Project 1a theorizing architecture

THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM [ ARC 2224 ]

PROJECT 1 ( PART 1 ) THEORIZING ARCHITECTURE Tutor Mr. Lam Shen Fei Group Members Cynthia Lee Siaw Wun 0306112 Surayyn Selvan 0309818 Xavier Ooi Win Yang 0307620 Yaseen Syed 0309021

1. Urban Theorist JANE JACOBS

Picture 1: Photograph of Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs was well-known for her ideas on the function of cities, its evolution and fall despite having no formal training in urban planning. She was an urbanist and activist whose writings, such as The Death and Life of Great American Cities, were used as references in creating an effective city by architects and urban planners worldwide. Her book, talks about the principles and objectives of modernist, orthodox city planning and rebuilding in the post war U.S. In her book, she exposes the failures of modernist planning ideas and has arguments on the intellectual planning history. She bases her ideas on observation of city life as opposed to deductive theories and master plans.

2. Development PUTRAJAYA

Picture 2: Map of Putrajaya

Picture 3: Aerial View of Putrajaya

Putrajaya is one of Malaysia’s Federal Territory that was built on an expansive marshland and oil palm estate in Selangor. It spans over 5000 hectares and is about 25 km from Kuala Lumpur. Putrajaya functions as the more administrative city and is part of the Multimedia Super Corridor project. The organization of the city is reflected in the buildings with a very European tinge complemented by Islamic elements. Putrajaya has been divided into several precincts that define the uses such as commercial, authoritative and residential areas.

There is a balance of hardscape and softscape as there are many parks, greenery and wetlands.

3. Theories i)

The Peculiar Nature of Cities

Picture 4: Google Street View of Persiaran Perdana

Picture 5: Google Street View from Lebuh Bestari

Jacobs (1992) mentions that Buildings must border sidewalks in order to provide constant surveillance by the users of the building. This in turn will allow a greater flow of people using the sidewalks and parents can keep and eye on their children from the windows. It can be seen in Putrajaya that a majority of the pedestrian paths are located on the edges of office buildings. This provides ample security and surveillance to the users of these walkways.

Picture 6: Location of Taman Wetland in Putrajaya

Picture 7: Taman Wetland in Putrajaya

According to Jacobs (1992), the neighborhood parks should reflect the criteria’s of the sidewalks in terms of constant usage and pedestrian movements. She mentions that if these are not fulfilled, parks become dangerous. It can be seen in Picture 6, that Taman Wetland is one of the more famous parks in Putrajaya. It is located in between Precinct 11 and Precinct 12, which are housing areas.

Picture 8: Tourist map of Putrajaya

Finally, in this chapter, she discusses in order to create an effective neigborhood, a city should contain lively and interesting streets, a continuous network of circulation and spaces such as parks, squares and public buildings. Putajaya is dotted with squares such as the one in Boulevard Putrajaya and Dataran Putra. These are connnected with public buildings such as the Putrajaya Convention Centre and Masjid Putra. Besides that, referring to Picture 2, it can be seen that the precincts are all well connected with main roads to allow constant circulation within Putrajaya.

ii)

The Generators of City Diversity

In her book, she mentions that the district, and indeed as many of its internal parts as possible, must serve more than one primary function for example, work, education, museums, public buildings. These must ensure the presence of people who go outdoors on different schedules and are in the place for different purposes, and allow them to use many common facilities.

Besides that, most blocks must be short, that is, streets and opportunities to turn corners must be frequent,in order to allow the people to be able to explore streets which they would not have explored beforehand.This would allow for more business opportunities as more routes would be available for citizens.

Jacobs (1992) also mention that the district must have buildings that vary in age and condition, including a good proportion of old ones so that they vary in the economic yield they must produce.The older buildings would be plain,ordinary and of low value,but if a city only has new buildings,the enterprises that exist there are automatically linked to those that can support the high cost of the new construction.

Finally, there must be a sufficiently dense concentration of people, for whatever purposes they may be there.This includes dense concentration in the case of people who are there because of residence.This is to ensure more people on the sidewalks.However this would result in more high rise buildings which could jeopardise the sidewalk safety.On the other

hand,a low density area could lead to the development of slums.

Picture 9: Location of buildings in Putrajaya

As per Jacobs’ theory,Putrajaya has a variety of buildings such as,apartments,stadium,mosque,library foodcourt.These will ensure different activities for different people at different times of the day.

Picture 10: Google map of the roads in Putrajaya

Short blocks extend out to more streets.

Picture 11: Map of Precinct 19 in Putrajaya

As seen in precinct 19,residential houses are in abundance,thus forming a dense population.Almost all precincts have a large density of residentials areas.

iii)

The Forces of Decline and Regeneration

In this chapter, Jane Jacobs has stated a few points to explain the tendency for a city to be destroyed by itself without proper urban planning. One of the factors for that would be that there are no diversity left in the city due to duplication of urban planning and function of the districts or neighbourhoods in the city. Thus, a city should be rich of different planning and function of each districts in order to create a more diverse community.

Picture 12: Precincts of Putrajaya

As seen in the diagram above, Putrajaya has successfully create a good diversity among the districts known as precincts in the city. Different programmes are applied into each districts, thus creating a city that has no duplication of districts. Thus, this theory from Jane Jacobs is successfully applied in this context.

Another factor pointed out by Jane Jacobs is about the importance of the physical and functional effects of border vacuums on the city by creating boundaries and splitting the city into smaller fragments. Border vacuums should be a seam of the city rather than a barrier to divide the city. Such examples of the seam would be cafĂŠ and other leisure facilities so that the residents of different districts can be connected rather than being divided.

Picture 13: Zoning of areas in Putrajaya

In the above diagrams, it can be seen that there are main boulevards linking the precincts in an orderly manner in Putrajaya. The boulevards includes public spaces for pedestrians, paths for bicyclists and several pocket parks to ensure the vibrancy and life of the city at all times. Thus, these boulevards act as a seam among the precincts to ensure optimum connection between the residents of different precinct. This enforces the theory suggested by Jane Jacobs where a border should be more of a seam rather than a barrier for the citizens.

Other than that, Jane Jacobs also mentioned about the importance of upgrading the slums in a city instead of destroying or replacing them. One of the ways to encourage upgrades in the slums are by proper city planning that would increase the sense of community in the residents of the slums. Overtime, the residents in the slums would eventually develop their own homes and neighbourhood, which would lead to an increase in social economy of the city, hence a positive growth in the city.

Picture 14: Residential areas in Putrajaya

In the diagram above it shows the developed and developing residential area of Putrajaya. Thus, this proves that Putrajaya has successfully implement a strong sense of community amongst the residents in the city. Hence, continuous development projects have been ongoing in Putrajaya. This will eventually lead to the positive growth in terms of economy and social in the city.

iv)

Different Tactics

In this chapter by Jane Jacobs portrays a change in actions within the urban planning department. Jacobs mentioned that it wouldn’t be a usual thing to do by saperating users of a development as through their income(eg.low,mid,high). With that, government should subsidize rents on private dwellings for the lower income group of people. She also hopes to have good traffic(wider roads), more parking lots, gas stations and toll which convenient users.

Putrajaya shows a great example of Jabobs’s theory in ‘Different Tactics’ whereby the main road is wide and has clear span of spaces for users to move about easily. Secondly, 1MDB had announced that the government would provide quality and modern affordable homes for the less fortunate or the lower incomers. The proposed housing development is located in Precint 16, Putrajaya.

Picture 15: Pathways and roads planned during the urban planning

Picture 16: Affordable homes in the design development process for lower income groups proposed by 1MDB

4. References Alexiou, A. S. (2006). Jane Jacobs: Uurban visionary. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Blake Clinton (2011). Jane Jacobs’ Requirements for Urban Diversity, Part 1. Retrieved, 3 April, 2015 from https://theshortestverse.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/jane-jacobsrequirements-for-urban-diversity-part-1/ Damien Woolliscroft, (n.d.). The Death and Life of Great American Cities - Part 2, Chapter 7, The Generators of Diversity Summary & Analysis. Jane Jacobs Jacobs, J. (1961). The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York:Random House.

Jacobs, J. (1992).The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books.

Jane Jacobs Walk. (2012). Retrieved April 1, 2015 from http://www.janejacobswalk.org/aboutjane-jacobs-walk/meet-jane-jacobs/ Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan. (2011). Book Review for The Death and Life of Great American Cities presented at the Morning Meeting for the Jabatan Perancangan Bandar Dan Desa Semanjung Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan.

Putrajaya – Everything you need to know about Putrajaya. (2015). Retrieved April 1, 2015 from http://kuala-lumpur.ws/attractions/putrajaya.htm Taman Wetland. (2015). Retrieved April 3, 2015 from http://www.putrajaya.gov.my/tourist/attractions/parks_landscapes/taman_wetlands Wendt, M. (2009). The Importance of Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) by Jane Jacobs to the Profession of Urban Planning. Retrieved April 2, 2015 from http://www.sppa.udel.edu/sites/suapp.udel.edu/files/The Importance of Dealth and Life.pdf.