Services
Through our work, we get to indulge in our passion for discovering the qualities that make every place unique and special.
PLANNING + DESIGN GUIDANCE
We have extensive experience in the preparation of planning and design guidance for a wide variety of prospective development sites in both green and brownfield locations. In all of this work our aim is to produce design guidance that is inspiring rather than restrictive; helping potential developers to gain an understanding of local authority needs and an appreciation of what can be achieved through the application of good design principles, often through reference to contemporary best practice example and/ or through the preparation of indicative development layouts to give a clearer impression of how the requirements of the brief can be achieved.
STRATEGIC + MASTERPLANNING
Our strategic and masterplanning experience includes new settlements, town and village extensions, business / industrial parks and marinas. In all of this work we aim to create sustainable development frameworks that provide a relevant response to both policy and physical context. New settlement master plans are developed to have a strong sense of place that is based on the existing characteristics of each site. They are generally structured around a permeable layout of pedestrian orientated streets, footpaths and public spaces and contain a carefully selected mix of complimentary uses and housing densities to achieve a combination of social, economic and environmental goals. Wherever possible our masterplans are developed in close collaboration with other design team specialists, client representatives, local communities, landowners, potential developers and relevant development agencies.
PUBLIC REALM + PLACEMAKING
Our work in the public realm principally relates to the improvement of existing streets and public spaces. Projects will normally extend from the feasibility stage through to detail design, contract management and completion and involve extensive consultation with a range of stakeholder groups including local residents, traders and service providers. In all of this work we aim to produce imaginative and sensitive design solutions which improve standards of amenity and safety for the pedestrian, while continuing to accommodate necessary movements by vehicles, increase levels of connectivity + vitality, strengthen local identity through the use of a coordinated palette of appropriate materials, street furniture, signage, lighting and artworks and to reduce street clutter.
HOW WE ADD VALUE
We add value to projects in the following ways:
Uncovering hidden opportunities and creating better ideas
By carefully recording and systematically analyzing how urban places work we generate insights that unlock problems and inspire designs.
Measuring and improving the likelihood of success
Our unique approach quantifies key urban performance characteristics, including accessibility, sustainability, social cohesion, health and safety. Our methods forecast future outcomes, allowing urban planning and design strategies to be optimized towards desired goals.
Facilitating communication on project teams and with stakeholders.
We speak a common language of spatial planning and human performance design that unites project teams and focuses efforts on the ultimate goal of creating great urban places that support the needs of their residents, workers and visitors.
We provide analysis and advice on issues and challenges, forward strategies and choices, action plans and delivery, and also reference on comparable exemplars and good practices elsewhere, for instance from European cities. We also take agency, business and community players through the process.
Our approach combines understanding the prevailing character of a place, together with using collaborative spatial design techniques to assist planners, developers or the community to approach things differently in their town. This might include charrettes, masterplans and design codes, depending on their appropriateness to the challenge.
The key for us is to recognize that people enter processes from different starting points and backgrounds. We need to respect and work with these differences, on order to be able to explore the future creatively and help people and places to move forward.
WHERE WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE
We address key urban performance issues including:
Sustainability
Successful places rely on effective spatial layouts. Understanding the effects of space on functional performance – in terms of passing trade, property value and natural surveillance – increases value and reduces risk in the development process.
From urban masterplanning to public space design, we work to deliver proposals that anticipate use patterns and deliver the social, economic and environmental objectivess of stakeholders.
Social cohesion, health & safety
Our worldwide body of practice-based research has demonstrated the fundamental role of space in bringing people together or keeping them apart, with consequences for social cohesion as well as individual loneliness. We have also identified ways in which spatial networks influence patterns of physical activity, healthiness and crime in urban areas. We use these findings to advise on planning and design strategies that promote physical activity, social well-being and safety.
Accessibility
Patterns of movement and space use are fundamentally influenced by the configuration of space and by the location of activity generators and attractors. We measure levels of accessibility in existing and proposed environments.
From the design of safe street crossings to multi-modal interchanges, Civitas Alliance provides public and private agencies with robust techniques for evaluating the social, economic and environmental impact of accessibility proposals.
We coordinate pedestrian, cycling, public transport and vehicle strategies through observation, analysis and forecasting of movement flows. Our work helps create and support ideas to improve accessibility for all movement modes at every scale – from entire regions to individual streets.
HOW WE WORK
There are two key phases to our approach:
First Phase – Urban Analysis
At this diagnostic stage, we undertake research and generate insights to help designers, managers and occupiers understand how and why urban places perform the way they do. We build Integrated Urban Models that connect data on issues including movement, land use, land value and population census.
The key output from this stage of work is an Urban Baseline Study, a highly illustrated report that contains key insights on how existing places work as well as the opportunities and constraints.
Second Phase – Design Phase
The insights generated by the diagnostic phase are then used at the strategic design phase to provide an evidence-based, creative input to the planning and design of new places. We lead or support the production of planning strategies, urban masterplans and public space designs, using evidence-based forecast models to demonstrate how design proposals are going to work in terms of their social, economic and environmental performance.
Our work is highly visual, engaging and designed to communicate with both technical and non-technical audiences.