City Centre Urban Design Guide (SPG)

This design guide and strategy sets out the design principles for the city centre and is a Supplementary Plan.

This strategy was formally adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance to the city of Southampton Local Plan by the Corporate Committee of Southampton City Council on 1st of November 2000. As such, it forms a material consideration for development control purposes.

The Urban Design Strategy for Southampton city centre was commissioned by the city council in February 1999. The intention of the strategy is to provide a framework and design guidance for future development within the central part of the city building on the policies of the local plan or supplementary planning guidance.

The main requirement of the document is to provide an Urban Design Strategy that:

  • Improves the perception, image and visual quality of the city centre, appropriate for a leading city in the 21st century
  • Unifies development proposals to increase the physical coherence of the city centre
  • Achieves a high quality urban environment

There are additional important dimensions of the Urban Design Strategy that have influenced its preparation. These include:

  • Creating a shared vision between the council, potential development partners and wider community stakeholders
  • Setting urban quality thresholds
  • Providing a framework for longer term investment
  • Generating market interest
  • Promoting sustainability principles
Document Type Size
Front Cover and Forwardpdf681.6 KB
1 Introductionpdf465.4 KB
2 Aspirationspdf1.8 MB
3 The Current Urban Formpdf1.4 MB
4 The Urban Design Frameworkpdf803.8 KB
5 Character area guidelinespdf2.0 MB
6 Keynote Projectspdf1.7 MB
7 Implementation Strategypdf665.4 KB
8 Glossary of Termspdf72.3 KB