Re-imagining the city

As urban designers and landscape architects, at Node we often look at our own city and imagine the changes we would make to improve our surroundings. Last year our client Birmingham City University (BCU) gave us the opportunity to do just that.

We were commissioned to work with the staff and students of BCU to create a masterplan for a vibrant area of Birmingham incorporating parts of Eastside and Digbeth. Together we produced a masterplan that proposes the creation of a unified “Knowledge Hub”. This area is home to many knowledge-based institutions including Birmingham City University, Aston University, Innovation Birmingham and Birmingham Science Park.

A key feature of the Knowledge Hub area is Jennens Road, a four lane highway that runs through the east side of Birmingham, dividing the campuses of Aston and Birmingham City University with pedestrians pushed to the sides. It’s a road that we have often crossed and thought “what if?”. The potential to us is obvious: it is very wide, nearly 40m at its maximum, and not particularly busy, certainly not busy enough to warrant four lanes. At the widest section much of the space is taken up by a central reservation of grass and trees. Whilst it is good to see some green space in the city there is nothing welcoming about this area, and it is never used as anything more than a thoroughfare.

As part of the Knowledge Hub masterplan, we took a closer look at Jennens Road and imagined what could be done with it.

Our idea was to transform the dual carriageway into a vibrant public park for residents and visitors to the city. The road would be narrowed and repositioned to one side, increasing the space for a linear park to emerge. One issue that the city centre of Birmingham suffers from is a total lack of places for play. There is nowhere in the city centre where children (or anyone else) can play, without having to pay for the privilege. We proposed to create a series of interconnected small areas for play along the whole length of the park. This would of course encourage families to use the park, but would also place into people’s minds the idea of activity being fun. There is a part of all of us that would rather be playing on swings than being a grown up after all. This sense of play would be in the DNA of the park.

Through this project we could reclaim an underused road for the people of Birmingham to use as a playground. Birmingham is not alone in experiencing roads which slice up the city and dominate the public realm: Jennens Park could show other cities that it is possible to reduce roads down and reuse the space that they occupy. It’s not a question of either/or, but a better way of using our cities.

Jennens Park would also feature a running track, cycle ways and active walking landscape to create an park where it is possible to do as much or as little as one desires. Along the park, a series of pavilions would line the street, supporting the well-being theme including cycle shops, and healthy food stalls. These stalls could be offered at low, short term leases to promote small businesses from the area. Cross links from the Eastside area to the Aston University campus could be emphasised, with shared space crossings along desire lines, improving pedestrian connectivity.

To promote the idea one idea is to obtain a temporary road closure and close one side of the road for a day. A mini festival could be held with food and music to show people the true potential of the space and get the people of Birmingham excited at the possibilities of Jennens Park.