This document summarizes the history and evolution of urban design theory from the late 19th century to present. It discusses how concepts of the city shifted from being viewed as "art" to a "machine" to a "text". Key figures and their theories are outlined for each period, such as Sitte's view of the city as art, Le Corbusier's machine city concepts, and Jacobs critique of modernist planning. The document also discusses the rise of urban design as a discipline in Australia in the 1980s/90s and references several influential urban design texts from that era.
Lecture (second of three parts) for the 2018 UP Plano Board Exam Review Sessions; content credited to The City Reader (2016) and my Plan 201 learnings.
Lecture (second of three parts) for the 2018 UP Plano Board Exam Review Sessions; content credited to The City Reader (2016) and my Plan 201 learnings.
CAMILLO SITTE
He was an Austrian architect, born Vienna in 1843
Camillo Sitte was the son of the architect Franz Sitte(1808–79) and the father of the architect Siegfried Sitte (1876–1945).
He was an art historian and architect whose writings, according to Eliel Saarinen, were familiar to German-speaking architects of the late 19th century.
He was also an painter and urban theorist whose work influenced urban planning and land use regulation.
Sitte traveled extensively in Western Europe, seeking to identify the factors that made certain towns feel warm and welcoming.
Sitte saw architecture was a process and product of culture.
BOOKS BY SITTE-
1. City Planning According to Artistic Principles, 1889
2. The Birth of Modern City Planning. Dover Publications, 2006.
LE COBUSIER, BACKGROUNG OF CITY DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY 20th CENTURY, THE GRID CONCEPT, Contemporary City, Radiant City, THE RADIANT CITY CONCEPT, CONCEPT OF RADIANT CITY, HOUSING TOWERS
DOXIADIS
HUMAN SETTLEMENT AND PLANING
CONSTANTINOS APOSTOLOU DOXIADIS
THEORY OF EKISTICS
Minor shells- Micro-settlements- Meso-settlements- Macro-settlements-Ekistics Logarithm Scale:-
BY EVOLUNITARY PHASE
BY FACTOR AND DISCIPLINE
CASE STUDY: ISLAMABAD
Master Plan
Comparison of Land cover
CONCEPT OF CITY PLANNING
ROAD NETWORK & HIERARCHY
ROAD NETWORK & TRANSPORT
HOUSES AND STREET PATTERN
GRID SYSTEM
CURRENT CHALLENGES FACED BY THE CITY
It is an assignment on urban design basic factors, whereas a designer should keep in mind in urban designing.
Here I tried to describe factors by pointing as anyone could find a basic concept o urban design. Hope it'll be helpful.
Placemaking: Building our Cities around placesPriya Vakil
ThinkPhi is on a journey to build cities that are healthy and sustainable. We are doing this by using Placemaking - a design philosophy that explores how spaces in a community can be better utilised.
And this is philosophy, we constantly use when having discussion on helping design sustainable cities.
Here we are looking at the work of Mies Van Der Rohe in three periods and we also touch on Charles and Ray Eames and what other designers are doing in the same period.
CAMILLO SITTE
He was an Austrian architect, born Vienna in 1843
Camillo Sitte was the son of the architect Franz Sitte(1808–79) and the father of the architect Siegfried Sitte (1876–1945).
He was an art historian and architect whose writings, according to Eliel Saarinen, were familiar to German-speaking architects of the late 19th century.
He was also an painter and urban theorist whose work influenced urban planning and land use regulation.
Sitte traveled extensively in Western Europe, seeking to identify the factors that made certain towns feel warm and welcoming.
Sitte saw architecture was a process and product of culture.
BOOKS BY SITTE-
1. City Planning According to Artistic Principles, 1889
2. The Birth of Modern City Planning. Dover Publications, 2006.
LE COBUSIER, BACKGROUNG OF CITY DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY 20th CENTURY, THE GRID CONCEPT, Contemporary City, Radiant City, THE RADIANT CITY CONCEPT, CONCEPT OF RADIANT CITY, HOUSING TOWERS
DOXIADIS
HUMAN SETTLEMENT AND PLANING
CONSTANTINOS APOSTOLOU DOXIADIS
THEORY OF EKISTICS
Minor shells- Micro-settlements- Meso-settlements- Macro-settlements-Ekistics Logarithm Scale:-
BY EVOLUNITARY PHASE
BY FACTOR AND DISCIPLINE
CASE STUDY: ISLAMABAD
Master Plan
Comparison of Land cover
CONCEPT OF CITY PLANNING
ROAD NETWORK & HIERARCHY
ROAD NETWORK & TRANSPORT
HOUSES AND STREET PATTERN
GRID SYSTEM
CURRENT CHALLENGES FACED BY THE CITY
It is an assignment on urban design basic factors, whereas a designer should keep in mind in urban designing.
Here I tried to describe factors by pointing as anyone could find a basic concept o urban design. Hope it'll be helpful.
Placemaking: Building our Cities around placesPriya Vakil
ThinkPhi is on a journey to build cities that are healthy and sustainable. We are doing this by using Placemaking - a design philosophy that explores how spaces in a community can be better utilised.
And this is philosophy, we constantly use when having discussion on helping design sustainable cities.
Here we are looking at the work of Mies Van Der Rohe in three periods and we also touch on Charles and Ray Eames and what other designers are doing in the same period.
Kevyn introduced a concept of planning that was the base for understanding and visualising The Planning Aspects; important for the budding planners.
The presentation initiates the same understanding and invokes a means for better understanding of 'Planning'.
This presentation is a compilation of selected topics on the history of urbanization, urban and regional planning theories, urban thinkers and their contributes, concepts, bases of land use, applicability to the Philippine setting, and a briefer of urban design elements.
In this class, we talk about a few famous cases of modern urban planning, including Haussmann's Paris and Robert Moses's New York. Seaside Florida, the Smart Code and the New Urbanism are also discussed.
PUP 420 Theory of Urban Design Historical Perspecti.docxwoodruffeloisa
PUP 420: Theory of
Urban Design
Historical Perspectives:
Siena, Italy
Part of understanding the basics of
urban design is to understand the
history of designing our cities.
Two basic city forms – organic and
geometric – emerged very early in
Western civilizations.
Organic cities are likely to have been
the more ancient of the two, having
arisen through chance and
accretion. Accretion means that
these settlements grew where paths
became streets, and villages
merged into towns and then cities.
Organic cities developed around geographic features that were
crucial to trade or defense, such as regional crossroads, safe
harbors, river crossings, access to mountain passes, and so
forth.
Miletus, origin of Miletian plan
Palace Quarter, Babylon
The geometric form, on the other
hand, was planned – purposely
and self-consciously designed.
This is where we get our grid
system, where streets are at right
angles and form blocks.
Most early geometric cities had
specific places for religion and
commerce. And most early
societies were concerned about
controlling access to their city for
the purpose of defense.
Historical Perspectives:
Historical Perspectives:
Piazza del Campo, Siena
Villingen, Germany
The Middle Ages were shaped by
warfare and military considerations,
leading to things like building city
walls.
Public spaces became associated
with religious structures and, later,
commerce, as the church plaza
became the marketplace.
During the Middle Ages, we also
started building secular public
plazas – these are plazas that are
not associated with a church or
religion. Piazza del Campo in
Sienna was one of the first of these
secular plazas.
Historical Perspectives:
Pienza, Italy
Palmanova, Italy
Next, we move ahead to the
Renaissance, which was roughly
the 15th – 17th Centuries. (There’s
no consensus about the exact
years.)
During this time, classical architecture
and planning served as precedents,
as neo-classical architecture began
to be built. This was stemming from
a renewed interest in art,
architecture, literature, and so forth.
This coincides with the emerging
“humanist” view – meaning that
people were looking at Ancient
Rome and Ancient Greece for
inspiration and seeing the value in
classical learning.
Historical Perspectives:
Pope Sixtus V’s Plan of Rome
The Baroque period was roughly the
16th – 17th Centuries, sometimes
grouped into the Renaissance time
period.
During the Baroque period, we built
straight avenues with clear lines of
sight. Our cities also had radial and
diagonal patterns defined by focal
points. This is largely because the
planners were military engineers,
interested in efficiency.
During this time, cities were also
starting to be confronted with the
challenges of swelling populations –
and the consequences of this on
health, light, and air.
Historical Perspectives:
Paris, France
Baro ...
PUP 420 Theory of Urban Design Historical PerspectiTakishaPeck109
PUP 420: Theory of
Urban Design
Historical Perspectives:
Siena, Italy
Part of understanding the basics of
urban design is to understand the
history of designing our cities.
Two basic city forms – organic and
geometric – emerged very early in
Western civilizations.
Organic cities are likely to have been
the more ancient of the two, having
arisen through chance and
accretion. Accretion means that
these settlements grew where paths
became streets, and villages
merged into towns and then cities.
Organic cities developed around geographic features that were
crucial to trade or defense, such as regional crossroads, safe
harbors, river crossings, access to mountain passes, and so
forth.
Miletus, origin of Miletian plan
Palace Quarter, Babylon
The geometric form, on the other
hand, was planned – purposely
and self-consciously designed.
This is where we get our grid
system, where streets are at right
angles and form blocks.
Most early geometric cities had
specific places for religion and
commerce. And most early
societies were concerned about
controlling access to their city for
the purpose of defense.
Historical Perspectives:
Historical Perspectives:
Piazza del Campo, Siena
Villingen, Germany
The Middle Ages were shaped by
warfare and military considerations,
leading to things like building city
walls.
Public spaces became associated
with religious structures and, later,
commerce, as the church plaza
became the marketplace.
During the Middle Ages, we also
started building secular public
plazas – these are plazas that are
not associated with a church or
religion. Piazza del Campo in
Sienna was one of the first of these
secular plazas.
Historical Perspectives:
Pienza, Italy
Palmanova, Italy
Next, we move ahead to the
Renaissance, which was roughly
the 15th – 17th Centuries. (There’s
no consensus about the exact
years.)
During this time, classical architecture
and planning served as precedents,
as neo-classical architecture began
to be built. This was stemming from
a renewed interest in art,
architecture, literature, and so forth.
This coincides with the emerging
“humanist” view – meaning that
people were looking at Ancient
Rome and Ancient Greece for
inspiration and seeing the value in
classical learning.
Historical Perspectives:
Pope Sixtus V’s Plan of Rome
The Baroque period was roughly the
16th – 17th Centuries, sometimes
grouped into the Renaissance time
period.
During the Baroque period, we built
straight avenues with clear lines of
sight. Our cities also had radial and
diagonal patterns defined by focal
points. This is largely because the
planners were military engineers,
interested in efficiency.
During this time, cities were also
starting to be confronted with the
challenges of swelling populations –
and the consequences of this on
health, light, and air.
Historical Perspectives:
Paris, France
Baro ...
The Grand Manner and Paris under Haussmannization .docxcherry686017
The Grand Manner
and Paris under Haussmannization
Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day” (1877)
This lecture will:
• Provide an overview of Baroque urban design, also known as “The Grand Manner”
• Explore the transformation of nineteenth century Paris under the influence of
Emperor Napoleon III and Georges Haussmann.
• Set the stage for understanding subsequent planning approaches that borrowed
from Haussmann’s restructuring of Paris.
Note: Much of the content of this lecture come from the work of Spiro Kostof’s The City Shaped
David Pinkney’s and Napoleon III and the Rebuilding of Paris.
This week we will be narrowing our focus on the city of Paris in the 19th century.
Paris is perhaps the most striking modern example of urban restructuring aimed
at alleviating congestion and disorder. But in order to fully appreciate the vast
physical changes that the city experienced over the course of just a few decades,
we should first familiarize ourselves with some basic urban design elements that
had been employed since antiquity, but which by the 1700s had become,
according to architectural historian Spiro Kostof, “a rational system of urban
design.” This system came to be called “Baroque Urban Design,” or “The Grand
Manner” of planning. Consisting of a handful (10 to be exact) of clearly
identifiable physical elements, the Grand Manner was most often an expression
or a “staging” of political power.
1. The Straight Street
An essential element of Baroque urban design was the that of the straight street. We
have discussed the use of the grid before, but here we are talking about the carving
out of a singular straight street in contrast to the surrounding irregularities of winding
pathways. In Europe, Renaissance Florence was instrumental in the development of
the straight street as an artistically conceived space – an urban space with its own
integrity rather than the space left over between buildings.
The design advantages of straight streets
included:
1. …increased control over public order.
By avoiding or eliminating winding,
labyrinthine streets, the ability or
temptation to obstruct passages
through barricades during times of
riots was significantly weakened.
2. …promotion of circulation of people,
goods, transportation and military
troops and artillery. As the industrial
revolution placed pressure on cities
through significant population
increase, intense congestion in the city
center followed. Carving straight
streets through the center proved to
be a common modern planning tactic.
Right:
Nevsky
Prospekt
in
St.
Petersburg,
1703.
The
massive
propor?ons
of
this
street
were
intended
to
reflect
the
poli?cal
power
of
Russia
under
Peter
the
Great
and
his
efforts
to
modernize
his
empire.
2. The Baroque Diagonal
A more ...
Mainstream concepts in urban design_Barrie Shelton
1. Urban Precinct Studio – week 4 Twentieth century urban design – mainstream concepts of space and structure Barrie Shelton
2. Fall and Rise ofUrban Design 1900-50’s Rise of Town/City Planning = Civic Design 1960/70’s Scope of Planning widens at expense ofUrban Design 1980/90’s 3. Rise ofUrban Design Urban Designtoday?
3. Planning in Australia Non-physical Social Planning Economic Planning Law Administrative Processes Policy Physical Town Planning / Civic Design Urban Design (1989 Master of Urban Design programs commence in Australia) 1900 1920 1940 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
4. Urban Design - history of theory, concepts, approaches and models
5. Thematic content City as a work of ART Late C19th - eg Sitte, Burnham …………..….. City as a MACHINE c. 1920 - Le Corbusier, Stein …………… City as TEXT c. 1960 - Lynch, Cullen, Jacobs ………………….. Recenttimes new urbanism, vertical city, etc (Calthorpe, Yeang, Koolhaas ……………..
13. “At the beginning of the 20th century two great new inventions took form before our eyes: the aeroplane and the Garden City, both harbingers of new age: the first being gave man wings and the second promised him a better dwelling-place when he came down to earth.” (Lewis Mumford, 1946) City as a Machine
14. Ebeneezer Howard City deficient Country deficient City + Country = Garden City sufficient + efficient
21. Le Corbusier - Solutions Bulldoze traditional streets and courts New building forms - opposite in character to those they replace Building forms reflect function 12-60 storey slab and point blocks in continuous parkland Elevated or”floating’ buildings With terraces and roof gardens Old monuments to be isolated and freed from adjacent congestion
22. Le Corbusier - Solutions (cont) Increase density and open space Few roads - tunneled heavy traffic - elevated fast traffic, standard traffic on a 400m grid Many pathways for people in a picturesque parkland Land-use zoning - business - public - residential - recreation - industry - green belts Self-contained buildings with local recreation facilities, shops and services (super-block) Vertical Garden City
25. C. 1960 - Reaction to the Modernist or ‘Machine’ City: City as Text- of amorphous green space- of buildings as isolated objects - of roads rather than streets- of segregated traffic - vehicles and pedestrians- of separated activities (zoning)- of illegible structures, spaces, landscape- without local identity (placelessness)
26. C.1960watershed - Who responded? Kevin Lynch The Image of the City 1960 What does it mean? How does it read? - syntax, structure, grammar, legibility - most explicitly textual Gordon Cullen Townscape1961 How does it feel? How does it read? recovering the art of relationship - making memorable and dramatic places Jane Jacobs The death and Life of Great American Cities 1961 How does it work? How does it read? – the most comprehensive critique)
27. Kevin Lynch Image of the City 1960 elements District - area of common character different from the next Path - line of movement or vision Edge - strong linear break or boundary between areas of different character Node - centres of gravity with a radiating field (eg cross street) Landmark - prominent objects that are key points of reference
28. Gordon Cullen Townscape 1961 A lament for the lost “art of relationship” or townscape Groups of buildings create conditions that are more than the sum of their parts A single building is architecture - groups are townscape They give visual pleasure that none can give separately - create a “surplus” enjoyment
33. clear boundaries between public and private spacesThese conditions were lacking in the ‘garden cities’
34. Jane Jacobs’ principles More than one primary use Range of people whose lives are lived to different schedules Short street blocks; many corner sites, passing and congregation points Mix of building types, conditions and ages High concentrations of people who live, work and own locally, and identify with the place 200 plus dwellings per hectare
35. Modernist’s mistaken assumptions - Jacobs “the street is bad as an environment for humans” Houses to face green space, not streets Frequent streets were wasteful of space Basic unit of the city is the superblock, not the street Shops, offices, etc to be separated from houses Neighbourhood demands can be calculated Good planning must aim for (an illusion) of isolation and suburban privacy That the basic unit of ‘good planning’ is self-contained
36. Circa 1960 the rise of “Text” as metaphor A new kind of urban design literature - learning from experience 1960’s + 1970’s Theory to underpin the text metaphor Alexander, Smith, Broadbent Design primers - circa 1985 Responsive Environments 1985 Finding Lost Space 1986 New Theory of Urban Design 1987 Renewal of interest in pre-Modern texts Re-publication of Sitte (1986) Re-publication of Hegemann & Peets (1988)
37. 1985 + the urban design ‘primers’ 7 key qualities for good city form: PERMEABILITY - street structure VARIETY - mixed uses LEGIBILITY - readable spatial structure ROBUSTNESS - flexible use VISUAL APPROPRIATENESS - interpretation and meaning RICHNESS - urban detail PERSONALISATION - opportunity for modification and embellishment Offers prescriptive & detailed method for achieving these - analysisand realisation (‘putting it all together’)
41. Trancik’s references Sitte, Peets, Burnham Howard, Le Corbusier, Stein, F L Wright, Gruen Jane Jacobs - Lynch - Cullen Appleyard, Bacon, Bakema, Barnett, Cook, Erskine, Crane,Hertzberger, Rob and Leon Krier, McHarg, Maki, Newman, - Norberg-Schultz, Peterson, Rossi, Team X, Venturi & Scott Brown, Peter & Alison Smithson, Van Eyck, Woods
42. Christopher Alexander +A New Theory of Urban Design1987 Piecemeal / incremental growth Each building increment to contribute to a larger whole, more significant than itself Projects to be experienced (‘seen’) and expressed as a vision Every building to create coherent well-shaped adjacent public space Entrances & spatial structure of buildings to be coherent and consistent with their positions in the street and neighbourhood Structure of each building to generate smaller wholes in its fabric Every whole must be a ‘centre’, & produce a system of surrounding centres Wholes within wholes - each increment to be made to ‘heal’ the city
43. mainstream today example alternatives Yeang Tschumi Lineage………………………………………….................................................. Hillier, Marshall Bentley, Trancik, Alexander Lynch, Cullen, Jacobs Sitte Other ways of seeing Urban Design theory, models and principles are essentially Western generated Urban design circa 2000