Page 7 - link magazine

The Link Magazine • January 2006 7
It's the people who make places
Are you a home bird, a mall walker or a hoodster, or perhaps you enjoy a little urban safari? According to a recent study we can all be described
as users of one of ten types of public space, writes Lucy Proctor.
Yet Swindon suffers from 'public A great idea in the report for
space amnesia,' according to a study cities across Britain is reclaiming
bypolicythink-thank Demos. the night-time economy. Increas-
The report by Melissa Mean and - ing binge drinking now character-
Charlie Tims People Make Places: ' "`- ises alcohol fuelled 'monoculture'
Growing the Public Life of Cities, — ° in town centres. By extending the
looks at Swindon, Cardiff and Pres- 77 +s41J opening hours of shops, cafes,
ton, to evaluate the state of public museums, restaurants and thea-
space in Britain today. * tres to become more like a Euro-
They raise some pertinent peancitywouldincreasediversity
points. One is the continued em- - and attraction after dark.
barrassment of the town's Porta '3 It's not all doom and gloom. The
kabin central library; another is report bestows one honour on
the description of Swindon as a ,; Swindon. Without irony it is re-
'two-speed' town, where commut- ferred to as a city throughout.
ers race in and out from richer
rural villages. Young people feel
particularly cramped in Swindon, '^ r
and their need for somewhere to A public space Swindon Council seems keen to shut down. The Old Railway
hang out is interpreted as anti- Museum on Fleet Street is the only large hall in the town centre. It's a great place
for jugglers - see page 28. Drum away the bad spirits - see page 19.
social behaviour.
From interviews with 500 peo- ping malls and connecting walk- bottom of town - old compared to
pie in the town the report con- ways that run through office the new suburbs. The study also
cludes that Swindon residents feel blocks.' There is an element of truth claims that our country parks 'feel
theirpublicspacesaresignificantly inthis-buttheauthorshavemissed just out of reach on the fringes of
less'shared' than people from Pres- important meeting points like the the town.' Yet West Swindon peo-
ton or Cardiff. Of the three Swin- town gardens or the Old Town plecan'timaginesummerwithout
don has the youngest and richest railway path. Lydiard Park-wellconnected, free
population, the least number of A couple of factual errors dent and undergoing improvement.
non-white British residents, the the study's credibility. Swindon Coate Water is praised by the
most gay people, and is the only residents are described as being authors as a real public space, pro-
place without a university, fearful of the Old Town, an area viding playfulness and beauty, the
The report says that Swindon hardly renowned for trouble. Per- vast North Swindon Centre is also
centre has 'no obvious public haps people were referring to the singled out as a gathering point,
spaces other than its covered shun- heavy concentration of bars at the particularly the Asda restaurant.

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