Ivor Samuels

A discussion of the manner in which Oxford University institutions have modified the historic street structure and its character by acquiring whole blocks or by inserting new buildings, which ignore the street context, in the pursuit of promotional advantages.

An urban design manifesto prepared in 1980 by two eminent US urban design practitioners and theoreticians s revisited to ascertain its relevance today. The original work was organised in three parts: 1) Problems for Modern Urban Design, 2) Goals for Urban Life and 3) An Urban Fabric for an Urban Life. This examination focuses on the first part to assess eh extent to which the problems are still relevant, how they need to be modified or augmented in the light of current problems. The Manifesto identifies eight separate sets of problems and this study expands the first problem that of poor living environments so that it is discussed under five sub problems which were not identified by the original authors but proposed in this paper as being of growing concern. They are; Pollution, Extreme Weather Events, Demographic Change, Obesity and Security. The relevance of these to urban form is discussed. The other seven of the Manifesto problems have been grouped for discussion in this paper under two headings. It is suggested that the first group of four are closely related to one another and have been exacerbated since the publication of the original Manifesto by ongoing processes of globalisation and deregulation. These are; Giantism and Loss of Control, Large-scale Privatisation and the Loss of Public Life, Rootless Professionalism and Injustice.
The final group of three problems consists of those which while being a consequent of the same political/ economic processes have been and remain central concerns of urbanists. They are Destruction of Valued Places,
Placelessness, and Centrifugal Fragmentation. While professional skills have been directed to seeking solutions to
these problems their implementation has been less effective and unforeseen consequences have emerged such as
Green Belts restricting urban growth but increasing the dispersal of populations and increasing traffic movements. With respect to the problems it identified as being of concern for urban design, the Manifesto has proved remarkable resilient over the last 30 years. All the problems are still central and are even more severe than when the Manifesto was first drafted. Under the heading of Poor Living Environments it has been considered appropriate to outline in more detail some issues which have become even more acute. However a major concern, not covered in the original work, is the growing awareness of the importance of urban ecosystems and how human settlements are threatening natural habitats and even changing global systems to the extent that it is claimed a new geological age has been entered – the Anthropocene.