I was observing and sensing, experiencing a kind of post- thought- state, having just seen Belleville Baby by Swedish filmmaker Mia Engberg at the ICA a few moments earlier. I felt myself being in a film too, as I walked and watched details around me, and my moving and shape shifting shadow, one shadow merging in and out of other shadows, mainly groups or pairs of shadows, only to merge out of the other shadows again and continue as one elongated extension of myself.
The light was fantastic - all the street lights and cars and red lights and.. chandeliers and candles on tables in restaurants; groups of people laughing, sharing, being; living.
Again, I feel like I'm in a celluloid film a reel, a frame. London is so beautifully inviting, exciting a night like this. I feel tired for no reason, exhausted actually.
I take the tube home.
On the tube I read Adam Caruso's The Feeling of Things. I am immersed in the words, the bits of information. Then, annoyingly, Saarinen (Eero Saarinen) is misspelled, who proof read this or missed the automated spellcheck!?
I read the first few pages with my current hot topic of urban planning and regeneration in mind, the recent and ongoing campaigns to save the High Street and allow some room for a new energy and a shift towards a more positive reputation for our area. For years, the area has been associated, more or less, depending if who you are and he much and which part of the area you know about if come from.
With a stamp of such bad reputation, I fear it might be too easy for decision makers (who may not be able to say that they are locals, and have been for a very long time, like I can) to approve and implement planning decisions that, I suspect, hold other values than those important for human life and the everyday in the area.
Caruso talks about the architecture that was, that that became and that that now is. I will quote once I get deeper into the book. What is clear though, and the tutor gives it away too, is that Caruso is making a statement about the importance of believing in making something good, and connecting to past architecture that has influenced the Caruso St John practice.
It always dawns on me, the paradigm is never seen or heard at council planning level. Where is the education in today's urban planning decisions/master plans and other such major schemes (which inevitably influence and inform more minor schemes)?
Why is there little direct reference to history in what I read in current planning policy, there are regulatory links to history, listed building and other heritage connections, but they are all dealt with in the literature and documentation on a superficial level. The mention of 'preserving' and 'community' is there but why does this generally not seem to be evident in the outcome? We don't hear anyone mentioning pioneering schemes, that helped improve the collaboration between decision making hierarchies and the grassroots and street level campaigns.
Instead it remains a non-bottom up approach and it does not allow for dialogue between top and bottom at any early stage of, for example, a consultation process.
Where are the Jane Jacobs's of today, and of Britain (Jacobs was active in New York/US)? Who is speaking on our behalf, we the people? A small number of residents in our area, again as an example of that I think may be the case elsewhere too, are able to understand (some or most of) the consultation and/or proposals that are currently out there. But what I see more and more is the lack of general openness to invite everyone to take part in having s say - and first of all, get the facts and options explained in layman's terms. Most people don't know how the process works, most people are not architects and planners, and many people don't read English well or simply don't understand the terminology. Elderly people won't necessarily have a computer or the assistance, skill or ability to use it, to email objections or comments for planning applications or sending general queries. Iit is no longer easy to talk directly to a person dealing with the kind of query one might have. After having given name and address and whatever else that is asked for, in my experience, I am often told that the responsible department or person cannot be contacted over the phone.
I recently called to enquire why there are many satellite dishes in my road alone - big ones, small ones, unsightly and non confirming to the architecture that they have been brutally attached to - although this is a Conservation Area. It clearly states in the council booklet referring to our Conservation Area that satellite dishes are not permitted. There is little or no monitoring of this. Who is responsible? Surely someone has the task of monitoring conservation in their job description, no? I get even more curious about the procedures involving my area, when I make a subsequent telephone call to the council to enquire about empty retail properties in the local parade of shops, as I am concerned about the future of my area, influx of betting shops and general neglect. I was told there 'are no vacant shops in that road'. This is clearly incorrect. The woman I spoke to curtly told me there was nothing she could help me with. To me this says one thing for starters: there are real flaws in the system of monitoring and actually visiting council properties particularly small corner shops in 'less well to do' (or less attractive for the big cash) areas. Secondly I don't think key council personnel in the areas of housing and community properties are local to the area, which does not help build a close knit community. There should be no excuse to neglect and rejecting the community; the individual.
The message is that we are not looked after properly and people are too used to not being looked after. 'I'ts just how it is, sign of the times'. Anyone wanting to make a change and have a say in the future of their area, needs to take a serious look at their own contribution.
Well, in my book the sign of the times is community, openness, sharing, delegating to and between residents and listening to all sides. Why are we still such a top-heavy community?
Key words and refs
Planning and regulatory regeneration policy
By Bryan Fanning, Denis Dillon)
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