Category Archives: Sustainability

A Scandinavian Approach to Social Housing in the UK

Posted on February 13, 2012 by thebuiltenvironmentblog

When it was announced  that Swedish practice ‘White Arkitekter’ had won RIBA’s international design competition ‘House 4 Life’ in April last year for their proposal in the English town of Salford, it represented a fundamental departure from the traditional attitude toward social housing design in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Sustainability, Urban Design | Leave a comment

Industrial Plight – How One Midwest Town may Hold the Answer to the Regeneration of Industrial Small Town America.

Posted on December 29, 2011 by thebuiltenvironmentblog

As an outsider visiting the town of Holyoke, a small town in Western Massachusetts recently, my first impressions of the town weren’t initially of its underlying socio-economic problems, but rather, of the impressive but now derelict and gradually decaying shells … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Regeneration, Sustainability | 1 Comment

The Problems With Reform…

Posted on December 22, 2011 by thebuiltenvironmentblog

When is streamlining not a good thing? Apparently, when doing so means editing a 1300 page planning policy document down to just 52. Following the publication of its review of the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the general consensus … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Planning, Sustainability | Leave a comment

Localism and the Market – An Unsustainable Balancing Act or a Match Made in Heaven?

Posted on December 9, 2011 by thebuiltenvironmentblog

To those of us who have been following the progress of the government’s new localism bill passed last month, it comes as little surprise to discover that as is so often the case with all things planning related, ambiguity rules, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Planning, Sustainability | Leave a comment