Play Nice!

The English do not like open plan or undefined things. It appears to be a singular character trait not otherwise found amongst our European neighbours.

Give an Englishman a bit of land, perhaps a few square feet on a beach anywhere in the world and some sort of demarcation line or a boundary will soon appear around it. The same happens in public open space, be it a park, a picnic area or what remains of the great outdoors.

Take a modern housing estate. Most Developers will have included restrictions in the original sales contract about the erection of fences and markers on property frontages with the intention being to maintain a nice and tidy uniformity through a street. It is not too long after the first residents take up occupation that the initial attempts at making a barrier are made- call it pushing the boundaries.

Low cost efforts appear in the form of small white or green plastic edging strips, or a low post and chain affair- again all in metal effect plastic. If there is no redress or request to remove said items, and for which there is a legal enforcement protocol ,then those who got away with the semi permanent markers go for an upscale to a stouter post and rail fence or good old brick walling. Before long peer pressure and neighbour competitiveness creates a frenzy of one-upmanship actiivity. A standard brick wall develops into a wrought iron railed landmark with columns, copings and embellishments. This is closely followed by the installation of an electronic gate with the psychedelic blue glow of the control panel becoming another distraction on our residential streets.

There is one more stage. The fitting of controlled gates to the whole street to create what is quite a new estate agents mantra of ' .....in a gated community'. Gates serve a dual purpose in keeping people out but also locking people in. Gated Community sounds a bit like the longhand and very Anglo-Saxon for ghetto.

Although a simple example the issue does serve to illustrate an aspect of the mentality and social composition of the UK that must alter significantly if we are to be able to cope with the ongoing challenges of zero carbon living, pressures on resources and incomes and to prevent a fracture in society from such factors as fuel poverty and poor housing which threaten to create an underclass.

In short we must all learn to play nice.

These issues have been reinforced in my mind by a recent visit to a new housing development in the area. It is a joint venture by a well respected and time served Social Trust and a speculative high profit motivated house builder. Not, at first glance, natural allies but there is definitely a nurturing relationship there, a bit like a flower and a bee.

The development, in a parkland setting but within an established and typically suburban area of a regional City, is founded on Eco-credentials. The houses and flats are built to meet high thermal efficiency requirements, zero leakage of precious energy and with capability to be almost self sufficient in utilities or otherwise at low annual cost. A community Bio-mass plant in the core of the eventual campus style setting pipes hot water to the individual homes. The properties are to improved Social Housing standard with spacious rooms, large glazed areas to capture solar heat , high ceilings and pre-wired for a stairlift and pre-plumbed for a wet room to extend longevity and function for occupiers. The properties are actually multi-generationally friendly so that there may be less pressure in having to sell up and move at different life stages as is the case with modern mass produced housing where design and layout are not so flexible and understanding.

The ocupancy of the housing will be on mixed basis. 1) Social Rented, 2)Shared Ownership and 3)Outright Purchase. This is where the ability to play nice will be paramount to the harmony and longer term success of the experiment. Whilst the Social Trust, who will oversee the day to day running of the development, have no real sanction the ethos is to lower dependency on the use of all forms of energy including motor cars.

Many modern housing estates now resemble a badly organised car park with multi vehicles per residence on kerbs, verges and block paved gardens. The big idea for this project  is not anti-cars but pro-less car use. The incentives include a car hire scheme on an hourly unit basis in order to pop to the shops as one example, good levels of public transport, wide boulevard walkways and a subsidy for each household towards a bicycle. Critical to the similar but disastrous experiments in housing of the 60's and 70's is the empowerment of the residents by giving options. The systems and tools are therefore in place.

However, the ultimate success and the means to quantify the lessons and benefits of this particular project will be dependant on its ability to overcome the deep set prejudices within and between these three designations of the occupiers.

1) is regarded as being the lowest category by 2) and 3).
2) is quite similar to 1) but aspires to be 3).
3) feels entiltled to belittle 1) and tolerate the intentions of 2).
2) and 3) are fearful of 1) who represents a socio-economic threat.
1) both envies and admires 2) and 3) out of jealousy and the need for a role model
2) stresses to 3) that low cost is not low quality and 1) agrees
The attitude and behaviour of 3) influences 1) and 2)

In most UK villages, towns and cities there is some demarcation between 1), 2) and 3).This is usually on  historic, geographic or economic criteria. There is fluidity and mobility between the groups but they all know and tend to seek comfort in their respective places and standings. A set of boundaries, real and imagined is always there.

Starting from scratch the new project will be very much an open plan arrangement in every respect. It will form a pioneering model for development in the future and will be closely studied and monitored.

It is important to play nice.

(Updated following trip to see how the Germans live-December 2012)