CityScapes
February 27, 2007
This was an event that was held in Earls Court which had over 300 companies exhibiting work which were split into the five events of; Cityscape, Ecobuild, Futurebuild, Regenex, Building for health. There was also the opportunity to go to seminars which were on topics like Security of streets, Designing for Quality Spaces, Creating Urban Diversity, and many more. The event ran from the 27th February – 1st March.
This was a conference that a group of us had the opportunity to go to. It had four speakers and started off with the introduction of “What makes a place into a space” and “There is no there, there”.
Lorna Walker from Cabe was the first speaker. She talked about the relationship between people and the built environment. She gave good and bad examples of places in relation to the Built environment, Security, Recreation, Culture, Access, and Mixed community. One of the examples was Peckham Library. This building has now become the educational centre for the community. It has created a pleasant atmosphere for people to learn and interact with others of varying backgrounds and ages.
Peckham Library
I found this talk really interesting and to see examples of why the environment is important to people and how it can affect your health and attitude. One of these examples was Nature Deficit Disorder and how children now are more likely to stay indoors playing computer games instead of going out and climbing a tree.
The second speaker was Jason Prior the vice president of Edaw. He talked about the legacy of Lea Valley after the London Olympics games. Also how regeneration of the area starts now and not in 2013 after the Olympics which has been the mistake of other Olympic host cities in the past, such as Sydney and Athens.
It was really good to hear what will happen after the games with the scaling down, for example, the 40 hectares of paving that will be built for the game’s, three quarters will be removed once the games are over because the area will not be dealing with huge quantity of people. The presentation was really enjoyable and was the most useful compared to the other presentations in seeing good quality images. The work which was shown is what I am interested in and something that I may explore in my year out.
The third speaker was Patricia Brown from Central London Partnership. She spoke about creating cities where people want to be. The final speaker was Professor Robert Bruegmann from the University of Illinois, Chicago. He spoke about the history of Sprawl and its economic, social and environmental affects.
Blue Lagoon Local Nature Reserve
February 18, 2007
Blue Lagoon LNR is located in Bletchley, south Milton Keynes. It is managed by Milton Keynes Borough Council with help provided with the support from English Nature. Blue Lagoon is designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and is the only one in the borough of
Milton Keynes. Blue Lagoon has also been designated as a Biological Notification Site (BNS) and a Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Site. The site is 26.3 ha.
The reserve has shallow ponds, a 60ft deep lagoon, scrubland, grassland and woodland offering a wide range of diverse habitats. Within these areas are footpaths and boardwalks guiding visitors around the reserve. The lagoon is also used by a local scuba diving club where they explore lorries that have been put in the lake.
The site of the reserve was previously occupied by brickworks and to the west of the reserve a landfill site has been created. What is now the lagoon is where the clay pits were and on the landfill site these pits are now being filled in with rubbish. Bletchley was a good location for these brickworks as it sits on the Oxford clay belt. There was plenty of business for these brickworks, the first one opened in 1890, saw the development of Milton Keynes and provided the bricks until the Blue Lagoon site closed in 1970. The final brickworks closed in 1990 which is now where the landfill site is located.
