Planning
Conservation rules preserve the fabric and freeze the use
Protecting how a building looks is straightforward. Protecting what it can be used for, without meaning to, is the part that causes…
Tobias Mkhize
Climate writer, Street to Sky
Tobias writes about urban heat, drainage and adapting cities already built.
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9 articles
Planning
Permitted development converts buildings faster than it improves them
Removing the need for permission speeds up conversion and removes the stage at which daylight, space and amenity were checked.
Public Space
Public toilets set how long a visit lasts
The length of time people can comfortably stay somewhere is limited by a facility most cities have spent thirty years removing.
Public Space
Markets are infrastructure that happens to look like retail
A market provides low-cost business premises, fresh food access and a reason to walk through a district. Cities treat it as a…
Public Space
People navigate by landmarks, and cities keep giving them signs
Wayfinding systems are designed as graphic products. The mental map a person actually uses is built from junctions, edges and…
Public Space
A square without bins becomes a square about bins
Waste is the least discussed element of public space and the one that determines whether people want to be in it.
Public Space
Events pay for a square and slowly close it
Hiring out public space raises money for its upkeep. Each hire also removes the space from the people who use it for nothing.
Public Space
A fountain is a plant room with a public face
Water in a public space looks like the simplest possible amenity. Behind it sits pumps, filtration, testing and a permanent…
Public Space
A worn line across the grass is the design report
People take the route that makes sense to them. Where that route differs from the paved one, the ground records the discrepancy.