Confronting the Conundrum of Shared Space Street Design: The Design, Development, and Delivery of the University of Central Lancashire's Masterplan

Introduction

The Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge was founded back in 1828, and continued to contribute to the development of Preston and the North West England under this state until 1932, when it was named The Harris Art College. Then it further developed into The Harris College in 1952, followed by two more developments in 1973 and 1984, to become The Lancashire Polytechnic. In 1992, the latter was granted the full university status, to become The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) (Pope & Philips, 1995). As a result of evolution and expansion throughout the years, UCLan ended up occupying various separate buildings scattered within the town, most of which are located to the North of Preston’s town center, in what is common with many universities in United Kingdom and known as open city campus. In the past few years, UCLan has launched a new evolutionary project, which targets to transform the University campus’ public realm; The project has been known as UCLan Masterplan.

This chapter examines the design, development, and delivery of the University of Central Lancashire’s Masterplan Programme of Capital Projects in the City of Preston, England, and the impact that shared space streetscape concept design has had on the historical dominance of motor vehicles within a strategic city center interchange. The authors investigate the origins of the shared space design concept, the challenges posed in the context of an urban regeneration scheme, and the reactions of the communities and stakeholders to those opposing this specific type of development, in addition to the predicted urban impact of the project on the city.

This study mainly employed observation, relying on the authors' experience, both in practice and research; bridging across architecture, urban design/planning, and project management. The study introduced here can be perceived as an approach to establish a debate on the usefulness of adopting shared space design tactics within an urban hierarchy. The study also reflects on feedback received from public consultation sessions with different public stakeholders in relation to the UCLan Masterplan, as well as references to consultations with Ben Hamilton-Baillie, conducted back in 2017. The study refers to Preston recently completed street renovation scheme: The Fishergate Project, and explains its relation to the Masterplan. The Authors are aware that there are various similar and/or comparable cases exist in the UK and beyond, but for the scope of this study demonstration, comparisons were not being adopted as a method in this chapter.

The chapter provides a background on Preston, Fishergate Project, and it demonstrates the challenges of employing Shared Space tactics in urban development, with a focus on the Fishergate Project, for implementation in UCLan Masterplan. The chapter concludes by emphasizing how updated, and detailed formal legislative guidance in the United Kingdom (UK) and a better appreciation of cultural context from the perspective of traditional pedestrian and vehicular behaviors is paramount to the successful implementation of shared space projects in the future. It also stresses the importance of planning the shared space strategically as a part of the wider urban/city development scheme towards a ‘near’ car-free implementation.