Elements of Design Strategy

Abstract

The design of places, together with and through that complex network of subjects, instruments and policies described so far, in most cases has confirmed its paramount importance in interpreting and linking together coherently the great amount of development opportunities and needs arising from the fabric of the cities. It helped to coordinate within clear strategic frameworks the huge investments made by the private sector – supported by a particularly positive economic climate during the years that preceded the present global downturn – as well as the interventions promoted by the government and other public bodies. Very often different cities share common objectives, both because their urban regeneration policies face very similar situations and necessities and because many regional and national guidelines narrow the range of planning priorities and options. Thus, it is possible to define some recurrent design issues and trajectories – although variously interpreted by each Core Strategy and its more specific supplementary guidance – giving a description of the way they induced, during the last decade, even some radical changes in the British urban landscape.