Public London examines the transformation of London's public spaces over the last decade, forming a part of New London's Architecture's 10th anniversary year.

The result of research and interviews conducted over a six-month period, the study examines new projects that have transformed the experience of London's urban realm, drivers behind our changing attitudes to public spaces and new emerging models of design and delivery. It covers the evolution of placemaking; connectivity of the city; ownership, funding and management of public space; how we measure the value of public space; and how London's public spaces will need to adapt to the needs of a growing city over the next decade and more. It also presents over 200 public realm projects either completed over the last ten years or in design.

It is ten years since New London Architecture opened its doors; ten years since London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics; 30 years since Richard Rogers first published plans to create a pedestrian-friendly environment in Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square and along the Victoria Embankment, and 30 years since Stuart Lipton, borrowing from the Rockefeller Center in New York, built Broadgate where the spaces between the buildings were as important as the buildings themselves. And it is over 40 years since public protests halted the massive urban road building programme that prioritised motor vehicles over people. It has been slow going, but we have evolved as a city in our understanding of the public realm; from a city where planners believed our climate unsuited to the sorts of piazzas and plazas found in other cities, where local authorities frowned on cafes whose tables and chairs ‘blocked’ pavements, to a city that understands the value of good public spaces and that our streets are places too – not merely polluted corridors for vehicular movement.

Over the past decade NLA has strongly supported this shift though exhibitions, think tanks, debates and seminars. Together with The Building Centre we campaigned to turn the Crescent outside our own building into a pedestrianised space. Over the next few years this area will experience major change with the arrival of Crossrail, significant improvements to the ground plane around St Giles’s Circus and the removal of the gyratory of Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street. It is an example of what is happening across London to improve the lot of pedestrians and cyclists, to provide a more equitable distribution of road space and encourage active transportation strategies.

This Insight Study and the accompanying exhibition set out the progress that has been made to date, look at what is planned to take place and alert us to the issues that might slow positive change as a result of increasing cuts in public expenditure, while looking at the role of the private sector in delivering equitable public spaces. 

Foreword
By Peter Murray, NLA Curator-in-chief

Transformation of public space over the last decade
Focusing on economic, social and environmental factors, international practice and exemplars and policy and practice in the UK and London, as well as the successes and challenges of this.

Public space and the evolution of placemaking
Addressing estates, London squares, areas in multiple ownership, cultural activity and temporary uses of the public realm and major new regeneration areas.

Public space and the connectivity of the city
With an analysis of shared streets and spaces, wayfinding, linking and identity, infrastructure in general and the green and blue infrastructures in particular.

With key examples of the above.

What benefits does high-quality public space bring and what are the financial, economical, social and culture values?

Future directions: what will happen in the next 10 years (and more)?
How is London changing, especially its infrastructure, buildings and neighbourhoods? What does the future funding, delivery and management involve?

Recommendations
On public realm and public space delivery

Published April 2015
116 Pages
ISBN 978-0-9927189-4-7