Urban Design in the Real Estate Development Process

Urban design enables better places to be created for people and is thus seen in Urban Design in the Real Estate Development Process as a place-making activity, rather than the application of architectural aesthetics. Urban design policy can change the 'decision environment' of developers, financiers, designers and other actors in the real estate development process to make them take place-making more seriously. This book reports diverse international experience from Europe and North America on the role and significance of urban design in the real estate development process and explores how higher quality development and better places can be achieved through public policy. The book is focused on four types of policy tool or instrument that have been deployed to promote better urban design: those that seek to shape, regulate or provide stimulus to real estate markets along with those aim to build capacity to achieve these. Urban design is therefore seen as a form of public policy that seeks to steer real estate development towards policy-shaped rather than market-led outcomes. The editors set the examples, case studies and evidence from international contributors within a substantive discussion of the impact of urban design policy tools and actions in specific development contexts. Contributions from leading urban design theorists and practitioners explore how: Masterplanning and infrastructure provision encourage high quality design Design codes reconcile developers' needs for certainty and flexibility Clear policy combined with firm regulation can transform developer behaviour Intelligent parcelisation can craft the character of successful new urban districts Powerful real estates interests can capture regulatory initiatives Stimulus instruments can encourage good design Development competitions need careful management Design review can foster developer commitment to design excellence Speculative housebuilders respond in varied ways to the brownfield design challenge Physical-financial models could help in assessing the benefits of design investment Urban design can add value to the benefit of developers and cities as a whole.

Table of Contents:
Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii Contributors xiv 1 Real Estate Development, Urban Design and the Tools Approach to Public Policy 1 Steve Tiesdell and David Adams Introduction 1 Real estate development 3 Opportunity space theory 7 The tools approach to public policy 11 Shaping instruments 15 Regulatory instruments 19 Stimulus instruments 24 Capacity-building instruments 25 Developers’ decision environments 29 2 Masterplanning and Infrastructure in New Communities in Europe 34 Nicholas Falk Introduction 34 Differences between the UK and Europe 37 Challenges for sustainable development 38 European success stories 43 Joined-up planning in the Randstad 48 Conclusion: lessons for the UK 51 3 Design Coding: Mediating the Tyrannies of Practice 54 Matthew Carmona Introduction 54 The three tyrannies 55 From development standards to design codes 60 The research findings 64 Conclusion 71 4 Proactive Engagement in Urban Design – The Case of Chelmsford 74 Tony Hall Introduction 74 Making the turnaround 75 The need for negotiation 79 Two examples 79 Reflections on the developers’ response 85 Conclusion 90 5 Plot Logic: Character-Building Through Creative Parcelisation 92 Tim Love and Christina Crawford Introduction 92 Setting the rules 93 Parcelling and subdivision strategies 94 The primacy of the urban realm 96 The pitfalls of flexibility 98 Economic viability of low-scale, densely distributed buildings 101 Alternative models 102 Conclusion 112 6 The Business of Codes: Urban Design Regulation in an Entrepreneurial Society 114 Nicholas J. Marantz and Eran Ben-Joseph Introduction 114 Zoning America 115 Developing America 121 Designing the American future 128 Conclusion 134 7 Good Design in the Redevelopment of Brownfield Sites 137 Paul Syms and Andrew Clarke Introduction 137 Redeveloping and reusing brownfield sites: the policy and regulatory context 139 Stimulus instruments in practice 143 Conclusion 157 8 Competitions as a Component of Design-Led Development (Place) Procurement 159 Steven Tolson Introduction 159 The place promoter 161 The deliverer and competition participant 162 The (end) place matters most 167 The competition 167 Conclusion 180 9 Design Review – An Effective Means of Raising Design Quality? 182 John Punter Introduction 182 Origins, emergence and critiques of design review internationally 183 The typology of design review in England, Scotland and Wales 185 National design review: the genesis of CABE’s procedures and processes 186 How design review can increase the opportunity space for design 190 The effectiveness of design review 193 Conclusions: design review and the quality of development control 196 10 ‘Business as Usual?’ – Exploring the Design Response of UK Speculative Housebuilders to the Brownfield Development Challenge 199 David Adams and Sarah Payne Introduction 199 The design debate around speculative housing development 201 The conventional approach to design and construction in speculative housebuilding 206 Responding to the challenge of brownfield development 210 Conclusion 215 11 Physical-Financial Modelling as an Aid to Developers’ Decision-Making 219 John Henneberry, Eckart Lange, Sarah Moore, Ed Morgan and Ning Zhao Introduction 219 Design quality and development viability 219 Visualisation and financial appraisal 225 Conclusion 233 12 Design Champions – Fostering a Place-Making Culture and Capacity 236 Steve Tiesdell Introduction 236 The UK local government context 238 The design champion as change agent 239 Edinburgh’s design champion initiative 244 Conclusion 252 13 Value Creation Through Urban Design 258 Gary Hack and Lynne B. Sagalyn Introduction 258 Design and development projects 260 Strategies for enhancing value 270 Coupling urban design and development 278 14 Connecting Urban Design to Real Estate Development 282 Steve Tiesdell and David Adams Introduction 282 Urban design and development economics 283 Opportunity space and developer–designer relations 286 Policy choices and policy design 291 Towards a research agenda 297 References 299 Index 316