The experience of our built environment speaks to our national identity; it says something about who we are and what we are good at. Why is it then that the design of our "places" is rarely considered? We have architects to design our buildings, engineers our infrastructure, and transport planners our roads - and masterplanners to fit it all together. But when it comes to how our built environment connects together, the human scale is often lost. Plans might work at 1:500 or 1:1,000, but at 1:1, the focus becomes more granular, more personal. We start to ask different questions, and our thoughts turn to individual need and ease of use. We begin to imagine who those individuals are who might use a place: is it my elderly aunt, who walks with a stick, uneasy on her feet? My spritely mother, whose hearing isn't what it used to be? My daughters, who never look up, only down, yet still manage to navigate the lampposts? Is it the Part 2 architect in my office, wheelchair-bound, who leaves home in the morning two hours earlier than his colleagues, just to get to work on time? Or my tiny niece in her pushchair, or my sister flustered in unfamiliar streets with toddlers in tow?
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