[...].. .URBAN DESIGN: GREEN DIMENSIONS leadership role of urban designers in Britain’s efforts to achieve more sustainable cities Clearly, however, there is still much to do Finally, this edition aims to explore the relationship between culture and sustainable urban form: in particular, to question the validity of the compact city concept... of many urban designers are with the vitality and identity of urban areas, the quality of urbanity and the compact city, urban forms of human scale, which are less dependent upon the use of finite resources while respecting and conserving the natural environment While there is a general consensus on the features of a sustainable development agenda amongst many working in the field of urban design, ... car parks, multiplex cinemas, leisure-centres and sports stadia Figure 1.5 shows the checklist for assessing impacts of urban developments The EIA procedure is potentially of great significance for achieving a sustainable urban environment of quality (Moughtin et al., 2003a) CONCLUSION, URBAN DESIGN AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The objectives for an agenda of urban design in a regime of sustainable development... 1.8 Cushendun, Northern Ireland Group of buildings designed by Clough 1.6 Williams-Ellis Figure 1.9 Cushendun, Northern Ireland Group of buildings designed by Clough Williams-Ellis Figure 1.10 Cushendall, a model for Clough Williams-Ellis 1.7 1.9 priority on the adaptation and re-use of existing buildings, infrastructure and roads, together with the re-use of recycled building materials and components... published, in 1999, A better quality of Life: a strategy for Sustainable Development in the UK (DETR, 1999) and Towards an Urban Renaissance (Urban Task Force, 1999) In Towards an Urban Renaissance the report of the Urban Task Force very clearly sets out the thinking on the design of sustainable urban form The current orthodoxy sees the sustainable city or, more accurately, the city that approximates to a sustainable... labels green with a lower-case ‘g’, while those who believe that sustainability depends on the system being fundamentally changed he describes as Green with a capital ‘G’ The literature on the topic however, would indicate a spectrum of greens rather than a strict dichotomy: the ideology of all those shades along the spectrum of greenness is determined by their attitude to the environment The Green ... axiom: ‘Greens will admit that the report’s estimates as to the likely life expectancy of various resources are over-pessimistic and they will agree that the Club of Rome’s world Figure 1.2 Circulation in the compact city 15 URBAN DESIGN: GREEN DIMENSIONS computer models were crude, but they will subscribe to the report’s conclusion that the days of uncontrolled growth are numbered’ (Dobson, 1991) Green. .. move the tone and content of the discussion of design for sustainable development along the spectrum of greens from the paler tints associated with the establishment view towards the full-bodied saturated hue of Green associated with ‘Eco-feminism’: ‘Feminist theory delves into the reasons for this marginalisation of people 16 and nature in environmental design Feminists have explained how physical... assimilate those impacts.’ (Pearce et al., 1993) Ireland The wind farm is sited on ‘cut-away-bog’ Figure 1.4 Power Station, Bellacorick, County Mayo, Ireland The power station is fed by local peat bogs 19 URBAN DESIGN: GREEN DIMENSIONS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Central to sustainable development is the assessment of urban projects in terms of their environmental impact A useful tool used to determine negative... for the Transit-Oriented-Development: an agenda that many in this country could still accept as a general guide In summary, the principles of Transit-Orientated Development are: (1) Organize growth on a regional level so that it is compact and transit-supportive 2 (2) Locate commercial, housing, jobs, parks, and civic uses within walking distance of transit stops (3) Design pedestrian-friendly street .