TOWARDS LOCAL NEW URBANISM New Urbanism for neighbourhood development in Bogota, Colombia Gonzalo Sanchez Garcia
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Copyright Š 2020 Manchester, England United Kingdom All rights reserved. Manchester School of Architecture University of Manchester Manchester Metropolitan University Copyright reserved by Gonzalo Sanchez Garcia MA Architecture & Urbanism
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Thesis
Master in Architecture and Urbanism
Gonzalo Sanchez Garcia
Towards Local New Urbanism New Urbanism for neighbourhood development in Bogota, Colombia
Manchester School of Architecture Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism University of Manchester
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CLASS OF 2020 Gonzalo Sanchez Garcia
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Thesis
Master in Architecture and Urbanism
Manchester School of Architecture Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism University of Manchester
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Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my tutors Eamonn Cannife and Claudio Molina Camacho for their contribution, support and guidance throught the course. It would have been impsiblee to complete this work without their advices and visionary ideas. As a student ambassador of Colombia I am very proud to belong to Manchester School of Architecture.
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Content
Chapter one.
Introduction
Chapter five.
Concept Vision Design principles
Research problem Research aim Research question Chapter two.
Background and location National context
Chapter three. Site context Bogota city Commuting and transport Economy and social issues Townscape Land uses Green spaces Road network and transportation Chapter four.
Fundamentals
Chapter six.
Master plan City scale strategy Master plan strategy Principles achievement Proposed urban spaces Aerial view Sections Pedestrian views
Chapter seven. Particular projects Roundabout intervention New neighbourhood
Site analysis Approach Urbans issues Road network and transportation Noisy and agressive traffic. Access barries Poor quality of public realm Land use conflict Opportunities and concerns
Conclusion Bibliography
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Abstract As a result of the rapid development of urban settlements during the last century, and particularly, the growing of gated communities in recent years, these neighborhoods have founded a particular position in the formation of townscape in Bogota city. However, both models have demonstrated to be unsustainable by encouraging spatial segregation, urban sprawl, and social insecurity among other issues. In this regard, New Urbanism is an international design focus that seeks to promote sustainable growth of cities, and especially, good community spaces. Some of Its principles are followed: increasing density, improving social interaction, mixing-use, and walkability. Thus, this approach might be useful in Bogota, Colombia for achieving well-design neighborhoods in line with the culture and local needs. This work aims to propose an urban design solution based on New Urbanism principles.
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Chapter One
Introduction
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Problem Statement In recent years most of the neighbourhood units in Bogota, Colombia have been developed under gated communities’ schemes1. Whereas this might bring benefits for residents such as a sense of security, more privacy, and, in some cases, good quality of design (Mohamed Salah and Ayad, 2018), the fact is that gated enclaves can also promote social-spatial segregation.The security controls and physical barriers, for instance, can create symbolic limits between dwellers and non-residents, by highlighting social differences, prevent social interaction, and promote discriminatory behaviors. Likewise, these barriers might deny the urban activity on the frontage as well as increase pedestrian distances to local services.
Aim This work aims to propose an urban design solution based on New Urbanism principles, Including the proposal of the urban strategies, the master plan and the initial draft design of community spaces.
Research question How New Urbanism respond to Bogota context for creating well-design neighbourhoods able to mitigate the socio-spatial segregation caused by gated environments ?
1 Gated communities are residential areas with restricted access inwhich normally public spaces are privatised. They are
securitydevelopments with designated perimeters, usually walls or fences,and controlled entrances that are intended to prevent penetration bynon-residents.
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Chapter Two
Background and Location
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Colombia
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National Context The Republic of Colombia is a country of northwestern South America. Its 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of coast toward the north are washed by the waters of the Caribbean Sea, and its 800 miles (1,300 km) of coast toward the west are washed by the Pacific Ocean. The nation is flanked by Panama, which isolates the two waterways, on the northwest, Venezuela and Brazil on the east, and Peru and Ecuador on the south. It is more than double the size of France and incorporates the San Andrés y Providencia archipelago, situated off the Nicaraguan coast in the Caribbean, somewhere in the range of 400 miles (650 km) northwest of the Colombian territory. The populace is to a great extent moved in the bumpy inside, where Bogotá, the national capital, is arranged on a high level in the northern Andes Mountains (“Overview,” n.d.) In the same way as other Latin American nations, Colombia offers a rich mishmash of ethnic impacts, the greater part of which go back to the sixteenth century success by Spain (Hudson, 2007). Alongside the nation’s supernatural characteristic miracles, International Expeditions’ Colombia visits likewise open you to the district’s rich culture. As indigenous local populaces (fundamentally the Muisca, of what is presently the nation’s Eastern range, and the Tairona of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta district) blended in with the Spanish criollos, slaves brought over from Africa, and European-conceived whites, a particularly Colombian culture step by step started to rise. Before the finish of the period of local detachment and racial isolation in the late nineteenth century and mid twentieth century, the ascent of blended race zambos agreed with the expanding fame of skillet social Carnival festivities to make a flourishing Colombian expressions scene.
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Chapter Three
Site Context
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Bogota city The city is located in an Andean plateau, known as the “Sabana de Bogotá” (Bogotá Savannah), at an altitude of around 2,600 m,and an average temperature of 14°C. The plateauconsists of flat land with hills to the east and the west,and wasteland. (see Fig. 1) The region is defined by the Bogotá River, and all the micro basins that form in the Savannah converge. (“CAR | Río Bogotá,” n.d.). Inside the national setting, Bogotá and its region has a high urban development rate. The capital city and the urban cores of the 19 towns that make up the district involved an expected territory of 39,000 hectares in 1998, of which 31,000 relate to Bogotá and 8,000 to different towns. Some development inside the rural zones can likewise be distinguished, however there are no exact appraisals. The urban zone of the city of Bogota is isolated into 112 urban “zonal arranging units” (UPZ) that possess about365 km2. UPZ are regional units used to design urban improvement at the zonal level, and they follow recognizableboundaries, for example, streets and characteristic hindrances. The individual UPZ units in Bogota extend in size from 0.4 to 9.0 km2.According to the Urban Planning Office (SDP) in 2011, the Bogota territory has 7.35 million individuals (2.24 million ofhouseholds), and it is evaluated that its populace will reach about 8.30 million of every 2020. Also, the 12surrounding districts of the city involved a region which reaches out across 1,194 km2 with a populace of 1.22 million occupants (Guzman and Bocarejo, 2017) . (see Fig. 2).
15 km
River
Wetlands
City parks
Town
Eastern Hills 2.600 mts
Figure 1. Section of Bogota city
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Figure 2 . Bogota -Region
Commuting and transport Bogota, the capital of Colombia, is an exceptionally clogged city. The normal pinnacle period speed on the principle streets declined to 10 km/h or then again lower by 1995 (1). Bogota is probably the densest city on the planet, with 7 million individuals living on 35,000 hectares. Vehicle possession is low, at one vehicle for every nine occupants (1), similar to the quantity of vehicles comparative with the length of the street arrange (2). About 71% of mechanized outings are by the system of buses known as Transmilenio (see Fig. 3). Additionally to long travel times, these underlying problems led to poorly maintained roads, bad driving behaviours, and parked cars occupying public spaces such as sidewalks. On the public transport side, lax regulatory administration resulted in an excessive number of buses, many of them are obsolete to be safe (Ardila and Menckhoff, 2002).
Figure 3. System of transport. “Transmilenio“
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Economy and social issues As of late, numerous angles in Bogota city have improved for different divisions of the population , especially insome low-salary territories, with the execution of Transmilenio system. Be that as it may, it is clear that much stays to be done, especially corresponding to value. For example, in riches conveyance, Colombia is the oneof the most inconsistent nations on the planet, with a GINI coefficient of 0.536. (ECLAC 2013). There are significant contrasts in the population and job location through all urban territory. Bogota has a huge lodging shortfall, especially in social housing, which has supported an urban improvement focus on unplanned and informal agglomerations. As a result, several informal neighborhoods emerged on the city boundaries with poor quality of living conditions (Ardila and Menckhoff, 2002). .
Figure 4. Historic center
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Figure 5. Urban fabric
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Townscape Bogotรก is a place of convergence for people from all around the country and is therefore diverse and multicultural. The town is greatly green covering by parks and the hills that extend along its eastern boundary, defined by their two highest landmarks, Monserrate and Guadalupe. This green coverage comes from the Andes mountain range, rising up in the east, which is unique and unrepeatable in any other large city. However, Bogotรก also has the colors of brick buildings and authentic colonial roofs as a testimony of the colonial era.
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Site Project From the city scale, the site project includes several metropolitan landmarks considered as part fundamental of townscape and urban structure. (see. Fig. 6) For example, The Simon Bolivar Park is the largest in the city with almost 400 hectares. (1) It also has a large number of recreational and cultural facilities that attract local and international scale events such as a big lake and the district aquatics center. The planning department is located within a modern building created in 1933. This part of the city supply services related to planning, road infrastructure and all aspects related to urban planning (2). The area is also surrounding by other important places such as The National University, the convention centre and the urbanization Antonio NariĂąo.
1.
2.
La Candelaria is household to some of Bogotå’s most popular museums and attractions. The neighbourhood is an eclectic juxtaposition between old and new, historic and modern. The beautiful buildings are typical of Spanish colonial architecture, while the streets boast some of the most unique graffiti murals (3). 24
3.
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LE
AL .C AV 26
AV. AMER ICAS
2 Site Project
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LIG
TH
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IN NL
AV .C
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Figure 6. Location. framework: 30 hectares.
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Figure 7. Aerial view of site
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Land Uses In general, the land is dominated by industrial areas and warehouses. There is a lack of housing and other community services such as retail areas, public equipment’s as well as recreation facilities. An historic building stands out in the landscape due to its architectural style and function as the unique educational center in the site.
1.
2
2. 3
1
3.
Industry
Parking
Residential
Business
Civic
Warehouse
Commercial
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Green spaces The green areas are defined by green corridors and surfaces which in some cases are private. Surprisingly, most areas are outside site limits and seem as a result of road development. However, the southern part of the site has several small parks well integrated with existing dwellings and roadscape.
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2. 1
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Green corridors Parks Private green areas
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Leftover green spaces after planning
Road network and transportation Regarding of road network, the site has a lot of advantages in terms of connectivity. The Av. Americas and the Av. Jimenez provides unique links between the suburbs and municipalities such as “Soacha” and “Facatativa”. Nevertheless, it is not the same for neighborhood scale as most sidewalks are in bad conditions and the large roads create potential movement barriers.
3 1.
2
1
2.
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Bus station
Cycle routes
Bus routes
Road bridges
Bus rapid system station “Transmilenio“
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Chapter Four
Site Analysis
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Urban Issues Although some site appraisals are positives so far, the urban issues consulted in this section outlined the main potentials and constraints from the view of pedestrians and cyclists. This illustrates how the urban environment generated by roads, buildings, and open spaces not always are friendly with human scale and, by contrast, all together contribute to create, physical and visual barriers.
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Noisy and agressive traffic.
Impact to pedestrians
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Risk for bicyclists
Car dominance
Access barries
Walls and fences
Movement barrier
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Poor quality of public realm
Car parking
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Polluted sidewalks
Land use conflict
Visual barriers
Educational activity
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Opportunities and Constraints
un Av. Com
eros
Av. America s
Av .J
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ez
OPPORTUNITIES
Potential street connections Access to the light train system Potential pedestrain access Landmarks
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Historical building
CONSTRAINTS
Access barriers Area of pedestrian constrain Lack of urban life Inactive frontages
Chapter Five
Fundamentals
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Concept •
Neighbourhood unit as a Guide
A walkable neighbourhood commonly involves high density, compact, mixed use, transit-orientated development, and pedestrian orientated roads. Suitable pedestrian infrastructure provides several benefits such as increased physical activity, less traffic congestion and encouraging social interaction. well-design neighbourhoods have an important part to play in helping to guide the urban development from community vision and creating create a sense of place and work well for people’s needs in the future.
15 - 80 Hectares
+/- 5 minute walk
Figure 11. Concept
The studies suggest that well-connected neighbourhoods are expressed by a high number of nodes and an average block length between 90 to 120 m (Gori, Nigro and Petrelli, 2014). Likewise, the indicator of proximity establishes the grade of pedestrian coverage within an airline buffer of 500 mts related to any specific destination. Hence, this work stance that a walkable neighborhood unit might inform the planning development on different scales including region, city, sector, and the neighborhood itself. 39
Figure 12. Neighbourhood unit as a guide on multiple scales
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Design Principles Come from my Studio B research, the following design principles are inspired in New Urbanism and in the urban features of some traditional neighbourhoods in Bogota such as “Quinta Camacho”, “La Fragua” and “Ciudadela Colsubsidio”. These principles work as a guide for further master plan design. It is indicated in the figure below.
Figure 13. New urbanism Principles
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Vision
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Master Plan Vision The creation of a new centrality for development of tech industries, a sustainable community with high quality housing,excellent environment for pedestrians, cyclist , and good connections toemployment opportunities and multiple modes of transport. The key principles that should underlie the masterplan are:
1. Development of tech industries and local creative economies.
2. Provide new open-neighborhoods able to build sustainable communities supported by local-industry and commercial development.
3. Promote ecological and functional connectivity
through creation of new green corridors and public spaces of different sizes.
4. Create an environment suitable for pedestrians and cyclists through active frontages, cycle-infrastructure and slow-moving traffic.
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“Urban designers may seek to protect neighbourhood streets, revitalise a public square, .. set regulations for concervation or development, build a participaoty process, write an interpretative guide or plan a city celebration.� Kevin lynch.
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Chapter Six
Master Plan
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City scale strategies The master starts with the outline of a set of city scale strategies to create a comprehensive link between site project , urban structure and existing and further developments in the city. Basicacally, the strategy comprises the projection of a new green corridor where other strategies take a place. These strategies are illustrated below and located in the Figure.
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New Green Corridor.
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New cable car line.
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New centrality for digital and tech industries
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New Light-train line
New Green Corridor New Southern Light-train Industrial Corridor New cable-car line New centrality
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Master Plan and Activities Distribution. According to city-scale strategies, the master plan pursues the accomplishment of vision through a set of located activities. The activity distribution illustrates in the layout responds to the city context and needs of local communities.
1. Neighbourhood Corridor.
2. New tech and green Industries.
3. New neighbourhood based on New urbanism principles.
4. Replacing existing roundabout by a new linear park for pedestrian mobility.
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4
Av. America s
Further development
un Av. Com
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Further development
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2
Av .J
im
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en
ez
1
Existing Neighbourhood
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Residential development
New parks
Proposed landmarks
New squares
New industrial edge New metropolitan center
Proposed corridors
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Design Appraisal The masterplan has been developed from the options appraisal described in the previous pages. This section aims to illustrate how the plan works within the urban context, including new connections, green spaces, functions and how they are interrelated each and other.
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Green spaces
•
Grey surfaces
1
2
3
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Proposed green areas
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Large Parks
Proposed green corridors
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Medium parks
Existing green spaces
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Small parks
Proposed squares
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Programming
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Movement
Green and creative industries
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Sporting facilities
Shared commercial streets
Railtrain street
Housing - medium density
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Cultural facilities
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Pedestrian-only streets
Shared streets
Educational facilities Social wellbeing
Large street with transit
Vehicles-only streets
Central two-ways street
Pedestrain flow
Mix uses - tech industries Commerce corridors Socialwellbeing equipments Cable way station Train station
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Multifunctional enclosure spaces
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Center for creative industries
Parking station
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Intergrated transport system
Cycle-infrastructure
Buses mass lines
Bus station
Cycleways
Underground bus line
Light train station
Cycle parking
Light train lines Cable way line
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Cable way - intermodal station
Cycle stations
•
Master Plan
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Principles Achievement Parallel to the above, the masterplan seeks to use the proposed principles as a tool for achieving a good quality of urban design. This is useful for controlling the size and scales of buildings and open spaces. This involves six master planning stages:
•
Appraisal
•
Walkability
Infill development
Neighbourhood corridor
Preserved building
Pedestrian Only Shared roads Main transit street
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Small blocks
Block lengths of about 80 mts
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Civic spaces
Small size 25 – 50 mts Medium size 50-120 mts Large Size size. + 120mts
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Mixed-uses
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Building types
Houses up to 3 F
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Courtyards
Block of flats up to 3 F
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Large Courtyards
Small Industries up to 4 F
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Industrial pavilions and row houses
Tech industries and offices up to 8 F
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Multi-storey buildings.
Equipment's up to 6 F
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Distinctive architecture style
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Proposed urban spaces
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Cable car station intergrated with bus system, the skate park and the square.
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Historical building intergrated with teh largest plaza and the new edge of high rise buildings.
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Aerial view : The Site view from the Downtown
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Sections
A-A
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B-B
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Pedestrian views
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1.
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Existing road facing proposing buildings.
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Main pedestrian corridor and visual goals
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1
2
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3.
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Active frontage facing existing skate park and proposed green corridor.
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The New square confined by multi-storied buildings and the existing historical building.
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Chapter Six
Particular interventions
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Roundabaut intervention. As was explained before, the existing roundabout is the ity. Most areas belong to road netxwork and the green and benefit by local communities and visitors. Thefore, ther intervention for this place including the response
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Existing landscape dominated by roads and vehicular bridges.
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Proposed tunnel for connection of AV. Americas and AV. Comuneros
s
ca eri
m
.A Av
Av. C
om
une
ros
s
ca eri
m
.A Av
hardest environment for pedestrian mobilareas availabel are strongly denied to use this section attempts to describe the furto mobility of pedestrians and vehicles.
Av. C
om
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ros
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A
A
s
rica
me
.A Av
Av. C
om
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Aerial view: new linear park.
une
ros
Underground bus station
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Section A-A: proposed tunnel
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• Aerial view : new linear park
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New Neighbourhood The enclosure spaces are articulated through an chitectural installations located in the center. munity symbol where multiple activities such ies, or community centers can take place. how they are integrated with the proposed
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Proposed enclousere spaces and alleyways
alleyways system and a set of arThese artifacts work as a comas kinder gardens, small librarThe following diagrams show street network and buildings.
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New equipments and pedestrian connections
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Multifunctional Equipments connecting by bridges and vertical links.
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New enclosure spaces
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• Aerial view : community space
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• The view of Community spaces from a section.
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Pedestrian view: Architectural installation
Conclusion
In conclusion, this work has examined the usefulness of New Urbanism principles for proposing an urban design project under master plan scheme. It has shown that both local demands and New Urbanism tools might provide a better built scenario for development of local communities, and thus contribute to reduce the of socio-spatial segregation caused by gated environment. However, their applicability requires to be adjusted to the local political support, community compliance and the several implications of the cultural context in Bogota. This work has sought to open up the discussion about how the contingencies of place contribute to New Urbanism’s differentiated forms, from the translations of the principles of the movement into specific contexts.
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