New designs

Sir, I agree with Magnus Linklater’s call for design champions (Comment, Aug 16).

He is correct to identify the decline of city planning with the fall of the grand patron and the rise of the developer. Those patrons — informed by a broad education and inspired by the desire for a legacy — produced some great landmarks and cityscapes. And it is quite true that design now struggles to be heard at a town planning scale in the modern developer-led approach, which favours development site by site.

Critically, our planning system, which is more of a “stopping system”, suffers from a lack of strategy as well as resources. It must be beefed up if high-quality urban design is to stand a chance.

Patronage is too undemocratic for these times. So why not have accountable city architects instead? They would need to have sufficient authority to be effective champions of good design and a resource for advice and information. As government disperses to regions, cities and neighbourhoods, then let us have design champions in regional assemblies, development agencies and local authority cabinets, all empowered to give a clear lead.