Characteristics of Hull

John Netherwood from Hull Civic Society has sent Arc the following text from a document produced by the Civic Society in January this year:

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Characteristics of Hull:

Positives

• Human Scale
• Low rise
• Completely flat – therefore nearly all views are “man made”
• Outstanding water fronts
• Unusually hard edges for a major city – but this helps to make it feel compact
• Being split in half by River Hull creates sense of place and identity
• By being largely cut off from the rest of the country, historically, it has the feeling of a “city state”. Very self sufficient place.
• Still has a strong villagy feel
• Rich architectural detail in centre/ high quality old buildings
• Intact medieval Old Town
• Seven radial roads – getting about is easy
• Rich historical heritage – but under exploited (Civil War/ Pilgrim Fathers/ Bounty etc)
• Centre is a set of linked distinct areas – as per CCAAP
• Large pedestrian areas
• Wide tree-lined boulevards on outskirts
• Major central park- but looking neglected and needs opening up
• Outstanding museums – but one or two more major attractions required on scale of the Deep
• Some good public art but needs more – e.g. Newcastle
• Own train set – Hull Trains
• Lovely indoor market – but heavy under investment compared with, say, Barcelona
• Old industrial area – Wincolmlee – needs exploiting and renovating
• Plenty of parking round city centre for shoppers
• Water into the heart of the city
• Very “quirky" place
• Many good old historic pubs
• Very close to beautiful countryside and some of the best coastline in the country
• Humber Bridge
• Its own ferry service
• Very close links to continental Europe
• Overall the city is like a collection of linked villages and this could be exploited more – smaller units of locality need to be emphasised. The concept of eight regional centres each serving 30,000 residents, seems two big – needs emphasis on neighbourhood - centres of amenity within walking distance , serving, say, 10,000 people.

Negatives

• Poor quality and attractiveness of paving out of city centre
• Many parts of the city still have a downtrodden feel.
• Too few street trees
• Needs more of a “continental feel”
• Lack of views over the city (being flat) – needs a viewing tower
• Twenty derelict railway bridges ring the city – a great eyesore
• Large proportion of private property has derelict looking boundary walls, making streets look tatty – needs public intervention, like in St. Georges Rd.
• Lack of residents pride in their city and lack of appreciation of how good it is compared with very many places.

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What do you think about the above? Leave your comment below!