Oxford Circus Crossing-final

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Oxford Circus Crossing as Teleological, 
Catalytic and Relevant 
 
 
 
 
Gustavo Henrique Campos de Faria 
Student Number: 7755712 
EVLU 4018 – Principles of Urban Design 
Instructor Orly Linovski 
October 22nd - 2014 
 
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Introduction 
According to Inam, urban design is a field that can be misunderstood because it is 
composed of the field of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning and civil engineering. 
It is also perfunctory because the aesthetic form is considered more important than the real 
meaning: improvement of quality of life. (Inam, 2012). In order to describe meaningful urban 
design, Inam came up with urban design as “being teleological (i.e. driven by purpose rather than 
defined by disciplines); being catalytic (i.e. generating or contributing to long-term development 
processes); and being relevant (i.e. grounded in first causes and pertinent human values).” (2012, 
38). This paper draws together analysis and concepts from the reading of Meaningful Urban 
Design: Teleological/ Catalytic/ Relevant, Inam A., through the Oxford Crossing Circus project, 
developed in the busiest junction in London, United Kingdom. 
This paper is divided into three sections. First, it briefly explores the Oxford Circus 
Crossing project and its conception. In the second section, the Oxford Circus Crossing is 
analyzed as an urban design project. The third section explores the Oxford Circus from the 
notion of meaningful urban design cited by Inam, being analyzed as a Teleological, Catalytic and 
Relevant urban design. 
 
The Project 
Oxford Circus is an intersection between two of the busiest streets in the West End in 
London, UK: Oxford Street and Regent Street (Figure 01). This junction is composed of the 
biggest shopping area in London, and it is an important point for transport interchange with more 
than 20 bus routes and underground subway routes. This intersection receives more than 80 
million pedestrians per year. According to Coupe, et.al, “Over 40,000 people walk through the 
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junction at the busiest hours combined with 2,000 vehicles per hour moving along and between 
Regent Street and Oxford Street.” (2013, 25). The mixed use as a visiting and shopping area and 
a transport connection has created significant problems including congestion of roads and 
sidewalks as well as safety concerns. 
 
The old Oxford Circus layout was addressed of: 
“Until late 2009, the layout of Oxford Circus created problems rather than addressing 
the overwhelming demands for movement. Street-level crossings were set back along 
the approaches away from the ‘desire lines’ where people wanted to cross. Stairways 
to the underground station took up valuable room and stone balustrades around the 
four corners of the junction created zones of dead space in some areas while 
funnelling pedestrians through other areas.” (Coupe, et.al, 2013, 25). (See Figure 02). 
In order to solve this problem, a group of specialists developed a project that allows 
pedestrians to cross this intersection in six different ways, diagonally and laterally. As a solution 
Figure 01: Junction between Oxford Street and Regent Street – Oxford Circus Crossing 
Source: http://www.atkinsglobal.com/projects/oxford-circus-diagonal-crossing 
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 Coupe, et.al cites, “(…) a special project team jointly led by consultant Atkins developed a 
solution to free up the space by providing new diagonal crossings, repositioning and widening 
the straight-across ones, removing the stone balustrades and providing two thirds more space by 
widening footways. The team also proposed a radical reduction in street clutter (…)” (2013, 26) 
(See Figure 03). With that, the project provides freedom of movement for pedestrians increasing 
the area of circulation and the ability to transition quickly thus reducing the congestion of 
footways. The project was inspired by Tokyo's Shibuya crossing. 
 
Denotative Urban Design 
Analyzing the Oxford Circus Crossing as an urban design project, one might take into 
consideration that it was developed in order to improve the pedestrian experience and the 
functionality of the city, and it was created with a useful and purposeful direction within the 
urban design description of Inam. According to Inam, the field of urban design is a mix of 
architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and civil engineering (Inam, 2002, 37). 
Figure 02: Junction between Oxford Street and Regent Street – Oxford Circus Crossing 
Source: Visualising the New Oxford Circus junction in London, UK. Civil Engineering Special Issue, p. 26 
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Through the redesign of the intersection, it established an improvement in the functioning of the 
space, creating new paths that allow the facility and safety for pedestrians. It also provided better 
fluidity in traffic. It is possible considering that both pedestrians and motorists respect their paths 
and time. According to Webster, “Six intersecting paths encourage pedestrians to reach their 
destination quickly and minimise congestion. Furthermore the flexible crossing reduces the 
number of people jumping out between lights changing and thus contributes to smoothing the 
flow of traffic.” (2012, 04), (See Figure 03). As a complement, the team who worked on this 
project was composed of a multidisciplinary crew such as engineer, architect, city planner, urban 
planner, and transport planner, and it also had an in-depth study about the uses and users in the 
area. With that, Oxford Circus Crossing includes the basic elements described by Inam, being 
considered as an urban design project.
 
 
Figure 03: Space utilization analysis 
Source: Visualising the New Oxford Circus junction in London, UK. Civil Engineering Special Issue, p. 31 
Space utilisation 
Static pedestrians 
High 
Low 
A = Queuing zone 
B = Movement zone 
Existing Site Proposed Scheme 
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Urban Design as Teleological 
 As Teleological, Inam defines as an ongoing process with built form products facing 
social developments including community, economic, international, sustainability and fecund 
urban environments. (Inam, 2012). 
Taking this concept as a tool to analyze the Oxford Circus Crossing as Teleological, the 
project started by taking into consideration the pedestrian experience in a troubled area that 
involves thousands of people and vehicles in a shopping area. The area was revitalizated, and 
physical barriers that were once used to direct the passage of pedestrians were removed, the area 
for the pedestrian walk has increased considerably, and leveling the pavement of the sidewalks 
and street designs and floor began to direct pedestrians to safe crossings. The whole project was 
developed in order to improve safety, security and quality of life for all users. (See Figure 04). 
Creating a new cityscape for the area, the work team provided not a new morphology for this 
area, but they also created an improvement of the relationship to all classes of the population that 
use this area. They also take as a reference Tokyo's Shibuya crossing, using it as a way to learn 
about the solutions of the same problem in other countries. 
 
Figure 04: The renewed Oxford Circus in Operation 
Source: http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Europe+Largest+Diagonal+Crossing+ 
Launched+X0ncJ8a6ywhl.jpg 
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Urban Design as Catalytic 
 Inam subdivides Catalytic urban design as a community development, economic 
development and international development (See Table 01). 
Table 01 – Elements of Urban Design as a Catalytic 
Community 
Development 
 
“Urban design as a catalyst for, or as active component of, community 
development consists of intelligent community participation in projects 
facilitated by dialogue between community representatives and urban 
designers and community leadership that is representative of community 
views, institutional partnerships (e.g. between private and non-profitsectors) 
and decision-making structures (e.g. simulations and games) that lead to 
enabling urban environments, and the soft-programming of urban design (e.g. 
incorporation of public expression and cultural identity, and activities, events 
programmes and services integrated with the built forms).” (Inam, 2012, 39-
41) 
Economic 
Development 
 
“Urban design as a catalyst for, or as active component of, economic 
development involves designing projects that generate employment on a long-
term basis, attract investment into deprived areas and increase business and 
tax revenues. In this context, a city is not only a spatial concentration of a 
large number of people, but also contains a density of economic activites.” 
(Inam, 2012, 42). 
International 
Development 
 
“Urban design as a catalyst for, or as active component of, international 
development takes the guise of sensitivity to context, the generation of cross-
cultural learning and directly addressing issues which arise out of the 
continuing phenomenon of economic globalization.” (Inam, 2012, 45). 
 
First, Coupe, et.al say, “At the start of the project a communications strategy was 
developed which went far beyond the normal practices of public consultation through 
exhibitions, leaflets and meetings.” (2013, 27), showing that the criteria of community 
development was an important step in the development of this project (See Attached 01, form 
used to obtain information about users). Second, as a Transport Committee of London cites, 
“The West End is world renowned as a destination for shopping. The experience of Oxford 
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Street, Regent Street and Bond Street should live up to this reputation – providing truly world 
class leisure and tourism facilities.” (2010, 26). With that, this project encompasses the second 
element of the catalytic urban design: economic development. Considering that this area is 
designed especially for shopping and public transport connection, the work team wondered about 
the future, and solved emergent problems such as congestion of footways and roads diagnosed 
until the due date of this project, in order to improve the experience of the users in this area, 
creating a better space for customers and tourists that attend this Central London area and also 
improving the commerce. Confirming that, Webster cites, “Feedback from shop stores fronting 
onto the Circus was also generally positive, and they welcomed the more open aspect of the 
street. The Nike Town store reported a 9% increase in customer numbers for November 2009 
compared to 2008, which may be partially related to these street improvements.” (2012, 06). As 
an international development element, the Oxford Circus Crossing is composed of an in-depth 
study of the area, its users, and similar projects that solved the same problem in other countries 
in order to determine the best solution for the site according to the context of the area and its use 
(See Figure 05 and Figure 06). 
 
Figure 05: Individual pedestrians in a Legion Figure 06: The Vissim vehicle model of model 
Oxford Circus in of the proposed operation 
Source: Visualising the New Oxford Circus junction in London, UK. Civil Engineering Special Issue, 
p. 29-30. 
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Urban Design as Relevant 
Inam defines relevant urban design as “urban design that is pertinent to matters at hand 
(e.g. critical urban issues), and that is based on fundamental human and natural conditions.” 
(Inam, 2012, 48). With that, the Oxford Crossing Circus is a project that was necessary 
according to the actual needs of this area. All projects should be able to undergo changes over 
time, in view of nothing is permanent in urban design. Over time, new needs will arise and new 
proposals will emerge to meet the new needs. Thereby, the creation of six crosswalks, a new 
design of signaling and increased area of circulation of pedestrians was the solution to the 
problems diagnosed until the time of the elaboration of the project. Therefore, this project was 
just the beginning of several others that will arise according to the needs of each season. (See 
Figure 07). 
 
Figure 07: Before / Construction / After 
 
Source: Lessons Learned Report, Oxford Circus 
Crossing, March 2010. 
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Conclusion 
 As an important view of urban design, one might see that it is not only a project. It 
involves several factors such as user, use, area, necessities, and so on, showing that urban design 
projects are always changing over time as soon as new necessities will emerge. The Oxford 
Circus Crossing is considered as an urban design project because it had an in-depth case study, 
trying to find the best solution for the current problem of excess of people and vehicles in a 
central area in London. With that, they choose as a main conception the pedestrian experience, 
and through analyses they solved the problem creating a renewed area with new functionalities 
and aesthetic form. Therefore, the Oxford Circus Crossing encompasses aesthetic, form, 
functionality, economy, politics, and social development, qualifying it as a meaningful urban 
design described by Inam. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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References 
Inam, A. (2002). "Meaningful Urban Design: Teleological/ Catalytic/ Relevant." Journal of 
Urban Design 7(1): 35 - 38. 
Couple, G., Greenwood, C., Fraser, P., & Hinks, M. (2014, May). Visualising the New Oxford 
Circus junction in London, UK. Civil Engineering Special Issue, 25-32. 
Webster, G. F. (2012, January). Better Streets Review. Urban Design London. 
Lecture conducted from Transport for London, London. 
Pidgeon, C. (Chair), Shawcross, V. (Deputy Chair), Arnold, J., Borwick, V. (Rapporteurs for this 
investigation), Cleverly, J., Jones, J., McCartney, J., O’Connell, S., Tracey, R. (2010, 
February). Streets ahead Relieving congestion on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond 
Street. London Assembly. Lecture conducted from Transport Committee, London. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Attached 01: Form used to obtain information about users opinion 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Attached 02: Peer Review