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 saves
• Streets have to become technological elements
• 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 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! -> 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 built this kind of web

WORLD FAIR -> General Motors PavilionFuturama

1^st Vision -> Wide Flat LandscapeCity center -> reconstructed around freeways

1^st City -> NEW YORK

Robert Moses -> 40 years planning NYCut exactly in the middle of Manhattan -> freewaythat fits along the buildings

-> Medium Manhattan ExpresswayProblem -> He made the bridge too small and busescouldn't pass under them

Jane Jacobs ->

ENGLAND