Cities that put people first most likely to thrive

Creating places rather than mere developments is vital for the future success of the capital as well as the health of its citizens, argues Patricia Brown 

Cities such as London are complex ecosystems, buffered by competing forces of needs. At its base level, the ‘Maslow Hierarchy of Needs’ for cities is relatively simple; our citizens need an education, an affordable place to live, and the ability to feel safe and secure as they move around their city. 

Yet over the past few decades, the complex web of people involved in city-making have strived to go further. As a result, most of us city dwellers have started to expect, even subconsciously, city life to climb well beyond this basic level. It has become increasingly important to think about ‘quality of life’. 

This catch all phrase has expanded to mean anything from being able to get a good night’s sleep, litter-free streets, our perfect coffee within a mere stroll, wonderful parks on the doorstep and – relative new kids on the indicator of success block - to having walkable and cycle-able neighbourhoods. 

London is one city that has done a significant amount to reset the dial towards prioritising the needs of people over motor vehicles. To those who say that this change has been too slow, I suggest we are at the end of the beginning.

Most of the last century was spent building our society and urban fabric around cars, now we are starting to unravel that relationship, both spatially and through behaviour change. 

The case ‘for’ is mostly understood while the how and its delivery is slowly following. 

Many of the early adopters were developers and landowners, who backed my former organisation, Central London Partnership. They supported the lobby for Trafalgar Square’s pedestrianisation, funded our Business Improvement Districts pilots, agitated for Legible London and prioritised walking environments. This was mostly founded on good business sense – enlightened self-interest – since quality places attract people, aka ‘walking wallets’. 

This drive to make liveable places has become relatively mainstream in the capital, morphing into ‘placemaking’, a term now bandied around rather too freely for my liking. Yet in a city of 8.6m people and growing – with competing needs, and a transport system and housing market stretched to the limit – making places, not mere developments, is fundamental to both its future success and health of its citizens.

Placemaking – planning for and designing distinctive neighbourhoods that add to, not detract from, quality of life – is vital, especially in the face of growth. Yet placemaking is not simply copying what works elsewhere. It involves a complex cocktail of measures that includes time, shared vision, trust, the timely input of talented practitioners, and responsiveness to a unique set of conditions.  

There is a long way to go before this way of working is as embedded as we need it to be. But we must bear in mind it was just over ten years ago we had to lobby for pedestrian phases on traffic lights at some of London’s busiest junctions. We can change, especially if we show people not just the need, but also the benefit.    

Patricia Brown is director of the consultancy Central and chair of London Festival of Architecture. She will be speaking at Transforming London Streets