Appunti Culture of Urban Design

Culture of urban design

Urban design

Designing and shaping cities, towns and villages.

Contrast to architecture - focus on individual building.

UD deals with larger scale of groups of buildings, streets, public spaces.

Interdisciplinary subject.

Goal - Making urban areas attractive, functional.

Art of relationship - Purpose: take all the elements that go to create the environment (buildings, trees, nature, water, adornments...), and weave them together.

Livable streets

Street pattern and urban design:

• Vehicle movements (cars)
• Urban streets

Wells - Anticipations 1902.

The railways will spread the cities over their boundaries.

Mumford The Culture of Cities 1938.

Not only railway but cars too.

Historical street pattern

Heart of urban set on the main road.

Modern St. P

Heart far from main roads.

Cars minimal.

Culture of urban design

Urban design

Designing and shaping cities, towns, and villages.

Contrasts to architecture = focus on individual building.

UD deals with larger scale of groups of buildings, streets, public spaces.

Interdisciplinary subject.

Goal - Making urban areas attractive, functional.

Art of relationship - Purpose: take all the elements that go to create the environment (buildings, trees, nature, water, adornments) and weave them together.

Liveable streets

Street pattern and urban design:

• Road - vehicle movements (cars)
• Streets - urban streets

Wells - Anticipations 1902.

The railways will spread the cities over their boundaries.

Mumford - The Culture of Cities 1938.

Not only railway but cars too.

Historical street pattern

Heart of urban set on the main road.

Modern St. P

At the origins of urban destructions (1900).

Hénard.

What happened to cities after automobiles 1900.

After the Haussmann openings.

Reinforced transformation of the roads - more technical.

Technological revolution

Airplanes, mechanical s.

Le Corbusier: technology main element that could save.

Streets have to become technological elements.

Chicago and metropolitan vision

1909 -> Chicago.

Daniel Burnham.

Metropolitan vision of the city.

Looks in a wider way also the country site (lake, prouse?).

Columbian Expo for Chicago.

Vision for a city made of gypsum plaster.

Americans were amazed because they could build a monumental city only in one month.

Lots of cities are built on this models (New Classicism).

Gill + Plan made of knots of roads.

Interaction: railways & freeways.

Opens big boulevards -> destroys building.

Approach: you have to fit the urban shape to automobiles needs.

Main focus: open space, not buildings.

Dimension: different use.

Not focused on buildings - all look like the same.

Dreamy vision for the future of the city.

Main problem: lot of traffic.

Even people are considered in a technological way.

If a man is efficient, with the addition of a car he is 5.7% more efficient.

Most of all -> suburban area.

Urban freeway

Urban Free way -> Chicago.

The streets are on two levels.

Cars down on the lower level don't cross people.

Enter directly to the garage.

No urban experience.

Not Monumental approach.

Plaza/Square -> meant like parkings.

New kind of streets -> to get to the countryside.

Completely dedicated to car.

Park street

Park street! -> developed around NYC.

"Vocabulary" of project design.

Limit access -> not every house has its own access.

No squared angles -> design the roads on the possibility of the car to curve.

Bronx River Parkways.

Web of roads to link New York to the countryside.

How to connect parkways to the city?

1^st separate them.

East River parkway -> hidden by trees.

2^nd freeways enter the city.

There was not enough money to build this kind of web.

World fair

World Fair -> General Motors Pavilion.

Futurama.

1^st Vision -> Wide Flat Landscape.

City center -> reconstructed around freeways.

1^st City -> New York.

Robert Moses -> 40 years planning NYC.

Cut exactly in the middle of Manhattan -> freeway that fits along the buildings -> Medium Manhattan Expressway.

Problem -> He made the bridge too small and buses couldn't pass under them.

Jane Jacobs -> England.