The Bristol 2050 Plan
One hundred years ago a group of
visionary business men got together to commission an architect to
draw up a plan for a city region. That plan didn’t invent new
solutions to all the region’s problems, some were excluded as
beyond its scope, whilst others were incorporated from other plans.
What it did do was to provide a brilliant blueprint which provided
a clear sense of direction for the development of modern Chicago,
one of the most prosperous cities in North America.
The plan of Chicago
caught the spirit of its time and the character of a place that
dreamed the impossible and often accomplished it.
A man called Daniel
Burnham was the driving force behind the creation of the plan,
working with 344 individual subscribers to the Commercial Club of
Chicago. Together they not only conceived the plan but just as
importantly they promoted it widely and effectively to business,
civic and government leaders, and even to school children through
the Wacker Manual. In 1909, the civic leaders behind the Burnham
Plan launched an extensive marketing campaign that lasted four
decades. Results included North Michigan Avenue, Wacker Drive and
Chicago’s spectacular lakefront parks, and regional forest
preserves.
Clear parallels can be
drawn between the development of the Plan of Chicago and the more
recent contemporary plan – Metropolis 2020, and the challenges we
face in the Bristol City region. Many of the statements and reasons
behind the business community taking action in Chicago are relevant
to our area:
- We are one region with
one future. If we continue to act locally on issues that are
inherently regional, then we will jeopardise our economic
competitiveness and quality of life.
- A strong region requires
that communities cooperate on issues that transcend local political
boundaries.
- Local governments can
give up a little in order to get back much more: a region that is
attractive and prosperous.
- The region’s
governments, businesses, and residents must make the kinds of
informed choices that will make the region attractive and
economically competitive 10, 50, and 100 years from now.
Twenty years ago a group
of 12 visionary business men got together to see what they could do
to address the social and economic ills of Bristol. Under the
direction of John Savage, they instigated projects to tackle
homelessness, educational deprivation and support economic
prosperity. Projects such as The Foyer, Education Unlimited,
improving the retail offer of the city, regenerating the
Harbourside, promoting tourism and cultural activity were all
developed through and by the Bristol Initiative.
Today that group has
grown to 250 business men and women, all with an interest in
improving the city region, increasing economic prosperity for all
and eradicating poverty. This group, still under the direction of
John Savage, has now commissioned David Lock, the distinguished
town planner, to draw up a plan of the Bristol city region to 2050.
Working with businesses, local architects, urban designers, town
planners and transport experts, a visual and written interpretation
will be developed. It will provide a clear statement about housing,
jobs and infrastructure requirements to meet the needs of the area
and enable it to continue to develop and grow as the economic
powerhouse of the South West. It will illustrate what this growth
would look like, where it would go and how it can be achieved.
The development of this
vision is exactly what the Initiative was set up to do. It’s what
Initiative members have been asking for and are interested in and
it is at the very heart of what the Initiative is about – providing
leadership to fill a void, ensuring the business voice is heard and
promoting the sub region as “the” place to do business and a great
place to live. It is about joining up plans and strategies and
having a comprehensive view of the future, without getting too
bogged down in red tape and bureaucracy.
This is absolutely the
right time to be doing this work – the Regional Spatial Strategy
for the South West is unlikely to ever see the light of day,
national planning policy may well change once the election is over
and current plans are lacking a sub regional or visionary
element.
The Bristol
2050 plan will go beyond existing and planned strategies and
documents, it will utilise the best of all those plans but take
them a step further and set them into a longer timeframe, where the
emphasis will be on sustainable growth and development of the city
region as a successful economic unit.
Imagine a
city … … …
- With a
river parkland from Avonmouth to Hanham – a linear park along the
Avon Gorge, the Portway as a green space for the residents and
visitors alike to enjoy, with a water park running alongside and an
activity hub in the Cumberland Basin
- With a
real public transport system, that is understandable, fast,
efficient and cheap and links key neighbourhoods and activity
centres. We will draw a Bristol Transport map that makes those
links and creates an understandable visual representation of
transport in the city, bringing back forgotten rail links, new
rapid transit and tram schemes, with cycling and walking at the
heart of accessibility
- With a
creative media hub that runs from Spike Island and the Cumberland
Basin out to Brislington, hosting the likes of Aardman, BBC, ITV,
the Watershed, and the Arnolfini
- With a
country park to the south, making the most of the Dundry slopes for
recreation and food growing
- With a
port and airport that make it the most attractive place to do
business
- With high
quality diverse housing, based around sustainable
neighbourhoods
- With a
range of jobs, in different areas, accessible and available to
all
- With a
remodelled city centre where people have priority and which makes
the most of the historic core of the city
Send us your ideas and add
to the Plan – bristol2050@bristol2050.com