Site Visit to Bradford

To familiarise ourselves with Bradford, our collaborator kindly volunteered to take us on a walk around the key areas of the city centre to understand the current state of the city better and record our first impressions. The information collected on this visit will be condensed and presented to the BA students as part of the information pack we aim to provide before the Events week begins. This walk will also form the basis of the site visit we plan to do on the first day of the Events week, which will be focused more specifically on the City Village site itself.

City Village

As part of a larger regeneration plan for the city, Bradford Council is proposing 1000 family homes to be built in the city centre. Currently, the Oastler centre sits on the main site, which is to be demolished by spring 2022. This will allow for a new residential lead, mixed-use development which will aim to reinvigorate the area's economy and re-instate the declining footfall.

We will be providing an information pack to our team which will include further information on the city's demographic, building types, key circulation routes etc. We will also condense the Council's proposal document so that their aims and vision is clear whilst we design the proposal for the site.

If you would like to find out more about the proposal, here is an online article: https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/18240998.1-000-home-plan-city-centre-village-described-radical-unprecedented/

Our aim, as a team, is to analyse and challenge the council's proposal and develop an argument for or against the scheme. Then we will be proposing our own radical schemes for the site which will offer alternative solutions to the current UK development model.

Alternative Models

As a team, we will be looking to propose alternative models to the UK's current development model for housing and regeneration. To do this, we will be researching into alternative approaches to living and working, whether that is through encouraging circular economy, more sustainable ways of living or through social initiatives used to re-invigorate high-streets and town centres.

One of the key speakers due to present at our exhibition is Neil Gibb, who is a 'Social Innovator' and is the minds behind the South Lanes initiative in Colchester, which used community lead strategies to re-generate the area.

For more information on the South Lanes project visit: https://medium.com/@NeilGibb/the-south-lanes-project-a-model-for-social-innovation-town-centre-regeneration-retail-354a877f05d