Year | 2005
Location | South Yorkshire, UK
Client | Alan Simpson
A Transformation Project: Turning the postindustrial landscape into a 21st Century National Park. Following the recent designation of the New Forest National Park and the proposal for the South Downs National Park, adding to the eight existing National Parks in England – four of which are in the very North of England, (Northumberland, Lakes, Dales and Moors) – and only the high visitor attraction Peaks National Park, Derbyshire, in the Midlands, South Yorkshire might add to the middle England region and become a further location for a new designation/creation of a National Park created for and of the 21st Century.
Imagine planting a kind of “forest” across the whole of South Yorkshire beyond and between existing urban and rural settlement patterns and from that dense and continuous field create a series of settings/places in which intervention
can take place on varying scales. This could be South Yorkshire ‘offer in Europe’ – place the region high on the national and international map for sustainable community development through the renaissance of its towns, cities, and their hinterlands, bringing urban and rural needs and agendas together into a single renaissance purpose – and; if planned and delivered with creativity and boldness would lead to a long term economic and social well-being of the area and its communities.
