Image by Gilad Rom via Flickr
The Academy of Urbanism is delighted to announce 15 Great Places shortlisted by a panel of Academicians as finalists in the 2018 Urbanism Awards.
The Awards, which celebrate and learn from great placemaking, cover five categories of scale, including European City of the Year and Great Town, Neighbourhood, Street and Place. This year’s Awards are highlighting places built or rebuilt since 1945 in order to learn how they have transformed themselves into being examples of good urbanism.
The results were announced by David Rudlin, Chair of the Academy at The Annual Spring Debate on Wednesday, 26 April 2017 hosted by Grosvenor.
The Academy will now establish relationships with key stakeholders in each of the 15 places prior to a summer assessment visit.
The winners of the Awards will be announced at the 2018 Urbanism Awards ceremony on 8 November 2017.
European City of the Year
Bilbao, Spain
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Vienna, Austria
The Great Town
Corby, Northamptonshire
Coventry, West Midlands
Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
The Great Neighbourhood
Byker, Newcastle
Golden Lane Estate, London
Smithfield, Dublin
The Great Street
High Street, North Berwick
Humber Street Fruit Market, Hull
Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham
The Great Place
Brunswick Centre, London
Roald Dahl Plass, Cardiff
Gaol Ferry Steps, Bristol
For more information on the Awards process, or for press enquiries, please contact Stephen Gallagher sg@academyofurbanism.org.uk; +44 (0) 20 7251 8777
Wonderful news for Corby! Things to visit (alongside the obvious ie new station, The Cube, Cinema and Olympic Pool):
– Adrenalin Alley – largest indoor skate park in Europe https://adrenalinealley.co.uk/
– Hazel and Thoroughsale Woods – remnant of the ancient forest of the Rockingham Forest which used to be a barrier to movement but after massive investment, has been turned to an asset.
-Kingswood Square – new public square following redevelopment of large Council estate.
– Tresham College – new 6th form
– Corby Business Academy -new Academy at Priors Hall (urban extn to the east) and adjacent new Primary School plus Priors Hall itself.
Major growth planned to east and west of the town – set to grow by 10,000 homes and new garden village just to the east, but within adjacent authority.
Useful background is
Wonderful to see my home town (Hull – UK City of Culture 2017!) and lovely Corby on this list. My sister-in-law got married in the Cube, an astonishing building, and Thoroughsale Woods are delightful. It would be terrific if both Hull and Corby were winners; Humber Street is a brilliant example of sensitive and successful urban regeneration and has become the cultural heart of the city’s dramatic renaissance. Good luck to everyone!
Great to welcome the Academy to Coventry today to see 70 years of reinvention in a diverse modern city. Coventry is bidding to be UK City of Culture in 2021 but is also developing a cultural place partnership that is repositioning the culture and heritage of the city . follow us on @coventry2021 twitter or http://www.coventry2021.co.uk
The Golden Lane Estate is certainly a great neighbourhood to live. It was designed as an urban village by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon in the 1950s, built in the bomb sites of the City of London at a time when the City cared about communities. They wanted to provide accommodation for key workers in the City then. Police, nurses, office cleaners, teachers etc. This is a perfect example of how a housing estate should work.
Now the City is doing all it can to destroy this community. Many people who live here have been here since the estate the built in 1957 and they are shocked at how they are being treated by the City. This is certainly a close and supportive community and the City should be proud of this area rather than trying to tear it apart. They have granted planning permission to Taylor Wimpey to build a monstrous development of luxury flats which will overshadow the Golden Lane Estate and our local park and school. It is scandalous. This development was approved by City councillors who don’t live here or know the area, councillors who work for consultancy firms employed by Taylor Wimpey. Local people and local councillors didn’t want this development and we have all been ignored. The luxury development, being marketed in Hong Kong, replaces a police section house which housed police officers in the City from 1961. Local people wanted key worker housing here, accommodation for people who wanted to live in this great neighbourhood and to be part of this community. The City should never have sold the site, let alone given planning permission for a building which breaches so many of their own planning policies.
We have applied for a Judicial Review, there is information about that in this link
https://opengoldenlane.blogspot.co.uk
We are raising money to pay for this on the Crowd Justice site here
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-golden-lane/
Please support our campaign and help protect this very special community. This really is a Great Neighbourhood. That is why people who live here never want to leave. It’s like living surrounded by a large supportive family. An exemplary council housing estate which must be saved.