City building has preoccupied kings and cardinals,mayors and burghers,for thousands of years.But it was only in the modern period that urban planning became an accepted profession and a well defined field of study.
NINETEENTH-CENTURY URBAN CRISIS AND REFORM
-The parks movenment
One of the first responses to the horrors and social dislocations of industrial urbanism was the parks movement.The parks movement sought to provide the congested city with "lungs". The enormous increase of urban populations in the nineteenth century and the misery entailed by the industrial revolution greatly compounded urban health problems.
-Ebenezer Howard and the Garden City ideal
The key to improved health was an urban plan that eliminated congestion and kept the open countryside close at hand.
-The Garden City movement begins
-Urban aestheticism and the city beautiful movement
On the continent,this tendency reached its peak with the brilliant writings and designs of Camillo Sitte.
-Daniel Burnham of Chicago
The principal elements of city beautiful design,and its allied civic art movement,were strong axial arrangements,magificent boulevards and impressive public buildings.
-Planning comes of age
Nothing that city beautiful projects have little efffect on the daily lives of working class people,Marsh argued that all public improvements should be argued that all public improvements should be scutinized with a view to the benefits they will confer upon those most in need.
-Progressivism and the city efficient
-Edward Bassett and the master plan
-New towns and regionalism
-The contribution of Patrick Geddes
-New towns for America
-The plan for New York and envions
Prophets of high modernism
---Utopian modernism
---Planning and the great deppression
---Modern housing for the depression poor
Patrick Abercrombie and the Barlow report
-the barlow report
In Britain, and elsewhere in Europe,planners saw regionalism and New Towns policies,along with parallel increases in welfarism,that helped in the rebuilding process that was the inevitable work of postwar reconstruction.
The great accomplishments of early city planning must not be overlooked or undervalued.The great urban parks still enhance the lives of millions and constitute and incalculable asset for the residents of great cities.
The great premises and programs of the
Thursday, 25 November 2010
How plans work---Lewis D.Hopkins for week 3
How do plans work?
The items in the agenda of a meeting have in common the timing of decisions at the same meeting and perhaps a common decision maker`s authority,but the choice for one item need have no relation to the choice for another.A policy works by automating repeat decisions to save time or by ensuring that the same action is taken in the same circumstances,which yields fairness or predictability.Plans also work as a focus of deliberation.Such work occurs both in the creation of plans and in their use to guide action.
Investments and regulations
Investments in physical infrastructure of facilities mediate between geographic space and people`s behaviors.Thus two kinks of decisions matter:the decisions to invest in infrastructure and the decisions to use the resulting infrastructure in particular ways.Thus an indicator of vehicle miles traveled per person per day depends on where people who work downtown live and over what type of network they travel,which depends in turn on the geographic character of the site of the city.
People choose to live or work in facilities that exist at particular locations because someone invested in the facility at the location.
DETERMINING WHETHER PLANS WORK
Do plans work?
-Plan-making behaviors
-Plans -information available at particular times to particular people.
-Investments& regulations
-Outcomes
Summary:Plans work in particular situations
Plans can work in more than one way.Given explanations of how plans work.They thus provide a basis for predicting what plans will be worth making.
The items in the agenda of a meeting have in common the timing of decisions at the same meeting and perhaps a common decision maker`s authority,but the choice for one item need have no relation to the choice for another.A policy works by automating repeat decisions to save time or by ensuring that the same action is taken in the same circumstances,which yields fairness or predictability.Plans also work as a focus of deliberation.Such work occurs both in the creation of plans and in their use to guide action.
Investments and regulations
Investments in physical infrastructure of facilities mediate between geographic space and people`s behaviors.Thus two kinks of decisions matter:the decisions to invest in infrastructure and the decisions to use the resulting infrastructure in particular ways.Thus an indicator of vehicle miles traveled per person per day depends on where people who work downtown live and over what type of network they travel,which depends in turn on the geographic character of the site of the city.
People choose to live or work in facilities that exist at particular locations because someone invested in the facility at the location.
DETERMINING WHETHER PLANS WORK
Do plans work?
-Plan-making behaviors
-Plans -information available at particular times to particular people.
-Investments& regulations
-Outcomes
Summary:Plans work in particular situations
Plans can work in more than one way.Given explanations of how plans work.They thus provide a basis for predicting what plans will be worth making.
Practitioners and the art of planning---Eugenie L.Birch for week 2
This article probes the meaning of the phrase"art of planning"as envisioned by its practitioners-those who work in the field and those who teach and research in academia.
1930s to 1960s:Science and art of planning
The field had been evolving from 1917,when twenty-four men founded the American Institute of City Planning.That year the American Institute of City Planning members deleted the word "city"from the organization`s title,making it American Institute of Planners.The massive New Deal efforts designed to address widespread Depression-caused unemployment through infrastructure construction had opened up many new avenues for planners.
While under these conditions,the design and craft facets of the field expanded dramatically,the presentation approaches basically remained unchanged from the earliest days of expert-driven diagnosis and prescription accompanied by the graphic and textual material of planning reports.
To codify their expertise,planners produced textbooks and monographs capturing the art of planning from their own experience.While planners did not explicitly write about the presentation techniques needed to succeed in their field,they did assemble lists of exemplary planning products.
On the whole,these volumes expanded the design and craft aspects of the field but reiterated the presentation formats of the past.
The art of planning,sixties-style
Just as New deal activities had prompted the examination of the profession in 1938,the implementation of postwar programs would cause heavy soul searching in the 1960s. More over,with their focus on city and suburb and their claimed expertise in urban structure and land use,planner were often at the heart of the debates on domestic issues.In this period,education in planning was also changing.
The art and science of planning in the seventies
Interest in the field of urbanism ran high through out the 1970s,especially after president Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating the cabinet level departed of Housing and urban development in 1965.By the end of the 1980s,about eighty schools had degree offerings.
The art of planning in the eighties and nineties
The degree programs,now numbering about 100,continued to focus on master`s and doctoral education.
Publication of two editions of the Green Book bracketed the next decades.
The art of planning in the millennium
As this account has related,the art of planning,as seen in the successive editions of the Green Book,is composed of three elements:design,craft and presentation.Over time,planner have amplified or modified the definition of the three facets of the art of planning,adding new areas of expertise and redefining their role in exercising this knowledge.
These are a few ideas, designed to stimulate discussion and action.
1930s to 1960s:Science and art of planning
The field had been evolving from 1917,when twenty-four men founded the American Institute of City Planning.That year the American Institute of City Planning members deleted the word "city"from the organization`s title,making it American Institute of Planners.The massive New Deal efforts designed to address widespread Depression-caused unemployment through infrastructure construction had opened up many new avenues for planners.
While under these conditions,the design and craft facets of the field expanded dramatically,the presentation approaches basically remained unchanged from the earliest days of expert-driven diagnosis and prescription accompanied by the graphic and textual material of planning reports.
To codify their expertise,planners produced textbooks and monographs capturing the art of planning from their own experience.While planners did not explicitly write about the presentation techniques needed to succeed in their field,they did assemble lists of exemplary planning products.
On the whole,these volumes expanded the design and craft aspects of the field but reiterated the presentation formats of the past.
The art of planning,sixties-style
Just as New deal activities had prompted the examination of the profession in 1938,the implementation of postwar programs would cause heavy soul searching in the 1960s. More over,with their focus on city and suburb and their claimed expertise in urban structure and land use,planner were often at the heart of the debates on domestic issues.In this period,education in planning was also changing.
The art and science of planning in the seventies
Interest in the field of urbanism ran high through out the 1970s,especially after president Lyndon Johnson signed legislation creating the cabinet level departed of Housing and urban development in 1965.By the end of the 1980s,about eighty schools had degree offerings.
The art of planning in the eighties and nineties
The degree programs,now numbering about 100,continued to focus on master`s and doctoral education.
Publication of two editions of the Green Book bracketed the next decades.
The art of planning in the millennium
As this account has related,the art of planning,as seen in the successive editions of the Green Book,is composed of three elements:design,craft and presentation.Over time,planner have amplified or modified the definition of the three facets of the art of planning,adding new areas of expertise and redefining their role in exercising this knowledge.
These are a few ideas, designed to stimulate discussion and action.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Geographic Information Systems---Ann-Margaret Esnard,Nancy Sappington&Milton R.Ospina
Geographic information system(GIS) is a tool that connects databases to maps.By combining a range of spatially referenced data and analytic tool,GIS technology enables people to prioritize issues,understand them,consider alternatives and reach viable conclusions.
The capability of a GIS to link data sets together by common location information facilitates the sharing of information, such as interdepartmentally within an organization or via the internet with the public.
GIS COMPONENTS
The main components of a GIS are hardware, software,data sources,including metadata and data structure types.
Hardware
The hardware consists of a computer that meets the software system requirements and other equipment,such as printers,scanners or digitizers.
Software
GIS software provides the functions and tools necessary for storing,analyzing and displaying spatial information.
Data sources
To determine the type of data needed,one needs to first determine the types of produts a GIS will produce.
Metadata
Metadata are perhaps the most critical part of a GIS and often the most neglected.
Data types
There are two types of data: vector data and raster data. A GIS will integrate both types of data.
GIS FUNCTIONALITY
-Query by location
A query by location can be a search on a point within a polygon or a radius search from a specific point.
-Query by attribute
A query by attribute searches on data stored in the table.
-Boolean queries
Boolean queries are a combination of location queries and attribute queries.
-Buffers
A buffers is a region around a geographic feature or phenomenon.Buffers can be one ring or multiple rings.
-Address matching
This process matches the location of an event recorded as a street address,latitude and longitude position or milepost locations along a route in a table, to a street centerline,zip code or other administrative zone.
-Measuring distance
Distance can be measured as Euclidean distance,which is the distance of straight or curved paths.
-Overlays
The overlay operation is central to many GIS applications.
-Suitability analyses
Suitability analysis is commonly used for finding optimum locations for a project,based on a combination of map layers.
The capability of a GIS to link data sets together by common location information facilitates the sharing of information, such as interdepartmentally within an organization or via the internet with the public.
GIS COMPONENTS
The main components of a GIS are hardware, software,data sources,including metadata and data structure types.
Hardware
The hardware consists of a computer that meets the software system requirements and other equipment,such as printers,scanners or digitizers.
Software
GIS software provides the functions and tools necessary for storing,analyzing and displaying spatial information.
Data sources
To determine the type of data needed,one needs to first determine the types of produts a GIS will produce.
Metadata
Metadata are perhaps the most critical part of a GIS and often the most neglected.
Data types
There are two types of data: vector data and raster data. A GIS will integrate both types of data.
GIS FUNCTIONALITY
-Query by location
A query by location can be a search on a point within a polygon or a radius search from a specific point.
-Query by attribute
A query by attribute searches on data stored in the table.
-Boolean queries
Boolean queries are a combination of location queries and attribute queries.
-Buffers
A buffers is a region around a geographic feature or phenomenon.Buffers can be one ring or multiple rings.
-Address matching
This process matches the location of an event recorded as a street address,latitude and longitude position or milepost locations along a route in a table, to a street centerline,zip code or other administrative zone.
-Measuring distance
Distance can be measured as Euclidean distance,which is the distance of straight or curved paths.
-Overlays
The overlay operation is central to many GIS applications.
-Suitability analyses
Suitability analysis is commonly used for finding optimum locations for a project,based on a combination of map layers.
Planning Metropolitan Regions---Gary Hack
WHAT`S WRONG WITH CURRENT DEVELOPMENT?
The older areas are deserted for new development on the urban fringe, it may be an inefficient use of public resources to let excess infrastructure lie fallow at the centers of cities while constructing new utilities as part of developments at the perimeter.
There is often a mismatch between the location of jobs in the dispersed metropolis and those in need of employment.There may be a second disparity between the ability of public jurisdictions to raise resources through the forms of taxation they have available and the demands for services and social assistance placed upon them.
THE EVOLUTION OF "SPRAWL" INTO NEW PATTERNS
The evolving metropolitan region has a distinct underlying structure.Employment and shopping clusters have grown up in portions of metropolitan areas that have good highway access.
The next development opportunities in these clusters will involve the huge areas that have been set aside for parking. The difficulty is that all the highways leading to the cluster are likely to be congested already.Local governments resist approving more density unless there are new transportation systems,and a number of developers have begun to create transportation management organizations in suburban clusters.
The conundrum of emerging commercial culsters is that they cannot become true urban centers without mass transit and much higher densities,yet they cannot get government approval for such changes because of worries about congestion and spillover effects in adjacent areas.
There are often no connections among these assorted developments and frequently no sidewalks along the streets,but people create pathways across parking lots or undeveloped areas or lawns wherever they can.
Over the next generation, the traditional city center will no longer be the only venue for cultural and entertainment events.
THE FUTURE OF TRADITIONAL DOWNTOWNS
The future of traditional downtown will become even more specialized subcenters,certainly not the only centers or even the most dominant ones,but important nonetheless.
NEW NEIGHBORHOOD DIVERSITY
Although all the house in a neighborhood may look similar, a close look at mature suburbs will reveal considerable diversity. It is also a mistake to stereotype new metropolitan development.Specialized districts are emerging in outlying parts of the metropolitan region.
NEW REGIONAL DIVERSITY
There are high-tech communities built around research and education that define new metropolitan forms.
The daily and weekly geographic range of people in these linked settlements also appears to be expanding. People can commute outbound as well as inbound,and increased numbers of people who seek urbanity are choosin to locate in central cities even though their jobs may be elsewhere.Outside city centers, new housing being constructed is almost always at much lower densities than in previous years.Cleraly the tax advantages are an important incentive, but the transformation of a tough area like hough would not have happened without the desire of many to live close to urban amenities.
MORE POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY NEED TO DEVOLVE TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
At the same time that greater regional capacity is needed, many of the functions operated at the scale of counties or big municipalities could benefit by devolution to smaller entities.
PLANNING IS A NECESSITY FOR SUCCESSFUL CITIES AND REGIONS
If the past century of development leaves any lesson, it is that the detailed relationships,even design,of urban areas ultimately affects their desirability and attractiveness. The next century will require a policy framework that recognizes these as critical aspects of modern life and that creates an accommodation between them.
The older areas are deserted for new development on the urban fringe, it may be an inefficient use of public resources to let excess infrastructure lie fallow at the centers of cities while constructing new utilities as part of developments at the perimeter.
There is often a mismatch between the location of jobs in the dispersed metropolis and those in need of employment.There may be a second disparity between the ability of public jurisdictions to raise resources through the forms of taxation they have available and the demands for services and social assistance placed upon them.
The evolving metropolitan region has a distinct underlying structure.Employment and shopping clusters have grown up in portions of metropolitan areas that have good highway access.
The next development opportunities in these clusters will involve the huge areas that have been set aside for parking. The difficulty is that all the highways leading to the cluster are likely to be congested already.Local governments resist approving more density unless there are new transportation systems,and a number of developers have begun to create transportation management organizations in suburban clusters.
The conundrum of emerging commercial culsters is that they cannot become true urban centers without mass transit and much higher densities,yet they cannot get government approval for such changes because of worries about congestion and spillover effects in adjacent areas.
There are often no connections among these assorted developments and frequently no sidewalks along the streets,but people create pathways across parking lots or undeveloped areas or lawns wherever they can.
Over the next generation, the traditional city center will no longer be the only venue for cultural and entertainment events.
THE FUTURE OF TRADITIONAL DOWNTOWNS
The future of traditional downtown will become even more specialized subcenters,certainly not the only centers or even the most dominant ones,but important nonetheless.
NEW NEIGHBORHOOD DIVERSITY
Although all the house in a neighborhood may look similar, a close look at mature suburbs will reveal considerable diversity. It is also a mistake to stereotype new metropolitan development.Specialized districts are emerging in outlying parts of the metropolitan region.
NEW REGIONAL DIVERSITY
There are high-tech communities built around research and education that define new metropolitan forms.
The daily and weekly geographic range of people in these linked settlements also appears to be expanding. People can commute outbound as well as inbound,and increased numbers of people who seek urbanity are choosin to locate in central cities even though their jobs may be elsewhere.Outside city centers, new housing being constructed is almost always at much lower densities than in previous years.Cleraly the tax advantages are an important incentive, but the transformation of a tough area like hough would not have happened without the desire of many to live close to urban amenities.
MORE POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY NEED TO DEVOLVE TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
At the same time that greater regional capacity is needed, many of the functions operated at the scale of counties or big municipalities could benefit by devolution to smaller entities.
PLANNING IS A NECESSITY FOR SUCCESSFUL CITIES AND REGIONS
If the past century of development leaves any lesson, it is that the detailed relationships,even design,of urban areas ultimately affects their desirability and attractiveness. The next century will require a policy framework that recognizes these as critical aspects of modern life and that creates an accommodation between them.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Town plan- Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater & Jeff Speck
Regional Considerations
The most important design criteria of any new village or town. Currently,most development occurs not according to geographical logic.
Mixed-use Development
Regardless of location , a new neighborhood can avoid unduly contributing to sprawl by being of mixed use.
The corner store should be constructed in an early building phase.It should not be expected to turn a profit until the neighborhood matures,and for that reason the retail space should be provided rent free by the developer as an amenitym, much in an elaborate entry feature or a clubhouse. The corner store is of course only the first step toward a true mix of uses. A neighborhood-scale shopping center may be appropriate for a larger population or when adjacent to through traffic. A mixed-use neighborhood also includes places to work, the more the better.
Ideally,every neighborhood should be designed with an even balance of residents and jobs.
A common criticism of forcing ,the workplace into residential areas is that, even though the workplace is near the homes. it is not near the homes of the people who work there. The most important civic building is the neigborhood elementary school, which should never be more than a fifteen-minute walk from any home. True neighborhoods mix different uses within individual buildings as well.
Connectivity
If a new neighborhood is to contribute more to its region than traffic, it must do more than just mix uses.This is easier said than done.Whenever we design a new neighborhood,we make every effort to convince the adjacent subdivisions to allow us to connect to them. Connenctivity is also an important issue as it concerns highways and arterials.When faced with a major road,how should a neighborhood respond? That depends on whether the road is designed as a civic thoroughfare or as an automotive sewer.
Making the most of a site
Modern development is notorious for its unique approach to nature.Frist,natural features-add significantly to property value.Second,the character of the land scape can help people understand and negotiate their environment.
The inevitable question of styl
Traditional neighborhood design has little or nothing to do with the issue of architectural style.
As a result,there now exist essentially three different types of architecture,most of which could be called kitsch.
The most important design criteria of any new village or town. Currently,most development occurs not according to geographical logic.
Mixed-use Development
Regardless of location , a new neighborhood can avoid unduly contributing to sprawl by being of mixed use.
The corner store should be constructed in an early building phase.It should not be expected to turn a profit until the neighborhood matures,and for that reason the retail space should be provided rent free by the developer as an amenitym, much in an elaborate entry feature or a clubhouse. The corner store is of course only the first step toward a true mix of uses. A neighborhood-scale shopping center may be appropriate for a larger population or when adjacent to through traffic. A mixed-use neighborhood also includes places to work, the more the better.
Ideally,every neighborhood should be designed with an even balance of residents and jobs.
A common criticism of forcing ,the workplace into residential areas is that, even though the workplace is near the homes. it is not near the homes of the people who work there. The most important civic building is the neigborhood elementary school, which should never be more than a fifteen-minute walk from any home. True neighborhoods mix different uses within individual buildings as well.
Connectivity
If a new neighborhood is to contribute more to its region than traffic, it must do more than just mix uses.This is easier said than done.Whenever we design a new neighborhood,we make every effort to convince the adjacent subdivisions to allow us to connect to them. Connenctivity is also an important issue as it concerns highways and arterials.When faced with a major road,how should a neighborhood respond? That depends on whether the road is designed as a civic thoroughfare or as an automotive sewer.
Making the most of a site
Modern development is notorious for its unique approach to nature.Frist,natural features-add significantly to property value.Second,the character of the land scape can help people understand and negotiate their environment.
The inevitable question of styl
Traditional neighborhood design has little or nothing to do with the issue of architectural style.
As a result,there now exist essentially three different types of architecture,most of which could be called kitsch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)