In 2010, Harlow Renaissance convened a symposium, ‘Tomorrow’s Harlow’, to stimulate debate on the future growth prospects for Harlow and to create some independent thinking on how this could be achieved. An invited audience of more than 60 professionals within the fields of planning, architecture, urban design and property development debated the extent and nature of growth of the town.
The delegates also heard from our keynote speaker, Dr Han Lorzing, Spatial Quality Advisor to the City of Utrecht, as to how Dutch new towns had embarked on ambitious programmes of growth. In particular, Dr Lorzing urged Harlow to ‘dare to be different’ which we feel links well with the Harlow’s ‘see something different’ campaign and acts as a call to celebrate Harlow’s uniqueness in its future development.
There was good, lively discussions in the workshops and it demonstrated that there is a strong interest in the opportunity that Harlow represents. In particular, there was agreement that Harlow was well placed for growth and that the original rationale for the town’s inclusion in the London-Stansted-Cambridge-Peterborough growth corridor still held.
Following discussion of the outcomes of the symposium with our Property Advisory Group and at our Board we put forward the following as proposals for implementation to create the impetus for Harlow’s growth.
1. Restore the ‘Harlow brand’ as an image for quality design
- Seek to re-create the image that Harlow had upon its formation as a leader for contemporary design by setting clear standards and principles
2. Exploit the economic potential of the location
- Proactively target business investment as the town can only be economically sustainable if it is able to create a greater number of higher level jobs and expand its sub-regional employment hub role.
3. Revitalise the town centre
- Create a short to medium term focus on interim improvements to maintain momentum and assist in the process of attracting a high quality developer.
4. Rethink the role of some of the green space
- Consideration should be given to how the quality of Harlow’s green spaces can be enhanced, and perhaps managed in different ways, to create a real asset to spur high quality development