Jason Taylor

Urban Designer/Planner with a particular interest in the design of streets. Principal author of Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets. All views my own.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

@Archidub1 Have you been recently? The village has been transformed with a new one way system and much of carriageway/parking transferred over to seating, space for pedestrians/cyclists and landscaping (all proposed to be upgraded and made permanent).

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

@frankmcdonald60 Looks like the vinyl revival ran its course in DL. No fault of mine, I did my best to keep it going.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

@Iloveblackrock Brave souls 🥶

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

@SBInaShui @GalwayCycling That would be ideal from a DMURS perspective, if kerb separated.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

@kevigi @GalwayCycling OK I see, there may be a broader issue in terms of traffic management. However I wouldn't see increasing carriageway widths as the solution due to increased vehicular speeds (likelihood/severity of an accident) and 2. drivers may be more tempted to 'squeeze' past cyclists.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

@GalwayCycling If traffic is heavy (and thus the street has a strategic movement function) wouldn't segregated cycle lanes be more appropriate?

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

https://t.co/vo9S2Zcv3C

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

Crank House, Banagher. Part restoration, part backland dev. Mix of residential, retail, cultural and community uses. A near perfect example of town centre regeneration.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

@stephen_coyne So much better.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

Final one for today. The importance of sorting out bins, bikes and utilities. All tucked away, architecturally integrated behind easy to access panels/doors.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

A clear distinction between 'local streets' and 'mews' streets help, as does the degree of enclosure and overlooking from upper levels.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

Cambridge. The dominance of the car within the public realm is greatly reduced by integrating in-curtilage parking within building envelopes. A more efficient use of space (ie compact housing). But there is a tipping point where garages become overly dominant.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

Some key observations from Cambridge. Very few houses have a traditional back gardens. Multiple areas of open space is provided at various levels over living space and garages, again very efficient, enabling more compact housing.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

Some key observations from Cambridge. Reduced separation distances (ie from the trad. 22m) allow for more compact housing. Privacy is addressed via the placement/design of windows. Wide frontage houses/internal courtyards enable light to be provided from a variety of sources.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

We also visited Knight's Park on the northern side of Cambridge. Another development that ticks all the boxes in terms of coherence, place making, density and mix of housing.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

Third stop on our cycle tour of Cambridge, Aurora. A further evolution of Accordia and similar to Abode in terms of design quality, place making and innovation.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

Second stop on our cycle tour of Cambridge, Abode. Another much celebrated development. Medium/high density, coherent architectural language, high quality public realm, DMURS style streets, parking neatly tucked away.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

First stop on our cycle tour of Cambridge, the much celebrated Accordia, Cambridge. Very distinct in terms of place making, and lots of innovations in terms of medium/higher density development predominantly consisting of 'own door' housing.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

The Avenue, Saffron Walden (pop. 17k) Bespoke housing development on former school grounds, nestled into the landscape.

[Jason Taylor @JTUrbanDesign]

@cosaingalway More recently we also held a series of Webinars over 8 weeks, showcasing some of he great work that has been done around the county in recent years and the challenges they presented. They can be viewed here https://t.co/uqyIETjQcL