Characterising Neighbourhoods Exploring Local Assets of Community Significance

Part I The Context of Character

1.0. Introduction

1.1. The evolution of characterisation

1.2 The influence of character in planning

2.0. Introduction

2.1. Whose neighbourhood?

2.2. The shape of the neighbourhood

Case study A; Map Analysis

2.3. The appearance of the neighbourhood

Case Study B: Kingsdown, Bristol & St Luke’s, Cork

2.4. The fabric of the public realm

2.5. Neighbourhood landscape characteristics

2.6. Defining heritage assets

Case Study C: Point Chevalier, Auckland

2.7. Activities, uses and connections

Case Study D: Stűhlinger and Rieselfeld, Freiburg

2.8. Townscapes; perceiving spaces and places

3.0. Introduction

3.1. Appraisal techniques; a review

3.2. Undertaking fieldwork

3.3. Appraising accessibility and condition

3.4. Neighbourhood mapping

4.0. Introduction

4.1. Characterisation in policy, decisionmaking and design

A. Local Listing guidelines

B. Quiz; ‘Naming of Parts’

Biography

Richard Guise is an architect and town planner, and principal of his urban design consultancy, Context4D, based in Bristol. He was formerly course leader of the MA Urban Design programme at the University of the West of England. Richard works with communities and schools on characterisation and for public and private sector clients producing design guides, urban design studies and conservation area character appraisals and delivering in-house training. He was co-author of Sustainable Settlements, Shaping Neighbourhoods and Streets for All (SE & SW England volumes), for English Heritage. He is an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism, a member of the Bristol Urban Design Forum and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

James Webb is a planning consultant and one of two Directors of Forum Heritage Services, a consultancy specialising in the historic environment. He has formerly worked as a Principal Conservation Officer for several local authorities in the UK. James has delivered a considerable number of characterisation-based projects to local authority clients, mostly in the form of conservation area appraisals, including one for the City of Salisbury. James sat on the South-East Regional Design Panel and is currently a member of the Cornwall Design Review Panel and was a Trustee of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation representing the South-West region of the UK.

"This book deserves to be widely read... What the book does very well is to explain how to assess the character of a place, and how to use that understanding in the planning process. Its strongest feature is the beautiful, annotated drawings by Richard Guise. These communicate brilliantly, and make one regret the thousands of words that other authors write about urban design and conservation without illuminating anything much." -Robert Cowan, editor of Context, the Journal of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation

"This fine book sits firmly within the British townscape tradition. It reminds us of the vital historic content of so many of our most loved urban areas; but more than that, it instructs us in how to read that content, how to record it and, most importantly, how to appreciate it. This is one of the most comprehensive and carefully constructed discussions of the art of characterisation. It should be read by all those committed to ensuring that the best of our urban past continues to inform our present and future urban lives." -Professor Matthew Carmona, Bartlett School of Planning, UCL

"There is growing interest in ways of celebrating and enhancing the local distinctiveness of neighbourhoods, towns and villages, built on a base of thorough characterisation. In this book, Guise and Webb have managed the extremely challenging task of producing professionally sound methods that can be used equally effectively by local lay people." -Jeff Bishop, Associate Director, Place Studio