The transformation of London's public spaces: thoughtful and uplifting design for parks, squares and and riverside walks is vital to our wellbeing

When your city is crowded, the spaces between buildings can matter most, dictating how we travel, impacting on our mental and physical wellbeing and influencing our social lives.

In London, done well, we are talking Granary Square at King’s Cross on a sunny evening, with crowds hanging out on the waterfront terrace and kids playing among the fountains.

But done badly, city space can appear dismal, pointless and depressing — a daily bad experience, such as the unused concrete amphitheatre in front of City Hall.

London is currently enjoying a renaissance in small-scale public design to an extent not seen since the time of the Victorians, who put so much emphasis on providing public parks and squares. Still enjoyed today, these spaces are seen as vital to the wellbeing of city dwellers.

“If public space is designed well it can do so much to enhance our lives,” says Sadie Morgan, co-founder of Stirling Prize-winning architects dRMM and a design adviser to the Mayor and the Government.

“It is the place where people interact day to day, and it defines our choices. Do I feel comfortable walking from A to B? Is it a pleasant environment? Are there places to stop and meet friends? Greenery and open space, and the vibrancy they create, really make the city.”

The recent New London Architecture awards honoured a series of London’s best new public spaces, from riverside walks to re-imagined shopping streets; from pollution-cutting road revamps to small and imaginative oases of green cropping up in the heart of the City.

Tucked behind Liverpool Street station, the Eighties-built Broadgate Campus is being redeveloped with a string of outdoor spaces designed by DSDHA.

The architect has designed a series of timber seats and planters to tempt workers from their offices and into the open air at Broadgate Circle, Finsbury Avenue Square and Broadgate Plaza.

In March planning permission was granted for a one-and-a-half-acre open space at Exchange Square, complete with a water feature, a restaurant and an event space.

The £1.5 billion, 32-acre campus, being developed by British Land and GIC, also has shops, gyms and restaurants.

About 30,000 people work in what will become the biggest pedestrianised neighbourhood in central London.

As well as giving them somewhere to sit and eat their sandwiches at lunchtimes, Chris Grigg, British Land chief executive, believes like many today that high-quality public spaces could improve Londoners’ mental health.

A report commissioned for the firm found that stress is triggered by the sight of blank walls and the sound of traffic noise, while clean air is linked to improved mental alertness, and —as Sadie Morgan also suggests — people are simply more likely to go out and walk or cycle if they have a pleasant, convenient and safe environment in which to do so.

“Introducing more communal seating and recreational areas encourages social interaction and relationships, one of the most powerful drivers of human health,” concludes the British Land report.

Rethinking how London’s roads work is a major theme of many current projects. “There is a greater awareness that streets are for people, not just vehicles,” says New London Architecture chairman Peter Murray.

“There is a desire to create a more people-friendly city. Streets are public spaces as well as parks and squares.”

Camden council is in the process of spending £35 million on upgrading the dispiriting area around Tottenham Court Road, with the help of funding from Transport for London and local developers.

In April Tottenham Court Road’s one-way system was replaced by two-way traffic to cut congestion and pollution.

Pavements will be widened, a series of small “parklets” built, and cycle safety improved. Next year an Oxford Circus-style diagonal road crossing will be built, and when at last the Crossrail-related building works finish, this sad eastern end of Oxford Street should be transformed.

London’s ancient landowners are also investing in their estates, calculating that beautiful streets plus interesting shops and restaurants will inevitably equal higher rents.

Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s property firm, has spent millions not only upgrading the look of its key Belgravia streets — Mount, Elizabeth, and Motcomb — but also “curating” their shops and businesses.

Mount Street is now lively again with fashion brands, Elizabeth Street is a cute urban village with pavement tables, and at the end of the year the Grade II-listed Pantechnicon building is set to reopen as a food and fashion hub in pretty-as-a-picture Motcomb Street, which has been partially pedestrianised and given some 1,200 new plants.

“We want to offer a better quality of life and standard of living for our local community,” says Drew Pinazza, senior development manager at Grosvenor. “We need to provide the best environment possible.”

These projects can have impressive, and quantifiable, practical impacts.

The City of London has just spent £23 million restoring the Sixties gyratory system around Aldgate Square to two-way traffic as part of the beautification of the area.

Meanwhile, following the completion of the air pollution project at the adjacent Sir John Cass’s Foundation Primary School in St James’ Passage, Duke’s Place air quality is within recommended limits for the first time since monitoring began in 2003.

In central London these changes are largely funded by wealthy landowners, local businesses and developers, who reap the financial benefits of making their patch as pleasant as possible to attract visitors, office renters and tourists.

“It is more difficult in outer London,” says New London Architecture’s Murray. “Local councils do understand what is needed to create quality spaces, particularly around high streets, but it is much more difficult for them to find the money.”

At Nine Elms one of the most impressive new public spaces in the city is the Thames River Path, dotted with art installations, seating, planting and pavilions.

The first section opened last summer and when completed in about three years, the walk will run the length of Nine Elms, opening up previously inaccessible parts of the riverside and linking into existing sections of the path in Wandsworth and central London.

Stratford Waterfront is the former Olympic Park’s cultural neighbourhood, featuring an outpost of the V&A, Sadler’s Wells’ new theatre, the London College of Fashion and the BBC, all beside the stadium.

It will include a long promenade along the Waterworks River where terraced steps will overlook the water. A public square will host pop-up film screenings, live music and markets. The site will also include 600 homes, due to go on sale around 2023.

The New West End Company, representing local businesses, has spent £10 million since 2017 on upgrading Bond Street, to reduce traffic, while bringing in additional upscale fashion brands including Chloe, Stella McCartney, Loewe and Givenchy.

All of this is intended to polish up Bond Street’s act against competition from the likes of the newly revived Covent Garden, Marylebone High Street and Dover Street.