A Historical Review of the Urban Theories in the past 100 Years
Prepared by : Shafiq A. Bara
Introduction:
Throw the man history Cites were Designed for the need of the people at the moment , it Supplied them with their need for shelter and other Essentials , most of the Time the shape and the size of the city were defined by security aspects ( the citadel) , religious aspects ( Mosque or Church and the need of the governor to show his power and richness (Palace) in addition to the Geographic aspects , and the grow of the city was govern by the slow growth of the people need.
After the renaissance and with the beginning of the industrial revolution and with the increasing flow for workers from the country side to the cities, with the rose of the big factory buildings in the hart of the cities ( which turned the European cities into big un healthy Polluted over loaded Cities very similar to what we know today as Slums) and the invention of the rail ways and later the car which made the roads of those cities un convenient to supply the blooming industry needs .
By the end of the 19 century the need for a modern designed Cities became a top priority , many primitive thoughts aroused to public by many individuals and even some Housing committees especially in England , until 1898 when Sir Ebenezer Howard came out with his Garden City Theory which turned into a movement later by establishing a company that tried to turn the theory into a reality.
1- The Garden City Movement :
Shape (1) : Sir Ebenezer Howard, Source : http://www.rickmansworthherts.freeserve.co.uk/howard1.htm#sna
the invention of rail way brought up the possibility to enlarge the scale of the city by decreasing the time needed for the workers to travel from their homes to their work , and as the workers conditions were miserable , Sir Ebenezer Howard get out with his theory which is Based on the community needs at that time ,
in His book "To-morrow: A peaceful path to Real Reform," he put an approach to urban planning , Inspired by the Utopian theorists , Garden cities were to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by greenbelts, and containing carefully balanced areas of residences, industry, and agriculture.
he laid out his ideas concerning the creation of new towns. Howard believed that these towns should be limited in size and density, and surround with a belt of undeveloped land.
"Air and space, wood and water, schools and churches, shrubberies and gardens, around pretty self contained cottages in a group neither too large to deprive it of country character, nor too small to diminish the probabilities of social intercourse." (Edinburgh Magazine. Dec. 1848.)
"... by so laying. out a Garden City that, as it grows, the free gifts of Nature- fresh air, sunlight, breathing room and playing room- shall be still retained in all needed abundance" (Garden Cities of To-morrow. 1902 edition. page 113)
In this city the boulevards were to be "....planted on each side of the pathways with trees, and in many places with shrubs and evergreens." The important variation between Howard's ideas and all previous utopian thought was the realistic way in which he had gone into explaining how the design could be carried out, His illustrations are only diagrams, dependent on the site and this gave a new dimension to the town plan.
Shape(2) Diagrams from "Garden Cities of To-morrow" 1902, source: http://www.rickmansworthherts.freeserve.co.uk/howard1.htm#sn2
His idea gained enough attention and financial backing to lead to the creation of Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, England, the first such "Garden City." After the First World War the second town built following Howard's ideas, Welwyn Garden City, also in Hertfordshire, was constructed, and many American cites were influenced later by his ideas.
Shape (3) : plan of Letchworth Garden City. Source: Professor Simon Atkinson's Urban Design Theory Seminar Web Page, University of Texas
2- Modern movement - CIAM 1928-58:
C.I.A.M. (Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne), Founded by Le Corbusier and a group of Architects , C.I.A.M. sought to divert architecture from academic preoccupations. The organization was the major instrument for propagating avant-garde ideas in architecture and town planning, The early congresses stressed rigid functional zoning and a single type of urban housing , at subsequent meetings members reacted against inflexible and mechanical concepts of orderly planning ,
in 1933 they discussed concentrated on principles of "The Functional City," which broadened CIAM's scope from architecture into urban planning, Based on an analysis of thirty-three cities, CIAM proposed that the social problems faced by cities could be resolved by strict functional segregation, and the distribution of the population into tall apartment blocks at widely spaced intervalsThese proceedings went unpublished until 1942, when Le Corbusier, published them in heavily edited form as the "Athens Charter."[1]
Le Corbusier envisaged a City Where each activity was Separated and connected with High ways in order to create a clean , hygienic & legible Cities , were the traditional divisions between private & public , Front & Back of the Building does not exist any more , the units of habitation ( buildings ) become objects positioned on columns &located in an open field , wide Highways Connect these objects with each other .[2]
Internal conflict led to the group's collapse after the Dubrovnik congress 1956, [3] even earlier they tried to fix the rip by a reform movement Called Team 10, and two different movements emerged from it, the New Brutalism & the Structuralism (architecture).
3- Frank Lioyd Wright – Broadacre City -1935:
Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Wright , He presented the idea in his article The Disappearing City in 1932. A few years later he unveiled a very detailed model( with his students help) representing an hypothetical four square mile (10 km²) community, Many of the building models in the concept were completely new designs by Wright, while others were refinements of old ones, some of which had been rarely seen.
Broadacre City was the antithesis of a city and the apotheosis of the newly born suburbia, shaped through Wright's particular vision, It was both a planning statement and a socio-political scheme by which each family would be given a one acre (4,000 m²) plot of land, he conceived community would be built anew. Where There is a train station and a few office and apartment buildings in Broadacre City, but the apartment dwellers are expected to be a small minority. All important transport is done by automobile and the pedestrian can exist safely only within the confines of the one acre plots, where most of the population dwells.
Shape ( 4) : Wright - Broadacre City, Source : www.fba.fh-darmstadt.de
4- Post Modernism - Robert Venturi ( 1925 ) :
As a reaction on CIAM functionalism " Less is More " , Venturi in his book "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture " 1966 invented his famous say “less is a bore”.[4]
Along with the rest of the Postmodernists, he sought to bring back ornament because of its necessity. He explains this and his criticism of Modernism in his book by saying that: (Architects can bemoan or try to ignore them (referring to the ornamental and decorative elements in buildings) or even try to abolish them, but they will not go away. Or they will not go away for a long time, because architects do not have the power to replace them (nor do they know what to replace them with). [5]
The aims of post modern is to communicate ideas with the public, by quoting extensively from past architectural styles, often many at once. In breaking away from modernism, it also strives to produce buildings that are sensitive to the context within which they are built.
Shape (5) : Mississauga City Hall, Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mississauga.jpg\\
5- Neo Post modern – Rem Koolhas:
Shape (6) :Reem Koolhas, Source : http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18370
"New world order", in the era of globalization the Danish Architect Reem kolhass " calls most modern architecture 'junk space' and believes that we have lost touch with the utopian" [6],
He uses the term "junk space" to describe most modern architecture: mediocre gubbins with fake identities, whose rationality has dissolved into a trashy urban purgatory which, he insists, marks the end of the Age of Enlightenment.
He says:" One of our professional qualities is to understand what the issues are in a very short time. But we also need to be really open to the experience of incompetence. Sometimes, when we're feeling at our weakest, we may be at our most compelling."
Shape (6) :Reem Koolhas, Seattle Public Library, Source : http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18370
He celebrates the "chance like " nature of city life " the city is an addictive machine from which there is no escape"., in his books he analysis what others regard as non cities , sprawling conglomerates like Lagos in Nigeria is a highly functional city in his view even with the big lack of infrastructure, koolhas takes a stance against globalization as he see it demolishing cultural identity, he note in his book : in the end there will be little else for us to do but shop".[7]
6- Neo traditionalism, Leon Krier :
As he saw himself apart of the (Neo Urbanism) Krier explains his vision toward the design of cities , Neo Urbanism he says: " is not utopian & does not impose Social master Plans , instead it allows the Infinite variety of human Talent to build Harmonious and pleasing Environments, It channels competitive forces to flourish as good neighbors while pursuing their own self interests, The very great challenge of the future , however will be the urbanization of suburbia , the redevelopment of Sprawl."[8]
Shape(7) : Leon Krier, New Town of Poundbury ,England , Source:
Salingaros , Nikos , Interview with Leon Krier, Planetizen, op-ed 5/11/2001
He says :" Modernism Fundamental Error , is to propose it self as an universal phenomenon , Legitimately replacing & Excluding traditional Solutions ", and he Ergs for a massive return to common –sense Solutions worldwide .
Ideas must be turned around and to become places of beauty & human thriving , even some times using very modest means , he thinks that urban structure must obey Scientific rules that are Independent of region , and A secondary dependent on local tradition , climate resources & material which has been erased with the modernist approach.
7- The Theorist Kevin lynch ( 1918- 1948):
As the cities grows to be more complex and huge , the need aroused for new methods to understand and analyze them in a scientific way , Mr. lynch in his book "The Image of the City " 1960, but the bases of a method based in along study for people way in perceive and organize spatial information as they navigate through cities .
His method in understanding the city is based in five points :
· paths, the streets, sidewalks, trails, and other channels in which people travel;
· edges, perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines;
· districts, relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character;
· nodes, focal points, intersections
· landmarks, readily identifiable objects which serve as reference point>
Later he also but his own theory about the models of a city which he divide in three types : city of faith, city as a machine, city as an orgasm , he also had his three normative theories which he says structured city since time immemorial , the cosmic , the mechanical &the organic.
Shape(8) : lynch sketch for mental maps' of an urban area, source : Lloyd-Jones, Tony, An Urban Design Canon, urban design quarterly , issue 59,7/1996, www.arch.mcgill.ca/.../winter2001/ud5923.gif
8- Theorist Jane Jacobs :
Shape (9): book cover about Jane Jacops, source: http://books.google.co.uk/books
Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban writer and activist who championed new, community-based approaches to planning for over 40 years. Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, is one of the most influential books about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners (Even she had no training in the field ) Her efforts to stop downtown expressways and protect local neighborhoods invigorated community-based urban activism .[9]
Jane criticized the modern cities plans core principles , which is passed on the separation of functions( work, live , leisure) and she but the basses of a new way of thinking about big cities , she saw diversity as the main key for a vibrant city , which is generated by what she calls ( the 4 generators of diversity) : needs mixed primary uses , small building blocks , an intermingling of old and new buildings & sufficiently dense concentration of diversity.
9- Theorists Manuel Castells:
Shape (10): Manuel Castells, source: Morehead , John, Manuel Castells, Identity and the Network Society, Morehead's Musings blog , 6/3/2007, johnwmorehead.blogspot.com/2007/03/manuel-cas...
During the 1970s, Castells played a key role in the development of a Marxist urban sociology. He emphasised the role of social movements in the conflictive transformation of the urban landscape. He introduced the concept of "collective consumption" (public transport, public housing, et cetera) to frame a wide range of social struggles, displaced from the economic to the political field by state intervention. Abandoning the strictures of Marxism in the early 1980s, he began to focus on the role of new technologies in economic restructuring. In 1989, he introduced the concept of the "space of flows", by which he meant the material and immaterial components of the global information networks through which more and more of the economy was coordinated, in real time across distances. In the 1990s, he combined both strands of his research into a massive study, Information Age.[10]
He visions " the City of future as a mega urban landscape consisting of nodes & the power centers of space of flows ,in those mega cities the peripheral zone will dominate instead of the traditional core centers ,which implies a geographical revolution of the future.
10 – New Urbanism - Peter Calthorpe/ Duany & Plater Zyberk
Shape (11) :New York 2007 Meeting Logo , Source : http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/images/2007/04/23/newyorklogo.jpg
New Urbanism is an urban design movement that arose in the United States in the early 1980s. Its goal is to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban planning, from urban retrofits to suburban infill. New urbanist neighborhoods are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs, and to be walkable.
In 1991, the Local Government Commission in California, invited a group of architects to develop a set of community principles for land use planning. Named the Ahwahnee Principles,( you can find the principles in the link : (http://www.lgc.org/ahwahnee/h2o_principles.html)
New urbanists support regional planning for open space, context-appropriate architecture and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe their strategies can reduce traffic congestion, increase the supply of affordable housing, and rein in urban sprawl. The Charter of the New Urbanism also covers issues such as historic preservation, safe streets, green building, and the redevelopment of brownfield land, New Urbanism can include (neo)traditional neighborhood design and transit-oriented development.
Conclusion:
Throw history man looked for perfection , which is a utopian dream that no buddy can reach , every thought seems to be perfect for her creator and may be for most of the people for a moment , until it goes in the real life , problems arose , sometimes small that can be fixed with others or even self criticize ( Like what team 10 tried to do for CIAM ideas ) , or even Cant be fixed in the eyes of some theorists who take the other side ( Like post modern verses modern ) and try to find another theory that they saw suitable .
Sometimes theorists have the same feeling and the same basic ideas about their stand about a problem or a theory but have different ways and theories , ( like post modern theorists Robert Venturi & Reem Koolhass in there stand against modern movement but to deferent ways of solution), sometimes the same theorist change his mind and turn into a new direction which we can see in the deference between the early and the late works of le Corbusier.
The increasing Complexity of the human settlements and life increases the need for new ways to understand the context to figure out what is right and what is wrong and that what theorists like kevien Lynch try to do , and some time theorists try to look for the far future and but a theory about its shape ,( like the visions of the new urbanism ) some people could look at them with irony , but Jules Verne's novel: A trip around the Moon made Humanity Learn that there is nothing Impossible in the face of the human ambition.
The End
[1] Author not available, Congrès International d'Architecture Modern, Wikipedia , 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congr%C3%A8s_International_d%27Architecture_Moderne
[2] Dr Nurhan abu Gdai , A historic Overview of western thoughts on designing the city , Urban Design Course reading Back Material , 2008
[3] Author not available, C.I.A.M.., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008 http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-CIAM.html
[4] Author not available, Postmodern architecture, Wikipedia , 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_architecture
[5] Author not available, Postmodern architecture, Wikipedia , 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_architecture
[6] Jay Merrick, Rem Koolhaas: New world order, the independent, 18/2/2004, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/rem-koolhaas-new-world-order-757071.html
[7] Dr Nurhan abu Gdai , A historic Overview of western
thoughts on designing the city , Urban Design Course reading Back Material , 2008
[8] Salingaros , Nikos , Interview with Leon Krier, Planetizen, op-ed 5/11/2001
[9] Author unknown , Jane Jacobs Biography , pps project for public space ,2008, http://www.pps.org/info/placemakingtools/placemakers/jjacobs
[10] Author unknown , Manuel Castells, Wikipedia,2008 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Castells
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق