Helensburgh, a Victorian spa town in Argyll and Bute

Before present-day Helensburgh existed the area was known as Millig and was owned by de MacAulay clan. They built a stronghold called Ardencaple on higher ground overlooking the Clyde estuary during the twelfth century. Recorded in 1351 as Airdendgappil the name is said to be derived from the Gaelic Ard na gCapull meaning "cape of the horses". The Lairds of Ardincaple saw their fortunes turned in the eighteenth century and were forced to sell of their land piece by piece. The Ardincaple Estate was purchased by John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll around 1764. He and his successor employed the famous architect Robert Adam to execute an extensive remodelling of the castle. After the death of the eighth duke in 1823 the Duchess dowager sold the entire estate to the Colquhouns of Luss in 1852.

Sir James Colquhoun had bought the estate to develop it from a rural area with a castle and a small fishing port (at the village of Rhu) into an industrious urban settlement. Part of his plan was the construction of a new town, which he named Helensburgh after his wife lady Helen Sutherland. This new town of Helensburgh was situated about 20 miles northwest of Glasgow on the northern shore of the deep Clyde estuary. Colquhoun first built a port believing his new industrial settlement would benefit from well organised port services. The result of his ferry service across the Firth of Clyde was that the residents of existing industrial towns near the Port of Glasgow such as Greenock took up residence on the more attractive northern shore and commuted to work by crossing the estuary. This success as a dormitory town was further increased by improvements in transport links. First there was the arrival of the railway to Glasgow in 1858. This was followed by the ocean steamer invented by Henry Bell that ferried day trippers and cargo along the estuary from Glasgow and back. In 1894 a railway extension was completed that passed to the north of the town and connected Glasgow with northern towns like Fort William and Oban via Helensburgh.

The new town of Helensburgh was laid out as a grid of streets behind a seaside promenade that followed the gentle curve of the shore. This promenade forms a T with the main route north towards Luss. Two winding streams were incorporated into the grid unaltered. In time parts of these streams was culverted, for instance Milligs Burn now flows underneath Helensburgh Central station in a brick tunnel. The grid plan was inspired by the plans for Edinburgh's New Town (built between 1765 and 1850), although the expansion of nearby Glasgow is also characterised by several grid systems. Only the central parcels around the station and Colquhoun Square have been fully developed with urban buildings, the rest of the grid parcels were filled with large and medium size houses in gardens. This in combination with the wide streets planted with trees gave Helensburgh the appearance of a "suburban colony".

This plan of Helensburgh before WW2 shows the grid that was in part altered to accommodate the small rivers Glenns Burn (g) and Milligs Burn (m). These grid adaptations created room for the Hermitage Park (H), the Eastend Public Park (E) and the cemetery (C). Within the grid a central public space was created as Colquhoun Square (S). In the west Ardencaple Castle (A) once stood. To the north Blachhill Plantation (B) was planted with the reservoirs (R) directly beyond along Milligs Burn. The town has no formal arrangement of public buildings and community services. Helensburgh Central Station (1) penetrates the grid from the east. The ferry terminal (2) lies beyond the grid, but close to the central square. The main church (3) of St Andrew's Kirk occupies one corner of this public space. Between the station and the main park Victoria Halls (4) stand: the Town Hall. Helensburgh Upper Station (5) is situated along the informal axis of the town (Colquhoun Street). Even further up the hill side, on the edge of the plantation, the Hill House (6) was erected. On the edges some alterations to the strict grid layout were made after 1900. This is most evident in a garden village type neighbourhood (G) that sits between Old Luss Road and the railway.

Within the new town provisions were made for parks and recreational spaces. A golf course was built to the north of the town. Blackhill Plantation was planted to separate the town from the windy heathland beyond. Ardencaple Castle was converted into a spa. Directly north of the railway station part of the grid was not executed to accommodate Hermitage Park on either side of Milligs Burn. Along this small river several reservoirs were created over time to provide the inhabitants with drinking water. After 1900 the town expanded within the confines of the new railway with typical houses along curved streets as was the norm in garden city style developments. It is in this period that Helensburgh most famous building Hill House by Rennie Macintosh was built. The older parts of the town are a typically Victorian mix of revival architecture styles with a strong emphasis on neo-classical stone buildings.

Helensburg in the 1930's shows an expanded grid with new features such as cul-de-sacs, curved streets and crescents. The town still sits between the dry valley of Woodend and the 1894 railway to Fort William. The main grid is shown in red. The central portion of the grid is made up of squares, the outer sections are both more rectangular. It is clear that the main axes of the grid are the Colquhoun Street and King Street. In the street names Sinclair street, the thoroughfare that runs parallel to the main axis, is the demarcation lane separating the "west streets" from the "east streets" (West King Street - East King Street). After 1950 the town would go beyond these limits and expand via a number of planned housing estates. This expansion of the town was mainly due to the nearby Faslane naval base.

Splendid Streets: Maxvorstadt Munich

Munich was founded near a monastery and named after these monks (apud Munichen). The city is first mention in 1158 when Henry the Lion Duke of Saxony and Bavaria grants the right to hold a market near the Isarbridge on the Salzstrasse (Salt Street) between Salzburg and Augsburg. Later the city was fortified and subsequently enlarged and again fortified. At the end of the 18th century the defences were decommissioned and torn town. This made it possible to expand the old city.

The Maxvorstadt comprises of a grid type urban extension that was to double the urban area of Munich. The scheme took several decades to complete. In the meantime several other suburbs (the literal translations of Vorstadt) were developed: Ludwigsvorstadt, Isarvorstadt, Schwanthalerhöhe and Haidhausen on the other side of the Isar.

The Maxvorstadt was planned between 1805 and 1810 on the instigation of the first Bavarian King Maximilian I Joseph, after whom the area was named. It was projected over a large flat area northwest of the old city between the old routes to the Marsfeld (a Military exercise ground), Nymphenburg Palace, Dachau, Schleissheim Palace and Freising. These old routes were formalised as straight streets within a grid layout.  The aim was to create a formal expansion that would serve as a beautiful addition to the medieval Altstadt.   

The old fortified city was surrounded by a wide moat that was fed by several brooks. The Mushroom shape is very distinct and came to be after the second large expansion of the city in the fourteenth century which was mostly located on the higher ground behind the older city.

The Briener Strasse would serve as the central axis of the new suburb connecting the road to Dachau and Schleissheim with a rotunda to the new entrance gate (1812) to the Hofgarten (Palace Gardens) behind the Münchener Residenz (Residential Palace). Along this route several formal ensembles were erected around several squares. The Königsplatz (Kings Square) on this axis was created as the centre of a new cultural hub, not unlike Albertopolis in London, the Kaiserforum in Vienna, the Forum Fredericianum in Berlin and the Royal Forum in Brussels. The queer axis starts at the Kaffeehaus in the Alter Botanischer Garten (1814) and ends at the gates of the Alter Nördlicher Friedhof (1866). The Maxvorstadt connects to the old city via a wide boulevard (Sonnenstrasse - 1812) and the Maximiliansplatz (1808), a long garden square that is part of this green boulevard. The boulevard stretches from the Sendlinger Tor, where a large square was created on the site of a former bulwark, to the Briener Strasse. A secondary axis links this garden square with the main axis of the Maxvorstadt at the Obelisk (1833).

Although the main focus was on the Maxvorstadt In the Southwest a second axial ensemble was created between the Sendlinger Tor (a former city gate) and a new general hospital (Algemeinen Krankenhaus - 1813) across a formal park. A third ensemble was created north of the city to separate the Maxvorstadt from the Englischer Garten. and tie the residential palace into the new scheme. It consists of a long axis, a so-called Prachtstrasse (literally: Splendid Street), that starts by the palace at the Feldherrnhalle (1844) next to the Palais Prysing (1728) and runs at a slightly different angle than the grid of the Maxvorstadt. Across from the Hofgarten a second ensemble was created consisting of the Odeonsplatz. The axis ended at the Siegestor (1852) a triumphal arch modelled after Marble arch. Before this the street widens to a square with the university buildings around it. Next to the Siegestor on a queer axis the Akademie der Bildende Künste (Academie of Fine Arts - 1808) was built.

Three axial ensembles connect to the quarter belt road (A) that links up to the Old Botanical Gardens (B) and the Maxplatz (C). The starting point is the Sendlinger Tor (1) from where an axis leads to the General Hospital (2). The culmination of the scheme is the Residenz with the Hofgarten (D).At the Hofgartentor (1) starts the central axis of the Maxvorstadt (in red). Next to this "Splendid Street" lies the Wittelsbacherplatz (2) with an Equestrian statue and flanked by the Odeon (1828), the Palais Ludwig-Ferdinand (1826) and the Palais Arco-Zinneberg (1820). The axis proceeds to meet the Obelisk (3) and beyond to the Königsplatz with the Glyptothek (4 - 1833), the Antikensammlungen (5 - 1848) and the Propylaea (6 - 1862), to end at a rotunda (7) on the Dachauerstrasse. The queer axis starts at the Kaffehaus (8), runs along the Königsplatz to the Alte Pinakothek (9 - 1836) and Neue Pinakothek (1853) to end at the gatehouses of the Northern Cemetery (10 - 1866) and served effectively as the backbone to the development of the Kunstareal. The third axis (in orange) was also meant as a "Splendid Street" lined with official and representative buildings. The axis of the Ludwigstrasse starts at the Feldherrnhalle (1) along the Odeonsplatz (2) with the Odeon, the Palais Ludwig-Ferdinand and the Palais Leuchtenberg (1821). The Hofgartengalerie (3 - 1853) stands opposite. The street was lined with ministerial building and civic buildings like the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State-Library) completed in 1839 (6). The splendid street crosses the Ludwigsforum (4) with on its westside the main building of the Ludwig-Maximilian University (1835) and on the westside the Georgianum (1840) and the Veterinary Institute (1840s) to end at the Siegestor (5). Next to this triumphal arch stand the Academy of fine Arts (7).

Amsterdam-Zuidoost, big ideas on the modern city (part 3: urban renewal)

The radiant city of Amsterdam-Zuidoost was built for success. Large, light and spacious apartments in huge high-rise buildings set in a verdant landscape of parks with easy access by both car, bicycle, foot, bus and metro would form the basis of the new way of living in tune with the modern times. Unfortunately this urban utopia never really materialised. In part this was due to changing insights into social housing. The first hexagonal apartment buildings was completed in 1968, the last one in 1975. Over 13,000 flats had been built before the focus shifted towards lower apartment buildings -for instance Nellestein built between 1977 and 1982 on the edge of the Gaasperplas. The area never attracted the numbers of middle-class families envisaged by the planners. Most middle-class families preferred the new town of Almere, a planned community in the Southern Flevopolder started in the 1970s. Furthermore, following the independence of Suriname in 1975 many of its inhabitants migrated to the Netherlands. The government decided to place them together in the partly vacant affordable social housing of the Bijlmermeer (in the hexagonal high-rises). The area quickly became seen a s a black neighbourhood leading to a departure of white people and successful immigrants who didn't want to be associated with the low status and poverty for which Bijlmer was now a synonym. Later asylum seekers were also housed in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, making it a culturally very diverse but not less black area.

For years the problems of social segregation, high rates of unemployment and crime, and high number of inhabitants with social and mental health issues were denied and played down by local government. The change came when in 1992 disaster struck as an El Al plane crashed into Kruitberg and Groeneveen, two hexagonal high-rises. The official death toll is 43, including the three Israeli pilots, but due to the high number of illegal residents the true number of fatalities is probably higher.

In the aftermath of the crash it was decided that more needed to be done than simply provide for alternative housing for the residents of the two buildings destroyed by the plane crash. A new Bijlmer should arise from the ashes. After consultation and a variety of, both official and unofficial, plans it was decided to radically renew the area. The focus would be on the hexagonal high-rises with their parking garages and community spaces on the elevated streets.

The New Bijlmermeer focuses on the northern part of Amsterdam-Zuidoost where the Le Corbusier-inspired hexagonal high-rises have been for the most part demolished and replaced by new housing that is mostly terraced or takes the shape of apartment buildings. The urban renewal stretches from new leisure centre around the Amsterdam ArenA (A) via the Amsterdamse Poort shopping centre (P) and the new Anton de Komplein (K) along the Bijlmerdreef to include the areas where the hexagonal high-rises once stood. The parts of these still standing are indicated in red.

Within the area earmarked for urban renewal a leisure complex and football stadium, new shopping centres, new schools and 8,000 new homes will be developed. By 2010 5000 new homes had been built, mostly replacing the hexagonal high-rises. Two existing shopping centres in the undercroft of a parking garage have been demolished and replaced by the new Ganzenpoort and Kameleon malls. The Amsterdamse Poort shopping centre has been expanded. The schools have been integrated into a so-called Broad School (Brede School) combining a kindergarten, primary school, sport facilities, day-care centre, GP-surgery, health centre, community centre, etcetera.

The remaining flats will be renovated as the Bijlmer Museum. Much of the new housing consist of terraced family housing. Some new dwellings will be built in low-rise or high-rise buildings. The aim is to add 1,000 new homes on top of the 7,000 new dwelling built to replace the ones lost by demolishing the hexagonal high-rises. Special schemes aimed at retaining residents in the area by subsidising mortgages are in place. Most of the old residents will have to move on however, as urban renewal is especially aimed at increasing the number of middle-class families and higher income groups in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. In places the elevated road have been lowered. The idea(l) is to create a diverse and mixed suburban satellite.

The water system has been redesigned with the renewal of the area. More surface water was needed as parkland was built over and paved, creating less surface for water to seep into the soil. The new plan of Amsterdam-Zuidoost clearly shows the differentiated ideas by which the separate neighbourhoods have been redesigned.

New housing has been designed along themes, such as water, courtyard, garden patch, songbirds, colours etcetera. This leads to different solutions in different locations, making the whole of Amsterdam-Zuidoost a patchwork of neighbourhoods with different architecture, character and mix of housing types. There is little to connect these various ideas as the old connective devises of watercourses, rolling parkland and elevated roads have been abandoned and in some cases denied by obliterating them. However nice some of the new housing is, the whole feels like an admission of weakness by only envisaging the urban landscape as a collection of themed urban fragments with no interconnectivity or relation.

Morphologically the old grid still shapes the alignment of streets and buildings, but this is not visible on the ground only on the plan. Urban design is not about making an emblematic plan, but all about creating a recognisable and distinctive urban landscape that functions well on the scale of the neighbourhood as well as the conurbation as a whole.

Amsterdam-Zuidoost, big ideas on the modern city (part 2: the grid)

For the basic structure of Amsterdam-Zuidoost a grid was drawn parallel to the pre-existing railway. The underlying landscape was completely wiped out by covering it with a thick layer of sand. As the CIAM-inspired suburban satellite was to be developed replacing several polders, each with its own artificial water level,  the whole of the area had to be given a new water system divided in several gauges. These artificial watercourses run throughout Amsterdam-Zuidoost.

As everything in this new satellite was planned anew, the fact that the street names are regularly distributed is no surprise. Dutch planners like to theme the street names in new neighbourhoods. Here all streets start with the same letter. For the most part this principle is strictly adhered to. In some places the streets of two subsequent letters in the sequence join up. Some letters are used more frequently than others. The streets names are also themed, referring to historic, farms, manor houses and stately homes in the oldest part and to villages in the east of the country and former city councilors in Gaasperdam. The industrial estates Bullewijk and Amstel, however, follows the themed trend in a more traditional way, by not adhering to a strict alliterative grouping. Al the streets here are named after hills in the Netherlands (rather ambitiously called "berg" which translates as mountain).

The structure of watercourses loosely follows the grid and runs throughout the whole of Amsterdam-Zuidoost. In most place the water divides the neighbourhoods, in some places though it runs right through. Each neighbourhood has a letter, that is also the first letter of all the streets in that section.

Morphologically the underlying infrastructure grid divided the area of Amsterdam-Zuidoost in rectangular cells. Each of these has a certain infill with either greenery, buildings or a combination of the two. The grid is irregular to allow for a better layout of streets and placement of buildings. The northern part, planned in the 1960s and built in the 1960s and 1970s, follows the grid in the orientation of the housing within the framework of elevated roads and walking paths and cycle paths. The southern part that was redesigned in the late 1970s and built during the 1980s differs in orientation (away from the grid), type of buildings being built and layout of the streets. Those parts in the northern section that were built in the late 1970s and 1980s also differ greatly from the earlier housing.

The underlying grid structure of Amsterdam-Zuidoost (shown in red) is relatively easily recognizable. The main grid flanks the railway line and the structure of most of the suburban satellite can be aligned with this grid, even the Gaasperplas a sandpit that now lies at the heart of the Gaasperpark. There are three lesser grids that underpin  the rest of the urban layout of Amsterdam-Zuidoost. They all include development from the 1970s onwards and should be seen as conscious interventions in the principle grid structure of the suburb.

Amenities were originally located in a wide strip at the heart of the northern part extending from the railway station to the green belt. The Bijlmerpark would form a central park zone and connects the central functional strip with the green belt. Apart from the central strip amenities such as schools were spread across the development with each neighbourhood having its own primary school and each cluster of neighbourhoods (or wards) a secondary school. A new development embraced with the planning of Amsterdam-Zuidoost are nursing homes, several of which are to be found throughout the suburb. Each ward also had a small shopping centre, two of which were located beneath the large parking garages near the hexagonal high-rises and always next to a metro stop. The area had no church buildings, religious groups shared specially allotted community halls. The central functional strip extending from the Bijlmer train station never really materialised and had large vacant plots until the 1990s.

The amenities such as shops, schools, day care centres, nursing homes, medical practices, post office, youth club, planetarium, etcetera are spread around the suburban satellite. The exact location within the housing is dependent on the type of housing and the decade in which the plans were drawn up.