[Anonymous]

Aesthetically, and from an urban planning point of view, what do you think of this hillside?

In my opinion there is something wrong with it, but I can’t put my finger on what. Is it the lack of harmony in building designs, or are the plots too small or perhaps it’s the landscaping? Whatever it is, it just doesn’t look quite right. Or is it just me?

I should say that by Spanish / modern standards, it’s not half bad. I’m just being very critical.

I’m also interested to know whether users of this forum are interested in issues like urban planning, design, landscaping, and the built environment we live our lives in. Or is it only investment issues that get people talking?

Mark

[katy]

Seen worse but it is not exactly pleasing on the eye. Maybe because they do not uniformly cascade downwards. There doesn’t seem to be any urban planning just planning permission given for individual plots

We recently spent a week in around Naples, Italy and one of the stunning sights was the villages perched on the mountains, South of France too. None seem to have got caught up in the boom

[Anonymous]

the size of the buildings are to big they take up large blocks and as there is no uniformity to the way they are built it just looks odd

[angie]

The 1st thing that’s wrong is IMO it would have looked better left as a green hillside as would many hillsides in Spain esp on the Costas.

However, having been built on the properties are too many and too large, no uniformity, but as you say it’s better than most.

I bet the 1st buyers there were told by the agents/developer, ‘nothing else will be built on it, it will remain green forever so don’t worry’, ‘it’s all zoned as a green area’!! ‘You cannot lose’!!!

[Anonymous]

There is nothing wrong with building and development per se. It’s the way it’s done that matters. Some hillsides have to be developed or we would have nowhere to live.

[Anonymous]

The (IMO) mish mash of unattractive buildings are dull in colour. Often, on a hillside, they are painted white or are a pleasant sandstone colour.

[angie]

Mark, you’re right about nothing wrong with building per se, however in Spain it’s indiscriminate building on most green hills on the Costas.

They don’t build on so many hills in the UK, in Italy ancient views and hills are more protected. You wouldn’t get away with overbuild on green areas there.

But back to Spain, they just overdo the number of builds everywhere as their new unsolds prove.

[peterhun]

Some of the buildings are facing the wrong direction so they conflict with the flow of the hillside and the other buildings. Its worse than the mismatched designs as its breaks up the flow of the entire hill.

[Fuengi (Andrew)]

@mark wrote:

Aesthetically, and from an urban planning point of view, what do you think of this hillside?

In my opinion there is something wrong with it, but I can’t put my finger on what. Is it the lack of harmony in building designs, or are the plots too small or perhaps it’s the landscaping? Whatever it is, it just doesn’t look quite right. Or is it just me?

Easy, the problem is that the town looks quite old/traditional in style, yet the buildings outside of town are far more modern. Most seem to be within the style of the older buildings, yet there appears to be a wood house and 2 or 3 very modern buildings. These building conflict with the existing harmony. They should also maintain the colour scheme of this (northern?) town.
Also with so many trees on the hill, it would be more charming if more of them were nestled between the greenery.

@mark wrote:

I’m also interested to know whether users of this forum are interested in issues like urban planning, design, landscaping, and the built environment we live our lives in. Or is it only

I am. Personally I am a big fan of introducing as much biodiversity as possible into the built up areas.
Town planning is also of interest, I do appreciate the organic feel of many Spanish towns and have grown either incrementally or in spurts.

[Anonymous]

@peterhun wrote:

Some of the buildings are facing the wrong direction so they conflict with the flow of the hillside and the other buildings. Its worse than the mismatched designs as its breaks up the flow of the entire hill.

Yup, to my eye that’s the issue too.

As for your question (Mark) about discussions on non-investment issues. I’m interested in a broadening out of the usual investment discussions. Perhaps built environment is now more approriate, as Spain seems to have become undesirable to investors.

[Aunty Val]

My view is that you have three larger buildings (white, bottom left) and two to the right, further up the hill which distort the whole perspective.

Town planning is a joke in Spain – essentially anything goes on urban land and it means that there is little coordination throughout one village, let alone larger towns or conurbations.

[Anonymous]

Be careful what you wish for……

Whilst the picture seems to show a degree of non-uniformity, perhaps even haphazard planning,…. isn’t that part of what makes Spain appealing..? God forbid that they follow our example here in the UK……CDS / Murcia et al.
The thought of uniform rows of ‘lookalike’ buildings within this type of setting is horrendous.
It may not be perfect, ( and it’s difficult to know if this is part of a greater rural setting..? ) but it is what it is…..things like colour, designs etc are all in the eye of the beholder…some like it ,…some not. On one hand we critices the over development of CDS/Murcia etc, and then we look for faults in area’s like this….what do we really want..?

Whilst the administration systems of governance, legal processes etc, may benefit from tightening of control procedures, and a degree of consistancy, I personally wouldn’t want to lose the typically Spanish appeal of locations like this.

JMHO

[katy]

Looks fairly over-developed to me! There are some hillsides around the CDS that look less developed than that photo.. Maybe it is just the style/colour/size of the buildings…they all look a bit like office blocks.

[Anonymous]

at least its not so over developed it looks crowded

[katy]

It is crowded to Elviria and Las Chapas hills where I lived in Marbella. Not my idea of villa living.

[Anonymous]

@mark wrote:

Aesthetically, and from an urban planning point of view, what do you think of this hillside?

Picture a vertical line going down through the apex of the hill.

For me, to the left of the line is acceptable, to the right looks hideous.

Overbuild appears to be the problem, less is more.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone provide a picture of a hillside (anywhere in the world) that has been sympathetically developed? A sort of benchmark we can use to understand what works, and what doesn’t?

Here’s a benchmark of how not to do it under any circumstances (can anyone guess where it is?)

[attachment=0:2sy76kev]how-not-to-develop.JPG[/attachment:2sy76kev]

Mark

[angie]

Looks like ‘Hell’ to me Mark! 👿

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I cannot help with a sympathetically developed hillside.

However, I am always surprised that we don’t see more “earth sheltered” homes in Spain. It seems that these designs would be well suited to the climate, and blend into the countryside easily. Maybe the people who made all those Andalusian cave homes knew a think or two.

Here is an example of an earth sheltered home:

From this site: http://archidose.blogspot.com/2009/06/ae14-earth-berms-21st-century-style.html

I’m guess they are too radical for most developers/buyers, and I believe that the build cost is higher too. Heating and aircon costs are reckoned to be drastically lower than a conventional home.

[katy]

My ideal built on hillsides are where the buildings are close together leaving the rest of the countryside intact. Many years ago Mijas looked stunning from the coast. Now it has all blended into one mess. Ojén a few mins from marbella is still quite picturesque. Guadalest behind the Costa Blanca used to be stunning but haven’t seen it for about20 years at least.

Santorini and Lindos in Rhodes are nice.

We spent a few days here recently..magic. Not far from Cannes and Nice.

click on the 3rd and 5th photos on the left.
http://www.annuaire-mairie.fr/photo-auribeau-sur-siagne.html

[katy]

@mark wrote:

Can anyone provide a picture of a hillside (anywhere in the world) that has been sympathetically developed? A sort of benchmark we can use to understand what works, and what doesn’t?

Here’s a benchmark of how not to do it under any circumstances (can anyone guess where it is?)

[attachment=0:u0jqjbln]how-not-to-develop.JPG[/attachment:u0jqjbln]

Mark

Looks very similar to the view from the CDS toll road on the section Calahonda to La Cala?

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark,

The photo of the Spanish hillside has many problems, most of which have already picked up on this thread. However, i don´t agree with some posters views that the density of development on the hillside is too high. In my opinion, there are many excellent examples of high desity development on hillsides that do not detract materially from the landscape.

The problems, assumming planning permission was granted for the units, are as follows:

1. Scale and massing of development
2. Lack of urban design in respect of the orientation of the units
3. Lack of development control policy that determines finishing materials for external walls and roofs, roof styles, and plot size to development ratio
4. The development plots on the hillside do not appear to have been planned by an urban designer and as a result appears hap-hazard. Its possible that further development of the hillside is still to be finalised? Crazy as it sounds, further development may improve the appearance of the hilliside though only if undertaken in a more sympathetic manner.
5. Too many different building styles and no commonality between the designs.

There´s my thoughts for what they are worth!

[Author]

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