News

Landscape Institute demands Mayoral commitment to public spaces in the capital

1st August 2008

The Landscape Institute today called for a commitment from the Mayor of London to the design and delivery of exciting new public spaces in London.

The call follows reports that the Mayor’s 100 Public Spaces programme had been scrapped, six years after it was launched by former Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Susan Lowenthal, chair of the London branch of the Landscape Institute, said: “It is disappointing that this scheme has seemingly been dropped. There needs to be an underlying commitment to newly designed public spaces on the same scale as was envisaged in 100 Public Spaces, even if they are not exactly the same projects.

“It would be equally disappointing if London in 2012 was not the home of exemplar public spaces to showcase to the world. Landscape architects understand space and context and how to develop a sense of place. The Mayor of London should not commit public money to any major programme of designed space without direct input from a landscape architect.”

Ms Lowenthal added that the creation of interesting public spaces was achieved by a carefully considered fusion of ideas from multi-disciplinary teams including landscape architects, architects, space planners, urban designers and engineers.