Drawing the city
This booklet contains the results of the ‘Drawing the Existing City’-group. We are a multidisciplinary group existing of 5 members with different backgrounds going from Urban Design to Architecture to Landscape and Garden Architecture.
Putting our strengths together we went to Milton to analyse the existing city. What does this mean? Focusing on the urban fabric and public spaces, going from buildings to streets to vegetation, we have mapped all kinds of different physical objects and spaces. Our main goalwas to come up with a final map that represents how Milton physicallyexists today.
In the following pages we will take you in on our approach, on how we have processed this information and what we have learned out of it.Furthermore, we show what our findings are and close with an overallconclusion.
History and Stories
This booklet focuses on the historical background of Milton and it’s evolution throughout time. The aim is to give a better understandingof the factors that influenced the development of Milton, and how this hasprogressed throughout time to get to where it is today.
Firstly, the analysis looks at what triggered the emergence of places like Milton. A timeline that follows the step by step evolution of the development is drawn to illustrate each phase of its construction from the late 1860s to present day.
Secondly, The analysis looks at diffrent aspects of Milton such as industry, mining, education, community, transport etc. By observing its evolution, conclusions can be drawn as to what were the factors that made Milton a thriving community and what have been aspects that have led Milton to where it stands today socially an economically.
Finally, we look at a series of stories gathered from newsclip- pings to get a glimpse of what Milton used to be like. Conclusions can be drawn as to what the factors were that made Milton thriving.
Planning Framework
This booklet contains an overview of planning policies, current and future affecting Glasgow’s urban realm. The purpose is to understand the direction Glasgow will be taking in the next thirty years and in which ways this will affect Milton, if at all.
Next, an analysis of the neighborhood looking specifically at landuse and available services, topography, street networks hierarchy and existing channels of movement will allow an understanding of the studied area in relation to these policies.
Ultimately the idea is to understand how policies will shape futureproposals for Milton, whether all policies are beneficial for the area and what policies the Milton proposal can be grafted onto. The final proposalfor Milton must relate to Glasgow’s overall policies if we wish it to be successfuly implemented in the next thirty years.
Experiencing the Place
The relationship between people and space they occupy and use is quite important. The way we use and maintain the place is a key element to our perception and understanding the place, thus, ultimately, to the mental image it creates. Whether it appears as linear or spread, structured or chaotic, legible or dull, vibrant or bleak, it creates a certain image and a feeling which we translate to day-to-day life. The place has a direct andindirect influence on our lifestyle, sense of pride andbelonging, our social positions and general well-being.
Main idea behind this package was to use developed tools and techniques of assessment and map current situation in Milton in terms of area quality – visual quality, safety, internal connectivity and accessibility, maintenance, evaluate and conclude what is valuable and good and what exactly needs an improvement.
Moreover, it is important to understand the study area by comparing the subjective knowledge of the place coming from the inhabitants and your own experience, with the more objective knowledge coming from systematic map measurements.
Network Analysis
Look at Milton on a map of Glasgow and you might notice its relative isolation. Like many developments on the urban periphery, it suffers from a lack of connectivity to the rest of the city.
Walking around Milton, you might find the place confusing and illegible, and struggle to findsomething you could call its ‘core’.
Connectivity, inside Milton and to other parts of the city, is key. It allows places to be naturally central.
How streets are laid out and how they relate to each other can have an impact on the activities that are possible and appropriate in different places.
Central places tend to be more popular and able to support a range of everyday and secondary activities. Measuring centrality can tell us lots.
Typologies
The following analysis will focus on the typology of the houses currently present on the area of Milton.
Milton occupies a site at the far north of the Glasgow centre. In the area was undertaken an intense building activity between the late 1940’s and 1952 that resulted in the urbanization of most of the central and east side of the site. During the following years, new buildings, demolitions, an industrial development in the west and six high-rises on the north wereimplemented until obtaining the current configuration.
Today Milton is an overall low density neighbourhood with big holes in the urban fabric. A poor quality built environment is the materialization of common social issues that, unfortunately, characterise the area. The common landscape is the monotony of the housing and the presence of vacant or derelict areas and signs of lack of bonds with the public space.