Humanise launches new guide urging UK Mayors to build back joy and belonging
Humanise today launches The Mayors’ Guide: How to Build Back Joy and Belonging, a new publication calling on Mayors to champion new development that delivers pride, belonging and long-term economic value.
As the Government moves to put England’s metro mayors in charge of spatial strategies for housing, infrastructure, growth and climate resilience, Humanise wants to help ensure those plans create joyful places that lift people up and improve people’s health.
Despite improvements in the quality of the public realm in recent decades, less progress has been made on the look and feel of the buildings that surround it. Humanise warns that the resulting “blandification” of towns and cities is creating monotonous urban environments that can increase stress, damage wellbeing and leave people feeling disconnected.
The guide focuses on three recommendations for Mayors to resist the spread of identikit streets and cookie-cutter development. They are:
1. Craft an awesome long-term vision
Mayors should tell a compelling story about how they want their region, city or town to feel to people, reflecting its distinctive character. This vision should guide their Spatial Development Strategies and set expectations for more uplifting buildings.
2. Embed design expertise and work with the right people
Mayors should bring in design expertise to mayoral teams – such as a City Architect – to ensure new development delivers human-centred outcomes. Mayors need to be proactive and attract developers and investors who meet their standards, share their vision and are committed to long term stewardship.
3. Lead by example
Mayors should use their influence over public investment, land and procurement to create the conditions for better design, including providing incentives for developers. Mayors can set the standard by backing a highly visible project to build momentum.
Research commissioned by Humanise revealed that 69% of the public agree we should invest in creating buildings that make us feel good as a passer-by on the street. There is also now a growing body of scientific research that proves the buildings we pass every day can impact how we feel, function and behave in cities. With devolution, regeneration and high streets high on the political agenda, the Guide argues that design of buildings has been a blind spot and challenges mayors to seize the opportunity to change that.
Abigail Scott Paul, Global Head of the Humanise Campaign, said:
“People’s sense of pride about where they live is under real strain, and we should take that seriously. It is playing out politically, socially and on our streets. At a time when the country is investing in housebuilding, regeneration and infrastructure, we have a once-in-a-generation moment to shape how people feel about their places for decades. Armed with the evidence, the public support and the science to do better, we need to create places people are proud to call home - places that tell them they matter.
“Mayors cannot design every building, but they can set the conditions in which joyful, human buildings become the norm. If they do not use that influence now, the country risks hardwiring another generation of bland, monotonous development into everyday life.
“Our new Guide is designed to inspire and support mayors and their teams to lead a renaissance of UK towns and cities. There has never been a better time to start.”
In response, Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said:
“The Humanise campaign is a reminder that the quality of what we build is just as important as how much or how fast we build it. That’s the thinking behind the investments I’m making in our old factories, workshops and iconic canals – giving them new purpose and preserving our heritage rather than knocking them down. We’re turning the old industrial Digbeth into a hub for 21st century creative enterprise, Wolverhampton’s former British Steel and Crane Foundry sites are going to be a thriving new neighbourhood, and our plans for East Birmingham – with the new Birmingham City stadium at their heart – draw inspiration from the area’s proud brickmaking heritage. We’re setting the standard across our region by building on our past to create places where people are proud to live and work now and in the future.”