“The drive for the regeneration of Elephant & Castle began in 1998, after the experiences of Bankside, now Tate Modern, and Peckham in Southwark. The original plan had an energetic programme for people to move out of poverty, from unemployment into employment. The borough, which has a very large percentage of subsidised (council) housing, has to face up to the alarming correlation between education achievement and housing tenure. My hope is that the current initiative will also be directly linked to the social problems that we find in the area rather than turned into a purely physical approach that believes it can reduce and resolve these problems.”
“In the regeneration of Elephant & Castle and the new build, I am taking a huge interest in seeing that the principles of the government-sponsored Secured by Design programme are applied right. So when we look at the housing estates, business and commercial developments, the town centre and other public facilities, we are working with the Southwark Borough Council and the local community, to make sure that we achieve design layouts that are safe and take account of public health, crime prevention and community safety.”
“There is a persistent emphasis on the problem of public space and crime and how a certain type of public space generates criminality. I do not think that it is only because we create dark environments that people are more easily mobbed. If you generate an environment that does not show respect for human dignity, the whole social organisation, the state, will not have enough legitimacy. People will not obey the law and people will not denounce those who break the law, simply because they will not identify with the social organisation.”
“Why does Elephant & Castle not feel a part of central London? That is partly because it is a place that you rush to pass through unless you happen to live or work there. I think it needs to produce a good public space, a space where people want to linger. Its challenges are similar to those of so many public spaces in this country: public spaces are funded as an afterthought to the construction of buildings and without enough resources for their adequate maintenance over time.”
“When we talk about the safety of an area, and seek for community support and the involvement of residents, when we want them to be the “eyes on the street” that organically generate a sense of security, they cannot do that if their eyes and ears are clogged, if the public space that surrounds them is obliterated by cars. Then there is noise, there is air pollution and what happens in the end is that local residents become detached from their environment, and the public space deteriorates – all for the privilege of a minority who drives through it.”
“Interventions such as David Adjaye’s Idea Store in Whitechapel or Will Alsop’s Peckham Library have changed the way people feel about these areas. They have eliminated barriers and integrated a territory around them where there is actually pride in getting some kind of attainment and the possibility of onward progress through employment. I believe these are the interventions that matter; the “eyes on the street” are only a small element within these huge alterations to the built environment.”
