Kildare County Development Plan 2023–2029 — Chapter 14: Urban Design, Placemaking and Regeneration

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   Aims: - To create vibrant and bustling towns and villages with a diverse mix of activities where residents benefit from inclusive, attractive, connected, vibrant and wellfunctioning places to live, work, visit, socialise and invest in. - To deliver improved urban design and healthy placemaking outcomes across Kildare’s network of settlements through the implementation of the principles people-centred and design-led planning, including the 10-minute Settlement concept. - To continue to pursue a Town Centre First approach to planning, renewing, and developing the historic cores of County Kildare’s towns and villages. Chapter 14 Urban Design, Placemaking and Regeneration 14.1 Introduction Kildare is becoming an increasingly urbanised county, a trend that is anticipated to continue over the coming decades and one which the plan must address in order to focus on the needs of current and future residents of the county. As such, its network of settlements, its towns and villages, are the focus of ongoing growth and expansion. A key issue will be to ensure that this growth is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. In this regard, it is recognised that settlements need to successfully accommodate and integrate new development whilst also maintaining and enhancing the character and viability of their historic centres. This is considered to be a critical element central to the retention of their overall identity, and key to providing both new and existing communities with ‘a sense of place’ and belonging. Increasing emphasis on the idea and importance of ‘place’ has permeated spatial planning policy in recent years. A powerful tool for achieving the delivery of successful places is people-centred urban design. There is now a widespread acceptance that high-quality design within our towns and villages is not just an optional ‘add-on’ but is in fact an essential requirement for the development of sustainable and healthy communities and climate resilient settlements. Accordingly, the central purpose of this chapter is to: • Outline the vital role that urban design can play in creating and shaping successful places whilst also improving the quality of life of residents and the experience of visitors. • Illustrate the policy response and approach Kildare County Council has taken in the design and management of its towns and villages and in fostering the development of high-quality urban places. • Provide best-practice urban design guidance to assist key stakeholders in providing for the growth and development of Kildare’s settlements.485

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   14.2 Policy Background The evolution of spatial planning policy in recent years has resulted in a particular focus being placed on the more efficient use of land within our urban settlements, where the redevelopment of brownfield and infill sites, at increased densities, is promoted in order to minimise unnecessary greenfield development and urban sprawl. The focus on compact growth, the consolidation of our towns and villages and the delivery of enhanced urban environments is set out in national and regional planning policy. The National Planning Framework (2018) sets out targets for the development of new homes within the built-up footprint of existing settlements, it also seeks to ‘ensure the creation of attractive, liveable, well-designed, high-quality urban places that are home to diverse and integrated communities that enjoy a high-quality of life and wellbeing’ (National Policy Objective (NPO) 4). Similarly, a key principle underpinning the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) for the Eastern and Midland Region is ‘Healthy Placemaking’ which seeks to ‘promote peoples’ quality of life through the creation of healthy and attractive places to live, work, invest and study in’. A critical element of healthy placemaking is the need to incorporate high-quality architecture into our built environment. This is recognised in Places for People (2022) Ireland’s updated national policy on architecture. It outlines ways to promote and embed quality in architecture and the built and natural environment over the coming years, and also aims to improve data and research on our built environment. The National Policy on Architecture is seen to represent another critical policy mechanism in assisting the implementation of key priorities such as Project Ireland 2040 (NPF and NDP), the Climate Action Plan 2021, Housing for All, Heritage Ireland 2030 and Town Centre First. 14.3 Urban Design Urban design is the art of creating and shaping built environments. It involves the arrangement and design of buildings, public spaces, transport systems, and social infrastructure. It is both a process and an outcome of creating communities in which people live, connect with each other, and engage with the physical place around them. Urban design operates at many different scales, ranging from the macro level of the urban structure (planning, transport and green infrastructure networks) to the micro level of street furniture and lighting1. As illustrated in Figure 14.1, urban design is considered to be the vital link which connects and influences all aspects of the built environment. For example, the achievement of sustainable mobility or 1 Urban Design Group (www.udg.org) and https://urbandesign.org.au (as adapted). Vibrant and Attractive Town Centres High Quality Public Realm Climate Resilence Urban Design Strategic Open Space Sustainable Mobility Integrated Communities Figure 14.1 - Influence of Urban Design on the Creation of Sustainable Settlements486

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   a high-quality public realm within a settlement will not be realised without integrating people-centred urban design principles into plan-making and implementation. Good urban design outcomes can therefore be seen as fundamental to the delivery of sustainable settlements and in providing an improved quality of life for residents. It is therefore considered that urban design is much more than being concerned about visual aesthetics, it also has a huge bearing on the functionality and liveability of our towns and villages. Being multidisciplinary in nature, urban design incorporates land use planning, architecture, transport planning, landscape architecture and other professions together. In this regard, urban design requires co-ordinated and integrated involvement by many stakeholders, including the community over a sustained period to best effect change. 14.3.1 Placemaking Placemaking is a particular aspect of urban design which focuses on how public spaces can best be designed and managed in order to enhance the connections between people and these places. The concept of placemaking is very much peoplecentred and looks to the needs, aspirations and desires of the community. Placemaking strategies seek to effectively utilise a local community’s assets and potential with the aim of creating high-quality public spaces that promote peoples’ overall quality of life. Figure 14.2, which details the various elements that have a bearing on the overall quality and success of a place, also highlights that successful placemaking can in some circumstances be a complex and long-term undertaking as it is dependent on the coalesces of many different factors.487

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   Figure 14.2 - What Makes a Great Place? (Source: Project for Public Space) 14.3.2 Healthy Placemaking and Quality of Life It is becoming ever more apparent that the design of our built environment has a direct impact on our health and wellbeing, with research consistently reporting that the majority of our health outcomes are explained by factors other than healthcare and are strongly linked to environmental factors. 2 Car-oriented development over the past several decades has resulted in our settlements expanding in a disconnected and dispersed manner. Such a trend which is mirrored across western society, has had knock-on implications on peoples’ overall health and wellbeing and is closely linked to rising levels of obesity, chronic disease and social isolation in the population. 2 Public Health England (2017) Spatial Planning for Health: An Evidence Resource for Planning and Designing Healthier Places.488

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   ‘Healthy placemaking’, which is cited by the RSES as a ‘growth enabler’ for the region, seeks to improve the design and functionality of settlements so that healthy activities and experiences are integral to people’s everyday lives3. In practical terms, this means promoting and implementing active travel and neighbourhood design policies that encourage physical activity, increase opportunities for social interaction and strengthen mental health, thereby enhancing overall quality of life and wellbeing. The implementation of healthy placemaking practices also help settlements tackle and adapt to the ongoing challenges associated with climate change and an aging society. 14.3.3 Urban Design and the Concept of the 10-Minute Settlement The 10-Minute Town Concept seeks to have all community facilities and services accessible within a 10-minute walk or cycle from homes or to ensure that they are accessible by public transport services that connect to larger scaled settlements. A 10-minute walking environment equates approximately to 800 metres in distance. Essentially, the concept provides for settlements to be designed to reduce the overall need to travel while also allowing for sustainable transport options (walking and cycling) to become realistic and convenient alternatives to the car for short trips, therefore reducing carbon emissions. The 10-minute settlement is seen to represent the practical implementation of principles relating to people-centred urban design and healthy placemaking whilst also fully aligning with the requirements of compact growth. The concept can be achieved in existing settlements through urban design interventions which would improve walkability and provide for other public realm enhancements. Its implementation within new developments would see their design and structure successfully incorporate features such as permeability and high-quality pedestrian and cyclist connectivity links, which would be provided in tandem with the development of improved levels of social infrastructure, neighbourhood centres/local shopping and local employment opportunities. While the concept of the 10-minute settlement can be applied to towns and villages of all sizes, the results may not be as effective in smaller towns and villages due to their lack of critical mass to support local services and employment centres. However, all settlements both large and small will benefit from greater levels of permeability and improved walking and cycling facilities. The 10-minute settlement concept is a key aim of this Plan and a number of provisions are integrated throughout various chapters to ensure its practical implementation in towns and villages of all scales across the county. 3 Design Council (2017) Creating Healthy Places (as adapted). Figure 14.3 - A 10-Minute Settlement in Practice; Walkable, Permeable and Convenient Links to Public Transport489

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   14.4 The Role of Settlements in Kildare 14.4.1 Kildare’s Unique Network of Towns and Villages Whilst Kildare’s towns and villages are the drivers of socio-economic development, they are also the repositories of our cultural and civic, architectural and industrial heritage. In the past the achievement of economic development in our settlements has often been at the expense of our built heritage. However, towns and villages are increasingly being viewed as important environmental assets. Indeed, it is considered that the most environmentally friendly building is the one which already exists. Good urban design outcomes within settlements can realise the aspirations of economic progress whilst also retaining their unique heritage and sense of place. Kildare’s settlements display an inherent legibility and intrinsic character. For example, as illustrated in Figure 14.4, while the layout of Naas and Athy are medieval in origin and somewhat organic in character, Maynooth is more formal in nature being the product of 18th Century Georgian town planning, and the grid like street of pattern of Newbridge reflects its development as a relatively modern garrison town. It is these differences in form and character, developed over centuries, that have contributed to the creation of a unique and distinctive sense of place in these towns. Figure 14.4 - Street and Block Maps of Naas, Athy, Maynooth and Newbridge Town Centres 14.4.2 Town Centres: 10-Minute Settlements in Practice The historic town centres of County Kildare represent the practical embodiment of what it means to be a 10-minute settlement. Developed at a human scale, all share the same characteristics including being inherently walkable; incorporating a fine urban grain; home to a mix of activities; the location of retail and employment services and the focus of public transport options. Such attributes are very difficult to create over the short to medium term and therefore these historic townscapes offer us a link to a more sustainable model of development which should be protected while also being the focus of appropriate renewal and regeneration efforts. This course of action will not only secure the safeguarding of their cultural and historic value for future generations but will also help to ensure that they remain vibrant and viable entities and a favoured destination for our collective commercial, civic, social and recreational activities. 14.4.3 Town Centres: Challenges and Opportunities Kildare’s town centres face a number of differing challenges depending on their scale, function and location within the county. Several struggle with the consequences of outof-town retail developments or retail leakage to other towns, while all continue to be490

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   affected by the fallout from the relentless rise of online shopping and e-commerce, and the resulting changes in retail needs and shopping habits. The size of some town centres also has an effect on their functionality, as settlements such as Celbridge and Leixlip originally developed as villages and were not designed to serve their present day heavily urbanised hinterlands. The result is a combination of large-scale retail leakage to other settlements and their main streets being choked with vehicular traffic. Traffic congestion also arises from the fact that many town centres are also the location of a single river crossing within a settlement, or that towns lack of completed distributor/orbital roads. A congested town centre is seen to be a less accessible and attractive one; it is a place which offers the visitor a poorer spatial experience, and the resident a lower quality of life. Taking the above into consideration it is not surprising that many of Kildare’s town centres continue to experience particularly elevated levels of retail and residential vacancies. Indeed, town centre land use surveys conducted over the past number of years found retail vacancy levels to be in excess of 20% in some settlements.4 Such studies also show that many vacancies are long term in nature, indicating that previous uses may never return and bringing into question the future viability of the commercial core within some settlements. While the challenges facing Kildare’s town centres are substantial and not to be underestimated, it is considered that the conditions for achieving their effective renewal and rejuvenation are now in place. A key element of this is that national and regional spatial policy has recognised that the traditional role of town centres has evolved, and while providing a viable retail offer will continue to be an important function, it will by no means be the primary concern. In order to survive and thrive, the town centres of the future will need to attract people with new recreational, tourist, cultural, employment and residential opportunities. Town centres are also considered to have a critical role in the realisation of compact growth and low carbon development in the county, where historic cores have the capacity to accommodate substantial quantities of new homes either by the utilisation of living opportunities within existing vacant buildings or through brownfield/backland development. Increasing the residential offer alongside a targeted investment in the public realm within town centres will not only help to tackle the housing crisis affecting the county but also make these historic cores more attractive and liveable destinations, thereby consolidating and enhancing their status as established 10-minute settlements. 4 The Heritage Council’s Collaborative Town Centre Health Check Programme considers town centre retail vacancy rates in excess of 10% to be ‘problematic’. It is noted that the target for town centre retail vacancy under normal trading conditions is 5%.491

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   14.4.4 Urban Design and Placemaking Policy It is the policy of the Council to: UD P1 Apply the principles of people-centred urban design and healthy placemaking as an effective growth management tool to ensure the realisation of more sustainable, inclusive, and well-designed settlements resilient to the effects of climate change and adapted to meet the changing needs of growing populations including aging and disabled persons. Objectives It is an objective of the Council to: UD O1 Require a high standard of urban design to be integrated into the design and layout all new development and ensure compliance with the principles of healthy placemaking by providing increased opportunities for physical activities, social interaction and active travel, through the development of compact, permeable neighbourhoods which feature high-quality pedestrian and cyclist connectivity, accessible to a range of local services and amenities. UD O2 Ensure that town centres remain the focal point of their respective settlements by maintaining and enhancing their role as dynamic, attractive, resilient and inclusive environments, and as established destinations for commercial, retail, civic and recreational activities. UD O3 Support and promote the ’10-minute settlement’ concept across all towns and villages in the county and require that all Local Area Plans incorporate policies and objectives that will assist in its implementation. UD O4 To require all proposals for multi-unit residential developments to demonstrate how the principles of ‘Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design’ have been considered and applied in the design and layout of the proposed scheme. 14.5 Policy Responses In refocusing on town and village centres with high-quality urban design interventions, the Council established a new strategic projects and public realm unit to apply for funding and manage regeneration and renewal projects across the county. As of late 2021, this multidisciplinary unit is progressing 65 different projects worth a combined total of €45 million, all with the aim of delivering high-quality places that will be attractive locations to live, work, visit and invest in. 14.5.1 Town and Village Renewal The Council’s regeneration efforts to-date has placed a particular emphasis on delivering town and village renewal, specifically the rejuvenation of settlements’ historic commercial cores. The overarching approach adopted has been heavily influenced by National Policy Objective 6 (NPO 6) of the National Planning Framework which seeks to regenerate ‘towns and villages of all types and scale as environmental492

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    assets, that can accommodate changing roles and functions, increased residential population and employment activity and enhanced levels of amenity and design quality, in order to sustainably influence and support their surrounding area’. Essentially, the Council views its actions, as part of a wider exercise in future proofing Kildare’s settlements, making them more resilient and adaptable to long term demographic, economic, social and climate trends. 14.5.2 Kildare County Council’s Placemaking Mechanisms Kildare County Council has adopted a design-led approach in managing settlement expansion and in providing for the rejuvenation of historic urban cores. To this end, the Council has developed a flexible suite of placemaking strategies that can be applied to a range of different spatial and developmental contexts. This emphasis on ‘placemaking’ highlights the importance of the role of urban design in achieving town and village renewal and in providing for plan-led settlement growth and expansion. As illustrated in Table 14.1, the various strategies are designed to be supported by objectives of the Development Plan or relevant Local Area Plans, thereby grounding these strategies in evidence-based policy and providing them with a robust level of statutory support. Several of the placemaking strategies outlined in Table 14.1 are also designed so that they can be presented as comprehensive supporting documents alongside future applications for funding for regeneration and development projects by the Council. 14.5.3 Town Renewal Masterplans In supporting the changing roles and functions of town centres and developing a sustainable model for their development, the Council has commenced the preparation of Town Renewal Masterplans for settlements of all sizes across the county. Renewal Masterplans (as outlined in Table 14.1) will focus on maximising the potential of towns and villages built and natural heritage by using these existing assets to enhance their role as visitor destinations and helping to create new local employment opportunities. The tailored approach adopted by Renewal Masterplans to each settlement’s regeneration will provide for the development and enhancement of their overall function and ‘unique selling point’ (USP) through the identification and implementation of priority projects. In this regard, a Town Renewal Masterplan should be viewed also as a plan of action and a platform which establishes a targeted and co-ordinated long term investment strategy, enabling the creation of local synergies (i.e., the development of tourism-based enterprises) which will in turn kickstart a broader economic regeneration of a settlement. 14.5.4 Transforming the Public Realm A high-quality public realm greatly assists in the development of a people-centred, universally accessible settlement that is not only socially inclusive but also supports local businesses through the increased footfall resulting from an attractive, comfortable, and safe urban environment. As such, Public Realm Strategies (as outlined in Table 14.1) are a critical tool for setting out an alternative long-term vision for the design and management of a town’s key network of public spaces. It is further noted that a high-quality public realm can become a destination in its own right. For example, a well-designed town square or waterside space has the potential to become a key social/recreational/cultural event space, enticing people to linger and patronise the businesses of an area.493

Source Kildare County Council: Kildare County Development Plan 2023–2029 — Chapter 14: Urban Design, Placemaking and Regeneration (2023–2029) · Licence the publisher's termsText read from the publisher’s PDF; tables, maps and drawings do not survive as text, and page numbers are the PDF’s (its first page is 1). Check the original before relying on a passage.