Some sense on public space!

Boris Johnson's administration has just published a new strategy for public space, London's Great Outdoors (yeah, it's a cheesy name).

It includes these obvious, but very welcome, sentences:

There is a growing trend towards the 

private management of publicly accessible 

space where this type of ‘corporatisation’ 

occurs, especially in the larger commercial 

developments, Londoners can feel 

themselves excluded from parts of their 

own city. This need not be the case. At 

Kings Cross it was agreed that the London 

Borough of Camden will adopt the streets 

and public areas. Elsewhere unrestricted 

24-hour access to the area has been 

agreed. This has established an important 

principle which should be negotiated in 

all similar schemes. 

Many of London’s larger public parks are 

fenced and locked at night. This can create 

severance as sections of the city are  

literally decommissioned. It can also turn 

many surrounding streets into inactive  

cul-de-sacs. The main reason for locking 

London’s parks at night is fear of crime and 

antisocial activities. However many parks, 

such as Highbury Fields and Streatham 

Common, are not fenced or gated. This  

suggests that 24-hour access could be  

made to work in more of our parks and 

green spaces with the right design and  

right lighting and management regimes.  

High quality, creative lighting can increase 

feelings of safety and encourage  

ownership and use. 

Right on!