Unit I - Introduction to Urban Design

8/10/2019 Unit I - Introduction to Urban Design

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roduction to Urban Design - UNIT I 8/25/201

thish L

1. Introduction to Urban Design

L.Sathish

Associate Professor

School of Architecture

Meenakshi College of Engineering

Unit I

1. Components of Urban Space and their

Interdependencies

2. Outline of issues/ aspects of urban space and

articulation of need for urban design

3. scope and objectives of urban design as adiscipline


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Urban design is the process of designing and shapingcities, towns and villages. Whereas architecturefocuses on individual buildings, urban design addressthe larger scale of groups of buildings, of streets andpublic spaces, whole neighborhoods and districts, andentire cities, to make urban areas functional, attractive,and sustainable

Urban design is an inter-disciplinary subject that unitesall the built environment professions, including urban

planning, landscape architecture, architecture, civil andmunicipal engineering.

Urban design involves the arrangement

and design of buildings, public spaces,

transport systems, services, and

amenities.

Urban design blends architecture,landscaping, and city planning together

to make urban areas functional and

attractive.


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Urban design is about makingconnections between people andplaces, movement and urban form,nature and the built fabric. Urbandesign draws together the manystrands of place-making,environmental stewardship, social

equity and economic viability into thecreation of places with distinct beautyand identity.

the art of creating and shaping cities and towns

Urban design involves the arrangement and design ofbuildings, public spaces, transport systems, services, andamenities. Urban design is the process of giving form,shape, and character to groups of buildings, to whole

neighborhoods, and the city.

It is a framework that orders the elements into a networkof streets, squares, and blocks. Urban design blendsarchitecture, landscape architecture, and city planningtogether to make urban areas functional and attractive.


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Urban design is about making connections betweenpeopleand places, movement and urban form, nature and thebuilt fabric. Urban design draws together the many strandsof place-making, environmental stewardship, social equityand economic viability into the creation of places withdistinct beauty and identity.

Urban design is derived from but transcends planning andtransportation policy, architectural design, developmenteconomics, engineering and landscape. It draws these and

other strands together creating a vision for an area andthen deploying the resources and skills needed to bring thevision to life.

"The building of cities is one of man'sgreatest achievements." -Edmund Bacon

Urban design involves place-making - the creation of asetting that imparts a sense of place to an area.

This process is achieved by establishing identifiableneighborhoods, unique architecture, aesthetically pleasingpublic places and vistas, identifiable landmarks and focalpoints, and a human element established by compatiblescales of development and ongoing public stewardship.

Other key elements of placemaking include: livelycommercial centers, mixed-use development with ground-floor retail uses, human-scale and context-sensitive design;safe and attractive public areas; image-making; anddecorative elements in the public realm.


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Urban designpractice areas range in scale from smallpublic spaces or streets to neighborhoods, city-widesystems, or whole regions.

"Urban design and city building are surely among themost auspicious endeavors of this or any age, givingrise to a vision of life, art, artifact and culture thatoutlives its authors. It is the gift of its designers andmakers to the future. Urban design is essentially anethical endeavor, inspired by the vision of public art

and architecture and reified by the science ofconstruction." -Donald Watson

Urban design operates at3 scales:

the region

city and town

The

neighborhood

district and

corridor

the block

street andbuilding


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Urban Design Includes

Infrastructure, Architecture, Public Spaces

Components of Urban Space and theirInterdependencies

Buildings: Are the most pronounced

elements of urban design - they shape and

articulate space forming the street walls of

the city.

Public Space: Is the place where people

come together to enjoy the city and eachother. Great public spaces are the living

room of the city.

Streets: Are the connections between

spaces and places, as well as being spaces

themselves.


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Components of Urban Space and

their Interdependencies

Transport: Transport systems connect the

parts of cities and help shape them, and

enable movement throughout the city.

Landscape: Is the green part of the city that

weaves throughout. It appears in form of

urban parks, street trees, plants, flowers, and

water in many forms.

The creative articulation of spaceIs the most prominent aspect of urban

design. The following artistic principles are

an integral part of creating form and spatial

definition:Unity

Balance

Proportion

Scale

Hierarchy

Symmetry

Rhythm

Contrast

Context

Detail

Texture

Harmony

Beauty

Order

Refer-BasicDesignConc

ept

Urban

Streetsand

Squarebook


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Urban Design weaves together these elements into a coherent, organized design structure

The urban design structure defines the urban form and the building form

Examples of great urban design areall over the world:

Washington DC Cartagena,Columbia

Salt Lake City, UT

Copenhagen, Denmark Portofino, Italy Strasbourg, France

Siena, Italy A new City Aleppo, Syria


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The city as an act of will

Mans greatest achievement

Indicator of civilization

Noble citytrue expression

Mankind

Mass and Space

Awareness of space as Experience

Mass and Space - Interrelation

More Massless space design Form and Space

Egyptian Pyramiddominating

Chinese architectureState of Harmony

Islamic architectureDome

Christian Churches

Indian Temples

So in all cultures of the world, architectural form is anexpression of the philosophical interaction of the forces ofmass and space.

Defining Space


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Defining space

Much of greek architecture was designed to infuse

spaces with a spirit, and to serve as a link between

man and the universe by establishing a firm

relationship with natural space.

Volume of spaces that are in scale with the need

of present time and defined by means which are

harmony with modern technology.


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Articulating spaces

Architectural forms, textures, materials,

Modulation of light and shade, color all combine

to inject a quality or spirit that articulate space.

Urban design there should be skillful deploymentof architectural


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Space and Time

Space and Movement

Definition of Architecture

Involvemennt

Apprehensionrepresentation - realization

Urban Issues

Landuse

Traffic

Pedestrian

Vehicular movement

Open space Urban elements

People

Infrastructure


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Urban Design Definition

UD: at its broadest, UDis about theform ofcities. We may regard it as that element in theplanning process that is concerned withfinding an appropriate physical framework forhuman activities in cities.

Urban formmay be viewed in two or threedimensions, depending on the scale or level of

resolution at which the design process isoperating.

The Scope of Urban Design

From Historical, Professional, and PolicyContext.. Why?

to provide a framework for exploring the meaning and scope ofurban design in contemporary planning and urbandevelopment

Central Argument: UD is neither big architecture nor limited tourban landscape issues. It does not operate solely at the

interface between planning and architecture.UD isa problem-solving activity with applications to spatial

decision-making at all scales of urban planning


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The Scope of Urban Design

The need for UD as a disciplinehas arisenas aresult of the fundamental cultural, political, socialand economic changes.

Other issues include the impact of environmentalissues and quality of life on the nature of the cityand how urban form can best be adapted to ourcurrent and future needs.

It has proved difficult to provide a simple,commonly accepted definition of the scope of UD

Origins of Recent Urban Design Theory

Paul Sprieregaen Urban Design: the Architecture of Towns and Citieswas published in1965 The conventions of urban planning at this time favored rigidly-defined,

functionally-zonedurban development.

This was influenced by the International Modern Architectural Congress (CIAM)set upin 1920s in Europe by Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius & others.

Some of their ideas a wholesale renewal of the contemporary city through zoned,single-use high-rise developments.

At the same time, organic view of urban form, originating in the English Garden Citymovement, was being developed in the United States by Olmsted, Mumford, Perryand others. This suggested a regional model of the city, decentralized, low-densityand more suburban in character, hierarchically organized on the basis of semi-autonomous community-based neighborhood units or super-blocks


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In the United States in 1960s, the economist JanJacobs published her powerful critique ofmodern town planning in The Death and Lifeof Great American Cities, bringing theattention to the complexities of land usearrangements, and high-density living intraditional city blocks and the sharedactivities of the traditional city street in a

new light.


Defectors from CIAM formed Team X in 1953

exploring new low- and medium rise, high

density interwoven urban structures that

would allow opportunities for social exchange

and encounter that the international styleexcluded. This laid the theoretical basis for an

approach to urban renewal which emphasized

vehicular and pedestrian separation


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In the 1950s, Kevin Lynchat MIT began to devise newtechniques for analyzing and representing the perceptualstructure of cities His work, The Image of City, 1964 helpedgive rise to a new science of human perception and behaviorin the city.

Later, Scott Brown and Robert Venturipublished their bookComplexity andContradiction in Architecturequestioned theInternational style and advocated the catholic (conservative)approach to the use of architectural styles and symbolism


Ideas of a morphological approachto UDwas explored by Colin RoweofCornell University and others in Europe. The basic idea was to maintainand restore the traditional 19thcentury street pattern and form of urbanblock, street square, without constraining the contemporaryarchitectural expression of new building additions.

Aldo RossistheArchitecture of the City, 1989 introduce the notion of thecollective memory of the city with urban form as a repository of culturefrom generations past and from generations to come.

Rob Krierin his book Urban Space, 1984 sought to catalogue all possibleforms of urban spacegenerated from the geometric fundamentals ofcircle, square, and triangle.


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Reference

WikipediaUrban Design

Urban Design.org

Design of citiesEdmund Bacon

Urban Design Standards


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Reference Material

DesignUrban

Why Design Indian CitiesThan Just Plan Them?

Mahender VasandaniCNU-A, MRICS, FIUDI

President

M Square | Urban DesignM

RICS India: International City Conference, Taj Palace, New Delhi, October 8, 2012


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Design

UrbanGood Urban DesignIs Good for CitiesEspecially Indian Cities!

Why Design Indian Cities

Than Just Plan Them?

RICS India: International City Conference, New Delhi, Oct 12

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DesignUrban1. Urban Growth Challenges2. New Urban Solutions for Indian Cities

A.URBAN:Systematic Urban TransformationB. SUBURBAN: Walk-to-Work New Townships

(Examples of Good Urban Design)

3. Are We on Track?

4. Conclusion

What We Will Cover


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Sustainable Growth Patterns?

1. Indias Urban Growth Challenges


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Infrastructure Overload(New Roads Will Provide Only Temporary Solutions)

When Will We Get Out of This Mess(When We Use the Roads Less in Peak Hours!)



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Infrastructure Overload(Need More Transit Service)



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Source: McKinsey Quarterly: Cities: The Next Frontier of Global Growth

+1.2 m

+8.25 m

+7.50 m

+1.2 m+2.0 m


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2. New Urban Solutions for Indian Cities

Need Urban Design Solutions

Urban

Strategic Urban Design Plan

Systematic Urban Transformation

Urban Design Index (UDI) System

Needed Public Improvements

High Quality Urban Livability

Benefits to Developers,Customers, Community

and City

Suburban

Sustainable New Townships

Innovative Urban Design

Walk-to-WorkIntegrated Diversity



And City


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(New Growth &Public Realm)

(New Growth &Infrastructure Capacity)

Emphasis on Design of Public Places, Not Just ArchitectureGood Life Outside, Not Just Inside Buildings

Better Urban Livability/Civic Betterment

Good Urban Design


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Creative Landscapeand Art in thePublic Realm:

EnhancedCity Life

Good Urban Design


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How Private Projects

Meet Public Streets:Civic

Betterment

Good Urban Design


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The Private-Public Interface:

Inside Privacy &Outside Security

Good Urban Design


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Integrated Affordable Housing

Effective Mixing of Market & Non-Market Housing

Good Urban Design


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Seamless Integration of Private and Public DomainsPleasant Public Realm

Walkability Across Blocks

Good Urban Design


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Tower Placements & Slender Footprints, Height Limits: Maximum Views + Better Urban VentilationHigh Quality Urban Life; High Demand for In-City Living

Highly Successful Urban Transformation

UrbanDesignPlan

Good Urban Design


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Good Urban Design

One of the Top 10 Most Livable Cities for 10 Years!


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Good Urban Design:Good Strategy for Developers

What SellsUrban Design and What Makes a Place

Harvard Business School Course


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Good Urban Design DeliversHigh Profits for Owners & Investors

Good Urban Design:Good Money for Developers


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Good Urban Design

Urban

Strategic Urban Design Plan

Systematic Urban Transformation

Urban Design Index (UDI) System

Needed Public Improvements



and City

Suburban

Sustainable New Townships

Innovative Urban Design

Walk-to-WorkIntegrated Diversity



And City


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Vital:Need Better

Infrastructure,Services &

Governance

Good Skyline Wont Improve Urban Livability

: Current ConditionsUrban


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Current Focus: FSIs

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: Systematic TransformationUrbanNewSolutions


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: Current ConditionsSuburban


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Primarily Single-UseTownships

Current Focus:

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Walkability

(Best Form of Sustainability)

Affordable Housing

Integrated Diversity

Provide Integrated Uses for Walking to Work, Schools, Stores, Restaurants ,etc.

Better Livability, More Sustainable

: Walk-to-Work New TownshipsSuburbanNewSolutions


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KEY PRINCIPLES:

M

Public Realm:More Important

Skylines Less So!



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Enhancing Public Realmwith Good Architecture



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Place-making

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Good Urban Design

Urban Suburban


and the City

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Current Urban Planning(JNNURM Funds)

Key Planning Concepts of VUDA Plan:

Balanced Regional Development Ecological Balance Integrated Transportation System Hierarchical Regional Development Urban Heritage Low- and Medium-Rise Development Institutional Strengthening Parking Policy Solid Waste Disposal

No Consideration of Urban Design

3. Are We On Track?


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Vital Givens:

Good Start: JNNURM Funds> Comprehensive Plans (25% Cities)

Build on Early Comp Plan Success> Adopt Urban Design Policies

Plan Now to Achieve Aspirational Goals by 2030/2050:

Transform Existing Cities for Better Livability

+

Build Sustainable New TownshipsWith

4. Conclusion


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Good Urban Design

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DesignUrban

Thank You!


M


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Janmarg - Ahmedabad

Masterpieces of Indian Art & Architecture

New Delhi Capital Complex
http://d/Official/MCE/Teaching/Odd%20Semester/Urban%20Design/Unit%20I/Reference/A%20Short%20Video%20on%20Janmarg%20Ahmedabad.flv


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New Delhi

Obelisk-Jaipur Column; All India War Memorial Arch, 1911-1931


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Viceroys Palace: completed 1931: Edwin Lutyens

Viceroys Palace: completed 1931: Edwin Lutyens


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Viceroys Palace Dome [left] & Sanchi stupa [right]

Viceroys Garden, 1911-1931


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Viceroys Palace Gardens: completed 1931: Edwin Lutyens

Viceroys Palace Gardens: completed 1931: Edwin Lutyens


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Viceroys Palace [background] with Herbert Bakers Secretariat buildings in foreground:

Lutyens bakerloo

Viceroys Palace & one of two Secretariat buildings


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Caricature based on Mughal

miniature of Lutyens and Baker

presenting model of viceroys palace

and secretariat buildings to Lord

Irwin, viceroy of India.

Marjorie Shoosmith, 1931

LATER APPROACHES TO

URBAN DESIGN

LATER URBAN PLANNING

THEORIES AND PRACTICES


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The theoretical literature of western architecture

starts with Vitruvious,the Augustan architect,

and his treatise De Architectura. It was with

Vitruvious that this present search for a

theoretical understanding of urban design

appropriately began. More important for urban

design however, are the works of the

Renaissance scholars,Leone Battista Alberti,

Antonio Averlino Filarete, Serlio and Andrea

Palladio.

Alberti presented a great work calledDe Re Aedificatoriato PopeNicholas V in 1452 in which he established architecture as a learneddiscipline based upon principles articulated and structured byreason. In his text Alberti dealt also with elements of city design,streets, roads, and piazza.

Filaretes book Libro Architettonico, in which he wrote a treatiseon architecture in a modern language for the first time, a capital city,Sforzinda and a port city Plousiapolis is described in terms ofplanning, design and construction of the cityas well as itsinstitutional organisation.

It was, however with Palladio, who wrote the most influentialarchitectural treatise of the 16th century. His book covers thegeneral principles of architectural design, the Classical orders, thedesign of palaces, villas, etc. Like Alberti, he also dealt with thedesign of streets and piazzas.


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These names are of urban designers interest for thedevelopment urban formand the origins of urbandesignuntil the 19th century.

In the development of the urban form from early times tothe 19th century, the urban structure had in common thefact that the shape of towns and cities was very muchdetermined by people who had the social, political andeconomic powerto put their theories into practice.

Also, topography, climate, construction materialsandneed for defensewere the other urban form andplanning determinants.

However, modern urban structures - and so modernurban design- are different than the previous examplesbecause the organization of the society is fundamentally

different. In rest of the lecture, the most popular urban design

theories (together with the basic principles and ideasbehind) of the 19th and 20th centuries will be introducedin a chronological order.

Age of Reason - Public HealthActs

In the 18th century Europe, there were two significant developments in

the society:

(i) expansion of trade leading to growth of a new middle-class,

(ii) development of science.

The new working middle class could not afford to live in the grandhouses and palaces of the old aristocracy and this led to the

development of town houses and grand terraces (e.g. Regents Park,

by John Nash, London). More significantly, the middle class realized

that the old regimes were obstacles to the new capitalist economic

system. This led to revolution in America and in France.


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The development of science and rationalism influencedthe taste in architecture.

The architectural forms became more simple, refinedand rational. This was so called neo-classic planning.

This also provided basis for industrial revolutionbeginning in England and changed from handcrafts tomass production in factories - a new building typelocated in rapidly growing cities.

New urban settlements started to develop around thesefactories and this led to overcrowdingin cities.

So the important terms specializing the period areINDUSTRIALISATION, OVERCROWDINGandURBANISATION.

GarnierLa Cite Industrille 1901


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French architect Tony Garniers industrial city plan wasbased on rigorous zoning. By sitting housing area awayfrom the industrial area and city center, it removed much ofthe richness of traditional city life along with some of itssqualor. Personal transport is still a necessity.

Existing towns were transformed very quickly. Industryrequired new building types - factories, offices, railwaysand transportation systems, housing, governmentadministrative buildings, prisons, museums, theatres,etc. to serve the new society. There was also a big gapbetween Capital and Labor and new social problems.Overcrowding in urban housing led to disease anddeath. Urgent action had to be taken to prevent revoltand the loss of the workforce. In order to improve theliving conditions for the poor urban masses, PUBLICHEALTH ACTS were culminated in 1875 in England.


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Public Health Acts mainly aimed at improving sanitationand living conditions in general, for the poor urbanmasses and they prescribed minimum standards for urbanhousing with respect to the,

- level, width and construction of new streets andprovision for the sewerage thereof;

- structure of walls, foundations, roofs and chimneys forsecuring stability and the prevention of fires and for thepurpose of health;

- sufficiency of space about buildings, to secure a freecirculation of air, with respect of ventilation of buildings;

- drainage of buildings.

These regulations affected the form and the design of urban

housing and so urban planning in England. Similar casesand process of industrialization and urbanization can be

seen in many parts of the world.


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Boulevard Planning

Industrial revolution had a similar process in France butled to different results.

In England the concern was with health and good livingconditions; in France and especially in Paris the concernwas with preventing another revolution. Thus, after theRevolution in 1848 in France, Napoleon wanted Paris tobe redeveloped in such a way that no barricades wouldbe able to be built in the streets.

Baron Haussmannbrought a straight, pragmaticsolution to a highly practical problem by destroyingmany existing buildings and building up wideboulevards with the intention of focusing visually

and functionally on the great monuments of Pariswhich were connected to one another by theseboulevards.


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The new railway stations of Paris were also

connected to assure more efficient transportbetween them and the city centers. Theseboulevards were by no means designed for anykind of intrinsic beauty. They gave longperspective views towards the majormonuments, and also afforded the longestfeasible sight lines for Napoleons troops.Besides, with their round-points in front of oraround corners they also speeded up the flowof traffic. The trees, which seemed to

humanize the boulevards, together with thegreat width of the boulevards themselves,made barricade-building difficult too.


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Haussmanns Boulevard planning becamevery influential in many cities in the worldlike Vienna, Barcelona, Ankara, etc.; itbecame the norm towards which most greatEuropean cities were developed orredeveloped in 1870s.

Sittes Artistic Planning

Camillo Sitte, a Viennese architect and theoriginator of modern city planning, reactedagainst Haussmanns formal andmonumental planning, just as some others.Therefore he attempted to abstract principlesfor the design of plazas, streets and public

squares from the analysis of historicexamples, with particular reference to themedieval Italian city. In general, he dislikedintensely the boulevard approach which hadbeen so fundamental to Haussmann-likeplanning.


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In his book Der Stadbaupublished in 1889 andtranslated into English in 1965 under the name of CityPlanning According to Artistic Principles, heexamines the public and aesthetic nature of oldEuropean cities that have lived from the pre-industrialage without being damaged. He was concerned with cityplanning which he considered an art rather than ascientific object. He restricted his attention and concernto public squares wherein, he believed, lies the characterof a city.

He appreciated the informal irregularity of the oldsquares, their being natural and having picturesquequality. He mentioned the harmonious effect and thebalance they produce within the overall composition with

the impression of rhythm and peace they have. The informal freedom of design in classical and

medieval towns was considered by Sitte to be theleading idea of old city planning(Onal, 1994, p 35).

Many urban theorists since the 1950shave focused their attention on the generalvalue of Sittes study and have used hisideas as a basis for their own urbandesign concepts, although Sittes study of

urban space refers specifically to theEuropean city at the turn of the 19thcentury. Sittes ideas were also supportedby Julien Gaudet, the Director of the Ecoledes Beaux Arts in Paris.


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The City Beautiful

The next distinguishable movement in city

planning - the American City Beautiful was

opposite in principle to Sittes artistic

planning. It was rather based on

Haussmanns Boulevard Planning and first

seen at Chicago World Fair (Worlds

Colombian Exposition) in 1893.

Chicago had been developing through the 19thcentury as a great commercial center; and afterthe disastrous fire of 1871, the architects wereconcerned with the development of fire-resistingstructures for the office and warehouses, suchas steel-framed high buildings, skyscrapers withelevators, etc. (1883 by Le Baron Jenney).

However, steel-frame and elevators solved thetechnical problems but not the architectural

ones: the whole city was designed for theExposition by a group of architects yet thedesign looked like reproduction of Baroque. Yetthe exposition was supported by some businessmen who, having demonstrated their commercialskills, now wanted to buy cultural respectability.


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They wanted Chicago to be known, not only as

the commercial center of America, but also as

its cultural capital. To achieve this aim, theywanted to create a uniform and ceremonious

style - a style evolved from the highest

civilization in history - i.e. the Classical

examples, rather than the current medieval or

any other form of romantic or picturesque art.

Designed thus as it was in the Classical

manner, the Exposition, and so the city of

Chicago, naturally encouraged all those whohad been looking for a revival of that grand

approach to city planning.

Looking South across the Grand Plaza towards the Machinery Hal l at the

World 's Columbian Exposi t ion in Chicago.


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The influences of

the City Beautiful

Movement can beobserved in

England, especially

in the City Hall and

Law Courts at

Cardiff, the Civic

Center in

Southampton, and

the Civic Offices inPortsmouth.

The Garden City

The next great set of planning conventions, those of theGarden City movement were intended to free thepressures on such cities by decanting population to newand much smaller towns, built well outside the city invirgin countryside.

The chief exponent of this approach was Ebenezer

Howardwhose main concern was to stem the drift ofpopulation-limited to 32.000 people-from rural to urbanareas presenting the alternatives as town and countrymagnets, each of which has its attractions andcorresponding disadvantagesinegration of town andcountry.


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He characterizes the town as closing out nature

and catalogues many disadvantages such as

the isolation of crowds, distances from work,

high rents and prices, excessive hours of

work, etc.

He then balances these with some advantages,

such as social opportunity, places of

amusement, high wages, fresh air, low rents,etc.

Howards notional plans, which were firstpublished in Tomorrow: A Peaceful Pathto RealReform(1898), and wererepublished as Garden Cities ofTomorrow, are based very firmly on the

idea of a central park/garden of somefive acres about which all of the citysmain functions are groupedconcentrically. Indeed, majorcomponents would all be segregated.


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The first ring around the central garden consisted of publicbuildings: the town hall, concert and lecture halls,library, museum, art gallery and hospital.

These were surrounded by a ring of parkland, cut through radicallyby the six principal boulevards and surrounded by the CrystalPalace - a wide glass arcade which, in wet weather, is one of thefavorite resorts of the people.

The next ring was a broad ring of houses each standing in its owngarden. The houses were greatly varied in character, some havingcommon gardens.

The main ring of housing was surrounded by a Grand Avenueforming a belt of green, an annual park dividing the main part of thetown into two concentric belts.

The Avenue itself is divided into six radial boulevards occupied bypublic schools, their surrounding play-grounds and gardens.

The outer regions of the town would be occupied by factories,warehouses, markets, coal yards, etc. all with access to circularrailway lines which surrounding the town enabling goods to beloaded at various points.

Beyond this there would be a full range of uses for agriculturalpurposes.


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Howards Garden City can be seen as the

beginning of regional planningand

decentralization.


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Neighborhood Planning Clarence Perry developed the idea of the neighborhood

unit by analyzing the things he found good - includinggardening and community participation - about living ina Long Island suburb named Forest Hills Gardens.

The neighborhood unit was focused on a communitycentre, a place for debate and discussion.

Crucial to Perrys concept was the idea of day-to-dayfacilities: shops, schools, playgrounds, etc. should bewithin walking distance of every house. This in itself theoverall size of a neighborhood, while heavy traffic waskept out, confined to arterial roads which skirted aroundthe neighborhood.

Perry estimated the optimum size for a neighborhood tobe around 5000 people; large enough to provide formost peoples day-to-day needs, yet small enough for asense of community to develop.

The general characteristics of the neighborhood

unit were based on the idea of:

- the super block - instead of the narrow, rectangular block

- the specialized roads planned and built - each for one

use instead of for all uses

- complete separation of pedestrians and vehicles

- houses turned around; living and sleeping rooms facing

towards gardens and parks, service rooms towards

access road- park as backbone of the neighborhood.

In addition to the points above, cul-de-sacs/

dead-end streets were used for vehicular access

to the fronts of the houses


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The Modern Movement

The modern movement in architecture

during the early part of this century has

had a strong influence on contemporary

architects, planners and urban designers.

The urban design proposals of LeCorbusierand Frank Lloyd Wright

represent the polar attitudes toward

urbanization and urban design.


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Le Corbus ier: Vi l le Radieuse

Le Corbusier, being very critical oftraditional cities, attempted to convertthe city into park within which theactual buildings would occupy onlysome %5 of the land. He developed acontemporary cityVil le Radieuse(Radiant City)for 3 millioninhabitants; this city was to be a city ina garden instead of being a city withgardens. The fundamental principleshe put forward were:

- freeing the city from traffic congestion,

- enhancing the overall densities,

- enhancing the means of circulation,- augmenting the area of planting.


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The second work, Plan Voisin for rebuilding Paris

designed in the 1920s but never constructed, illustrates

the contrast between traditional urban density and theurban design of Modernism.

Although his ideas seem to be opposing to Howardsnotion of the small-town Garden City, Le Corbusiersvision, in fact, had grown out of Howards: he pointsout in his study that, nature melts under the invasionof roads and houses and the promised seclusionbecomes a crowded settlement, and the solution willbe found in the vertical garden city.

His design for a city is linear and nodal on a largescale grid, proposing two kinds of housing

immediately around the city centre: terraces andapartment blocks. He also considered the traffic inthe design of a city. According to him, new forms ofstreet must be designed so that the traffic can flowfreely at optimum speed.


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There were 3 important principles behind

Corbusiers influence on modern urban

space:

1. The linear and nodal building as a large

scale urban elementa principle applied

physically to define districts or social units

2. The vertical seperation of movement

systemsan outcome of Le Corbusiers

fascination with highways and the city of

the future

3. The opening up of urban space to allow for

freeing landscape, sun and light.


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Le Corbusiers plans and perspectivescaptured the imagination of architects,urban designers and planners worldwide.

In the 1960s particularly, a remarkablenumber of them were enabled to maketheir own cities look remarkably like LeCorbusiers perspectives with theirmotorways slashing between theirskyscrapers.


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Frank Lloyd Wright :

Bro adacre City As its name emphasizes the proposal of Wright was for a low-

density development of detached buildings. He envisioned acity of small farms or garden home-steads. His schemeeliminated roads as much as possible and attempted to bring thecountry into the city rather than create parks.

Frank Lloyd Wrights Broadacre City plan gave an acre of land toevery household, but the inhabitants still depended forcommunications on a motorway grid and a helicopter for everyfamily.


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Both of these architects have had a great

influence on the architectural profession

and the general public. In a sense, the

both expected and influenced two major

kinds of urban form existing today

especially in American cities: the high-

density urban coreand the low density

suburb.

Then the principles by which architectsand planners were to deal with theproblems of the 20th century were codifiedby CIAM (Cong res Internat ionauxdArchitecture Moderne).

Accordingly the city was divided into fourmain functions: housing, work, recreation,transport. Radical solutions were proposedfor each area.


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RECENT URBAN PLANNING

THEORIES AND PRACTICES

RECENT APPROACHES TO

URBAN DESIGN

Two major themes were found in the Post-

modern reactiontothe hegemony associated with

modern architecture:

New Rationalism - Neo-Rational ism

New EmpiricismNeo-Empir ic ism


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New Rationalism

Neo-Rationalism TEAM 10 (a young group of second-generation

of European Modernists who moved towrad amore contextual approach at least in conceptand attempt to re-define the underlying principlesand formal expression of urban space) ---------REDEFINITION OF PRINCPLES AND FORMALEXPRESSION OF URBAN SPACE in 1950s

NEO-RATIONALISTS:

ALDO ROSSI (ITALY) LEON & ROB KRIER (LUXEMBOURG)

RICARDO BOFILL (SPAIN)

Rationalismpromotes a concern for

public open space over a preoccupation

with individual buildings and incorporates

strongly defined geometric spaces as

ordering devices. It looks at historicmodels and classical spatial structures to

derive principles for linking old and new,

high and low, and diverse materials,

colors, and textures for inspiration.


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Leon Kriess mission was to reconstruct the tradionalurban blocks as definers of streets and squares.

Formal, multidimensional, horizontal pattern of spaces byhighlighting the qualities of public space.


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New EmpiricismNeo-Empiricism

HIGHLIGHTING PERCEPTUAL AND

SPATIAL QUALITIES OF THE URBAN

ENVIRONMENT

REPRESENTATIVES:

KEVIN LYNCHROBERT VENTURI

GORDON CULLEN

COLIN ROWE


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KEVIN LYNCH

URBAN ANALYSER IN EMPRICAL TERMS

PRESENTED HIS PRINCIPLE RULES FORDESIGNING CITY SPACES AS: LEGIBILITY: THE MENTAL PICTURE OF THE CITY

HELD BY THE USERS ON THE STREET

STRUCTURE AND IDENTITY: RECOGNIZABLECOHERENT PATTERN OF URBAN BLOCKS,BUILDINGS AND SPACES

IMAGEABILITY: USER PERCEPTION IN MOTIONAND HOW PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE SPACESOF THE CITY

ACCORDING TO LYNCH: SUCCESSFUL URBAN SPACE MEET THESE

REQUIREMENTS

PARTS OF THE CITIES - ELEMENTS OF URBAN

FORM SHOULD BE DESIGNED ACCORDING TO

THESE REQUIREMENTS


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ROBERT VENTURI

MOST OF THE OUTDOOR SPACES

CREATED BY MODERN MOVEMENT

ARE LOST SPACESISOLATED FROM

ITS TOTAL SURROUNDINGS.

GORDON CULLEN

A TOWNSCAPE ARTIST

EXPLORED THE EXPERIENCE OFSEQUENCETHROUGH URBAN SPACE

UNIQUE SENSE OF PLACEFROM

STREET LEVEL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE

OBJECT& MOVEMENT

THE EVENT OFARRIVING AT /LEAVING CITY SPACES


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COLIN ROWE

A LEADING URBAN DESIGN EDUCATOR

DILEMMA OF TEXTURECOMPOSITE URBANPATTERNOF STREETS, BUILDINGS, AND OPENSPACESTHE FABRIC OF THE CITY

The problem:Building as a free-standing object andits disruptive effects on the continuity of these urbanpatterns.

He put forward a pluralist view of urban form, a collagecitythat accomodates a range of ideas and visions.

His urban design work is based on cubist geometries

and historic modelsof Rome and Florence etc. wherebuildings as articulated solids are designed to createpositive voids.


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Unit I - Introduction to Urban Design

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