13. The Good Design Toolkit

13.1. Introduction

Good, thoughtful design will help get the best out of every site. It will enhance the lives of occupants and neighbours, and will provide added value to owners. It can also help secure planning permission.

But what is good design? Can it be defined with a set of rules? Probably not. There is no single way of designing for a given plot of land. Good design comes from looking hard at a site and its context and responding to its constraints and opportunities. This is how we create beautiful and resilient places.

This toolkit of design tools may be useful in helping to think through what is an appropriate way to develop a site. It is in three sections:

• The Green Toolkit, looking at sustainable, planet-friendly techniques
• The Inside and Out Toolkit, which suggests ways to enhance the design of new development
• The Placemaking Toolkit which can help development to not just be beautiful in itself, but to also contribute to and enhance its neighbourhood

The advice and illustrations provided in this section is to be read as general advice and not as prescriptive solutions. The application of this advice may be more or less appropriate depending on the individual conditions of a site.