Pearls of wisdom or wasted words?

The commission produces many leaflets and brochures. Claire Allfree examines some typical examples

Claire Allfree
Tuesday 21 May 1996 18:02 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Title:

Lighten Our Darkness

The assessment:

With a foreword starting "The time has come to put drama back into the British night, to celebrate the art of illumination and the romance of shadow", combined with the somewhat impassioned title, one might be forgiven for thinking that this is the ravings of a mystic cult instead of a government-sponsored investigation into urban lighting.

In essence, the pamphlet is a valid assessment of problems: ranging from the gradual disappearance of the stars in the night sky through light pollution to the insensitive lighting of many of our public buildings. Inevitably the new is compared unfavourably with the old, the historic buildings are portrayed as the victims of the brash lighting radiating from department stores and advertisements, and the Oxford Street Christmas lights are particularly criticised for their insensitivity to their environment.

The principal impulse is definitely one of maintaining conservative good taste but the strategies suggested for achieving it are only vaguely articulated, concentrating mostly on what should be done instead of real ideas on how to do it.

Medicis and the Millennium?

The Assesment:

The question mark here is highly appropriate to this most imposing of titles. However, the pamphlet's aim of criticising the Government's patronage of architecture seems more promising.

The report dwells extensively on the individual government departments responsible for different public buildings and the consequent problems this causes, which makes dry reading given the intricacies of bureaucracy involved. Too much attention is given over to internal politics, but the booklet can be praised for consistently returning to its rallying call.

Examples are given of projects that have suffered because of bad judgement and lack of vision and the British government is compared unfavourably with those on the Continent.

However, one cannot help wishing the booklet had made a stronger cry for fresh innovative design instead of being so preoccupied with planning commissions.

Design in the High Street:

The Assessment:

Again an admirable stance is taken on the encroaching horrors of cheap and functional high street architecture. This is a more in-depth analysis of town planning and examines the relationship between architecture and the shopping experience. The pedestrian crossing comes under attack for "marshalling" of shoppers across the street and then stranding them on the central refuge.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in