Main design workshops

The preferred growth option that resulted from the pre-workshop information gathering and growth planning phase was developed as a concept strategy only. 

The next step was to develop this concept into a more detailed urban design strategy, including importantly detail on what uses went where.  This was needed in order to identify required infrastructure costs in a way that is accurate enough to base statutory charges on.

Using a workshop-based design process

The Urban Development Strategy design team held two large-scale, four-day workshops including a range of stakeholders, specialists and the public.  The workshops:

• allowed creative solutions to be developed alongside analysis-based work
• focused on balanced design outcomes with delivery mechanisms
• avoided pre-determined solutions.

Established methods such as space syntax, creativity and identity strategies, smart growth intensification and new urbanism type extension planning were used where relevant.

Using a multidisciplinary design team

A team of multidisciplinary external specialists with strong sustainability-based design skills led the workshops. They were supported by many other institutional officers, non-governmental and technical private sector consultants.

Engaging stakeholders and the community

Within each local authority area, non-technical public and private sector groups were invited to stakeholder focus group sessions, and the community was involved in large-scale public meetings.

Investigating different themes

Each workshop started by presenting a summary of the background.  Following on from this, design sessions alternated between two levels of spatial investigation:

• investigation by individual theme
• group investigation of the integrated growth strategy.

This enabled greater depth and place-based understanding to be gained. Discipline-based theme groups included:

• blue (water-related)
• green (open space and landscape)
• movement
• social and cultural
• economic and employment
• activity centres
• residential consolidation and growth.

During the workshop session each group developed a provisional theme-based strategy. These strategies were integrated and specific studies and calculations completed giving rise to the overall strategy direction. Each group then re-evaluated and finalised their individual theme spatial strategy.

Running the workshops

Each workshop was structured around the following steps:

1. agree growth projections and allocations using statistics and allocate a provisional percentage for non residential uses
2. establish provisional land requirements
3. identify all possible growth pockets and define provisional growth capacity for each
4. test each growth pocket's capacity by developing a quick urban design concept
5. prepare individual theme-based sub regional strategies - blue, green, movement, social, employment, activity centres and residential networks
6. do a theme-based evaluation of growth pockets and growth pocket combinations using a three tiered rating system
7. calculate real commercial, industrial and community activity demand concurrently using employment data
8. adjust growth pockets with knowledge gained
9. integrate theme plans by sector (north-south, south-west, central) and reconcile competing objectives
10. establish the preferred pattern of growth for the Urban Development Strategy.

Presenting the information

During each workshop, live GIS was available to calculate the areas of growth pockets.

Groups primarily presented data and strategies on hand-drawn maps (an immediate and accessible method) and within slide shows.  This meant that no lasting and updatable GIS database was established for further use.  However, all background material and digitised strategy outputs were published on the Urban Development Strategy website.

Getting the right leaders

A workshop-based design process depends on the quality of its leadership. The following leadership qualities were required:

• technical competence in a wide range of disciplines to orchestrate often complex, balanced solutions and avoid individual specialists hijacking the agenda
• organisational skills to ensure issues are covered in the appropriate order by the relevant specialist, and to respond to new issues as they emerge
• communication skills to negotiate and forge consensus
• interpersonal skills to win the confidence of individuals who may otherwise be harmful to the process
• intellectual capacity to convincingly drive the sustainability agenda and to crystallise clear strategies from a complex range of, often competing, objectives.

The process benefited from the strong leadership provided by the independent chair of the UDS Forum, who helped to motivate leaders within the executive group. Partners were also motivated by a common understanding that they had lost the control and ability to co-ordinate development across the region and lacked a unified position on regional planning and major infrastructure funding.