Royal Albert Basin

The piecemeal development of the Docklands seems to have lead to some very different places in spatial terms. As mentioned in the lecture, the development at the Royal Albert Basin is fringed by The University of East London, the low density estates of Beckton and Gallions Reach, a drive-in shopping centre to the North. As well as its adjacency to the river and basin itself.
The University has no links to the area of Beckton. The only crossing of the tracks at Cyprus DLR station is when the students who live on campus do their shopping at Asda. Because of the Asda store being at the heart of Beckton and the Beckton DLR station close by, the people who live there tend not to bother crossing the busy dual carriageway to get to the huge Tesco and various stores of Gallions Reach. The students of the University choose in the main not to go to Gallions reach and either do their shopping at the Beckton Asda or even jump on the DLR at Cyprus station and go to Canary Wharf. The road infrastructure again is very problematic with no footpath along the side of the Royal Docks Road dual carriageway with the other options, to risk going through Winsor Park (scrubland beside the road) or along the desolate roads of the Royal Albert Basin site and beyond. By comparison Gallions Reach DLR station (the featured station in the lecture) is a quarter of the way to Gallions Reach from the University.
I suppose we can use the analogy of the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’, built to access the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge. There are big opportunities and many things in place in the Royal Albert basin area, which could be interesting and influential to the different parties but without the actual link it’s isolated, oversized and oversimplified and redundant to the cause of better place.
For the site itself, the lecture showed what a complicated story it has been to date and gave a great insight into the workings of any development of such size in a developed world city. Its very exciting the possibilities of using the tools at hand to influence a decision, whether that be friendliness with an individual or a commanding grasp of planning law. Perhaps most importantly being able to understand the interested parties agenda’s, and taking this into consideration while developing an approach for a better space.
I didn’t follow the final part about procurement too well, will have to ask further about that.
Did it feel like the current set of ‘advanced infrastructure’ was too much of a mirror to the advanced infrastructure of the past. That time nothing came of the surroundings, now little will be done in the short term and the site conditions may change all over again?
At least this round is more concerned with the local than the inter-local. Perhaps more can be done to address some of the issues mentioned above-I wouldn’t want to live there.