Oxford Futures

Oxford Futures 2050

The Wolfson Essay won considerable praise and publicity. It led on to URBED helping the Oxford Civic Society run a series of consultations and events under the theme Oxford Futures. The final report Oxfordshire Futures 2050 suggests priorities and objectives for a joint strategic spatial plan, with proposals for funding and implementing projects, include an integrated transport system.

Growing Historic Cities

A symposium in Oxford’s Kellogg College drew members of the Historic Towns Forum ranging from St Albans to Wells and York, together with a large contingent from Oxford.The aim was to learn from success, and to debate the principles that would lead to sustainable or ‘smarter growth’ that does not outstrip infrastructure capacity. Presentations on Grenoble and Freiburg provided an international dimension, and Dr. Nicholas Falk, one of the co-organisers drew out lessons from four other European cities acclaimed by the Academy of Urbanism, including Montpellier and some Dutch examples.

Oxford Central West Hand-out

This two-page graphic focusses on west Oxford-perhaps the most extraordinary underdeveloped area of any historic city. This area is crucial to the future of the city and the potential of the area will not be fully exploited unless the various planned developments are coordinated. The 200 acre site is currently a fragmented and largely forgotten part of the city. It is susceptible to flood and sliced up by the railway line, river and canal so that east/west movement is very difficult. Despite its proximity to the centre of Oxford it feels isolated. It should be one of the most valuable parts of the city but the constraints make development difficult.

Smarter Urbanisation and Rapid Growth HFA

Cities need to change direction fast, if we are to satisfy our needs and retain social values. As the world tips towards the East, and to ‘mega cities’ of more than 10 million inhabitants, countries such as the UK need to offer better models for how to manage growth. The young and the poor feel squeezed out of the residential property markets. But we all complain of congestion, pollution and stress, despite the promised benefits of the Digital Revolution. What is to be done?

Final Oxford Central West Report

This report of a workshop held at the Said Business School and Nuffield College on 16/03/2016 sets out the main conclusions and proposals, along with supporting information, to include some cases. The event was organised by Oxford Civic Society (OCS) and the Academy of Urbanism (AoU) and brought together local stakeholders with outside experts, over fifty in all.

Trams for Oxford

Modern Light Rail Transit (LRT) could be the saviour of historic cities such as Oxford. This conclusion emerged from a seminar organised by URBED and the Sintropher
project group at UCL on 12/03/2015. A series of papers were discussed by an audience representing a range of interests from Oxford City as
well as experts from the tram world around the UK. This short report brings out the main messages with relevant illustrations and the full presentations are available on
the Oxford Futures web site https://www.oxfordfutures.org.uk

Affordable Housing for Oxford

This report outlines findings from the second in a new series of workshops on future growth in central Oxfordshire. It follows up some of the issues raised by Oxford Futures in bringing together a wide range of people across professional, sectoral and age divides. It was organised by Oxford Brookes University with URBED, and was sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Oxford Futures Transport Options

This report outlines findings from the first in a new series of workshops on future growth in central Oxfordshire. The workshops are aimed at bringing together interested people in the universities, local authorities and the wider community. It was sponsored by URBED with Keble College, and followed on from URBED’s winning submission for the 2014 Wolfson Economics Prize, which tests out the idea of doubling Oxford in size.