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"Urban design is the art of making places for people. It includes the way places work and matters such as community safety, as well as how they look. It concerns the connections between people and places, movement and urban form, nature and the built fabric, and the processes for ensuring successful villages, towns and cities".

By Design: Urban design in the planning system, ODPM

CELEBRATING SEVEN YEARS OF DESIGN REVIEW: NEW PUBLICATION

The South East Regional Design Panel is celebrating seven years of design review across the Region. The Kent Architecture Centre and SEEDA have published a new brochure documenting the Panel's successes in raising the quality of design.

The publication can be viewed here (PDF Document, 940kb).

Map of the South East Region: This image can be downloaded here as a PDF Document (PDF, 602kb)

Hard copies of the publication are available on request, please contact sarah.brown@kentarchitecture.co.uk.

Introduction

The South East of England is facing an enormous challenge to accommodate more development than any other region, with the Government calling for a step change in housing provision. This increase in quantity needs to be matched by a step change in design quality.

While there are examples of outstanding developments in the South East, all too often schemes continue to be designed around the needs of the car, fail to respond to their context and create bland, nondescript places. Such poor design is unacceptable. We should strive to leave a legacy to be proud of – the cherished historic buildings and conservation areas of the future.

The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) is committed to raising the standard of development. Good design is about beautiful buildings – but it goes beyond considerations of aesthetics. Achieving good design also means making efficient use of land, materials, energy and water. It means building places that are accessible to all and spaces that feel safe.

Good design is about beautiful buildings – but it goes beyond considerations of aesthetics.

Good design supports the development of thriving communities and distinctive places. For these reasons SEEDA was the first RDA to fund a regional design panel as an independent resource for the whole region. The South East Regional Design Panel is operated by Kent Architecture Centre along with a series of training, enabling and community participation initiatives developed to support the delivery of sustainable, high quality and well designed developments.

By bringing together some of the very best architects, planners and other development professionals the Panel provides a unique forum, offering expert advice as a scheme evolves. We believe that the process of independent design review has enormous potential for improving the standard of architecture and urban design in the South East and hope that this model will inspire the development of regional Panels throughout the UK.

The Panel at work