Origins of the study

The origins of this paper lie in two articles published quite independently in the Town Planning Review in the late 1980s. These drew attention to developments in urban design regulation in American planning looking at the content of plans (Southworth 1989) and design guidelines (Habe 1991). At the same time a major survey of design regulations in twelve cities was produced (Shirvani 1991) which attempted, not altogether successfully, to draw out the key consistencies and contrasts. Five west coast cities featured strongly in these articles–Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Irvine and San Diego–and all had particularly interesting experiences that seemed relevant to aspects of British practice. A sixth, Bellevue adjacent to Seattle, had also developed a national reputation as an innovator in design controls (Hinshaw 1994).

In the same year John Delafons, newly retired from the Department of the Environment where one of his responsibilities had been Central Government design advice to local planning authorities, completed a study of American practice that featured Portland, San Francisco and San Diego (Delafons 1990). He drew some conclusions for British practice that found their way into Chris Patten's key speech to The Royal Fine Art Commission in 1991 (Patten 1991). It was this speech that helped to pave the way for a more positive approach to design that eventually emerged, albeit tentatively, in the English Planning Policy Guidance Note 1 in 1992 (subsequently revised and strengthened in 1997).