Designing in Historic Environments

Rebecca Frost attempts to redesign Caltongate in Edinburgh, respecting its historic context

Historic environments are regarded as assets whose character must be protected or enhanced. Consequently, development in such settings can be highly contentious and feature prominently in place and conservation discourse. In the current economic climate, it is essential for cities to realise the potential of their historic centres and revitalise them to attract investment and encourage people to revisit. Historic environments are key in place-making, defining a cityrsquo;s character and telling the story of the place. The issue that now faces us is the tension between preserving and protecting historic environments and the need for cities to expand and adapt to continuing economic pressures. While there are numerous planning policies to protect historic cores, and advice on how designs should respect historic features, there is little on how to enhance these in a way that improves economic conditions, while enriching the placersquo;s character. This article looks at a sensitive brownfield site, formerly named Caltongate, in the heart of Edinburghrsquo;s Old Town. The aim of this research was to establish whether it was possible to learn and adapt previous thinking of place - such as the townscape movement, urban morphology and value of heritage - to current concerns, and to understand how urban design could improve historic environments.

Historic environments are regarded as assets whose character must be protected or enhanced. Consequently, development in such settings can be highly contentious and feature prominently in place and conservation discourse. In the current economic climate, it is essential for cities to realise the potential of their historic centres and revitalise them to attract investment and encourage people to revisit. Historic environments are key in place-making, defining a cityrsquo;s character and telling the story of the place.

The issue that now faces us is the tension between preserving and protecting historic environments and the need for cities to expand and adapt to continuing economic pressures. While there are numerous planning policies to protect historic cores, and advice on how designs should respect historic features, there is little on how to enhance these in a way that improves economic conditions, while enriching the placersquo;s character.

This article looks at a sensitive brownfield site, formerly named Caltongate, in the heart of Edinburghrsquo;s Old Town. The aim of this research was to establish whether it was possible to learn and adapt previous thinking of place - such as the townscape movement, urban morphology and value of heritage - to current concerns, and to understand how urban design could improve historic environments.

Cultural values

Conservation and preservation have not been consistent over the past 50 years, from the great clearances in the 1960s, concern with aesthetics in the 1970s and the layering of expressions in the 2000s. It seems that a lsquo;culturally determined attitudersquo; influenced by the political party in power, economic status and connections to the city itself, has influenced the evolution of historic areas.

It is important to consider how to analyse existent townscapes to identify how new development can integrate into the context, while having its own character. As conservation developed from buildings to their settings, the discourse has progressed to one of place and the creation of a sense of place. This has developed from analysis of historic environments through townscape and urban morphology. The townscape movement which began in the 1950s, was concerned with visual elements, while urban morphology dealt with the process of change. Both realised the importance of the genius loci and setting of the historic environment, rather than just the built form. However, this requires an understanding of the value of the heritage and of the differing judgements on the value of the heritage assets and their significance. It means a more inclusive definition of heritage than that limited to listed buildings, and the plurality of voices involved in heritage. Hence, a combination of all three approaches creates a robust methodology for analysing the sense of place in historic settings.

Edinburgh as case study

Edinburghrsquo;s Old Townrsquo;s conservation history is stronger than most in the UK and is still a contentious issue. The city centre has experienced continuous tensions between innovation and heritage, seen most clearly in the backlash around George Square redevelopment in 1945. Numerous plans have been produced regarding Edinburghrsquo;s city centre, some radical (The Mears Report 1931 and Abercrombie and Plumstead Plan 1949), some incremental (Geddesrsquo; conservative surgery), and each with a different approach to the historic environment and genius loci.

As development pressures continue there have been concerns that in Edinburghrsquo;s Old Town, existing buildings are being demolished rather than retrofitted, to make place for new development. Key to these concerns is the way the UNESCO World Heritage Status is being handled. While this status is a beneficial attribute in terms of the international recognition gained, there are questions over how this status is applied to urban settings.

While there have been numerous plans for Edinburgh there are few, if any, contemporary writings on the cityrsquo;s character today and its potential for change. Hence, there is a need for an approach that analyses the cityrsquo;s genius loci and still meets the needs and demands of the economic and local communities.

Methodolog

Extensive desk study baseline analysis was undertaken to explore the features of the site. Beyond this, a thematic analysis was developed based around the townscape movement

剩余内容已隐藏，支付完成后下载完整资料

资料编号：[152989]，资料为PDF文档或Word文档，PDF文档可免费转换为Word