1.4 MASTERPLAN
The need to consider the role that a stadium plays in its wider context is vital in terms of justifying the natural and financial resources required. These high-profile projects should be role models for positive urban development and regeneration, underpinned by cohesive and integrated masterplans.
“STADIUMS NEED TO TO BENEFIT THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITIES”
In order to deliver in this regard, stadiums need to benefit their local communities. The focus should be on a development aligned with a city’s growth ambitions and aspirations, which establish the investment and long-term relationships expected.
In this context, stadiums can be a means to fulfilling pre-existing ambitions such as healthier communities or the hosting of specific global events. The aim should be to ensure that a stadium can deliver value for public money, long-term private investments, and most importantly, popular support.
The masterplan becomes the framework for how the stadium project meets these aspirations and places it within its wider context, addressing the issues of scale, land use and its integration into existing transport systems and utilities.
Figure 1.4.1
Rural and urban stadium development
DEFINITION
A stadium of any size and capacity has an influence on its immediate surroundings and neighbourhood. A stadium development project is often the catalyst for further regeneration and has the power to influence beyond the site’s boundaries out into the wider neighbourhood, local municipality and across a whole region.
How the stadium integrates into its urban context is a fundamental part of a its overall success. Several key questions and factors need to be analysed, evaluated and implemented as part of the project development.
The project team should consider the full life cycle of the masterplan to determine the impact on the surrounding context and how a stadium development can positively improve and enhance the local area.
This will also allow the project to quantify its impact on the immediate environment and landscape and to establish a biodiversity net gain.
The stadium’s use on non-matchdays requires careful planning to demonstrate how the project can offer the local community both physical and intangible benefits. Projects should establish the stadium’s typical weekly and daily usage patterns and a wider masterplan.
The masterplan should include any future events that the stadium would be likely to bid for. There is also an opportunity to understand the aspirations for the area immediately around the stadium and how it could be designed to accommodate alternative and/ or additional functions and events (see Sub-Section 1.6.3 for further details).
The incorporation of flexible spaces will allow the masterplan to be adaptable in its design and be able to respond to future event-specific requirements. Such spaces should also incorporate allowances for changing trends in human behaviour, technological advancements and how live sport and entertainment will be consumed in the future.
PROJECT IMPLICATIONS AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Major masterplan considerations for all stadium projects are primarily related to the balance that must be struck between an optimistic and aspirational outlook and the pragmatic and realistic options for a site.
Singapore Sports Hub
The stadium and its surrounding area
“A STADIUM OF ANY SIZE AND CAPACITY HAS AN INFLUENCE ON ITS IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS AND NEIGHBOURHOOD”
Successful stadium projects and masterplans often share key themes or strategies decided at the outset of the project and may include the following:
• Considering the proximity to adjacent water bodies and the impact on nearby wildlife
• Reaching out and responding to existing or proposed developments nearby
• Making access to the stadium for all spectators as inclusive, efficient and effortless as possible
• Minimising resources and sharing key infrastructure and services
• Assessing the impact on the local community and establishing a stakeholder engagement and communication process
• Engaging with local private and public transport providers to quantify and determine the impact that any stadium development will have on the transport network
Therefore, many of the aspects discussed in Section 1.3 can be extended to the masterplanning process.