VALUE PERCEPTIONS II _ Utopia on Trial

The Caledonian Ward contains several post war estates built by the London County Council and later the Greater London Council that follow some of the utopian ideas, which have seen been examined and criticised:  Jane Jacobs was the first to consider what design features made them so unsuccessful and cited the need for a scientific evaluation based on observed facts, rather than aesthetic taste.

In ‘Defensible Space’ Oscar Newman moved towards more quantitative methods of assessing ‘good’ and ‘bad’ design, focusing on crime and vandalism levels.  He identified 3 principles that encourage crime:

Anonymity - related to density and size

Lack of surveillance

Alternative escape routes

Alice Coleman’s ‘Utopia on Trial’ presents the case for design disadvantage increasing the possibility for social malice.  She identifies 16 (quantifiable) design variables which affect design value in high-rise housing (listed in order of relative influence):

Dwellings per entrance

Dwellings per block

Storeys per block

Overhead walkways

Spatial organisation

Vertical routes

Access points

Interconnecting exits

Corridor type

Blocks per site

Storeys per dwelling

Blocks per site

Entrance type

Entrance position

Play areas

Stilts and garages

Do the post-war housing estates in Caledonian devalued by design disadvantage?  The assessment criteria established by Coleman could prove a useful tool in quantifying existing design quality.