Teoría y práctica del diseño urbano para la reflexión de la ciudad contemporánea

248 Teoría y Práctica del Diseño Urbano Conclusion In this chapter we argue that there is now a more extensive, and, theoretically, robust planning policy basis for the pro- motion of better housing design quality. There are a number of features of the changing residential development process that provide incentives for housing developers to invest in de- sign, and yield space to design and designers. These include the more challenging conditions of brown field sites or large- scale urban extensions, and the emergence of developers who give a higher priority to the quality of their product. There are also features of the housing market, the residential develop- ment process and the regulatory framework that undermine design quality. General scarcity of housing supply compared with demand reduces the competitive pressure on developers of new housing to ‘up their game’; in locations where demand pressures are greatest, design quality may be compromised without affecting sales of new housing. Furthermore, the sig- nificant growth of investor demand for new apartments in urban areas has arguably distorted the market by providing incentives for developers to build a product that meets the requirements of investors rather than those of occupiers buy- ing for the longer term. The residential development proc- ess emphasises buildability and standardisation, in a market context characterised by risk and uncertainty, and scheme design for developers tends to be dictated by the aim of maxi- mising the return on the number of units on relatively costly land. In planning policy design quality is now seen as a more important consideration, but there are competing priorities, for investment, regeneration and quantitative delivery. It is also claimed that many planning authorities lack the skills needed to negotiate better design. Consequently, as CABE audits continue to show, design quali- ty is highly variable, and only a minority of schemes achieve high standards. Schemes that are judged to meet the highest standards tend to result from situations where an enlighte- ned private land owner and developer have worked closely with the local authority to agree a master plan and detailed designs at the very outset of the development process, or where a public sector agency is the landowner, enters into a partnership with the developer and can impose conditions on the development that drive up design quality. This highlights