Much has been made of the exodus from UK cities in the months since the coronavirus pandemic struck.
The overnight switch to remote working, intermittent bans on indoor socialising and subsequent deserted city centres have already led many to reconsider not only the space in which they want to live, but the area too. Searches have doubled for homes in small towns and villages with populations less than 11,000, as city dwellers plot their great escape.
But is the abrupt abandonment of cities just a pandemic-induced flash in the pan or a more permanent change? Emma Fletcher, director at housebuilder Hill Group, thinks the latter.
“The majority of people now have adapted to working from home,” she says, speaking as part of EG’s Future of UK Cities event. “While you may have spent four or five days in the office previously… more people are now really reflecting on what’s important.
“You see the massive change in uptake for people wanting homes with gardens, wanting a little bit more space, a home office area – and I can’t see that trend changing for the foreseeable future.”
The cost of living
City authorities, then, clearly have some work to do if they are to retain their mass residential appeal. And their first priority, Fletcher says, should be affordable housing.
While the issue is often thought of mainly in terms of people who are reliant on council housing, she points to the less visible, but perhaps even larger demographic grappling with either sky-high rents or the punishing process of actually getting on to the property ladder.
“The people that have applied to register with the councils are those in the most need but we are not seeing a huge swathe of the population that is struggling to get on to the private sale or the private renting market,” she says.
And for all the efforts of housing associations, policy interventions, she says are the real solution.
“It is a serious thing that needs to be taken into account in every town, city, village,” says Fletcher. “There are people in these communities who cannot afford to live there anymore.”
Learning from abroad
Chris Jones, a Middle East-based partner at architecture firm 10 Design, thinks that the UK should look to other countries for the answer – in particular, by embracing modular housing.
Estimates for UK modular housing production range from 10,000 to 15,000 homes per year but capacity could be “significantly improved,” he says. By comparison, the city of Tokyo alone produces more.
“It takes time, it takes research and development, it takes funding – it is there, but I think to escalate and accelerate that, now is the time to do that,” says Jones. “It is a huge opportunity that we need to grab with both hands from both the public and the private sector.”
Fletcher agrees but points out that frequent delays brought about by the UK’s complex planning system could impede such ambitions.
“The planning system does not understand that once you have invested in a modular system you have got a factory that is building homes. They are coming off the production line,” she says. “Therefore, anything that then stops the stuff coming on to site is a real challenge.”
Planning reform
So what about the government’s proposals to speed up the system in its recent planning white paper?
“I have to confess, whenever I hear a change to the planning system I almost shudder,” says Fletcher. “I know they are meant to speed things up, I know they are meant to simplify things but I think the proof will be in the pudding.
“I can’t see how it is going to knit in nicely with some of the local plan reviews – but I admire the aspirations to try and change to make it better.”
Crucial to making cities more liveable, however, is not losing sight of what makes them great places. Both Fletcher and Jones agree that can be less about the buildings, and more about the places between, such as parks and communal spaces.
Crucial to a liveable city, Fletcher says, is “having a sense of place, being part of the tribe, being proud of where you live”.
She adds: “Where people do feel those things, you see it in their front gardens, the planting around them, the way they look after the streets, the litter – all of those things. Getting that balance right is quite challenging, and it really does need some quite strong leadership, sense of direction and vision to ensure that can be achieved.”
“I don’t think our cities are at the end of their useful life,” adds Jones. “The opportunity to engage with different cultures and different experiences in cities, [is] the lifeblood of humanity.”
“We are going through a transitional stage right now,” he says. “But cities will prevail.”
