Diamond in the rough
Masterplan for Dalston Junction, London
Dalston Cross lies at the heart of one of the most diverse communities in the world. Despite being recognised by Abercrombie in his County of London Plan as one of the key nodes of Inner London, Dalston Cross had been consistently overlooked by successive generations of planners and developers. Consequently, at the time of this informal study, it was still, in Abercrombie’s words, a “central community with a high proportion of obsolescent property”.
The Dalston Community Forum, instigated by the late great Alan Badman, one time city planner and friend to Che Guevara, was established to agitate for a real development plan for the neighbourhood and its future. Responding to this situation on behalf of Dalston’s many existing communities and placing particular emphasis on access and inclusion, the Forum gave the name Dalston Diamond to this project.
CABAL’s masterplan of the Dalston Diamond was designed to work in a number of ways: As an interactive map of the area which will reveal information regarding its current occupants and users; As an exemplar design guide for forthcoming developments including the proposed Tube Station at Dalston Junction for the East London Line Extension; To make concrete proposals at different scales and over a variety of timelines for the future development of the Dalston Diamond.
Service: Masterplan
Location: Hackney, London
Client: Alan Badman and others
Cost: Undisclosed
Areas: XXm2
Dates: XX
To Live In To Learn In To Work In To Play In