permeability

I was in a conversation with an architect recently and we were talking about designs for living. His role was to design on a bigger canvas and so it was about whole developments rather than individual buildings. Across the way, we talked about getting around and the idea of permeability. That's the way that a developer can build in the short cuts that pedestrians and cyclists will want to take, to make the whole place come alive.

I recognise the separate paths that run along the edges of fields and railways, clever underpasses and all manner of shortcuts to get anywhere.

Even central London has the cut-throughs, the alleyways and the paths across green areas to help move around. But there's a stealthy new kid in town.

I've just spent some time around Docklands, and its edges remind me of Moscow. In Moscow, there's individual security on the land around every building. It makes for some odd transitions, between well-manicured space and rubble-strewn untidiness. There are uniformed men to protect their piece of the real-estate and tell pedestrians to keep out.

So what's that got to do with London? Try areas of Docklands. As a typical pedestrian, I should be able to follow a route to a landmark, but a new styling blocks the route.

A fence here. A path that leads to a set of railings there. A barrier entry system. Blocked river and dockside access. Metal fences. Locked gates. Plastic chain link. Across what could otherwise be handy paths to create the permeability.

I've walked about in these areas before, and even made the adjustments where a DLR entrance only allows access from one direction or there's the need to skirt along the edge of a building against a traffic flow. I'll even take it for granted that some things are just built that way.

But it hides something. The individual estates don't want you to walk over their land. There's the signs, of course, "Private Property" once used for effect. Just as significantly, there's the estate railings or the colourful chain link that's been draped across any means of passage. It means that as a pedestrian, I'll have to turn away from the building I'm aiming for several times.

Even to have to cross to the opposite side of the road and then back again at one point. The whole of Canary Wharf isn't like this, of course. There are tunnels and malls that link huge areas together. The public realm is architected.

But say hello to the edge zones where the pernicious blocking of permeability occurs. AS well as Streets of London, welcome to the era of "Membership Pavements".