3rd of October 2012:
Attendance - Irene absent, Toby, new member assigned.
Key comments and ideas informed by initial survey and analysis:
- Self-sufficient community.
- There is a lot of industry in the area - e.g packaging, retail park - re-organize the structure.
- Perhaps an industrial quarter/cultural quarter (look for an example of a successful 'cultural quarter').
- Predominantly white, working class area. Surrounded by council estates - low income, limited skill set of workers?
- Soil is mostly alkaline, clay. What plants will thrive in this soil?
- Conservation of the black poplar (Populus nigra).
- Hydrology - large area - prone to flooding - including reservoirs. Mitigate flooding - through use of SUDS and planting.
- Micro-organisms to help improve the marine life and quality of the water of the Thames - breaking down various harmful pollutants.
- Drinking water protected areas - what does this mean exactly? Retained for drinking water usage, owned by water company, or unsuitable for consumption.
- Alter the curvature of the river - retention basin? Natural dam?
- South facing site - advantageous. Micro-climate or location suggests plan life will thrive (alkaline).
- Opportunities for a mixed use site - life, work and play - suitable for all age groups, and with the mindset to improve the quality of life for those living there or around its perimeter.
- Transport - off the north circular - therefore a good access to those travelling to and fro from London - limited access to Central Zones of Activity.
- Opportunity to use the Thames for transport - new infrastructure.
- Buildings dilapidated - poor quality of materials - cheap - new character and buildings entirely.
- Re-use containers/crates - Landschaftspark is a public park located in Duisburg Nord, Germany - a la Peter Latz.
- Climbing walls.
- Green rings - walkways. Softer transition from hard to soft.
- Walkways - think west 8:
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- Industrial walkways to connect different green sites.
- Connect to industry - green bridges - disjointed.
- Join the public and private sectors - to create a site accessible to all.
- Multi-functional park overhead?
- Concrete, rust - use of yellow and imprints - surface - past-use imprinted on the site - a theme to continue with in terms of aesthetics - retaining the genius loci of the site.
- Need for community services - disabled access, places for children, areas with health in mind.
- Tidal - strengths and weaknesses - tidal energy - prone to flooding - green energy resource - as are the sewage works.
- Small residential population - opportunities to increase. Is this a safe area to place housing - do people want to live near a sewage works - how to mitigate this - make the sewage works into some kind of park?
- Living house - genetically modified meat (would you like to live in a house made of synthetic meat?).
- Phyto-bioreactors - the Thames Enterprise partnership?
- Wageningen - hydrodynamic research.
- Encourage the innovative use or energy - a research point dedicated to this - an innovative science park - looking at techniques to benefit and invigorate the city. A hub for green industries - all initiatives promoted by the London Plan.
We need to make an Agenda for Change - to create a better and more sustainable place.
Agendas include:
Social, economic, ecological, physical and aesthetic - I would say our agenda is a synthesis of all - they are not mutually exclusive - although they do say that doing all of these things is not possible. I feel that surely the must all feed into each other - but then what do I know.
It says we need to look 300 years backwards - and 300 years forwards - as I am focussing on History - I will start to look at the previous 300 years of the sites history - to inform our final presentation - collectively we can all think about where we see our project developing in the next 300 years.
Team diary blog, documenting our journey through the Urban Development Project. Focus is on the re-development of Barking Riverside.
We can include biodiversity plans for fish, birds, plans etc. Places to swim, sites for parks, different types of boats and moorings. (Extracted from brief).
Festivals - Thames flower festival - art projects, paris plage project.
The brief says we are to produce an urban development that maximises human and ecological potential.