London & New York: Routeledge, 2002); Gold, John R., The Experience of Modernism: Modern Architects & The Future City 1928-53, (London: E & FN Spon, 1997). And; Darling, Elizabeth, Re-forming Britain: Narratives of modernity before reconstruction, (London & New York: Routeledge, 2007) details how this was all set in place before reconstruction began.2 William Curtis, Modern Architecture since 1900, (London & New York: Phaidon, 1982), p. 173. Harlows use of Frederick Gibberd as Architect-Planner is the example usually referred to with his membership of the MARS Group of architects and CIAM by association.

26

Fig. 1.0Harlows Urban Infrastructure - Many of the functionalist aspects of the New Towns Planning are now invisible because they are so common. Harlows sub-network of routes for cycles and pedestrians (highlighted in yellow) are perhaps the only exception to this. The four planned neighbourhoods of the original plan are on the left, clockwise from top left, Little Parndon, Mark Hall/Netteswell, Bush Fair & Great Parndon. Top right is Old Harlow, distinguish-able by its form along the old parish street pattern. Church langley, bottom right and New Hall, Right Centre are the newest areas.

27

28

Harlow was planned as a conglomeration of what was initially intended to be five neighbourhoods. (fig. 1.1) At a first pass they can all too easily merge together into one homogenous blur of trees, shrubbery and white barge boards. But because they were each designed and built at different stages over a period of 30 years, if you look hard enough, each of the neighbourhoods retains some of its own character. (fig. 1.2, p. 30-33) The first, what is now known as Old Harlow is the town, or village that existed before the New Town was designated. It has since been added to in small parcels but remains home to only a small proportion of the towns 80,000 population (5,850). About 1200 of those people however are classified as older by the local council being either male and over the age of 65 or female and over 60.5 This is one of the highest concentrations of older people in the town at just over 25%. (fig. 1.3, p. 34) In the main these people are living in bungalows and other larger individual homes. As such it is not typical of the neighbourhoods in the New Town proper. In Old Harlow, owner occupation of a detached house is the norm, whereas elsewhere the Council is by far the largest single owner of homesmaking up over 30% of the homes in Harlow.6

5 HDC: Population Data, Disc 1. (Harlow: HDC, 2011) These statistics are based on ONS population projections of 2009.6 HDC, Harlow Council Housing Services Business Plan 2011-41, (Harlow: HDC, 2011), p. 16.

29

Fig. 1.1 Harlows Neighbourhood Structure as planned in 1948 (top) and Metabolism today (bottom). (Orange circles represent neighbourhood centres, triangles, likely movemement. Light grey dotted lines are the industrial areas. Light Grey solid lines is the M11 motorway, as planned and built. Darker Grey line is to indicate introduction of mainline train station in 1961.

The four new town neighbourhoods (left above) were intended to be relatively self-suffucient closed-cells .Over the past 60 years the neighbourhood structure has been added to with two further neighbourhoods (right bottom). Clearly, patterns of movement are more complicated than imagined in the towns original plan.

30

31

32

33

Fig. 1.2 (including last spread)Harlows 5 NeighbourhoodsFrom Left, p. 46: Old Harlow, Little Parndon, Bush Fair, Great Parndon, and Mark Hall/Netteswell (this page)

OppositeMaisonette Blocks in the Little Parndon Neighbourhood by Powell and Moya

34

Number 65+ males and 60+ females

130 - 159

160 - 189

190 - 219

220 - 249

250 - 279

280 - 309310 - 339

340 - 369

370 - 399

400 +

8 % - 9.9 %

10 % - 11.9 %

12 % - 13.9 %

14 % - 15.9 %

16 % - 17.9 %

18 % - 19.9 %20 % - 21.9 %

22 % - 23.9 %

24 % - 25.9 %

26 % - 27.9 %

28 % - 29.9 %

Fig. 1.3Distribution of Older Population in Harlow by Super Output Area (SOA) Gross Numbers (Above) and as a Percentage of total population (below).[Statistics are based on ONS population projections of 2009]

35

Fig. 1.4 Typical mid-morning street scene in the Stow, the neighbourhood centre of the Mark hall/Netteswell neigh-bourhood. (Area of highest concentration of older people highlighted in fig. 1.3 bottom)

Throughout the four New Town neighbourhoods, the over 60/65 population is relatively evenly spread. The first two neighbourhoods to be developed were Little Parndon and Mark Hall/Netteswell. They were constructed quite steadily throughout the middle of the 1950s to begin the settlement and its economy.7 Today they are home to just over a quarter of the towns population and include the area with the highest concentration of older residents where just under one in every three people is over the age of 60/65. (fig.1.4) Following these areas during the late 1950s was the neighbourhood of Bush Fair a part of the town that added to existing small settlements around the southern part of the designated area. It set a precedent for some of the higher density areas that were to follow in the early 1960s as part of the fourth neighbourhood, Great Parndon. Today they are also home to their own share of the towns older generation though they typically make up one in every five residents there. Within these five neighbourhoods, the majority of older people live in their own homes. Because of the housing stock present in Harlow, many of these are flats and terraced houses. As a recent housing survey detailed; 50% of the housing stock in the town is terraced, 22% is flats, and 10% is detached.8 We will see later on how these dwelling typologies and their imbalance in proportion within Harlow by comparison with settlements in the surrounding areas of Essex and Hertfordshire may impact upon future generations of older people in Harlow.

7 AllfiguresforstartandcompletiondatesaretakenfromMorton,Op.Cit.,Appendix VI.8 Opinion Research Services, Strategic Housing Market Assessment Report, Executive Summary, (Harlow: HDC, 2008), p. 5.

36

Neighbourhood Centres & wellbeingThe most important part of the urban structuring remaining for those living in Harlow today are the neighbourhood centres within each neighbourhood. For older people in particular, they are an important part of their lives and can contribute positively to their continued wellbeing and quality of life. There are three main ways in which they do this (fig.1.5):

1. The small retail services they offer including top-up food shopping, chemists, post-office, hair-dressers, and newsagents.

2. As recognised spaces for social interaction

3. As sites for small and part-time employment

These roles of the neighbourhood centres in the lives of older people in the town have become jeopardised of late. In the Great Parndon area, the Staple Tye centre was demolished and replaced with a larger scale, Essex barn supermarket. This, of course, has also happened at several other neighbourhood centres in the other Mark-1 New Towns. This type of development however, with its attendant security measures inhibits many of the everyday practices which contribute to the three ways in which older people benefit from the neighbourhood centre.

Firstly, and most immediately, the services that the Neighbourhood Centres provide can prove vital for those elderly residents of the town who suffer with some sort of mobility problem. Despite recent expansion of convenience goods food retailing through larger shed development supermarkets,

Fig. 1.5The value of the neighbourhood centres to the wellbeing of local older residents is clear. (From left) The Stow in Mark Hall/Netteswell and its services, recognised use as a social meeting space, and small employment.

the Stow still fulfils a basic retail function in the realm of top-up food shopping and weekly needs of the centres local resident population as a 2007 retail study reported.9 The other neighbourhood centres in the town also manage to continue to provide this role, though as this study pointed out and subsequent development of a supermarket at the Great Parndon neighbourhood centre shows, the extent and the success of this can vary. As with the issue of deprivation in the town however, close observation often demonstrates the difficulties of drawing blanket conclusions about their future. In his study, Anthony Alexander suggested that: Starved of the vitality of being a through-route, neighbourhoods atrophiedlocating neighbourhood centres away from the main transport routes could leave them economically depressed.10 Yet the retail study reported that:

From our visits to The Stow there are no outward signs that shops and businesses in the centre are necessarily failing, although the shopping precinct is clearly in need of improvement and investment. The Inspector also concluded at the Local Plan Inquirythat, although The Stow was a little tired in parts, it appears to be thriving.11

Five years on from this report in a much changed national economic climate, a visit to the Stow today shows the resilience of the Neighbourhood Centre typology of the New Towns.

9 GVA Grimley, Retail Study & Town Centre Health Check, (Harlow: HDC, 2007), p. 51.10 Alexander, Op. Cit., p. 117-18.11 GVA Grimley, Retail Study & Town Centre Health Check, (Harlow: HDC, 2007), p. 53.

37

38

The continued success of the Neighbourhood Centres not only benefits Harlows older people as a place to meet and shop. A number of the retail premises in the Stow and at Bush Fair employ older people as well. (fig.1.6) For those that might be working, full or part time, small supplements to income can be important. As Sheila Peace notes: one of the most significant barriers to older people fully taking part in the life of the community has been their relative poverty compared to the working population. 12 Though at the moment this is only a small aspect of the centres offer, in time this could well prove to be a more important aspect of a Neighbourhood Centres daily life. As Peace has since written:

We forecast that older people, particularly those in their third age, in the future will make substantial contributions to wealth creation in European economiesAside from leisure and consumption, this may often be inactive roles in political or religious organisation sand other forms of civic and community participation.13

In the current economic climate, the coalition government has replaced housing growth in Harlow with the promise of new jobs. The designation of an Enterprise Zone within the bounds of the Templefields industrial area has been a strategic move to create 2,000 jobs in the town. As the brochures and reports of the programme suggest however, the jobs they create are unlikely to be filled by over 65s:

For residents of Harlow and West Essex, the targeted sectors offer employment opportunities at a wide range of skill levels including the opportunity for business start up within the sectors and their supply chains.14

12 Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland, Inclusive Housing, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 235-260. This quote, p. 250.13 Bond, John; Peace, Sheila; Dittmann-Kohli, Freya & Westerhof, Gerben J; Ageing into the Future, in, Bond, John; Peace, Sheila; Dittmann-Kohli, Freya & Westerhof, Gerben J., Eds, Ageing in Society: European Perspectives on Gerontology, 3rd Edition, (London & Los Angeles: Sage, 2007), pp. 296-308. This quote, p. 306.14 HDC, Enterprise West Essex at Harlow, (Harlow: HDC, 2011) p. 5.

Fig. 1.6Employment at the Stow

39

40

Fig. 1.7Green Space catergorisation in the Harlow Local Plan for Mark Hall/Netteswell

Amongst the recognised types of outdoor spaces that make up the environment between buildings in Harlow hard landscaped areas are few and far between. What PPG17 describes as civic spaces, including civic and market squares, and other hard surfaced areas designed for pedestrians15 appear at first glance to be quite insignificant. As an overview of the Mark Hall/Netteswell neighbourhood highlights, as a proportion of the total area of outdoor space, they account for between just 2 and 3 per cent. (fig.1.7)

15 ODPM, PPG17 Op. Cit., p. 14.

41

Fig. 1.7Green Space catergorisation in the Harlow Local Plan for Mark Hall/Netteswell

42

In order to begin the process of reinvigorating and reinstating the Stow, the first stage of the thesis masterplan instigates some simple, low budget remodelling of retail units within areas of the centre that have underperformed for an extended period. On the Western side of the northern square, a row of four retail units have been lying empty for two to three years. (fig.1.8) Because of their location away from the main path of connectivity running through the Stow, these units have been difficult to let for some time. (fig.1.9) This is compounded by the low daylight levels around the corner of the block and a lack of sunlight reaching much of the east faade after midday. That these four particular units within Block B are of a significantly smaller area than those throughout the rest of the centre (56m as oppose to has also hampered their success as rentable space as retailing practices have evolved over the last 60 years. Moreover, this is furthered by the fact that Block B is 4 storeys whereas all other blocks are only 3. (fig.1.10) It is likely that the load bearing brick walls between the units can not be altered to the same extent as elsewhere in the Stow as a result.

Fig. 1.8Stow Block B from the North Square

43

24.86

07.31

09.0

0

05.18

06.28

10.97

05.18

12.9

0

05.18

09.0

0

15.93

07.31

Fig. 1.10The different organisations of the Stow podium blocksFrom left, Block A; has the largest shops with maisonettes directly above and a canopy on its front facade; Block B ahas the smallest shops, with maisonettes pushed forward out of the block to form a collonade beneath. This then has a row of bed-sits in the fourth storey. Block C has shops of a size between the two and is oriented north south.

Fig. 1.9Block B within the North West Corner of the Stow

44

The Stow was constructed over several stages as the Mark Hall/Netteswell neighbourhood grew around it. The first three blocks, A, B and C were completed in early 1953. These were then added to over the next decade firstly by completing the east side of the street with Block D and closing it at the south end with Block E. Block F was added to extend the form in 1963. The Stow was modelled on the Lansbury Market Square scheme that Frederick Gibberd developed for the 1951 Festival of Britain Live Architecture Exhibition in Poplar, East London. It provided the model for a whole generation of Neighbourhood Centre buildings. (fig.1.11) Over the thirty year period of the Mark 1 New Towns construction, the form of these neighbourhood centres morphed into various different things, but the basic functions stayed broadly the same.

Where commercial retail areas of neighbourhood centres continue to remain disused, temporary use-changes can be utilised by the local authority to avoid the perception of neighbourhood centres as failing. Within the neighbourhood centres however, the type of re-use that has recently begun to fill empty shops in the town centre, such as artists studios and galleries, might be expected to be less forthcoming. Following the recent spate of sheltered housing decommissions, there is evidence of a short-term need to provide small, affordable dwellings for those older people who might not be able to afford a larger home and other homeless residents of the town.

The Stow ca. 1955

45

46

A

X

H

W

DD

KK

O P Q

I

X

EE

J

Y

FF

B C

MMLL

47

X X

X

S T U V

K

Z

GG

L

AA

HH

M

BB

II

N

CC

JJ

D E

OO PPNN

F G

Fig. 1.11The New Town Neighbourhood Centre Type

( x - redeveloped)

48

Fig. 1.13 Harlows 17 Sheltered Housing Schemes and their relationship to green spaces in the town. (Shown in white) (See spread on page 62-3 for green space in detail)

Sheltered housing managed and administered by the local authority in Harlow houses approximately 1,000 of the towns 11,500 over 65s. (fig.1.12) As gerontologist Sheila Peace has said: Between 1979 and 1989 Englands total housing stock rose by 10%, but the number of sheltered housing units rose by 69% as public housing policy shifted from general needs to special needs provision.16 Today, the quantity of sheltered housing in the UK is falling as it becomes seen as one option amongst a spectrum of care environments. In Harlow, this has been very much the case with the decommissioning of accommodation at a number of sites where units have become hard to let. 17 Though in some schemes this has come as a result of problems within interiors, in the majority of cases this has been a result of their locations within the town. (fig.1.13)

16 Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland, Housing an Ageing Society, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 1-26. This quote, p. 15.17 CorrespondencewithDawnHicks,ShelteredHousingOfficer,HarlowTown Council

49

Fig. 1.12Harlows Sheltered Housing Schemes

50

Remodelling the Stow to ensure thermal comfortThe first concern of the thesis scheme explores strategies to retrofit existing office and retail units in Blocks A and B of the Stow as dwellings for older people. In Block B, by removing the non-structural portion of the flat roof of the shop currently serving as a rather unloved, featureless yard to the maisonettes above, (fig.1.14) a private outdoor space is created at the back of the home directly accessible from the bedroom space. This enclosed courtyard can be either partitioned off to make the space completely private or left as a longer shared courtyard between the four residents of the units. (fig.1.16, over page) Within, because the units have a relatively tall clear height (2.9m from floor to ceiling) for the rooms created, the scheme makes use of a floating timber floor, made accessible by short ramps under the colonnade on the eastern side. (fig.1.15) This is the dwellings front door, though they are also accessible through the yard. On this east side of the dwelling, the interior layout can be adapted to allow two residents to share and benefit from a slightly bigger kitchen. The office spaces in the second and third stories of the northern corner of Block A could also be remodelled into dwellings to create more activity around the access core that is accessed off the underpass that runs between the blocks. In this initial phase of the masterplan, the thesis scheme also makes proposals to resurface parts of the northern square to provide a softer landscaped area in front of the new dwellings.

Fig. 1.14The existing yards at first floor level on the west side of blocks A and B of the Stow provide little amenity value other than in the summer months in evenings.

51

Fig. 1.15Plan. Phase 1 Proposal for Remodelling of Ground Floor Shop Units as Dwellings

52

Fig. 1.16Private outdoor spaces with the opportunity to share areas between the group.

53

54

Fig 1.17Spalling Brickwork and Warping Roof Felt, Mark Hall/Netteswell, July 2012

55

Fig 1.18Spalling Brickwork, The Stow

The Government reviews of the New Towns were keen to highlight the material deficiencies in their built housing stock. Summing up the 2006 study comment was made on wholesale replacement of districts to counter a lack of durability, largely because of the use of untried materials and detailing.18 Closer examination of the fabric of Harlow however suggests that this is amore complex and varied issue than such an analysis suggests. Especially in the Mark Hall/Netteswell neighbourhood, because dwellings are almost entirely constructed using load bearing, cavity brick and blockwork, often the problems encountered are far more familiar. Torn or warped roof felt, rotting timber eaves, asbestos insulation exposure and spalling brickwork are far more likely to be a problem in the area than crumbling in-situ concrete or draughts through gaps between large pre-fabricated panels. (fig.1.17 & 1.18) In terms of impacts on energy use, it is the type of dwelling and the extent of its external envelope that really determines how well it performs. As a brief look at energy certificates of different dwellings in the Mark Hall North area highlights, in the benign climate of West Essex, mid-terrace properties can provide small cost savings for their owners.

In terms of construction, the Stow is an anomaly within the town. While blocks D-F all used cavity wall construction for the maisonette flats above the shops, the first three blocks A-C were constructed in solid 14-inch brickwork. (fig.1.19, 1.20 over page) The strategy developed in the thesis scheme seeks to utilise the thermal mass of this structure that is already present. The lack of a cavity within this solid brickwork means that simple retrofit strategies can not be implemented within the structure itself. In addition to the use of a floating floor, to counter the thermal transmittance through the walls the scheme proposes wrapping the external walls with a highly insulated pre-fabricated timber structure clad in glazed bricks. (fig.1.21, over two pages)

18 DCLG, Transferable Lessons, Op. Cit., p. 88.

56

Of course, thermal comfort is an important aspect for everybody in maintaining health and well-being in a purely physiological sense. Where it can really have an effect in the lives of older people however is in its secondary, knock-on effects on well-being. As Day and Hitching have highlighted, many older people will forego other essentials in order to retain their comfort inside the home: several households said they would cut back on most other things before cutting back on heating.19

Many studies of older people have emphasised their financial vulnerability in the context of paying fuel bills. Back in 2001, Sheila Peace described the financial circumstances of many older people thus:

The financial situations of individual older people vary enormously, however, the perception and very often the reality of old age has been one of limited incomes and reduced expenditure. 60 per cent of pensioners remain in the bottom 40 per cent of the income distribution.20

Peace was writing before the concept of fuel poverty became common in the UK.21 In 2009 it was estimated that 3.5 million households in the UK were in Fuel Poverty.22 Ten years later, with a much changed economic outlook, Harlow council are well aware of their particular circumstances, as the following extract from the towns housing strategy details:

19 Day & Hitching, Op. Cit., p. 14.20 Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland, Housing an Ageing Society, in, Sheila M. Peace & Caroline Holland Eds., Inclusive Housing in an Ageing Society: Innovative Approaches, (Bristol: Policy Press, 2001), pp. 1-26, this quote, p. 6.21 Fuel Poverty means that a household spends more than 10% of their income to heat their home to a comfortable temperature.22 Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Annual report on fuel povertystatistics 2009 (London: TSO, 2009)

Fig 1.19The Stows Solid Brickwork Construction

As the impact of the economic situation on residents of Harlow increases, this is likely to result in increased demand on services provided by, in particular: Older Persons Services - fuel poverty and general inflation impacts upon the health and welfare of older people disproportionately, as they spend a greater proportion of their income on food and fuel than other sections of society and are more limited in ability to increase income.23

The need to maintain higher ambient indoor temperatures in their living spaces is a real financial burden for older people, and of late this will not have become any easier. As last years ONS reports confirmed, total expenditure by final consumers in 2010is up by 10.6 per cent on 2009, reflecting a steady increase in energy prices.24 And whilst research by Wilkinson et al. has shown that households with lower incomes are not necessarily those with lower indoor temperatures, as Oreszczyn et al. detail, the rise in excess winter and cold-related deathshas focused attention on winter indoor temperatures and the ill-health effects of exposure to cold through inadequate home heating.25 For all of the older people living in Harlows sheltered housing schemes, this issue is negated because of the use of inclusive rental rates that allow residents to take advantage of the district heating systems on site. Elderly households outside of sheltered housing schemes can be at risk however. In Harlow this can especially be the case where the quality of construction is an issue.

23 HDC, Harlows Housing Strategy 2008-2013, (Harlow: HDC, 2008), p. 28.24 OfficeforNationalStatistics,Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2011, (London: TSO, 2011), p. 17.25 Tadj Oreszczyn, Sung H. Hong, Ian Ridley and Paul Wilkinson (Warm Front Study Group), Determinants of winter indoor temperatures in low income households in England, in, Energy & Buildings, Vol. 38 (2006), pp. 245-52. This quote, p. 1.

13

U:

1.6 W

/mK

U: 1.

4 W/m

K

11

57

Fig 1.20Existing section through Block B detailing solid brickwork and false ceiling removed in remodelling

58

Fig 1.21Phase 1 construction proposal for shop unit conversion

The wrapping of the external envelope will reduce the U-Value of the walls from 1.6w/m to under 0.3w/m

59

Green wedges, no parksThe significance of Harlows green spaces in countering health problems has recently come to the fore in a number of studies of the town. As the recently published Local Development Framework states, through their green space strategy the council wish to:

Address health issues including a higher prevalence than the national average for all chronic diseases, significant levels of child mental health morbidity, obesity, diabetes and poor levels of healthy eating which are all worse than the national average.26

Today the town faces a number of different problems related to health which this asset can help to mitigate. However, in the local development framework document, policies set out for the neighbourhood centres do not anticipate them to have any connection with local green spaces. For older people in particular this could prove to be prohibitive to their living in proximity to the services that are so valuable to them. Taken as a whole, within Harlows neighbourhoods, the types of green space of benefit to older residents well-being make up too small a proportion of the total green space. This is vital because, as recent research in the UK has suggested: Having a neighbourhood open space that is attractive and easy to visit can benefit older peoples well-being.27 Today, with continuing difficulties with the green wedges in terms of both accessibility and security, types of open spaces alongside more productive areas like allotments must be given priority within the structure of the neighbourhoods where possible. As a part of this strategy, the Mark Hall/Netteswell neighbourhood is a key area within the town.

26 HDC, Core Strategy Issues and Options Consultation Document November 2010, (Harlow: HDC, 2010), p. 25.27 Aspinall P A, Ward Thompson C, Alves S, Sugiyama T, Brice R, Vickers A, 2010, Preference and relative importance for environmental attributes of neighborhood open space in older people Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Vol. 37, No. 6, pp. 1022 1039, this quote, p. 1022. The effect of the built environment on the well-being of those occupying it became the subject of much research over the past twenty years or so. A good review of this is Cooper, Rachel, Boyko, Christopher & Codinhoto, Ricardo, Mental Capital & Wellbeing: Making the most of Ourselves in the 21st Century, (London:GovernmentOfficeforScience,2008) Cooper et al, Op. Cit., p. 13.

60

for various reasons, Formal Parks and Gardens were not a major priority. For them, it was the strips of grass verges running along the main arterial roads in the town that were to be prioritised in planning the landscape of Harlow. In their writings that appeared in the architectural press, both were concerned to highlight the presence of nature in the town alongside its stance against sprawl:

Ebenezer Howards agricultural ring is now a partial solution only. The agricultural land requires to be extended into the town itself in the form of tongues or wedges separating areas of building.31

Known as the Green Wedges they have since become a great source of pride for the towns residents and the Council are also committed to retaining them as they stand.32 Yet the range of ways in which these spaces have since been conceived - including linear parks in the official history - is telling of how their value has often been questioned.33 Today, for many older people in Harlow, the green wedges are part of the broad spectrum of green space types that offer little benefit to their well-being at the level of their everyday lives beyond functioning as the scenery they might drive through.34 Though the Local Authority in their recent work putting together their Local Development Framework have begun to recognise that green space in Harlow is important at the level of the town, their strategies and worked examples for green space at a more local level are less well developed. (fig.1.23)

31 Frederick Gibberd, Landscaping the New Town, in, Architectural Review, March 1948, 32 The Green Wedges also serve as green access corridors, containing footpaths and cycle ways, linking the town centre, employment areas and residential neighbourhoods as well as the towns roads. They are widely regarded as a valued and important amenity within the town. See; HDC, Core Strategy Issues and Options Consultation Document November 2010, (Harlow: HDC, 2010), p. 48. 33 Jane Morton, Harlow: The Story of a New Town, (Stevenage: Publications for Companies, 1980), p. 40.34 This shouldnt be completely discounted itself of course. See; Cooper, Rachel, Boyko, Christopher & Codinhoto, Ricardo, Mental Capital & Wellbeing: Making the most of Ourselves in the 21st Century, (London:GovernmentOfficeforScience,2008),p. 13 Individuals driving in areas dominated by the built environment are more stressed than those driving through nature-dominated scenes such as forests or golf courses.

78 | The Guidance

OPe

n S

PACe

Landscape Structure

The pattern of any new development 4.7.5 should evolve from the existing topography, natural assets and ecologic features.

Large developments, such as urban 4.7.6 extensions should form a consistent and positive relationship with the town and will be required to take a landscape-led approach in order to provide proposals which evolve from the existing typology natural assets and ecological features of Harlow.

Development adjacent to open country-4.7.7 side should provide a positive frontage and define a strong settlement edge.

To avoid open spaces being delivered 4.7.8 on a fragmented, site by site basis, a strategic approach to the designation of new strategic open space location must be adopted.

(Left) Existing spatial organisation of neighbourhood and its strategic landscape. Whilst this brings the Figure 4.47: landscape into the centre of the neighbourhood, it leads to a more dispersed urban form and residual open space. (Right) Recommended spatial organisation of neighbourhood and its strategic landscape.

The overall structure of proposed 4.7.9 development form should establish a design which both contrasts landscape with building groups and welds them into a coherent whole. This follows Gibberds vision for the town. In practice this means that there should be a clear definition between the built up area and the open space (by maintaining compact development and densities at the edge of the built up area) whilst the built development should have a positive relationship with the open space (by fronting onto it and connecting into it).

UK planning policy guidance document PPG17 outlines from its outset that outdoor space, including open spaces, sports and recreational facilities have a vital role to play in promoting healthy living and preventing illness.28 In terms of exposure and access to nature, a number of studies have found that a positive relationship exists between the presence of greenery and residents health, wellbeing and social safety.29

Within the first phase of the thesis masterplan, there are additional broader moves to increase the value of outdoor green space to those living in the Stow and the housing groups in the surrounding area. This is approached with particular attention to the needs of older people. On the one hand, this means making green space more accessible. On the other hand, it is the provision of an opportunity rich environment through different types of green space that is the goal. Reaching out over the boundaries of the site, the scheme also proposes the reinvigoration of two extant but much underutilised areas of grass at both north and south ends of the site to extend the home environment of older residents further. (fig.1.22)

It isnt just the haphazard nature of the connection to green space that constricts its use by those older people living in Harlow. Research currently being carried out on outdoor space in neighbourhoods suggests that its effect on well-being is as much a factor of the variety and the richness of opportunities it offers to residents as it is about its availability. 30 As we saw at the beginning of this chapter, right from the very beginning, access to green space has always been the foremost claim of the New Towns to promoting well-being.

For Harlows designers, Frederick Gibberd and Sylvia Crowe, 28 ODPM, PPG17 (London: ODPM, 2006), p. 4.29 Cooper et al, Op. Cit., p. 13.30 Jamie Anderson, Urban Wellbeing: Enabling & Motivating Flourishing in Outdoor Neighbourhood Spaces, (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge)

Fig 1.23Local Green Space Proposals.

From left, LDF Green Space Diagrammes - Current and Proposed HDCRight, Thesis Phase 1 Proposal recognising the low amenity value of the green wedges.

78 | The Guidance

OPE

N S

PACE

(Left) Existing spatial organisation of neighbourhood and its strategic landscape. Whilst this brings the Figure 4.47: landscape into the centre of the neighbourhood, it leads to a more dispersed urban form and residual open space. (Right) Recommended spatial organisation of neighbourhood and its strategic landscape.

61

Fig 1.22Green Space s at the sites peripheries re-appropriated in phase 1 of the thesis masterplan

62

Fig. 1.24 Harlows Green Space Infrastructure

Green Wedge

Accessible Countryside

Inaccessible Countryside

Green Corridor (cycle routes)

Allotments

Sports Grounds

Formal Park/Garden

Cemetery

Hard Surface Civic Space

63

Detail p. 66-9

64

PPG17 recognises ten types of outdoor, green or amenity space.35 Within Harlows neighbourhoods it is possible to find each of these, all along the broad spectrum from parks and formal gardens through semi-natural urban green spaces including woodlands and wetlands to allotments and outdoor sports facilities. Many of the neighbourhoods afford several different types. Mapping these spaces over the town as a whole reveals that Mark Hall/Netteswell is the neighbourhood with the most different types of outdoor space and the greatest area. (fig.1.24, previous page) The five other neighbourhoods, with the exception of Old Harlow which is third, all run following this in order of the date of their construction a function of the pressure that was increasingly placed on the development corporation throughout the 1960s and 70s to increase housing quantities within the towns boundaries. Mark Hall is particularly rich in areas of allotments with 12 different sites and the bike paths that cut through it in both north-south and east-west directions are also much more extensive and established as green corridors than in other areas of the town. (fig.1.25) If it has eight of the ten different types of outdoor space, then by comparison, Church Langley, the newest neighbourhood in the town affords only 3, with only one small area provided for outdoor sports use.

35 DCLG, Planning Policy Guidance 17; Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation, (London: HMSO, 2010) p. 13. Available to download at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/ppg17.pdf

Fig. 1.25Allotments off Howards Way, Mark Hall

65

Fig. 1.26Second Avenue Green Wedge

67

68

Fig. 1.27Second Avenue Green Wedge

69

70

Fig. 1.28Prairie Planning - Gordon Cullens Damning Photos included Tanys Dell in Mark Hall (bottom left).

For older people throughout the town, accessibility is the first and foremost attribute impacting on their benefit from the value of outdoor green spaces. With the sheer amount of green space in Harlow, proximity is rarely an issue. Much of the green space adjacent to older residents within Harlows neighbourhoods however would be grouped under PPG17s fifth category, Amenity Green spaces. The first critics of the New Towns showed that these green verges and areas of shrubbery offered little in the way of physical amenity to the young families resident of the town at the time.36 (fig.1.28)

As a number of recent studies and reports such as the EVOLVE project by the Department of Health have suggested in the guidelines they have set out, 400m is the upper limit of the distance older members of the community can be reasonably

36 James Richards, The Failure of the New Towns and Gordon Cullen, Prairie Planning in the New Towns, in, AR, July 1953, pp. 29-32

expected to travel on foot to reach outdoor spaces and amenities.37 Beyond distance however, it is of course the nature of the journey that can sometimes discourage older people from getting outdoors. Today, green verges must be utilised to improve older peoples experience of moving around the town. (fig.1.29) Many routes between housing groups that links the neighbourhoods to their adjacent green spaces are tight, uninviting passageways. (fig.1.30) In this kind of environment, a lack of natural surveillance is the major issue affecting peoples sense and perception of security whilst passing through the space. And as studies such as that by Plater-Zyberk and Ball suggest, these features are important for all age groups, but especially for children and seniors.38

37 EVOLVE (Evaluation of Older Peoples Living Environments) is a tool thathasdevelopedoutof researchcarriedoutbetweentheUniversityof Sheffield,theDepartment of Health Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN) and the Elderly Accommodation Counsel (EAC). As a checklist of design recommendations to consider in housing for the elderly its main focus is on the interior, as we will see in Chapter 2. Yet it also sets out guidelines for 38 Plater-Zyberk and Ball, Op. Cit., p. 206.

71

Fig. 1.29Mobility Scooters are used by many older people in the UK today to compensate for frailty and a reduction in their mobility. Though their use on roads is prohibited, many older people do take to roads as surfaces

elsewhere are poor.

72

Reappropriating remnant green space at the heart of the neighbourhoodA number of remnant green spaces border the thesis site. (fig.1.30) On the northern side of 1st Avenue, in the Great Plumtree housing group, the Stort Tower and its three storey curved block of flats frame an area of mature trees between them. This area measures almost half a hectare and contains some of the most established trees in the neighbourhood. At present, the area sits behind a 2 metre hedge and is underused throughout the majority of the year. (fig.1.31) The hedge is also mature but suffers from being over-cut and has been damaged in places where residents of the area have tried to make a shorter, more direct route through to the pedestrian crossing to get across First Avenue. By making wider, more permanent gaps in the hedge, the thesis scheme proposes opening this green space back up to the neighbourhood as a formal garden. (fig.1.32) Through the addition of areas of fixed furniture and flower beds for seasonal colour and heathers and grasses for texture in winter the area is made more amenable to local residents but particularly the kinds of recreation that older people typically practice. The space itself is overlooked by the adjacent curved block of flats, but increasing its use and giving ownership of the space to all those living in the area can ensure that a degree of natural surveillance is achieved to make it an attractive destination. In order to ensure that the new park is accessible to residents of the Stow however better connectivity from north to south across First Avenue and through the area is important.

73

Fig. 1.30First Avenue is the street running from east to west over the roundabout

74

75

Fig. 1.31Great Plumtree housing group border with 1st Avenue

76

77

Fig. 1.32Phase 1 proposal for Great Pulmtree Park Entrance - First Avenue becomes a shared surface between the corner of the supermarket and the north east access road to the stow. Benches lining the street on its north side facing south

aid with slowing traffic .

78

79

formal park as a shared surface to slow traffic and encourage pedestrian movement across this section of the road. This is supported by providing a route for cyclists through the park and over First Avenue at this node. By beginning to dissolve this boundary condition, residents within the new housing group may be encouraged to enter and utilise the park. Phase 2 of the thesis masterplan also includes an outline massing scheme for the additional housing behind Stow Block C. This block is a suggestion of how connectivity might be further improved by providing a link further east along First Avenue through from the existing square of the Stow to the Park. (fig.2.3)

Reinstating the Neighbourhood Centre

Thesis Masterplan Phase 2

Improving connectivityThe second phase of the thesis masterplan brings with it the opportunity to develop connectivity through the neighbourhood centre. Because the Stow was pedestrianised after its first decade, at present, cycling from North to South through the centre is prohibited, leaving the connection to the National Cycle Route 1 that passes through the town from east to west severed at this point. (fig.2.1) The thesis scheme creates a second street running from the corner of Minchen Road directly along the back of the Stow Block A to a new hard surface civic space between Block B and the new development of a supermarket at the corner of First Avenue and Howards Way. (fig.2.2) This semi-hard surface area is extended across First Avenue to the entrance of the new

80

Fig. 2.1Mark Hall/Netteswells Green Corridor Sub-NetworkAt the scale of the Neighbourhood there are many gaps in the system inhibiting movement by non-motorised transport.

81

Site Area

82

Fig. 2.2Green corridor extension through the site.The use of a hard-surface finish that is bound with soil and permeable to water is proposed to improve stabil-ity to older people walking whilst allowing small vehicles to use the route.

83

84

[Academic use only]

85

Fig. 2.3Phase 2 proposal for Courtyard Housing along First Avenue - The block on the left hand side of the long elevation

here immediately above closes the south edge of the formal park but also provides a route through to the Stow. The drawing above is a cranked north and east elevation of the proposed phase 2 thesis scheme detailing the level

changes that the block negotiates.

[Academic use only]

86

Surveying Block F of the Stow revealed that the eastern half of its ground floor was entirely taken up by garages. (fig.2.4) On the one side, this leaves a blank faade to Minchen Road and on the other a disused unsurveilled corner. (fig.2.5) Phase 2 proposes the demolition of the spandrel walls between the brick piers within this section to open the north south route up. (fig.2.6)

Fig. 2.5 Block F garage corner

87

Fig. 2.6 Removal of spandrel walls to create new street.

Fig. 2.4Stow Block F

Block F was the last block to be constructed at the Stow and was so the only one to incorporate parking. The removal of the garage space in phase 2 is more than compensated for in parking created by works in the rest

of the phase and in phase 3.

88

In terms of improving the health and wellbeing of residents through exercise, within the context of public transport and connectivity in the town, Harlows sub-network of routes has a major part to play. As it was first publicised in the late 1940s, the premise of improved wellbeing to be experienced in the New Towns was built largely on the ability to move around easily without the use of motorised transport.1 (fig.2.7) In Harlow this was to happen along these routes winding through the green spaces and passing underneath the arterial roads. As some basic statistics and videos of Harlow in the early 1950s show, 11 per cent of all journeys were made by bike and many people in Harlow cycled to work.2 (fig.2.8) As this relationship has unwound however and the soft landscaping along these routes has grown the network of routes have also begun to lack natural surveillance, especially in the winter months.

A recent study drawing on Census data on travel mode share in Harlow suggested that: Car dependency in Harlow is high at 59% for the journey to work; public transport mode share is low (at 11%) reflecting a poorly developed network. Mode shares for walking and cycling are also low, despite good route network provision.3 (fig.2.9) A different study pointed out that; Car ownership in Harlow is slightly higher than the national average with 74.9% of households having access to a car compared to the average of 73.2% across England and Wales but claimed that mode Share for trips to, from and within Harlow by bus is fairly typical at around 8%.4 Owning a car in Harlow is a necessity for many residents. For those older people in the town with mobility problems, just as throughout the rest of the UK, scooters and small electric buggies have also recently become an attractive option to make their shopping trips. Comparative studies of ageing g populations in the U.S. claim that; Research shows that the average American male who reaches age sixty-five will outlive his ability to drive by six years, and the average American female by ten years.5 Even if these figures do not compare exactly with the UK, their conclusions that there is a fundamental need to enhance alternative modes of travel are beginning to be heeded.6

1 SomeshortpromotionalfilmshaverecentlybeenmadeavailableonYoutube by the BFI. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ophEYd4A-Q John Halas and Joy Batchelor, Charley in New Town, (London: COI, 1948)2 Bella Bathurst, The Bicycle Book, (London: Harper Collins, 2011), p. 37. As Bathurst points out, this needs to be set in the context of today where even in 2010 after a doubling on the previous decade, they still accounted for only 3%.3 PACEC & Halcrow Group, Harlow Regeneration Strategy, (Harlow: Harlow Council, 2005), p. 1514 MVA Consultants, Harlow Transportation Study, (Harlow: Harlow Council, 2005), p. 7.5 EllenDunham-Jones&JuneWilliamson,RetrofittingSuburbs,in,Cisneros, Henry, Dyer-Chamberlain, Margaret and Hickie, Jane, Eds. Independent for Life; Homes and Neighbourhoods for an Aging America, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012), pp. 179-96. This quote, p. 194.6 Ellen Dunham-Jones & June Williamson, Op. Cit., p. 194.

Fig. 2.7Charley in New Town demonstrates how central movement through green spaces was deemed to be to the improved wellbeing of New Town residents. This is still the case today.

Fig. 2.8Archive footage of cyclists leaving work in Harlow ca. 1955.

89

Fig. 2.9All of the arterial routes of the town include cycle paths at their sides

90

Building on new investmentThrough the reappropriation of space beyond the limits of the site the works of phase 1 mediate the conditions of boundaries not just around the Stow, but in wider perceptual terms throughout the neighbourhood and on into other parts of the town. In this, increasing connectivity to and improving the perception of the neighbourhood centre as a destination are achieved without the need for cost intensive intervention. By contrast, in phase 2, the creation of the shared surface area and civic space is the first move towards more permanent change of the built fabric of the centre itself.

The supermarket chain Aldi received planning permission in 2009 for a 850m supermarket on the site they own at the corner of First Avenue and Howards Way. (fig.2.10) 24 months have now passed and that planning permission has expired. Local planning limited the amount of housing that could be provided on the site to 14 units and this has since caused the stalemate that has resulted in the site remaining as a temporary car wash. Housing development by superstore chains such as Tesco is a relatively recent step in expanding the remit of building a supermarket.7 Of late such schemes have become increasingly common. As other financing streams for housing have begun to disintegrate in the current economic climate, supermarkets have presented a valuable source of investment to a number of sites that would otherwise have proved difficult to develop. 8

7 SeeDavidRogers,TescocompletesfirsthomesinLondon,in,Building Design, 28th March 2012 Available online: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/tesco-completes-first-homes-in-london/5034231.article8 There is of course much public disagreement with Tescos values. See: Anna Minton, This Town has been sold to Tesco, in, The Guardian, 5th May, 2010. Available online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/05/urban-development-tesco-towns. In addition, their stores themselves are also evolving. David Rogers, Scottish Firm wins Tesco store of Future Competition, in, BD, 26th March, 2012.AvailableOnline:http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/scottish-firm-wins-tesco-store-of-future-competition/5033951.article

91

Fig. 2.10Corner site of Aldi supermarket proposal from the Stort tower

The current proposals of Aldi received planning permission in 2009 but this has since expired. Permission was granted for an 850m supermarket on the site they own at the corner of First Avenue and Howards Way. Local planning limited the amount of housing that could be provided on the site to 14 units and this has since caused the

stalemate that has resulted in the site remaining as a temporary car wash.

92

Fig. 2.11Phase 2 courtyard block from Great Plumtree Park entrance

93

Phase 2 of the thesis scheme develops an alternative proposal for the supermarket and a higher density of housing on the corner of the site. (fig.2.11) The proposal better incorporates the needs of the supermarket as a commercial enterprise within the neighbourhood centre as a whole by bringing the supermarket to the eastern edge of its site and providing the main entrance off