Abstract
With contributions from Nicholas Falk, founder Director of the URBED, Peter Hall’s new book, Good Cities, Better Lives: How Europe Discovered the Lost Art of Urbanism, is a critical, rigorous and deeply researched account of how to create better cities and towns in which citizens can live, work and play. In addition, the book adds much to the practice of urban planning, just as an emerging urban world and third wave of cities take shape on the global landscape (Scott, 2012). It provides lessons for countries facing urban dilemmas, social inequalities and spatial challenges. Emerging cities, intrinsically intertwined with complex globalisation processes, which bind them ever more tightly together as mutually dependent nodes, are facing a bewildering urban illness. The third-wave of urbanisation (Scott, 2012) causes spatial issues such as traffic congestion, pollution, high land consumption, a shortage of affordable housing, insufficient infrastructures and difficulty in locating sewage and waste treatment plants. These features are the new urban questions that Brenner (2000) refers to, and which government authorities seem unable to address (Balducci et al., 2011). Peter Hall associates some of these urban complexities with urban Britain. The author states that efforts to generate growth, and spread it to the poorer areas of cities in the UK, have failed dismally. Britain, which a century and half ago became the first urban nation, has now become the first to lead an ‘anti-urbanisation counter-revolution’ (p. 3).
Peter Hall has been debating that British planners have steadily slipped backwards in the art of urbanism. Britain’s European neighbours such as Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and France have overtaken the UK in the art of planning and designing good cities. Following an analysis of Britain’s current failings, he takes readers on a field trip from Malmö to Montpellier and from Stockholm to Freiburg, distilling their urban lessons. He argues that ‘Europe’s leading best-practice cities have triumphantly rediscovered the lost art of urbanism’ (p. 309) and they provide refreshing insights to the practice of urban planning. In a final chapter, the author offers a blueprint for a revival of Britain’s lost art of city building, aimed at a wider professional and student audience. Peter Hall acknowledges the arduous task of operationalising the best urban practices, as ‘deeply entrenched administrative structures and cultural traditions get in the way’ (p. 309).
The structure of the book is clear and straight to the point, with admirable writing. The detailed analysis, deepened by statistical information, on what is going on in urban Britain is rich in human interest. The book comprises three parts. Part One: Facing the Challenge, aims to debate the ‘the roots of the malaise that has gripped our cities and towns’ (p. 4) and probes into how practice in the UK has fallen short. Peter Hall depicts five basic challenges faced by the contemporary city: (1) ‘Rebalancing our Urban Economies’, so as to create the potential for good jobs and new sources of work (pp. 9–24); (2) ‘Building New Homes’ in enough quantity, to meet demand, in the right places and to good standards (pp. 23–38); (3) ‘Linking People and Places’ through integrated land use and transport planning (pp. 39–55); (4) ‘Living with Finite Resources’ and the impact of climate change (pp. 56–73); and (5) ‘Fixing the Broken Machinery’ so as to bring public and private agencies together in the process of development and redevelopment (pp. 74–83). According to Hall, these are the five key challenges to which some of the European countries seem to be responding more creatively and more effectively than the UK.
Part Two: Learning From Model Cities: A Twenty-First-Century Grand Tour, takes the readers on a tour of European best practice at the urban level. Hall’s account, which could be fruitfully used as a fieldwork guide for planners, starts in Germany with that country’s boosting of its cities’ economies (Chapter 7); moving on to the spectacularly successful new housing developments in the Netherlands (Chapter 8), from there to France’s integrated city transport planned to develop and regenerate cities (Chapter 9), then to Scandinavia’s pursuit of urban sustainability (Chapter 10), and finally to the German ‘solar city’ of Freiburg, the city that ‘did it all’ in terms of presenting effective solutions for urban economy, housing, transportation and environment (Chapter 11) .
Part Three: Lessons from Europe, sums up the best practices explored throughout the six chapters of Part Two. This final chapter sets out the key steps needed to launch a new wave of urban development and regeneration on a radically different basis (Chapter 12). Hall reflects on how British urban centres might match or even improve upon the best examples in urbanism and city-making in Europe and discusses the rather limited efforts made by the UK government.
Generally, Good Cities, Better Lives is an acute analysis of how urban planning should be, following Hall’s idea – planning grounded in real world understanding, that engages and addresses everyday human problems at the spatial level. According to Balducci et al. (2011) spatial challenges can only be understood and addressed by contact between expert knowledge (e.g. planners) and everyday local knowledge (e.g. communities), through a social learning process. Although there are no magic solutions in order to achieve urban success, Peter Hall leads readers on a ‘twenty-first century Grand Tour’ to a series of concrete positive cases of urban planning and regeneration in central Europe. The examples given throughout the book provide a systematic breakdown of established urban policies, tailored and context-sensitive planning interventions, in UK cities and elsewhere, that are needed to bring an alternative to the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.
It would be beyond the scope of this brief review to offer a comprehensive critique of all challenges presented and all best practices in urban planning and city-making. I will rather engage with a couple of distinctive and innovative ideas touched upon by Peter Hall, emphasising the chapters in which the challenges presented in Part One have been addressed by European cities.
To address the challenge in ‘Building New Homes’, radical new mechanisms are needed both to upgrade existing neighbourhoods and to build sustainable urban liveable spaces where people will really want to live and feel proud to do so (e.g. VINEX programme in the Netherlands; Freiburg city promotion initiatives that ‘make citizens prouder’, p. 272). At this level, Marcuse (2013) questions the ultra-luxury aspects of the contemporary city, often with enclaves and gated communities as a consequence of implementation of international urban trends. Peter Hall, underpinned by Dutch and Scandinavian examples, has suggested building enough good-quality housing to meet context-specific demands from all kinds of households, large and small, rich and poor.
The general lesson in ‘Rebalancing Our Urban Economies’ touches upon the best-practices in Dortmund (p. 133), Kassel (p. 134), the ‘Leipzig model’ (p. 125) and the ‘astonishing progress of sustainable development in Freiburg’ (Chapter 11). In the aforementioned German cities, the operationalisation of the knowledge produced by universities and the practical implementation has boosted their economies (p. 269).
The attempt in ‘Linking People to Places’ finds its inspiration in France (Chapter 9). France has taken the lead in development of its tramway systems such as Lille, Roubaix, Strasbourg and Montpellier. This is the result of a generous dedication taxation that financed the improvement of accessibility between city centres and suburbs. In addition, ‘high-quality urban public transport has been used as an agent of urban regeneration through the creation of urban spaces and its use in city image-building and city marketing’ (p. 88). Likewise, although Europe offers several good practices of successful urban sustainability, Scandinavian countries (Chapter 10), such as Sweden and Denmark, excel in that particular field. Stockholm is one of Europe’s outstanding cases of integrated land-use planning and a leader in recycling and conservation of liquid and solid waste. There is also Copenhagen’s biking and walking strategy (p. 235), and Malmö, rated as one of the world’s greenest cities because of its innovative use of renewable resources and its goal to become a leading eco-city (pp. 242–243). These are some of the best practices in urban environmental conservation. The Øresund bridge that connects Copenhagen and Malmö, and the ambitions of creating a functional economic region and enhance regional competitiveness offers a great example of cross-border cooperation (pp. 229–232) that could inspire the UK and other countries.
Good Cities, Better Lives offers useful insights for policy makers, spatial planners and urban geographers. It is a timely and a stimulating read for anyone interested in understanding more about the current issues cities are facing. It provides a comprehensive set of inspiring examples of innovative and creative planning practice in the urban space.