UST 200 homework
boodkvokhari
ch_6_the_city_designs.pptxThe City Designs
The Built Environment
What is the built environment?
Streets
Houses
Apartment buildings
Sidewalks
Signs
Public art
What is NOT the built environment?
Undeveloped land, natural bodies of water, and the air around us
Urban Design
Urban design is a profession that focuses on the layout, organization, and relationship of all of these elements to one another.
The goal is to improve the quality of life for people.
Urban design can follow a normative framework. This means what looks “good” and what looks “bad” are subjective statements from the designer.
Another style is participatory design. End users create the rubrics of “good” and “bad”, rather than the designer.
The Roots of Urban Design
Architecture +
landscape design +
urban planning =
URBAN DESIGN
How do you design an attractive city?
The video has some subjective statements at the end, but overall content is a good description of urban design thinking.
Thirteen Principles of a “Good City” (Jacobs, 2011)
Be livable
Access to opportunity, imagination, and joy
Be authentic and meaningful
Value conservation and preservation
Encourage community and public life
Be self-sustaining
Be accessible to all
Livable streets and neighborhoods
Medium density of 15 units per acre
Integrated activities
Buildings arranged to define and enclose public spaces
Value public places and a public way system
Have one or more centers of activity
Behavioral Mapping and Design
William Whyte and the landmark study of NY urban plazas.
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980).
Observation studies tell us how people use a space.
Empirical data supported redesign efforts. The first such study for a modern, municipal public plaza.
Redesign guidelines were incorporated into the zoning code.
How to marry form and function.
Contemporary Approaches to Urban Design
Contemporary approaches to design focus on individual well being in a social context (public spaces).
The art and science of urban design can be applied at many scales.
Urban Design Approaches:
New Urbanism
Landscape Urbanism
Sustainable Urbanism
The New Urbanism
Grew out of dissatisfied architects and designers (1980’s)
Four overarching principles:
Restore existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions;
Reconfigure sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts;
Conserve natural environments;
Preserve the built legacy.
Form-Based Code
A land development regulation that fosters predictable built results by using physical form (rather than separation of uses) as the organizing principle for the code.
A form-based code is a regulation, not a mere guideline.
Offers a powerful alternative to conventional zoning regulation.
Usually applied at a block-level scale.
Landscape and Sustainable Urbanism
Landscape urbanists believe natural landscapes of any place should drive its design.
Focus on ecosystems: Overlay natural features and design in the least harmful spaces.
Sustainable urbanists design places that are:
Walkable and transit-served,
Integrated with high performance buildings and infrastructure
Compact, dense, and provides people with a strong connection to nature and the environment
Implementing Urban Design
Most urban design in public spaces (right-of-way) requires a public-private partnership.
Government partners with private-sector businesses, investors, and/or local nonprofits to raise funds
Business improvement districts – businesses within a designated area pay a discounted rate for small area improvements that improve their value and the surrounding area. Lighting, signage, sidewalks, improved transit stops.
A Sense of Place and Placelessness
“A sense of place is a unique collection of qualities and characteristics – visual, cultural, social, and environmental – that provide meaning to a location. Sense of place is what makes a [block, a neighborhood, and a whole] city, different from another, but sense of place is also what makes our physical surroundings worth caring about.” - Edward T. McMahon
Conversely, if a location is missing meaning, it would be considered “placeless” or a “nonplace”.
Assignment for Friday, April 7
Watch The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
From the film, discuss three pieces of information gathered from their observations. This should be about 200-250 words. Submit this to the Social Life of Small Urban Spaces assignment link.
Assignment for Monday, April 10
Identify an area or space that exemplifies a sense of place and an area that is placeless, or a nonplace. Prepare a description that includes an image of each of these places and the qualities or characteristics that draw people to it. In the case of a nonplace, what is lacking and what could be done to improve it? This should be about 300-400 words. Submit this to the Place/Nonplace assignment link.
