Posts filed under 'The City Talks'
Public space for people
Sunday lunchtime. The sun is shining, the pan pipes are playing and the waiter is serving sea food and pink wine at the table next to us. If you shut your eyes you might be in a typical street cafe in a typical European town centre. And of course that’s where we are. Since Edinburgh is now asking residents for comments on how to improve their public space they might take a few tips on going European from their old rival Glasgow.
There’s a buzz about Buchanan Street which you won’t find in Princes Street or George Street and the difference has absolutely nothing to do with tram works. The secret of success in Glasgow’s shopping centre is giving people room to move. Or in other words, getting rid of cars.
Sitting under Rogano’s umbrella you can hear voices in the air and feet on the street because there is no incessant rumble of traffic. Admittedly Glasgow has done some crazy things, not least driving a bloody great motorway through the centre of the city (maybe one day it will follow the example of other world cities and dig up the M8). But it is miles ahead of Scotland’s capital when it comes to pedestrianisation.
For some pigheaded reason Edinburgh retailers have almost always opposed moves to create pedestrian shopping areas (Multrees Walk is the exception). And where cars are technically prohibited from driving you may be sure to find them parked by pavements where other cities might place cafe tables and seats.
Cars polluting ‘pedestrian’ space in Castle Street – where’s the cafe culture?
I feel depressed every time I walk past Castle Street – with that fantastic view of the castle it could be a great place to open a Rogano style street cafe (come on Oloroso, what’s stopping you?). The Grassmarket is better but there are still too many cars in what could be a great experience of the Old Town.
A barrier of cars in the Grassmarket.
So, it is good to hear that Edinburgh City Council is inviting public opinion about what to do with ‘town centres’ such as Tollcross, Stockbridge, Morningside and Leith.
But I wonder what they will do with the answers. For years good ideas have been collected and then quietly forgotten. Somewhere deep in City Chambers there are plans for Edinburgh city centre drawn up by the urban regeneration guru Jan Gehl, the Danish architect who transformed public space in the cool climate of Copenhagen (his new book Cities for People has just been published).
Much more recently Greener Leith asked local people what would make it easier to move round Leith. Ideas included expanding cycle lanes and cleaning up dog litter. But by far the most popular suggestion was to pedestrianise The Shore (see all the results here).
Lets hope this time the message gets through.
How to transform your town centre? Get rid of the cars.
June 14th, 2010
Thanks to Ray Perman for this guest blog on a bold new proposal for our part of town. And thanks to Aunty P for the picture (taken a little further afield).
I like the work of Antony Gormley. I like particularly that his rusting, steel statues – modelled on his own body, although you would not immediately guess that to look at them – often provoke critical derision when they are first installed, but soon elicit popular support. The critics come round – mainly because their bread and butter depends on it.
So I am excited that Gormley has been asked to create six figures to be partially submerged in the Water of Leith, between the Gallery of Modern Art and the docks. He is such a bankable name that the Great and Good – the National Galleries of Scotland and its well-heeled patrons, the Art Fund, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Claire Enders (whoever she might be) and The Henry Moore Foundation – had no hesitation in putting up the money.
The statutes will attract locals and tourists alike to this underused and often sadly vandalised stretch of waterway, and that can only be good.
But would these great names be as quick to put their money behind local, unknown artists? I doubt it, financial risk takers are notoriously conservative in exposing their taste and prefer to play safe and go with artists who have already made their names. Not all of the corporate elite thinks the same way.
Deutsche Bank came into Scotland only briefly, buying a company outside their usual run of business and selling a few years later when management fashion turned the other way. In the meantime they introduced us to the art buying policy of the Deutsche Collection: only local artists, and only works on paper – almost by definition the cheapest. So while in Scotland they bought mainly from local unknowns – and they have done that wherever they go.
It is an enlightened policy – but, sadly, almost unique. It supports local creativity, produces a fascinatingly diverse corporate collection and occasionally throws up an astonishing bargain. Long may it continue. What a pity few others have the courage, or taste, to follow suite.
PS talking of enlightenment – lets celebrate the Creative Commons philosophy which shares art and talent. And thanks again to Aunty P for contributing pictures for common use.
May 28th, 2010
The success of our business depends on listening to people and responding to what they tell us. [Tesco Corporate Social Responsibility]
Here’s a shocking revelation in our local community newsletter. Shocking but probably not surprising. Tesco will not be paying a penny towards the construction of Edinburgh’s tram route although it is perfectly – and surely deliberately – placed to gain custom from three tram stops on Leith Walk. But that’s not the shocking bit.
According to the latest issue of the Spurtle, Tesco – unlike other developments on the tram route – is exempt from making contributions to construction costs. Planning regulations require only new developments to make a payment and technically the new Tesco Express coming soon to Picardy Place at the top of Leith Walk is not a new development, merely an internal refurbishment of an existing store.
No, that’s not the shocking bit. Nor is the fact that a planning department source told Spurtle there was absolutely no way round the technicality. The truly gobsmacking bit is what the planning official said next:
It would be unreasonable even to request some payment
on a voluntary basis.
Why? What is remotely unreasonable about asking for a donation towards the cost of a transport system which (assuming the line actually runs that far) will deliver customers right to the store doorway. Now Tesco has bought the old Scotmid in Duke Street that means Scotland’s largest private sector employer has three stores carefully positioned by tram stops along Leith Walk (one at the foot, one at the top and one half way up opposite McDonald Road). (See Spurtle and city planning rules for more)
In the week that the earth moved in Westminster it is always sobering to remember who really holds the power. Tescotowns could well be the future for many parts of the UK as the Guardian reported recently – whole communities of shops, homes, schools and public places owned by a company with the vision, confidence, clout and cash that local authorities are sadly lacking.
And there are no planning regulations to stop them – and no political will to change the planning regulations to protect the interests of small, independent retailers.
But maybe there is another way. (Of course I think we should limit the number of Tesco stores in town but neighbourhoods should at least get some cashback benefit for every new store in their area.) Let’s take Tesco’s word that they care about communities and the environment. Their very nicely produced Corporate Social Responsibility report lists at length the investments they make in good causes as well as what they are doing to reduce their carbon footprint. Green transport is one of their priorities and they are changing to rail wherever they can – especially in Scotland.
So maybe they would be only too happy to invest in a tram system which could eventually connect communities across the city centre (as well as bringing customers to their store) – and reduce Edinburgh’s carbon footprint and congestion at the same time. Tesco says their success depends on listening. But first we have to ask. If only the council wasn’t so shy.
May 13th, 2010
Welcome to Broughton Street, open for business despite the tramworks. It’s the place to come whether you want a leisurely meal or a quick coffee, whether you are looking for upmarket sausages or good wines, second hand books or frilly knickers, organic fruit, vegetables or ( ahem) erotica. On a wet March morning there is a buzz in the air but a big cloud on the horizon. Tesco Express is coming.
Despite letters of protest from local MSPs, city councillors, businesses, heritage groups and residents such as myself, the city council planning committee has approved Tesco Express Group plans for Picardy Place.
On paper the plans look harmless: a new shop front in Picardy Place and ‘plant louvres’ at the back in Broughton Street Lane. My objection (as I wrote for the excellent Broughton Spurtle) was based on evidence of what happens to an area once Tesco moves in – when local shops close a sense of community often dies with them.
There’s plenty of good evidence for this and it is worth looking at the Tescopoly and Tesco Town websites Across the UK, communities (not least Paisley, Portobello, Inverness and Milngavie ) are rebelling against the relentless spread of supermarkets which destroy local character and sense of community. More than that, a New Economics Foundation study, The New Economics: A Bigger Picture, found a connection between the presence of Wal-Mart and low voting turn-out in communities.
Even so, the planning committee could find no reason to reject Tesco’s plans because they were deemed no threat to the fabric and appearance of a listed building in the World Heritage Site (those ‘plant louvres’ being the huge metal sheets that disguise stuff like ventilation). There is currently nothing in planning regulations that permits the committee to consider measurable damage to local businesses or less easily measured quality of life.
In fact, it did not even go to committee despite cross-party opposition. As Angela Blacklock a local Labour councillor explains:
“Every Councillor from the Central and
Leith Walk ward put out a joint statement opposing Tesco’s planning
application but our comments were not ‘material’ to the application
which was very straight forward and with Council policy and so it went
through without going to committee.”
Where does that leave local traders? Thanks to Tesco there is now a Broughton Street Traders Association but they are resigned to the inevitable. “Tesco is off the agenda”, says Patrick Crawshaw of the Bakehouse, an active founding member along with Lucy Tanat-Jones of Organic Pleasures (which does not sell fruit and veg as my pal Celia innocently supposed).
The traders association is now concentrating on creating a website to promote every shop in the street – raising awareness of the wonderful diversity of the ‘village’ – so they can take advantage of council plans for Picardy Place developments, whatever and whenever that may be.
Open for business? Quirky independent shops and quality traders like Crombie’s are likely to survive the numbing blandness of cut-price ‘convenience’ shopping. But small corner shops near the top of Broughton Street are vulnerable. I hope we can mobilise public support for a campaign to change Scottish planning regulations (click here for the Friends of the Earth campaign in England and Wales) and monitor the effects of Tesco on the local shops.
After all Tesco would not be coming here at all if small shops had not proved there is money to be made in the area. As they say: ‘every little helps’.
March 26th, 2010
I set off for the launch of the poetry garden this morning with two boxes full of lotus flowers and a big tartan umbrella. Which was just as well because by the time I reached St Andrew Square it was pelting with rain and blowing a gale. Even so I walked home with a warm glow an hour later and not just because the sun had perversely decided to shine as soon as our little ceremony was over. We had left lotus flowers bobbing in the water and a feel good atmosphere in the garden; we had claimed the space for poetry and the people. The revolution starts here.
And it’s an ill wind or an evil downpour that brings no-one any good. When Mike the operations manager from Essential Edinburgh got to the garden this morning he found the water had drained out of the pond but that sudden shower helped to fill it enough to float the blossoms Lilias, Jane and I had spent the last week (and a lot of paper) folding into shape. Then the wind blew them merrily across the surface (the origami, not Lilias and Jane) and, with another stroke of good luck, the printer delivered the poetry postcard fliers in time for Ali to bring them to the garden.
So altogether a great occasion. The press had been lured to the other end of George Street to see Sir Sean Connery close the book festival but thanks to Ewan we had secured a much bolder Scot in Richard Holloway, chair of the Scottish Arts Council, to open poetry in St Andrew Square. And Ron Butlin, Edinburgh’s Makar or poet laureate, read a poem he had written specially for the occasion, “even though I was told I wasn’t going to get paid but that’s what us poets are like.” Or words to that effect.
I wasn’t in a position to take notes but the line that stuck in my mind was “Edinburgh so full of possibilities and prohibitions.” That so beautifully sums up the city’s divided personality (part banker, part bohemian) I took an instant liking to the new Makar and I asked Ron if I could have a copy of the poem. I took an even greater liking to him when he confessed he hadn’t quite finished the poem – he was still working on it but wanted to produce something to mark the occasion.
So now I am home again, with an unused box of lotus flowers I am not sure what to do with. There may be other opportunities. Alex Salmond is officially opening the garden on 10 September. Perhaps I can float something subversive on the pond to mark that occasion. Alternatively, I can just keep them for the monthly lunchtime ‘personal poetry shopper’ events the Scottish Poetry Library will be starting on 5 September. I have great hopes that together we can make poetry rock Edinburgh’s boat.
See the City of Literature website for details of the poetry postcard if you want to make your own wish for poetry in the garden. The more subversive the better!
August 25th, 2008
It has happened. Thanks to a great group of people led by Ewan, a fantasy lurking at the back of my mind has made it into real life. Yesterday in the Scottish Poetry Library, a treasure of a place tucked out of sight down a close in the Royal Mile, a cluster of literary souls signed up to a brave new creative adventure bang smack in the middle of commercial Edinburgh. Some odd political sensitivity requires us to call it Poetry in St Andrew Square but the people who made it happen know it simply as The Poetry Garden.
And I am dead chuffed because it began as my idea. It is undoubtedly one of my better ideas but it is happening only because I chanced to mention it to an unusual politician who knew exactly how to make it work. Of course it wasn’t complete chance. When he was the Labour council leader, I had heard Ewan Aitken speak with real passion about education and the opening of Edinburgh’s Refugee Centre. He seemed the kind of man who combines political ability with a deeper belief in the things that matter in life. What you might expect (but don’t necessarily get) from a worker priest.
When I bumped into him at the Andy Warhol exhibition last year, we agreed that the city has a terrific buzz during the festival and wasn’t it great that St Andrew Square was
opening to the public at last? That’s when I mentioned my idea that we should dedicate the new space as a Poetry Garden to balance the Book Festival at the other end of George Street and introduce something more uplifting than shopping to the heart of Edinburgh. (As a director of Edinburgh City Centre Management Company I have never been convinced that retail is the most important element of the capital city.)
I spoke to the right man. Ewan – newly liberated, perhaps, by becoming leader of the opposition – is a fantastic ambassador for the Poetry Garden. When we had a more businesslike meeting a month or so later he very quickly identified the path we should take through ECCM (soon to become Essential Edinburgh who manage the public space) to Coffee Republic (who run the cafe which will host poetry readings), to the talented but often under-funded group of literary organisations who will bring expertise and spark to the plan.
It worked. Everyone is enthusiastic, not least ECCM’s manager Ian Broadfoot and Coffee Republic’s Paul Anderson. I have never been to such positive, heart-warming meetings, dedicated to making something happen. And at the Poetry Library yesterday I tried to give credit where it is really due.
There’s much more to say about ECCM’s vision for public space in the city. But right now, here’s to the steering group chaired by Ewan. The people who signed our ‘common commitment’ are The Unesco City of Literature, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Scottish Poetry Library, Scottish Writer’s Museum, Scottish Book Trust, Edinburgh Makar, ECCM and Coffee Republic. I hope, when the The Poetry Garden officially opens some time in June or July, they will all get the much fuller recognition they deserve.
I am interested to see that the opening statement on Ewan’s blog says: “The idea of Edinburgh is a combination of place, soul and symbolic leadership of a nation.” Very fitting.
May 28th, 2008
A bit shaky, but for goodness sake, we’re looking down on the big wheel on Princes Street.
I have no head for heights but last week I got a real kick out of climbing the 192 steps of that spindly monument in the middle of St Andrew Square to look down on the building site below. It was almost exactly four years to the day when I sat at my first meeting as a director of Edinburgh City Centre Management to hear an impassioned town planner describe how this private (and somewhat down at heel) garden could be transformed into a welcoming public space.
A lot of consultation has ebbed and flowed round the square since then but now it is really happening – the best thing the company has done while I’ve been on the board.
The great achievement of ECCM has been to start people talking about the need for more and better public space in Edinburgh. Castle Street was a start but St Andrew Square will be much better. By Easter next year there will be a coffee pavilion, maybe a water feature and places for people to sit in the sun and watch the world go by – I think it could be a really great place to hang out.
We had a bright and breezy afternoon for our site visit. A good day for taking pictures if only I had the nerve to stand at the edge of the platform so I could see beyond the scaffolding. (One member of our party was bold enough to climb to the higher platform where he could look Lord Dundas in the face and came down with a photo to prove it!).
I don’t have any pictures of the muddy patch below where the contractors are carving out a crescent for the water feature and a coffee pavilion is quickly taking shape. I’m hoping something else is going to grow out of the space so I will come back to that later. Meanwhile, the site manager is very proud of the transformation they are making: “Be sure you tell everyone about St Andrew Square.”
December 6th, 2007
Oh come on Edinburgh, we can do much better than this. Here’s a series of pictures taken on my mobile on a wet, unwelcoming Saturday in the middle of the world’s biggest arts jamboree. Elsewhere the festival goes on but in the middle of what is supposed to be the city’s first pedestrian space, the car takes centre stage.
Missing a trick: Edinburgh’s first ‘pedestrian street’ was chosen at least partly for the fantastic view. So why are all these cars allowed to get in the way? And why not use the bollards to stop them?
Poor Castle Street, the city’s first attempt at a pedestrian precinct – Rose Street doesn’t really count – seems a world away from the warm welcome of Perth’s car free town centre (see Streetwise Perth).
In a critical report in the Evening News (where else?), Edinburgh World Heritage recently claimed that the street is unwelcoming because it’s covered with the wrong paving material. If only Edinburgh City Centre Management ( see Capital Streets) had gone for warm sandstone instead of chilly Caithness stone, this space would have been much more welcoming. The argument seems to miss the point about public space. It’s people not stone that bring streets to life. But first you have to stop cars invading the space.
With great irony, an environmental campaign seeks public pledges to change the world. How about: get those cars off the (pedestrian) street.
The space is managed by City of Edinburgh Council which now has power to prevent cars parking in Castle Street. Parking restrictions came into force on August 8. These pictures were taken on August 11.
August 16th, 2007
I am just wondering how to write about last night’s event when I discover Rob has beaten me to it. He must have been up a lot earlier than me today because he has already posted pictures and words about a sampling session at Out of the Blue in the Old Drill Hall capturing the quirky creativity of the night.
I am burdened with detail because I am involved in organising the event. Trying to stuff words into a nutshell, The FEAST hopes to encourage greater understanding between Chinese and Scottish communities through food – Dim Sum to be precise – and music inspired by the sounds of cooking.
The idea comes from Kimho, a musician, who believes food is the best way of bringing people together. He also likes to fuse sounds and inspirations of old and new music from all over the world. So that’s how he comes to be playing his Yang-chin alongside the electronic experimental pop of the artist/musicians FOUND while Alan the drummer and film-maker glides about on a skateboard capturing images of Eric the chef cooking up Dim Sum in front of a hungry audience in the Old Drill Hall off Leith walk.
All this raw material will be turned into a live performance of The FEAST (food, film and music) at The Eating Place food market in Castle Street on Thursday August 30.
I think it’s quite a lot to take in (which says a lot for our sponsors!). Rob focuses mainly on the music and mentions the food in passing. But I am struck most of all by the comment he makes on the value of blogging in documenting the event as it grows instead of writing a lengthy essay for the sake of sponsors at the end of the project. I agree, I think a blog can be a more natural way of communicating to the wider world and if you get it right sharpens the name of the sponsor without any grovelling.
At least that’s what I am hoping we can offer with our blog on The FEAST wesbite which we will soon create, not just to list the sponsors but – since understanding is the aim – to document what everyone involved is learning from each other: Scottish farmers and Chinese chefs, Scottish businesses and public bodies, Chinese shop keepers and artists and musicians from both communities. Making links between people is part of the plan. Which is why I spent some time last night scattering flyers for the Eating Place at Out of the Blue and picked up Out of the Blue postcards for the food market. (I think the best things about Edinburgh need to get in touch with one another).
If possible we will document difficulties as well as triumphs. So here’s one for starters. I must admit last night’s show was so unpredictable that at first I was a little relieved that none of the big boys had been able to come to the filming session. Watching Eric chopping meat and kneading dough I realised what a lot we were asking of a young chef who is not used to cooking under a spotlight. But he did it beautifully. Then I began to worry about the number of people who had come; how were they all going to get a promised sample of Eric’s cooking? No problem there either! The quietly efficient Mrs Szeto and helpers suddenly appeared with baskets of Dim-Sum-made-earlier as people lined up for their share while Kimho and FOUND began to make music.
Somehow it all came together. So no grovelling but thanks to the sponsors who have started this creative journey: Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothians, Saigon Saigon Restaurant, Edinburgh City Centre Management Company and in particular Tristan from ECCM who gets up very early in the morning to help organise the Edinburgh Farmers Market and (not quite so early) The Eating Place in Castle Terrace and has put us in touch with Scottish producers and growers contributing to the FEAST. I hope we will be meeting them all in our FEAST blog when it is made.
August 1st, 2007
…I became aware that the camera did not see space, it saw surfaces. The camera sees geometrically – we must see psychologically.
I like David Hockney’s words. Although they are taken from the book that goes with his Year in Yorkshire paintings, they express the way I feel we should be looking at the design of cities, and especially city centres. Real life is not just about surface appearances – the look of houses, offices, shops, streets, gardens and squares – but what happens in, on and around them.
Cafe culture in Budapest
A similar point was made last night by John Norquist, the former mayor of Milwaukee who has become something of a guru on the subject of urban regeneration. In an interview with BBC Scotland news, he cast a critical eye over Glasgow’s waterfront development. He saw too many iconic buildings and – as often happens – found that the best views had been given to car parks, “they [the cars] can sit all day looking at the river”.
Norquist, now leading the Congress of New Urbanism, says iconic buildings have a place but Glasgow needs to connect the centre with the waterfront and that means making space for people: more human scale buildings; shops, cafes and the quirky corners that people crea
te for themselves when they get the chance.
I admit I am slightly obsessed by street life. Since I became a board member of Edinburgh City Centre Management Company I am constantly comparing Scotland’s capital with other cities. Now I am chairing the ECCM Street Life sub committee I hope we can help to encourage more creative human activity in public places.
There is that new pedestrian space in Castle Street and work will soon start to open St Andrew Square garden to the public. Then there are plans to increase public space in the Grassmarket. In my opinion all these projects represent some of ECCM’s best work and I am not alone. The weekly Farmers’ Market on Castle Terrace wins awards, now Castle Street has a monthly food market which may soon win an award (If you don’t already know, The Eating Place happens on the last Thursday every month, 4-8pm).
But we need much more of this kind of vitality. What struck me about Prague was the way live music echoed from almost every church and buskers gathered round pavement cafes, on squares and street corners to entertain the crowds. The message is that there is a good deal more to life than shopping. I would love to see Edinburgh developing more of this kind of generous, welcoming spirit. Why shouldn’t spaces like Castle Street be the stage for all kinds of art, music, dance and theatre – as well as food?
More to life than shopping: street music in Prague
Footnote: Another urban guru, Jan Gehl, the Danish architect who rolled back street car parking to create dynamic and prosperous pedestrian space in the centre of Copenhagen, was among consultants informing urban designers Gillespies on the ‘humanisation’ of the Grassmarket. Gehl attributes at least some of his success in creating public space to the fact that he married a psychologist.
March 14th, 2007
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