Rolland Asley

17 1 Greenway Planning and Design

17.1 Greenway Planning and Design
Contents list

During the nineteenth century, the leading idea in open space planning was to make patches of green, called parks. In the twentieth century, it was to make
strips of green, called parkways or greenways. The argument for harlequin space, in the
preceding essay,
applies equally to greenways (Figure 17.1). Let us begin with the history of the idea.

Greenways derive from parkways, which derive from boulevards. It was
Olmsted
who began the transformation. He admired the avenues of Paris and recommended the creation of parkways in New York and Boston, as links between parks. Verily,
it was a great idea. The original parkways contained carriage drives, for soothing recreational travel. When heavy traffic made these routes unpleasant,
planners began making car-free parkways. By the 1980s they had come to be known as greenways. The name was changed to forge links with the environmental
movement and to include all sorts of natural space that should not be managed with gang-mowers and herbicides (Little, 1990).

BrownwayGreenways do not have to be
green
in mood. They can be
red,
blue,
yellow,
orange,
purple,
brown,
grey,
white,
a harmony or a
harlequin
combination.

Shopping streets, for example, can be
greenways
if they are environmentally pleasant - but their mood is unlikely to be green. If they are used only to get from shop to shop, the space will be yellow.
If it also attracts fire eaters, jugglers, limbo dancers, kebab makers, chestnut roasters and evangelists, it will be red. In either case, it should be
given the suffix "way only if it provides a safe pedestrian route from one place to another place. Many roads and streets now belong to the internal combustion
engine. The term "way should be salvaged and restored to its former glory, signifying a footpath for bipeds and quadrupeds. Having a special term would
assist pedestrian planners. In medieval towns, the shopping street was the central street. When vehicular traffic made these spaces unattractive, shoppers
were pushed into all sorts of inconvenient backwaters.

Blueways,
obviously, should run beside rivers and canals. Brownways should be deep cracks, either between buildings or set into the ground, with earth, pebbles, timber
and exposed rocks. Orangeways should be like esplanades -- places where one goes to be gay and to look at other people. Purpleways are for explorers, like
historic trails but with an air of grandeur. Whiteways should command expansive views, on high ground, bridges, viaducts, citywalls or skyways.

London, which will be used as an exemplar in the first half of this essay, had a great series of open space plans from 1925 to 1976 - but they were entirely
for parkspace. Only the 1943--44 plan, by far the greatest, was inspired by the greenway concept. Since 1986, London has lacked an overall planning authority,
but this has not brought London open space planning to a halt. It has simply returned landscape planning to its non-statutory origins. To me, the history
of open space planning for London shows that statutory plans are unimportant, while ideas and advisory plans are vital.

Multi-coloured greenways


17.2 London Greenways 1929
Contents list

This plan was prepared by a committee representing the municipal authorities (the "London Boroughs) in and around London, known as the Greater London Regional
Planning Committee. It contained a Memorandum on "Open spaces by Raymond Unwin. He was chief technical advisor for the 1929 plan, author of a famous book
on Town Planning in Practice (1909) and a designer of
Hampstead Garden Suburb.
The 1929 plan introduced the concepts of a green belt and of open space standards. It distinguished between "open land, which meant undeveloped land, and
"open space, which meant recreational land, though the terms were confused. The basic planning idea was quantitative: each 1000 people should be allocated
a certain quantity of parkspace. The plan recommended that "7 acres per thousand of the population should be reserved for playing fields, and that there
should be additional open space for "people to walk in, for pleasure and picnic resorts and so forth.

With regard to the distribution of open space, the most celebrated feature of the 1929 plan was the proposal for a "green girdle of non‑playing field open
space in the form of a ring round London (Figure 17.2). Unwin wanted playing field land to be concentrated in central areas. Britains government hoped
that sport would diminish juvenile crime and improve the physical health of future conscripts to the armed forces. In 1938, a Green Belt Act was passed
and land acquisition began. Large tracts were purchased but not joined together. Nor, in many cases, were they even made available for recreation. Most
of the land became municipally owned agricultural land: not greenway, not parkland, not a good idea.

Unwins theoretical diagram for circular rings of greenspace in and around London (1929)

17.2 Unwins 1929 Green Girdle plan for London was inspired by Olmsteds Emerald Necklace

17.3 London Greenways 1943
Contents list

This plan was published in two documents (London County Council, 1943, 1944), both guided by
Patrick Abercrombie,
an architect, town planner and landscape architect. His plans were distinguished by their wide geographical scope (a 50 km radius) and by the authors broad
professional interests. They carried forward the 1929 ideas and introduced a visionary proposal for creating an immense network of greenways to interlink
open spaces in central areas with those on the periphery of Greater London (Figure 173). His objective was to make it possible for:

...the town dweller to get from doorstep to open country through an easy flow of open space from garden to park, from park to parkway, from parkway to green
wedge and from green wedge to Green Belt... A great advantage of the linking parkway is that it extends the radius of influence of the larger open spaces
and brings the latter into more intimate relationship with the surrounding areas.

Abercrombies conception was described as a park system, not a greenway system. It was a heroic idea, which I believe will continue to influence open space
planning for as long as London survives as a recognizable entity. The City of London and the 32 London Borough Municipal Authorities rarely mention Abercrombie
in their Unitary Development Plans - but the deep logic of his plan compels them to proceed with the task of providing green links between public open
spaces. London has new greenways every year.

The South Bank was an area of semi-derelict wharfage in 1943 and Abercrombie proposed the wide esplanade which has been created.

Long sections of Thames riverside walk have been planned without tree planting (west of Tower Bridge on the south bank of the river)

The City section of the Thames walkway is often ingenious, interesting - and privately owned.

Abercrombie gave special attention to the Thames riverside, declaring that The River Thames is the largest single open space in the County (p.46) and
every riverside community should have access to the river (p47) and devoting a full chapter of his report to the topic. Chapter 11 dealt with The River
Front and the South Bank Area.
It states that the Thames:
presents unequalled opportunities for public enjoyment, civic splendour and residential amenity
in East London, at few points only is the river front accessible to the public
the proportion of riverbank used for non-industrial purposes should be increased from 27% to 51%, and the proportion used for public open space should rise
from 9% to 30%
the long-germ goal (p.128) is that on the east, a green strip would suplant the narrow stretches of warehouses which occupy sites of uneconomic depth
so that the new open space would link up the existing parks and provide a continuous treed riverside walk from the Tower to King Edward VII Park.

These proposals are shown are the excerpt from Abercrombies riverfront plan.

Between 1943 and 2005 the decline in industrial and warehouse-wharf use of the riverside was far greater than Amercrombie conceived possible. By 2005 it
was closer to 4.9% of the riverfront than the 49% he imagined. However:
most of the riverfront from the Tower to King Edward VII Park remained inaccessible to the public, because the wharfs and warehouses were simply converted
to residential use
the only new section of with a substantial treed riverside walk was on the South Bank
in most places the new riverside walk was narrow and dramatic but unplanted
in many places (eg the Isle of Dogs) the banality of the waterfront landscape design is beyond belief

A public inquiry would help uncover who is responsible for the appalling quality of the landscape design. The possibilities are as follows:
the developers, who own much of the waterfront land, were miserly
the architects were incompetent at landscape design
the planners did not perform their duty in securing the provision of public goods
the elected councilors who cared more about maximising local taxation than about design quality
the Port of London Authority waved a dead hand over the designers imagination

I seriously doubt if there is a first year landscape architecture student in the whole of Europe capable of such banal, ugly and badly detailed work. The
public response has been to leave this magnificent planning achievement (a new riverside walk) almost unused. So what should be done?
apologise
allocate a budget
hold a series of design competitions
introduce new uses to the waterfront (moorings, launch points, pubs, restaurants, wildlife habitats, barbecue facilities, ping-pong-tables, beach steps,
sandy beaches)

17.3 Abercrombies 1944 Open Space Plan for Greater London

17.4 London Greenways 1951
Contents list

The 1951 Administrative County of London Development Plan covered a much smaller geographical area (a 12 km radius) and a narrower range of interests (London
County Council, 1951). It was a statutory plan. Individual contributors were not identified, but it is known to have been the work of park managers assisted
by planners from the architecture and surveying professions. Their aim was simply to increase the physical area of vegetated parkspace as much as possible.
This was an unimaginatively quantitative approach. Increasing the amount of vegetated open space in London has tended to suburbanize the city. Had the
plan been fully implemented, it would have homogenized the citys urban grain and its open space structure. In 1960, the planners boasted of their achievements
in the preceding decade, measured by the extent to which London had moved towards the standard of 4 acres of open space per 1000 population. They had added
521 acres of new open space (London County Council, 1960) but had neglected Abercrombies plan for a London-wide greenway system. Mostly, the 1951 led
to the making of large vacant expanses of grass.

The 1951 plan for London forgot about Abercrombies plan for linked open space. It dealt only with the quantity of green parkspace.

17.5 London Greenways 1976
Contents list

The 1976 Greater London Development Plan covered an intermediate area, a 25 km radius (Greater London Council,
1976). No individuals were named, but it is known to have been the work of planners from a social science background. Unlike its predecessors, the 1976
London open space plan was based on extensive social science research, initiated by the London County Council and completed by the Greater London Council.
The research was described as "the most interesting and useful of any recent recreation study (Burton and Veal, 1971). But it neglected the greenway idea
and led to the bizarre conclusion that parks should be arranged in a hierarchy of different sizes: metropolitan parks, district parks, and local parks.
The principle was illustrated with an attractive hexagon-diagram, reminding one of the cells in a behive, but one cannot see that this has had any discernible
effect on Londons open spaces. The greatest research investigation ever made into London open space was wasted.

See note on
Park User Surveys

Post-1976

The most significant change in London open space planning since 1976 has been the development of a special type of greenway, described as a green chain.
The original Green Chain was coordinated by the Greater London Council (Green Chain Joint Committee, 1977). The aim was to safeguard a number of open spaces
and to develop their recreation potential. The open spaces were broadly in the form of a chain running through South East London (Figure 4). A green chain
walk was planned as a link between the spaces, to join them as green beads on a grey necklace.

The South London Greenchain is a signposted footpath connecting a number of public greenspaces.

[FIG. 17.4 ]

17.6 London Greenways 1991
Contents list

A Green Strategy Report (Turner, 1991) recommended a series of overlapping networks, each with its own qualities (Figure 5). The first network, for pedestrians,
was proposed as a series of discrete projects, growing from destinations, including railway stations, shopping centres and schools, or following desire
lines, or following lines of opportunity, including parks, river valleys and canals. The pedestrian network is being developed by a non-statutory group,
known as the London Walking Forum. The walks are single-purpose recreational routes (Figure 17.6).

The second network is for cyclists. This is being promoted by another non-statutory organization, the London Cycling Campaign. The 1000 mile Strategic Cycleway
Network will link local centres in London, as a commuter network. Like the pedestrian network, this is a shortsighted policy. Both networks should include
routes for commuting, and both should include routes for recreation. Commuter cyclists want short safe routes. Recreational cyclists want long beautiful
routes. Occasionally, they will coincide.

The third network is of bioological corridors. When wildlife corridors were first proposed, planners hoped, romantically, that they would become wildlife
conduits, enabling the "concrete jungle to be re‑colonized by native fauna and flora. Scientific research is not supporting this attractive hypothesis
( Dawson, 1994). Very few species have been shown to use corridors as their only or major means of dispersal. There are, however, other arguments for ecological
corridors. First, they are a form of habitat that has an extensive zone of visual influence, because they have more "edge than non‑linear habitats. Second,
they can be spread throughout the city, creating opportunities for the full range of soil, water and climatic conditions to be reflected in habitat types.
Third, they have a spiritual value. Too often one has the feeling that our civilization is obliterating the natural environment. The network of ecological
corridors is promoted by a third non-statutory body, the London Ecology Unit (Greater London Council, 1986).

The fourth network is of river corridors: (1) existing rivers and streams (2) old rivers and streams, released from their underground conduits (3) new swales
and drainage routes, formed as part of a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS).

The maps below relate to the pedestrian network. They show (above) the existing long distance footpaths existing in 1991 and (below) proposed new routes
to create a network of radial and circular walks.

17.7 London Greenways after 2000
Contents list

Since 2000
the Greater London Authority, encouraged by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, has encouraged the London Boroughs to develop open space strategies
- with the focus more on public parks than on the interconnecting greenways, be they paved or vegetated.

The 2004
London Plan: Spatial Development Strategy for Greater London
includes what is called (map 3D.3) London’s strategic open space network. It is a paltry re-hash of the 1976 GLC Open space strategy, with the same irrelevant
proposal for a hierarchy of open spaces of different sizes. A much more interesting section of the 2004 plan comes in Section 4c: the Blue Ribbon Network
for London. Though a significant innovation in London open space planning, it is a remarkably dry proposal, with timid generalities cautiously expressed.
One keeps reading that The Mayor will, and Boroughs should..." but one it would be difficult to find a person who could disagree with the succeeding pronouncements
- unless, of course, it affects their own back yard.

For example: "Policy 4C.17 Increasing access alongside and to the Blue Ribbon Network. The Mayor will, and boroughs should, protect and improve existing
access points to, alongside and over the Blue Ribbon Network. New sections to
extend existing or create new walking and cycling routes alongside the
Blue Ribbon Network as well as new access points should be provided as
part of development proposals for Opportunity Areas and Areas for
Intensification, especially in areas of deficiency."

The Blue Ribbon Policy is nonetheless welcome. Londons previous open space plans have not dealt with its river system, presumably because they provided
insufficient opportunities to exercise the gang mowing machinery so loved by parks managers.

Londons Lost Rivers

The Blue Ribbon Policy is as follows: "4.146 Attempts to re-establish lost rivers are likely to be extremely expensive. Therefore the Mayor’s approach is
to welcome in principle any such proposal but not to require the reinstatement in the same way that culverted parts of the Blue Ribbon Network should be
opened. There may be merit in projects that mark the historic route of such rivers at street level as an educational or tourist facility." Short-term caution
is in order, but strategic planners should look to the future. See our
Landscape Planning Policy for River Reclamation.

17.8 Greenways
Contents list

If the "green in "greenway is read as "environmentally pleasant then "greenway is a valuable portmanteau term. But "greenways come in many colours
and varieties, which must be fitted into the environment as carefully as the parts of a mechanical clock. Each must be adapted to its location and to its
role within the urban structure. This demands a qualitative approach to open space planning. Building upon the methodology of pattern-assisted design,
greenway types can be explained as archetypal patterns. In the following pattern descriptions, there are upward and downward links to Alexanders Pattern
Language, with short statements of "problem and solution used in place of full pattern descriptions. This has been done in an attempt to apply Alexanders
Pattern Language approach to greenway and open space planning.

Spirit Quay. This apparently excellent greenway is near Tower Bridge. It is hardly used because it does not follow a route which people want to travel along
(from Hermitage Basin to Shadwell Basin),

17.9 Parkways
Contents list

Upward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

City country fingers (3), Green streets (51), Network of paths and cars (52).

Problem

Cities have become "concrete jungles. They lack large spaces, green spaces, and routes where people can take exercise in natural surroundings. Too few
cities offer the blend of "country and "town benefits that Ebenezer Howard praised in Garden Cities of Tomorrow. In most large cities, the public parks
were planned at a time when most people earned their living by physical labour and did not own private gardens.

Solution

In older urban areas, convert lightly trafficked streets, railway lines and other linear features into linear parks, so that they interlink smaller and
older parks (Figure 7). A parkway system will provide for the active recreational pursuits that the modern sedentary worker requires. When new urban areas
are being planned, establish a network of parkways before setting aside land for roads or buildings. It is difficult to retrofit urban areas with parkways.
Ensure that parkways are accessible and that, wherever possible, they link pedestrian origins to destinations (e.g. homes to stations, shops and schools).

[FIG 17.7 ]

Downward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Accessible green (60), Small public squares (61).

17.10 Blueways
Contents list

Upward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Sacred sites (24), Access to water (25), Quiet backs (59), Pools and streams (64).

Problem

After a century of single-purpose management by river engineers, most rivers in most cities in most industrial countries are channelized sewers, encased
in concrete. They deny citizens the contact with water that is essential to their spiritual well-being. A host of surveys has proved that access to water
is the chief demand in outdoor recreation.

Solution

Urban rivers should be converted into blueways, by enabling access to the banks of rivers (Figure 8). When citizens can see the wanton devastation that
has been vested upon their rivers, they will demand reclamation programmes. Some waterside routes will be for commuting and some for leisure. Other areas
of river, and riverside land, should be closed off to humans, so that wildlife habitats can develop. Sizeable areas of riverside land should be used be
for storm detention and infiltration purposes.

[FIG 17.8 ]

Downward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Still water (71), Holy ground (66).

17.11 Paveways
Contents list

Upward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Promenade (31), Shopping street (32), Nightlife (33), University as a market place (43).

Problem

The raised sidewalk was a great nineteenth century invention. It protected walkers from mud, horse manure and vehicles. When vehicle movements rise above
5000 per day, sidewalks become too noxious and noisy.

Solution

Well-designed paveways, with appropriate planting and street furniture, should be formed along main pedestrian desire lines (Figure 9). Cafés, newspaper
shops, transport vendors and other businesses should be offered sites along the routes, to raise the level of pedestrian usage, personal safety and the
buzz of activity that attracts people to city life.

[FIG 17.9 ]

Downward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Dancing in the street (63), Public outdoor room (69), BUs Stop (92).

17.12 Glazeways
Contents list

Upward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Building complex (95), Circulation realms (98), Pedestrian streets (100).

Problem

Most cities are building glazed indoor malls, for a variety of purposes. Too often they are not interconnected, so that pedestrians are denied the benefit
of a continuous covered walkway. The exceptions are in very hot and very cold climates, where necessity has been the mother of invention. In temperate
cities, shoppers and commuters are frequently too hot or too cold, because they wear outdoor clothing indoors.

Solution

City planners should ensure that glazeways will be interconnected in the medium to long term. They should also be connected to other types of pedestrian
way and, on the urban fringe, to rural greenways ("countryways). In central business districts, there should be a continuous network of glazeways, taking
in office malls, shopping malls, and transport interchanges. Most of the network will be constructed by private development companies, but connecting links
should be built by public authorities.

Downward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Activity pockets (124), Open stairs (158), Window place (180).

17.13 Skyways
Contents list

Upward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

High places (62), Pedestrian street (100).

Problem

Notwithstanding the development of greenways, paveways and blueways, it will become increasingly difficult to provide quiet and sunny space in downtown
areas. Roof gardens are becoming popular but they tend to be at the dead ends of the urban circulation system, even more isolated than the New York Plazas
that William H. Whyte found to be deserted because they are not on circulation routes (Whyte, 1980).

Solution

Developers should provide roof gardens, and they should be linked into a network of skyways (Figure 10). The network could be used by office workers at
lunchtime for jogging, sunbathing, eating and playing games. Open air baths, conservatories, wildlife habitats and caged-in games pitches should be incorporated
into the skyway network.

[FIG 17.10 ]

Downward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Connected buildings (108), Roof garden (118), Arcades (119), Zen view (134).

See
New York as it should be - with vegetated roofs.

17.14 Ecoways - biological corridors
Contents list

Upward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

City country fingers (3), Agricultural fingers (4).

Problem

Having destroyed most natural habitats in most urban areas, the public has begun to mourn their loss and even to feel guilty about their destruction. There
are visual, spiritual, economic and ecological advantages in having networks of semi-natural habitat interlacing cities.

Solution

Establish networks of ecological space in cities by using urban watercourses, public utility corridors, parklands and private gardens. Some parts of the
network may be accessible to the public, but, as the networks are for plants, animals, air and water, public access should not be a planning objective
for this category of space. Ecoways need not link human origins and destinations. Indeed, as humans tend to have a deleterious effect upon wildlife, it
is desirable to have ecoways that are indirect and, for parts of their length and width, inaccessible to the public.

Downward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Animals (74), Garden growing wild (172).

17.15 Cycleways
Contents list

Upward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Local transport area (11), Network of paths and cars (52).

Problem

Very few Western cities have good cycleway systems, despite the cycles status as the Great Green Machine. A large shift from motorized commuting to cycling
would do more to make cities green, in the environmental sense, than any other single policy. Cycling helps to conserve energy resources, improves physical
fitness, limits noise, limits air pollution, and reduces damage to the ozone layer.

Solution

Spend more of the citys transport budget on cycleways than on roads. As climatic conditions can make cycling less than pleasant, different measures should
be taken in different countries, to give protection, as required, from rain, sun, snow or wind. In temperate climates, the long-term aim should be to create
a network of roofed, sheltered but unwalled cycle paths. When cyclepaths are segregated from roads, they must follow a route that is more direct than the
road. The network can partially overlap other types of greenway. Narrow old roads should be made into cycleways instead of being widened and modernized.

Downward links to Alexanders Pattern Language

Main entrance (110), Arcades (119), Quiet backs (59).

17.16 Greenway diversification
Contents list

"
You can have any colour you like, so long as its green, thought our predecessors, as they used fat green marker pens to decorate town plans with seaweed-like
patterns. This was the "Model G era in greenway planning, which parallels the "Model T period in car production. Planners must now develop expertise
in designing and prescribing exactly the right type of "greenway, contextualized to local circumstances, adapted to natural and human resource availability,
feasible within budget constraints. Greenway promotion and diversification could thus lead to a range of other ways: the parkway, the paveway, the glazeway,
the skyway, the ecoway, the cycleway, the blueway, the redway, the brownway, the orangeway, the purpleway and the whiteway becoming acclaimed features
of the urban environment.