The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Thebusiness
life back into the city centre and making it a 21st century environment.
“There is a lot of sense in a lot of these public engagement activities to enrich the cultural environment because you start to see a difference very quickly. But when it comes to the physical creation of buildings, that part of it has a longer timeline and there could be the perception that nothing is being done.
“I think it is important that people start to see something happening in the process because this has got quarter of a century timeline to it, and necessarily so because cities need time to evolve.
“Having said that, I know there is some discussion within the city council at the moment within the masterplan and the consultancy team about what would an intervention be, major economic or cultural stimulus to drive some transformation to the community and the thinking around that is really beginning to happen now, because architecture plays a role within the masterplan as well as issues around urban design.”
Lastly councillor Boulton reinforced that it was not just the council’s responsibly to shape the future of the Granite City, but that of everyone who lives and works there.
She said: “The council has had a habit of saying ‘this is what we do’, but we are not the experts. We now want to empower the experts to see what they can bring to the table to support us.
“There has been quite a shift in the officer’s mind sets. But it is about feeling like we don’t have to do everything. It’s about making sure that we all own the masterplan. At the moment the union terrace gardens plans are in and will come to full council for determination and we have Broad Street where we have partially pedestrianised that’s a key theme of the plan.
“How can we make it accessible but make spaces that are non-accessible other than to pedestrians, for instance to cyclists. It’s about having appropriate spaces and it’s about understanding the nature of transport in the city, maybe the lack of public transport. It’s about capturing people’s imagination.”