CRP 5820 Principles of Site Planning and Urban Design Prof. Thomas J. Campanella, TAs Kristen Ryan and Kaustubh Laddha Fall 2015

This is a course on the theory, art and science of physical planning, urban design and sustainable placemaking. In the first half we examine the site and its natural systems—soils, landform, topography, hydrology, vegetation—exploring the full spectrum of environmental factors that must be accounted for to minimize the ecological impacts and cost of any proposed development program. In the second half of the course we will study theories and tactics of urban spatial design, considering basic elements of urbanism—mass, space, scale, proportion, order—and exploring important precedents and typologies from around the world. Key theories of urban spatial design and pedestrian-oriented placemaking will be introduced, as will approaches to the mapping and analysis of urban space and how regulatory mechanisms—such as form-based codes—can be used to create good city form. We will take several field trips during the course of the semester, hear from local planning practitioners and develop basic computer modeling skills through a series of workshops in the Barclay Jones Urban Design Lab. Logistics The course meets on Monday and Wednesday from 8:40am to 9:55am in 101 West Sibley and will involve a mix of lectures, fieldtrips and skill-building exercises. SketchUp training modules (all in November) will be held in the Barclay Jones Lab (305 W. Sibley), where SketchUp Pro is available on each workstation. Readings + Texts All readings will be available on the CRP5820 Blackboard site. Readings for each class should be done in advance of the class meeting (first class excepted), as they will augment understanding of the material and contribute to class discussion. There is no required text for the course, but you may wish to acquire the following books for your personal library: Speck, Walkable City (2012); Farr, Sustainable Urbanism (2008); Marsh, Landscape Planning (1983); Hack and Lynch, Site Planning (1984); Trancik, Finding Lost Space (1986); Spirn, The Granite Garden (1984); Lydon and Garcia, Tactical Urbanism (2015).

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Computer Software While no prior experience with SketchUp is required for the course, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with this intuitive and easy-to-use software prior to our first lab session in November. A plethora of self-paced SketchUp video tutorials can be found on the Web. As noted, the latest version of SketchUp Pro is available on all terminals in the Barclay Jones Lab. You may also download a free version of the application on your laptop for use at home or in lab sessions. The free version lacks some functionality, e.g. the ability to import GIS or AutoCAD file data; but it is adequate for most of what we will do in class (you can, of course, purchase SketchUp Pro yourself, but it will set you back about $600). If you use a personal laptop in lab, you'll need access to the network to download instructional files for each session. Assignments A series of projects will be assigned throughout the semester to develop critical site planning and spatial analysis and design skills. Some will use pen and paper, others SketchUp. More information on these will be forthcoming as the semester gets underway. There is no mid-term or final examination in this course. Academic Integrity Violations of academic integrity such as plagiarism can result in failure of this course and even expulsion from the University. If you have any questions about attribution, citation or paraphrasing, see me or one of the TAs. Please review the University's Code of Academic Integrity (URL below), which requires that any work submitted by a student be his or her own: http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Academic/AIC.html. Contact Information My office is 105 West Sibley Hall and my regular office hours this semester are Tuesdays from 9:00am to 12:00pm, unless otherwise noted. I can always be reached via e-mail at tomcamp@cornell.edu. My office phone is 607-254-8934. In the event of an emergency, you can reach me on my cellphone at 718-375-5624. Kristen Ryan may be reached at ker93@cornell.edu and Kaustubh Laddha at kkl48@cornell.edu.

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SCHEDULE AND READINGS

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PART I: THE SITE AND ITS NATURAL SYSTEMS _________________________________________________________________________________________ 26 AUG Course Overview

Anne Spirn, The Language of Landscape (Yale, 1998): "Prologue: The Yellowwood and the Forgotten Creek," 10-11

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31 AUG The Site Analysis Process

Kevin Lynch, Site Planning (MIT Press, 1962): "The Art of Site Planning," 3-8; "The Analysis of Site and Purpose," 9-25

Thomas H. Russ, Site Planning and Design Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2002): "Sustainability and Site Design," 1-25; "Site Analysis: Collecting Site Info," 28-34

02 SEP FILM – Landscape Site Analysis (1988)

Kevin Lynch and Gary Hack, Site Planning (1984): "Site and Impact Checklist," 420-425.

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07 SEP NO CLASS – LABOR DAY _________________________________________________________________________________________

09 SEP Topography and Earthwork

William M. Marsh, Landscape Planning (Wiley, 1998 [3rd edition]): "Topography, Slopes, and Land Use Planning," 76-87

Steven Strom and Kurt Nathan, Site Engineering, (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1985): "Contours and Form," 1-15

Thomas H. Russ, Site Planning and Design Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2002): "Site Grading," 55-82

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14 SEP Surveying and Site Grading Workshop Guest demonstrator: Robert H. Chiang, Facilities Engineering Office

Richard K. Untermann, Grade Easy (ASLA, 1973): "Grading" and "Grading for Circulation," 13-28

Pacific Energy Center, "Using a Surveyor's Level to Generate a Topographical Map" 16 SEP Soils and Subsurface Hydrology

William M. Marsh, Landscape Planning (Wiley, 1998 [3rd edition]): "Soil, Land Use, and Waste Disposal," 93-110; "Groundwater, Land Use, and Aquifer Protection," 128-141

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21 SEP Surface Hydrology and Stormwater Management

William M. Marsh, Landscape Planning (Wiley, 1998 [3rd edition]): "Stormwater Discharge, Water Management, and Landscape Change," 148-165; "Watersheds, Drainage Nets and Land Use," 168-181

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23 SEP FIELDTRIP - Campus hydrology and stormwater management BMP

Thomas H. Russ, Site Planning and Design, "Infrastructure: Storm Water Management," 211-240

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28 SEP Trees and Vegetation

Thomas H. Russ, Site Planning and Design Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2002): "Vegetation in the Site Plan," 331-367

William M. Marsh, Landscape Planning (Wiley, 1998 [3rd edition]): "Vegetation, Land Use, Environmental Assessment," 338-343

30 SEP FIELDTRIP – Campus tree tour with David M. Cutter, University Landscape Architect

Jeff Speck, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time (North Point, 2012): "Plant Trees," 223-233

Thomas J. Campanella, "The Roman Roots of Gotham's London Plane," The Wall Street Journal (20 July, 2011)

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PART II: PLACEMAKING AND URBAN SPATIAL DESIGN _________________________________________________________________________________________ 05 OCT The Practice of Placemaking I Guest speaker: Scott Whitham, Principal, Whitham Planning and Design

Michael Nocella, "City Planning Approves Chain Works District in Concept," Ithaca Times (22 August, 2014).

Unchained Properties, "Site Plan Drawings for Chain Works District " (2014). 07 OCT FIELDTRIP – Chain Works District site tour with David Lubin, L Development, LLC

Michael Nocella, "How Dirty is the Emerson Property?" Ithaca Times (19 November, 2014)

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12 OCT NO CLASS – COLUMBUS DAY _________________________________________________________________________________________

14 OCT Looking at Cities

Kevin Lynch, Image of the City (MIT, 1960): "The City Image and Its Elements," 46-90

Allan Jacobs, Looking at Cities (MIT Press, 1985): "Starting to Look," 1-13; "Clues," 30-83

Anne Mikoleit and Moritz Pürckhauer, Urban Code (MIT Press, 2011): browse entire book

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19 OCT Elements of Urban Design

Cliff Moughtin, Urban Design: Street and Square (Architectural Press, 1999): 25-59

Rob Krier, Urban Space (Rizzoli, 1979): 15-48

Edmund N. Bacon, Design of Cities (Penguin, 1976): 13-19; 23-27

Lance Hosey, "Why We Love Beautiful Things," New York Times (15 February, 2013)

Grady Clay, "Run It Down the Field Again, Fellows," Places 6:4 (Summer 1990): 4-8

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21 OCT Archeological Resources and the Urban Site

Guests speakers: Alyssa Loorya and Chris Ricciardi, Chrysalis Archeological Consultants

Arthur H. Bankoff, Christopher Ricciardi and Alyssa Loorya, "Remembering Africa Under the Eaves," Archaeology Magazine 54:3 (May-June, 2001), 36-40.

NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, Archaeological Guidelines (LPC, 2002)

Jason Urbanus, "New York’s Original Seaport," Archaeology Magazine 68:5 (September-October 2015), 32-26.

Phase IA Historical Documentary Report and Archaeological Assessment of 50 Bowery (Block 202, Lot 23). Report on file with NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (2013)

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26 OCT Urban Spatial Dynamics

Gordon Cullen, Townscape, (Rheinhold, 1961): "Introduction"; "Serial Vision," 9-56

Edmund N. Bacon, Design of Cities (Penguin, 1976 [1967]): 34-45; 53-61

Roger Trancik, Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design (Wiley, 1986): "Urban Spatial Precedents," 60-96

28 OCT Figure-Ground Theory and the Urban Fabric

Roger Trancik, Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design (Wiley, 1986): "Three Theories of Urban Spatial Design," 97-106

Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter, Collage City (MIT Press, 1998 [1978]): "The Crisis of the Object: The Predicament of Texture," 50-85

Edmund N. Bacon, Design of Cities (Penguin, 1976 [1967]): 161

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02 NOV SKETCHUP TRAINING MODULE I (Barclay Jones Lab)

Introduction; creating and extruding geometric forms; repetitive elements 04 NOV SKETCHUP TRAINING MODULE II (Barclay Jones Lab)

Creating a basic urban design study model; shadows and atmosphere; textures and skins

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09 NOV SKETCHUP TRAINING MODULE III (Barclay Jones Lab)

Modeling terrain with sandbox tools; importing terrain data from Google Earth 11 NOV The Practice of Placemaking II Discussant: Susan Ritter, Director of Planning, Town of Ithaca

L. Pollock, "The Red Penciler’s Guide to Site Plan Review," Planning 57:4 (1991): 22-27

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16 NOV Streets and Circulation

Janette Sadik-Khan/NACTO, Urban Street Design Guide (Island Press, 2013), 3-64

Kevin Lynch, Site Planning (MIT Press, 1962): "The Design of Streets and Ways," 3-8; "The Analysis of Site and Purpose," 9-25

Allan Jacobs, Great Streets (MIT Press, 1995): "Requirements for Great Streets," 270-317

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18 NOV The Walkable City

Jeff Speck, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time (North Point, 2012): "A General Theory of Walkability," 7-11; "Ten Steps of Walkability," 71-159

Douglas Farr, Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature (Wiley, 2008): "Sustainable Neighborhoods," 125-156

Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Vintage, 1961): "The Uses of Sidewalks," 29-73

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23 NOV FILM – The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980)

William H. Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980), 16-59

Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre, How to Study Public Life (Island press, 2013): 1-19

Ronald Lee Fleming, "Questions to Ask a Space," Places 6:4: 12-13

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25 NOV NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING _________________________________________________________________________________________ 30 NOV Transect Planning and Form-Based Codes

Charles C. Bohl with Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, "Building Community Across the Rural-to-Urban Transect," Places 18:1 (2006)

Peter Katz, "Form First: The New Urbanist Alternative to Conventional Zoning" (2004)

Daniel G. and Karen Parolek, Form-Based Codes (Wiley, 2007): "Introduction," 3-14 02 DEC Tactical Urbanism and Insurgent Space

Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia, Tactical Urbanism: (Island Press, 2015): "Disturbing the Order of Things," 1-25; "A Tactical Urbanism How-To," 171-207

https://popupplanning.wordpress.com (browse)