“The City Centre Experience”, David Charles Cash, BDP, UK

“THE CITY CENTRE EXPERIENCE”, OCT 23-24, LJUBLJANA
David Charles Cash, UK; International Development Director, BDP

David Cash joined BDP in 1980, and took over leadership of BDP Manchester Office in May 1994 and of BDP North in July 2000, comprised of four offices with 350 staff. In July 2008 he became Director of International Development responsible for leading BDP’s strategy to become a major international design organisation through the securing of new projects around the world and establishing a network of international offices.
BDP works across many sectors – retail, urbanism, transport, workplace, healthcare, education, housing, leisure and heritage. Their many projects include Täby Centrum, Stockholm, Meriadeck Centre, Bordeaux; Liverpool One; Piccadilly Station Refurbishment, Manchester; and the Vasco da Gama Centre, Lisbon.

The town or city centre and in particular its shopping area is usually a reliable measure of the vibrancy of the wider community. In short, what we think of a town is often based on how we assess its shopping centre.
Some towns in decline have been able to reverse their fortunes through a well designed central area redevelopment project whilst others might not have been so successful. Indeed, some poorly designed centres have greatly damaged the historic heart of a community which may have evolved incrementally over many centuries.
With this in mind, Cash offers, it is important to analyse the essential ingredients which characterise the best central area redevelopment projects using examples based on his almost 30 years of experience working in the sector.
As he points out – and develops both in talks and in practice, the design of the town centre shopping experience is a complex matter involving the resolution of many different factors and interests: sustainability and balance with nature; flexibility for change; artwork; lighting;; servicing and logistics; parking; multiple levels; architecture and landmark buildings; local identity and character; diversity and mix of uses; covered or open?; maximisation of pedestrian flows and ease of movement; permeability; street pattern; public realm; continuity and enclosure.
In addition, good redevelopment invariably needs close co-operation between the public and private sectors. For these reasons it can be a long drawn-out process with the average total time for a development being at least ten years. However whilst this might seem a long time with a great deal of work needing to be undertaken, it’s well worth it, Cash maintains, and is one of the most satisfying exercises a designer can undertake.

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