West Port Urban Design Study, Dundee
We have been appointed by Scottish Enterprise Tayside to provide an Urban Design Study of the West Port area of Dundee’s Cultural Quarter. The area is regarded as a key part of the Cultural Quarter and proposals need to be inspirational and imaginative while acknowledging the principles of the Dundee City Council Urban Design Guide.
West Port Urban Design Study
As part of the West Port Urban Design Study strategy, we will devise a spatial concept that recognises the inherent nature and structure of the area and protects the townscape legacy whilst creating new opportunities for new and revitalised buildings and external spaces. It must help to define a hierarchy of streets and spaces that reflects the relative significance of individual places, based on existing and potential uses, physical scale, character, status of adjacent institutions and other material factors. This will in turn allow a clear rationale to be developed for improving certain spaces, adopting distinct design approaches and identifying priorities for investment. The outcomes from this would certainly include a more focused series of public spaces.
West Port is clearly an important transitional area between different functional zones of the city. It is currently an important node – but it lacks place related qualities. We propose an integrated approach to the design of the area which seeks to match the physical opportunities with the scope for economic and social renewal. It is essential that an all-embracing view is taken, including the need to restructure and reframe streets and spaces, accommodate new uses, assess the movement issues as an integral part of a complex and evolving environment, achieve an acceptable balance between the desires and needs of different user groups and reinforce and/or create a sense of place.
