urban design lecture by prof.sivaraman

Lecture and compiling

by Ar.A.Sivaraman, M.Arch, MCA, AIIA.

1.Urban design is the process of designing and shaping the physical features of cities, towns and villages‌

Defniton

Urban design

Urban design

Defniton

2.The art of creatng and shaping cites and towns

Urban design

Defniton

3.It is both a process and an outcome of creatng localites in which people live, engage with each other, and engage with the physical place around them.

Urban design

Its focus on

4.It is concerned with the arrangement, appearance and functon of our suburbs, towns and cites.

5.Urban design involves many different disciplines including • planning, • development, • architecture, • landscape architecture, • engineering, • economics, • law and finance.

6.Urban design involves place-making THE CREATION OF A SETTING THAT IMPARTS( KNOWN) A SENSE OF PLACE TO AN AREA. This process is achieved by establishing 1.identfable neighborhoods, 2.unique architecture, 3.aesthetcally pleasing public places and vistas, 4.identfable landmarks and focal points, and 5.human element established by compatble scales of development and ongoing public stewardship (the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property).

Other key elements of place making include: 1.lively commercial centers, 2.mixed-use development with ground-floor retail uses, 3.human-scale and context-sensitve design; 4.safe and attractve public areas; 5.image-making; and 6.decoratve elements in the public realm.

Urban design

7.Urban design can significantly influence the economic, environmental, social and cultural outcomes of a place: •

Urban design can influence the economic success and socio-economic compositon of a locality—whether it encourages local businesses and entrepreneurship; whether it attracts people to live there; whether the costs of housing and travel are affordable; and whether access to job opportunites, facilites and services are equitable.

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Urban design determines the physical scale, space and ambience of a place and establishes the built and natural forms within which individual buildings and infrastructure are sited. As such, it affects the balance between natural ecosystems and built environments , and their sustainability outcomes.

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Urban design can influence health and the social and cultural impacts of a locality: how people interact with each other, how they move around, and how they use a place.

8.Urban design practce areas range in scale from small public spaces or streets to neighborhoods, city-wide systems, or whole regions.

9.Examples of great urban design are all over the world

COMPONENTS OR ELEMENTS OF URBAN SPACE AND THEIR “INTERDEPENDENCIES”

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN

1. URBAN STRUCTURE 2. URBAN GRAIN 3. DENSITY + MIX 4. HEIGHT + MASSING 5. STREETSCAPE + LANDSCAPE 6. FACADE + INTERFACE 7. DETAILS + MATERIALS

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN This diagram shows the approximate hierarchical relatonship between the elements of urban design, followed by a brief defniton of each of the elements. The secton below provides basic explanatons for terms that are commonly used for urban design in the Australian context.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN URBAN STRUCTURE The overall framework of a region, town or precinct, showing relatonships between zones of built forms, land forms, natural environments, actvites and open spaces. It encompasses broader systems including transport and infrastructure networks.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN URBAN GRAIN The balance of open space to built form, and the nature and extent of subdividing an area into smaller parcels or blocks. For example a ‘fine urban grain’ might constitute a network of small or detailed streetscapes. It takes into consideration the hierarchy of street types, the physical linkages and movement between locations, and modes of transport.

COARSE GRAIN

large building and large plots

URBAN GRAIN The balance of open space to built form, and the nature and extent of subdividing an area into smaller parcels or blocks

FINE GRAIN small building and small projects

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN DENSITY + MIX The intensity of development and the range of different uses (such as residental, commercial, insttutonal or recreatonal uses).

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN HEIGHT + MASSING The scale of buildings in relaton to height and floor area, and how they relate to surrounding land forms, buildings and streets. It also incorporates building envelope, site coverage and solar orientaton. Height and massing create the sense of openness or enclosure, and affect the amenity of streets, spaces and other buildings.

Curitiba, the Green City (State of Parana)

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN STREETSCAPE + LANDSCAPE The design of public spaces such as streets, open spaces and pathways, and includes landscaping, microclimate, shading and plantng.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN FACADE + INTERFACE The relatonship of buildings to the site, street and neighbouring buildings (alignment, setbacks, boundary treatment) and the architectural expression of their facades (projectons, openings, patterns and materials).

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN DETAILS + MATERIALS The close-up appearance of objects and surfaces and the selecton of materials in terms of detail, craftsmanship, texture, colour, durability, sustainability and treatment. It includes street furniture, paving, lightng and signage. It contributes to human comfort, safety and enjoyment of the public domain.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN PUBLIC REALM/DOMAIN Much of urban design is concerned with the design and management of publicly used space and the way this is experienced and used. It includes the natural and built environment used by the general public on a day-to-day basis such as streets, plazas, parks, and public infrastructure.

Some aspects of privately owned space such as the bulk and scale of buildings, or gardens that are visible from the public realm, can also contribute to the overall result.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN TOPOGRAPHY, LANDSCAPE AND ENVIRONMENT The natural environment includes the topography of landforms, water courses, flora and fauna— whether natural or introduced. It may be in the form of rivers and creeks, lakes, bushland, parks and recreatonal facilites, streetscapes or private gardens, and is often referred to as ‘green infrastructure’.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN SOCIAL + ECONOMIC FABRIC The non-physical aspects of the urban form which include social factors (culture, partcipaton, health and well-being) as well as the productve capacity and economic prosperity of a community. It incorporates aspects such as demographics and life stages, social interacton and support networks.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN SCALE The size, bulk and percepton of a buildings and spaces. Bulk refers to the height, width and depth of a building in relaton to other surrounding buildings, the street, setbacks and surrounding open space. For example, a large building set amongst other smaller buildings may seem ‘out of scale’.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN URBAN FORM The arrangement of a built up area. This arrangement is made up of many components including how close buildings and uses are together; what uses are located where; and how much of the natural environment is a part of the built up area.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN BUILDINGS Buildings are the most pronounced elements of urban design - they shape and artculate space by forming the street walls of the city.

Well designed buildings and groups of buildings work together to create a sense of place.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN PUBLIC SPACE Great public spaces are the living room of the city - the place where people come together to enjoy the city and each other

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN PUBLIC SPACE Public spaces make high quality life in the city possible - they form the stage and backdrop to the drama of life. Public spaces range from grand central plazas and squares, to small, local neighborhood parks.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN STREETS Streets are the connectons between spaces and places, as well as being spaces themselves.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN STREETS They are defned by their physical dimension and character as well as the size, scale, and character of the buildings that line them.

Streets range from grand avenues such as the Champs-Elysees in Paris to small, intmate pedestrian streets.

The pattern of the street network is part of what defnes a city and what makes each city unique.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN TRANSPORT Transport systems connect the parts of cites and help shape them, and enable movement throughout the city.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN TRANSPORT The balance of these various transport systems is what helps defne the quality and character of cites, and makes them either friendly or hostle to pedestrians.

The best cites are the ones that elevate the experience of the pedestrian while minimizing the dominance of the private automobile

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN LANDSCAPE The landscape is the green part of the city that weaves throughout - in the form of urban parks, street ,trees, plants, flowers, and water in many forms.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN LANDSCAPE The landscape helps defne the character and beauty of a city and creates soft, contrastng spaces and elements. Green spaces in cites range from grand parks such as Central Park in New York City and the Washington DC Mall, to small intmate pocket parks.

“Urban Design weaves together these elements into a coherent, organized design structure.

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The creative articulation of space is the most prominent aspect of urban design.

The following artstc principles are an integral part of creatng form and spatal defniton: Order | Unity | Balance | Proportion | Scale | Hierarchy | Symmetry | Rhythm | Contrast | Context | Detail | Texture | Harmony | Beauty

ISSUES/ ASPECTS OF URBAN SPACE

1. LOSS OF PUBLIC SPACE.  The majority of roads are publicly owned and free of access.  Increased traffic has adverse impacts on public actvites which once crowded the streets such as markets, agoras, parades and processions, games, and community interactons.  These have gradually disappeared to be replaced by automobiles.  In many cases, these actvites have shifted to shopping malls while in other cases, they have been abandoned altogether.  traffic flows influence the life and interactons of residents and their usage of street space.  More traffic impedes social interactons and street actvites.  People tend to walk and cycle less when traffic is high.

2.ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION.  Polluton, including noise, generated by circulaton has become a serious impediment to the quality of life and even the health of urban populatons.  Further, energy consumpton by urban transportaton has dramatcally increased and so the dependency on petroleum.

3.ACCIDENTS AND SAFETY.  Growing traffic in urban areas is linked with a growing number of accidents and fatalites, especially in developing countries.  Accidents account for a signifcant share of recurring delays.  As traffic increases, people feel less safe to use the streets.

2.ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION.  Polluton, including noise, generated by circulaton has become a serious impediment to the quality of life and even the health of urban populatons.  Further, energy consumpton by urban transportaton has dramatcally increased and so the dependency on petroleum.

3.ACCIDENTS AND SAFETY.  Growing traffic in urban areas is linked with a growing number of accidents and fatalites, especially in developing countries.  Accidents account for a signifcant share of recurring delays.  As traffic increases, people feel less safe to use the streets.

4.LAND CONSUMPTION.  The territorial imprint of transportaton is signifcant, partcularly for the automobile.  Between 30 and 60% of a metropolitan area may be devoted to transportaton, an outcome of the over-reliance on some forms of urban transportaton.  Yet, this land consumpton also underlines the strategic importance of transportaton in the economic and social welfare of cites.

5. TRAFFIC CONGESTION There are two main problems that modern day cites face, namely urban decay when parts of the city become run down and undesirable to live in, and traffic congeston. Traffic congeston is caused by  Many people working in the C.B.D. which may have narrow streets  Shortage of off-street parking which means people park on the roads and so increase congeston  People not using public transport - either because it is less convenient, too expensive or not available  More people own and use cars  A complete soluton to traffic congeston needs people to be able and willing to travel on public transport more.

5. TRAFFIC CONGESTION There are two main problems that modern day cites face, namely urban decay when parts of the city become run down and undesirable to live in, and traffic congeston. Traffic congeston is caused by  Many people working in the C.B.D. which may have narrow streets  Shortage of off-street parking which means people park on the roads and so increase congeston  People not using public transport - either because it is less convenient, too expensive or not available  More people own and use cars  A complete soluton to traffic congeston needs people to be able and willing to travel on public transport more.

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES OF URBAN DESIGN AS A DISCIPLINE

OBJECTIVES OF URBAN DESIGN  Successful streets, spaces, villages, towns and cites tend to have characteristcs in common.  These factors have been analyzed to produce principles or objectves of good urban design.  They help to remind us what should be sought to create a successful place.

1. CHARACTER 2. CONTINUITY AND ENCLOSURE 3. QUALITY OF PUBLIC REALM 4. EASE OF MOVEMENT 5. LEGIBILITY 6. ADAPTABILITY 7. DIVERSITY

SCOPE

OF URBAN DESIGN AS A DISCIPLINE

1.Urban Design by Alex Krieger, et al describes the development of the practice of urban design since the field’s contours were sketched out at a conference at Harvard University in the 1950s.

2. It is mainly focused on the development of urban design practce and includes accounts of the role various professionals (such as architects, developers, regulators and land use lawyers) have played in the emerging feld.

3.The emergent discipline of urban design is stll very much done by architects, developers and land use lawyers; the true establishment of urban design as a separate profession is stll very much pending.�.

4.It is a evoluton between architecture and urban planning 5.Acts as the link between architects and urban design 6.Urban design is wider than the scope of Architect, the Landscape Architect and the City Planner 7.It is a discipline to be practced by all those who are “urban-minded�.

1. THE BRIDGE BETWEEN PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE:  Urban designers mediate between plans and projects.  It is the urban designer who determines what is good or appropriate urban form  Expertse of the urban designer in architectural thinking directs the formulaton of plans to consider physical implicatons.

2. A FORM-BASED CATEGORY OF PUBLIC POLICY:  Restrictons on height or massing in zoning codes are ostensibly determined through measurable criteria such as access to sunlight, could be considered as good form-based values.  It seems too administratve and passive a role for urban design.

3.THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CITY:  Its roots may be traced in 19th century European Beaux Arts and the 20th century American City Beautful movement. It seeks to regulate the shaping of public areas of the city: shaping the public space.  This noton of urban design is best embodied by a stable and stabilizing form anchoring its part of the city with unique characteristcs that are expected to endure and influence future neighbors.

4. URBAN DESIGN AS RESTORATIVE URBANISM:  The traditonal city seems at once so clearly organized, humanely sized, manageable and beautful. Such virtues seems absent in the modern metropolis. Why not mobilize to regain these qualities?  New Urbanists advocate a return to what they consider tme-honored principles of urbanism  The walkable city, the city of public streets and public squares, the low-rise high-density city, the city of defned neighborhoods gathered around valued insttutons, the city of intricate layers of uses free of auto-induced congeston are characteristcs that remain appealing.

5.Urban Design as ‘PLACE-MAKING’:  As more contemporary urban development acquires generic qualites, or is merely repettve, the distnctve urban place, old or new, is harder to fnd.  More urban designers should devote their attenton to making new places as worthy as their tme-honored predecessors.  It is the American New Urbanists who have artculated this goal most clearly, but with mixed results. Their rhetoric extols intmate scale, texture, the mixing of uses, connectvity, contnuity, the privileging of what is shared.  Their designs tend to focus on familiar old forms and traditonal aesthetc detailing.

6.URBAN DESIGN AS SMART GROWTH:  Sprawl control and environmental stewardship should form overt parts of urban thinking directed to urban protecton.  Urban designers should advocate ‘smarter’ planning and urban design especially at metropolitan periphery.  Exposure to the natural sciences, to ecology, to energy management, to systems analysis, to the economics of land development, to land use law, to issues of public health have not been fundamental to an urbanist’s training, but are increasingly becoming more so.

7.THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE CITY:  The arrangement of streets and blocks, the distributon of open and public spaces, the alignment of transit and highway corridors, and the provision of municipal services consttute essental components of urbanism.  Neither planners nor designers have played a signifcant role in the realm of transportaton or other urban infrastructure planning.  Engineering is shifting emphasis from hardware to systems design, from adding lanes, to traffic management technology.  Factors such as livability, sustainability, economic and cultural growth, in other words good urban design, are the real goals of infrastructure optmizaton.

8.URBAN DESIGN AS “LANDSCAPE URBANISM”: 

Landscape Urbanism has newly emerged to incorporate ecology, landscape architecture and infrastructure into the discourse of urbanism.

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Its main proponents are Ian McHarg, Patrick Geddes and even Frederick Law Olmsted

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Nature and human artfce are opposites. Landscape urbanism projects purport to overcome this oppositon, through the intersecton of ecology, engineering, design and social policy.

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Landscape is the modern glue that holds the modern metropolis together

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The radicalism inherent in conceptualizaton landscape as generatve for urbanism is the central component of urban design

9.URBAN DESIGN AS VISIONARY URBANISM:  The twenteth century witnessed immense urban harm caused by those who offered a singular or universal idea of what a city is, or what urbanizaton should produce.  Theorists provide insight and models about the way we ought to organize spatally.  This sphere of acton is associated with the great fgures of modern urban change, from Baron Haussmann, to Daniel Burnham, to Ebeneezer Howard, to Raymond Unwin, to LeCorbusier, and maybe even Rem Koolhaas and Andres Duany today.  The urban sociologist/theorist -- from Louis Wirth, to Henri Lefebvre, to Richard Sennett, Edward Soja or David Harvey supplanted in our own tme the great urban transformers of the past.

10.URBAN DESIGN AS COMMUNITY ADVOCACY:  Urban design evokes notons of large-scale thinking.  Contemporary dwellers of urban neighborhoods associate urban design with local, immediate concerns such as improving neighborhoods, calming traffic, minimizing negatve impacts of new development, expanding housing choices while keeping housing affordable, maintaining open space, improving streetscapes, and creatng more humane environments in general.  Urban design approximates what used to be called “community planning”.  Today, it is the urban designer, not the planner, who has emerged as the place-centered professional, with “urban design” often assuming a friendlier, more accessible popular connotaton

11.URBAN DESIGN AS A FRAME OF MIND  Urban design is less a technical discipline and more a mindset among those, of varying disciplinary foundatons, seeking, sharing and advocatng insights about forms of community.  What binds different urban designers are their commitment to city life, the enterprise of urban-maintenance, and the determinaton to enhance urbanism.

1. https://urbandesign.org.au/what-is-urban-design/ 2. http://www.urbandesign.org/

Reference