Our first face-to-face meeting on Tuesday 22 September in BrewStone, Uplands was a great success! We welcomed both Uplands Living Streets members and people from all over Swansea, all united in their interest in making our communities more green and people-friendly.
Dr Ben Reynolds of Urban Foundry spoke about 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, giving us an insight into how good urban design can make all the difference in creating friendly, connected, and economically successful places where everyone enjoys living and working.
And none of this is new! The Victorians knew instinctively what makes a great place to live, and we can see this in the street layout and connectedness we all enjoy in Uplands.
The big takeaways from Dr Reynolds’ talk?
-
- All the cities we love and enjoy visiting are designed around the same principles, which ensure that people have priority over cars.
- Mixed use is important – shops, mixed with housing, and short connected blocks of buildings with ‘active frontages’ make for places which are vibrant and safe, both during the day and at night.
- Well-designed cities are those that encourage people to linger – to sit and chat with friends, shop, eat, and socialise.
- Footfall in shops and businesses increases in urban spaces that prioritise pedestrians, whereas spaces designed for cars actually turn out to be business un-friendly.
Research from all over the world shows that great urban spaces aren’t difficult to create, it just needs the will of people to work together. And when they do, green urban spaces are great news for business, the environment and the community.
Join us for more interesting talks and activities in the months ahead; let us know if there’s a topic you’d like to discuss, or a speaker you’d like to hear!
Dates for your diary:
Saturday 22nd October, 11.00am, Uplands Living Streets Family Walk. Come along and find out more about the history of our great local parks.
December (date and venue to be announced), Christmas Living Streets meeting and social.
Contact us here: Uplandsswanseagroup@livingstreets.org.uk
Onwards and Uplands! Ymlaen Yplands!