The closure of the Office for Place has caused dismay in some quarters, but its title is laden with questionable assumptions, and its absorption within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government may present an opportunity to get the priorities right. The title ‘The Office for Place’ puts the priority on the “view from outside” – the arrangement of buildings so as to create “place”. But the buildings themselves exist only to serve human needs, to be occupied, and they are grouped because they are needed in particular locations, generally for economic reasons. The “place” is a by-product.

The design of the buildings and their grouping should therefore be geared to optimising conditions of occupation, including environmental conditions. Emphasis on “place,” however, prioritises the experience of people outside the building rather than those inside it. The word “place” is indeed chosen to emphasise picturesque values and is redolent of “townscape.” Those are indeed apparently the values of Nicholas Boys Smith, chair of the Office for Place until its closure and founder of the pressure group Create Streets, whose objective is spelt out in its name.

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