A Garden City for a Post Car Era
The above figure shows the theoretic layout of a typical 300 x 300 metres neighbourhood of the Lively, Bikeable & Zero Carbon Garden City, here a little altered to show the three districts of the city within one figure. Three mixed-used blocks are shown at top right. Two (twin) terraced housing blocks on either side of the local park in middle. Two semi-detached housing blocks at left and bottom. There is a communal garden, rooftops and a children's play space within all blocks. A flexible mixed use local educational, pre-school and civic centre is shown at bottom left, with sports courts at roof top level and in the local park. The terraced housing blocks consist of 2+2 or 3 storey houses, the former with either a garden or a roof terrace, the latter with both. All car parking is curbside parking in tree lined streets, longitudinal in main streets and perpendicular in side streets. The main streets surrounding the nine blocks have cycle lanes and roundabouts ever 300 metres.
| UrbanPilot
2©16 |
THE
LIVELY, BIKEABLE & ZERO CARBON GARDEN CITY
|
URBAN
VISION
|
90,000 residents,
40,000 homes and 64 parks within approx one mile radius or 2x2
miles, 20 mins walking and 10 mins cycling distance of a central
train station |
NEIGHBOURHOODS
|
Neighbourhoods of
7-10 blocks 100x100 metres with 400-700 homes and 1000-1600
residents surrounding a local or larger park |
THREE
DISTRICTS
|
Inner urban
apartments and mixed use (144-72 dw/ha), middle terraced (68
dw/ha) and outer semi-detached (30 dw/ha) concentric districts |
HOUSING
VARIETY
|
Wide selection of
apartments, (twin) terraced and semi-detached houses as owner
occupied, shared ownership (for both first time buyers and the
elderly) and rented
|
LIVELY
STREETS
|
All streets with
wide tree-lined pavements and curb-side parking. 1 in 3 streets
with segregated raised cycle lanes. Flexible ground floor use
|
CYCLING
& WALKING
|
9
out of 10 intra-city journeys by cycling or walking. Typical
journeys lengths of less than ⅔ mile to the train station for 5
of 6 residents. Smaller blocks to encourage walking |
DEVELOPMENT
RIGHTS
|
Building rights
allocated annually to teams of developers and designers to
construct residential, commercial and civic buildings and adjacent
streets and parks |
JOBS
& SERVICES
|
Most commercial,
civic and retail uses and jobs within half a mile of the train
station
|
INNER
URBAN DISTRICT
|
⅓ of blocks are
civic or commercial, ⅓ mixed use, ⅓ apartments on upper
floors. Ground floor uses include pre-school nurseries and
workshops/studios
|
LOCAL
CIVIC CENTRES
|
Flexible mixed use
local educational, pre-school & civic centres adjacent to 1 in
3 parks |
GARDEN
CITY TRUST
|
Land and local
civic centres are transferred to a garden city trust when
completed |
GREEN
& COMMUNITY
|
A community garden
(some with pre-school nurseries), roof top gardens and a
children's play space within all blocks. ⅔ sq km of parks. 1 sq
km of allotment gardens
|
SPORTS
& HEALTH
|
Playing fields and
sports courts in all parks and on roof tops |
RURAL
LAND SWAPS
|
House and rural
land swaps offered to existing inhabitants and land owners. Using
surplus government owned greenbelt and rural land
|
ZERO
CARBON ENERGY
|
Electricity sourced
from wind power and solar panels. Zero carbon homes. Commercial
and civic buildings cooled and heated through a city wide
geothermal network |
E-CARS
& E-BIKES
|
A quarter of bikes
and cars are electric. A quarter of cars hybrid. A quarter of
bikes and cars shared through bike and car clubs |
The Lively, Bikeable & Zero Carbon Garden City is built compact, three to five storeys high, at an average density of 65 homes or 150 residents per hectare gross, allowing residents to walk or cycle for 9 out of 10 intra-city journeys. The submission covers the three main assessment criteria of the Wolfson economic prize, vision, economic feasibility (and governance) and popularity (with existing communities).
 |
| 3D cross section with inner urban apartments, civic, commercial and mixed use around two local parks with sports pitches left. Twin terraced housing around a larger park with a football field in the middle. Semi-detached housing and allotment gardens right. Two flexible mixed use local educational, pre-school and civic centres adjacent to two of the parks 2©14. |
Zero carbon living is increasingly popular and higher densities and compactness offer possibilities that can only be found in compact urban environments. Being close to all daily activities add to the attraction of zero carbon living, particularly in cities with a compact urban centre surrounded by compact low-rise housing.
The present trend is for many young families to chose to live close to city centre services and activities, and to cycle or walk to work, school, nursery, services and shops, saving considerable time and money when children are young. The Lively, Bikeable & Zero Carbon Garden City combines compactness with high quality living in economically, ecologically and socially sustainable neighbourhoods, for very many residents on a compact land area to enjoy.
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