urban design in action

I came across a slide presentation and accompanying tape by Richard MacCormac in the University Library which discusses MacCormac Jamieson and Pritchard's proposal for the Spitalfield Market site.

The presentation discusses the scheme on the basis of the observation that there are two primary types of urban transactions;

Foreign transactions:

- functions which occur inside buildings which don't relate to the locality. i.e. banking, churches, factory, office, theatre.

Local transactions:

- functions which occur inside and in-between buildings which do relate to the locality. i.e. street markets, shops, housing, pubs, small businesses.

The Spitalfields scheme aims to reconcile foreign transactions with local transactions using the capital investment to not only provide the required commercial space but also to create places in-between (in the residue) that people are going to enjoy.