INNER CITIES
Positive or negative images ?
The INNER CITY is the zone immediately outside the CBD.
It is also known by several other terms:
ZONE OF TRANSITION
beyond the ZONE OF DISCARD
the TWILIGHT ZONE
It is characterised by a number of building types.
In terms of HOUSING, the usual style is for either TERRACED STREETS from the start of the century, or new infill TOWNHOUSES.
An area which fits the bill is the area around DEVONSHIRE GREEN in Sheffield.
There are hundreds of pictures of Sheffield and the area around at DAVE MILNER's photo pages. He has a great range of images from all over the city. This one below shows the RED DEER, a favourite pub of mine in Sheffield - not quite the Fat Cat, but it runs it a close second. This is on the way up to the University.
Image from Dave Milner.
A recent article which was of interest could be found in the NATIONAL TRUST's magazine for Summer 2004. I recommend that you join the NATIONAL TRUST. They have launched the BACK TO BACK campaign to go along with these efforts, and the area of the home page which discusses the project is HERE.
They have been renovating an area of terraces in Birmingham. They are called BACK TO BACKS, and were built in the 1840s before the boom which saw many terraced houses.
I remember a friend's terraced house on the edge of the CBD of Doncaster: a series of streets with broadly themed names, and including NORTH STREET and SOUTH STREET. Very often they commemorated coronations, or the Crimean War.
They had one outdoor toilet to be shared between about 60 other people.
A good quote by designer Wayne Hemingway
"the need for affordable inner-city accommodation for key workers was recognised a couple of centuries before the lack of such homes would give us . . . serious problems.
The project also demonstrates that throughout history, indispensable city-centre services have been brought to the community by skilled immigrants. . .
there is some communal space and you could if you wished set eyes on your neighbours. Try doing that in those three storey identikit townhouses - set in a sea of car parking - that housebuilders are putting up the length of the land."
Perhaps it's time to re-appraise the value of the old INNER CITY areas.
They certainly had more character than a lot of areas these days where people don't know their neighbours, and the sound of summer is the sound of booming bass: DUM, DUM, DUM, DUM-DUM-DUM, DUM, DUM, DUM-DUM-DUM etc.
Certainly the old favourite 'Inner City' video featuring Kitty Murphy talking about the old days in Glasgow being 'warm' and 'good' gives the impression that this sense of community is important.
This is something that an organisation called BUILDING FOR LIFE is involved with. Projects include the BedZED sustainable housing project. The projects are featured on the website, with information and illustrations.
Anyone else got any thoughts on the value of INNER CITIES ?