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Students: William Ewing, Victoria Smith, David Howel, Mahanim Abdullah, Duncan MacLean, Kirsten O’Hare, Mariana Gouveia.
In 25 years time, Govan will be recognised as a revitalised urban quarter
within Glasgow.
Our Vision:
- New employment achieved by a Marine Energy Centre in the long-term linked to specific skills and training in schools and colleges
- Healthier living achieved by a Community Sports Academy, expanded urban gtreen spaces and walking and cycling routes
- Improved accessibility achieved by new public transport, river and road linkages to Govan Town Centre and surrounding neighbourhoods
- A reconnected, compact urban fabric achieved by pushing away industry from Town Centre, creating higher density housing and key gateways
- Tourism and visitor destination achieved by a Shipyard Heritage Park supported by one-ticket tourist route around Govan’s key attractions
Reconnection and housing:
1. Push industry away from centre
- Need to reconnect centre to wider area
- Under-utilised land on Helen street
- Release part of strategic industrial area stakeholders
- Relocate or incorporate housing with compatible ‘big boxes’ by ‘wrap & cap’
2. Create higher density housing
- Approx, 1800 new housing units
- Increasing population, sustaining services
- Scale allowing functional & social mix by creating mixed tenure neighbourhoods with local facilities & services
- Recreation of traditional perimeter blocks
3. Build up (densify) key locations
- Govan town centre – new activity hub
- Key gateways into Govan from major developments
- Key urban corridors linking nodes
4. Linkages
- New transport connections
- Supporting new employment
- Supporting new image perception
- Making Govan a healthier place
From the Brief:
Scope:
The overall scope of the strategic phase is the generation of strategic programmes for the development and management of transformation in Govan within its immediate territorial context.
This module aims to assist students in developing realistic urban regeneration programmes for the transformation of Govan and the riverfront in the larger urban context. In particular, on the basis of the information gathered in the previous analytical phase, students will formulate imaginative but at the same time realistic scenarios for the transformation of the site and the ‘making of place and mediation of space’, recognising and taking into account often contradictory forces and interests.
Students will compare emerging ideas for change and transformation and combine them to form a holistic strategy for the study area that takes into account formal, social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable urban development. Throughout this process, students are requested to relate their strategy to the current urban design and planning debate.
At the end of this phase, students will be able to answer the following five questions:
- What will Govan be in 20 years (vision)?
- What are the leading factors that will lead this transformation (main themes for change)?
- What specific activities and projects need to be implemented to guarantee the transformation you envisage, and who should be responsible for them (list of interventions, their link and delivery)?
- What is the spatial side of such changes? Can we draw it on paper?
- Is there anything we cannot – or we should not – draw that is nevertheless crucial, and in this case how can we ensure that our work on space supports, rather than inhibits, such self-organizing processes in the local community?
Objectives:
- To formulate a vision and directions for the improvement of Govan and its urban context, their likely impact on space and how they can be combined into a coherent and positive framework for its sustainable regeneration.
- To illustrate the best possible configuration of such framework through the design of hierarchies of centres, mobility, densities and open spaces”.