URBAN DESIGN

THE BEGINNINGS • SETTLEMENT DESIGN Agricultural Societies Rectilinear Plotting

• LAYOUT Grid (or Rectilinear) – product of the farmer Circular (Fencing) – product of the herdsman

-- defensive role Radiocentric – when circular settlements enlarge

-- fortress cities (i.e. Paris)

ANCIENT GREECE

• LANDSCAPE – powerfully assertive

• HIGH PLACES – fortified hilltop -- sacred precinct

• TOWN DESIGN = SENSE OF THE FINITE -- Aristotle’s ideal size of city = 10,000 – 20,000 people-- never attempted to overwhelm nature

-- buildings give a sense of human measure to landscape • THE STREET – not a principal element but as a leftover space for circulation • PLACE OF ASSEMBLY – market (agora)

ANCIENT ROME

• URBAN DESIGN – Greek: sense of the finite – Romans: political power and organization

• USE OF SCALE – Greek use of scale is based on human measurements -- Romans used proportions that would

relate parts of building instead of human measure

• MODULE – Greek use of house as module for town planning -- Roman use of street pattern as module

-- to achieve a sense of overpowering grandeur -- made for military government

• THE STREET – Greeks: as a leftover space for circulation -- Romans: street are built first; buildings came later

• PLACE OF ASSEMBLY – Greeks: market (agora) -- Romans: market, theater, and arena

THE ACROPOLIS THE AGORA GREEK TOWNS

THE REPUBLICAN FORUM THE IMPERIAL FORUM

MEDIEVAL ERA

• DECLINE OF ROME – “Dark Ages”, but not for urban design

• URBAN SETTINGS – Military strongholds, castles, monasteries, towns

• MILITARY STRONGHOLDS – Acropolis and Capitoline Hill

• CASTLES – built atop hills, enclosed by circular walls; radiocentric growth

• MONASTERIES – citadels of learning, laid out in rectilinear pattern

• MEDIEVAL TOWNS -- like Greek towns, small and finite in size-- lacks geometry -- became parts of larger territorial states -- growth and population created the need for marketplaces

PIAZZA DEL CAMPO, SIENA

MEDIEVAL ERA TOWN DESIGN

• VISIBLE EXTERIORS suit the viewing conditions of small spaces

• VISTA considerations and HUMAN SCALE – fine accents in landscape • STREET LAYOUT is functional, although with no logical form

• MEDIEVAL ERA sets the stage for RENAISSANCE -- skill of builders-- wealth of bourgeoisie and nobility -- organization of the military and new force in gunpowder -- development of political powers and expertise -- new organizations -- scholarly knowledge of the church

• 3 MAJOR EVENTS MARKING TRANSITION FROM MEDIEVAL TIMES -- Dawn of science-- Fall of Constantinople -- Discovery of the New World

FROM MEDIEVAL ERA TO RENAISSANCE ERA

• MEDIEVAL URBAN DESIGN were to be discarded-- sense of scale -- intimate relation between house and street

• MEDIEVAL SYSTEM OF TOWN DESIGN -- truly livable; humanist basis

• RENAISSANCE SYSTEM OF TOWN DESIGN -- the role of the individual as builder of his town was lost

RENAISSANCE – EARLY DEVELOPMENTS

• IDEAL CITIES-- 1440 (beginning of Renaissance) -- Leon Battista Alberti – foremost theoretician -- Alberti’s De Architectura – treats architecture and town design

as single theme (just like Vitruvius)

• ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF EARLY RENAISSANCE -- Public Works -- Civic improvement projects

• REBUILDING FERRARA -- Palazzo Diamenti – most famous structure

-- Biaggio Rossetti – architect and town planner regarded as one of the world’s earliest modern urban designers

-- Rossetti’s plan: 1. Street widening, new buildings, wall improvement 2. Enlarge the town 3. Carry on with the plan

• LESSONS FROM ROSSETTI’S EFFORT -- Repair an existing city -- Plan for enlargement -- Decide which to concentrate effort -- Lay down a plan that is logical and realizable -- Provide framework for others to build upon

“Ferrara is the first MODERN city in Europe” Jacob Burckhardt, 1860

RENAISSANCE – LEONARDO DA VINCI

• SKETCHED A CITY STRADDLING A RIVER• RIVER STREAMS – supply water and carry away waste

• MULTILEVELS – for multiple functions

• PROPOSED MOVABLE HOUSES – anticipated the “greenbelt” concept

• SATELLITE TOWNS – for workers

• LESSONS: Growth or functional improvement is not necessarily an advantage

• POPES IN ROME – the “real say” in urban design at that time

RENAISSANCE – REBUILDING ROME

• PROBLEMS: Circulation, defense, water supply, sanitation

• SOLUTION: Popes have to undertake civic improvement projects

• PILGRIMAGE – St. Peter’s Cathedral improved – Campidoglio (Rome’s city hall) improved

• DOMENICO FONTANA – architect commissioned by Pope Sixtus V

• FONTANA’S PLAN – streets were visually accented using OBELISKS

• OBELISKS - as “stakes”, as GUIDEPOSTS for the whole city - as SCALE REFERENCE POINTS for successive designers

• DESIGN PRINCIPLE – architecture of ancient Rome -- new design of early Renaissance

RENAISSANCE – BUILDING GROUPS

• ST. PETER’S CATHEDRAL – Bramante

• TEMPIETTO – miniature version of St. Peter’s Cathedral

• CARLO FONTANA – basilica inside the Colosseum

• BORROWED DESIGN – Renaissance from Medieval, Romans from Greeks

• ANDREA PALLADIO – developed precise theories of proportion and module

• PALLADIO’S PROTOTYPES - Roman country villa (rural) - Roman Forum (urban)

• PALLADIAN INFLUENCES – George Washington and Thomas Jefferson

• “FOUR BOOKS OF ARCHITECTURE” – examples of plazas (the modern forum)

• “COLOSSAL” or “GIGANTIC” ORDER – Palladio’s San Giorgio Maggiore

RENAISSANCE – THE CAMPIDOGLIO

• One of MICHELANGELO’s finest works • Seen at a distance as a whole composition • EQUESTRIAN STATUE of Marcus Aurelius

-- Serves as Centerpiece or Guidepost • ENTRANCE RAMPS – widen toward the top

-- perspective effect and stairs appear shorter -- similarly, SIDE BUILDINGS are not parallel

• Significance of a REMODELLING JOB

RENAISSANCE – URBAN PLAZAS: FRANCE & ENGLAND

• JACQUES ANDROUET DU CERCEAU-- French architect who visited Rome -- Brought plaza idea to Paris, France

• INIGO JONES – English architect, brought the Renaissance plaza to London-- Bedford Square – started in 1631 -- Covent Garden – modeled after Livorno

• OTHER PLAZAS IN LONDON-- Leicester Square – started in 1635-- Bloomsbury Square – 1665 -- Six more plazas were built before 1700

• RENAISSANCE PLAZA – one of the elements of urban design par excellence -- but did not tie whole city together

-- Rossetti’s Ferrara (street system); Fontana’s Rome (guidepost system)

RENAISSANCE – LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

• PARKS and GARDENS – tie the city together -- connecting the palace and the town

• VILLA & GARDEN– rural counterpart of PALACE & PLAZA

• ITALY – gardens are never too large

-- built as TERRACES because of hilly land

• FRANCE – elaborate system of landscape design

-- roots from large HUNTING FORESTS -- ROND POINTS – high ground intersections

• RICHELIEU – application of “rond points” idea -- 1630, landscape design of palace started -- Jacques Lemercier – architect

• ANDRE LENOTRE -- landscape architect of Richelieu -- Western world’s master of landscape architecture

RENAISSANCE – FRENCH, ENGLISH & ITALIAN LANDSCAPE

• FRENCH – Regarded natural landscape as barbaric -- Man-made, preferably geometric creations

-- PHILOSOPHY – absolute command of nature

• ENGLISH -- Characterized by an attitude of sympathy with nature

-- PHILOSOPHY – practice of taming nature

• ITALIAN – Terraced garden is best model of gardening in limited space

RENAISSANCE – LENOTRE AND VERSAILLES• LENOTRE’S MAJOR CLIENT – Louis XIV, the “Sun King” of France

• VERSAILLES – Lenotre’s greatest work, Started in 1670, completed by 1710

-- “Goose Foot”/ patte d’oie -- three roads in a single view

• PIAZZA DEL POPOLO – patte d’oie entrance to Rome -- appeared accidentally as result of Fontana’s plan -- not formally finished until early 19th century, by a French architect, incidentally

RENAISSANCE – REBUILDING LONDON• GREAT PLAGUE – 1666 GREAT FIRE OF LONDON – 1667

• SEVERAL DESIGNERS PROPOSED PLANS -- Christopher Wren -- Robert Hooke -- John Evelyn -- Valentine Knight

• 1707-1709– laws banning use of combustible mat’ls, led to extensive use of bricks

• JOHN GWYNN– produced plan for London 1766 “London & Westminster Improved” -- heralded the “Golden Age” of building

• GOLDEN AGE – encompassed a 30-year period

-- ADELPHI TERRACE-- work of the Adam brothers; built along the River Thames

-- BATH – created by architects John Wood, Sr. and Jr. -- 1702, discovered by the aristocrac -- 1727, rectangular plaza (Queens Square) -- 1754, great circle (King’s Circus) -- 1767, Royal Crescent

-- EDINBURGH – 1767, Scottish architect James Craig

• END OF LONDON PLAZA ERA – coming of industrial era

RENAISSANCE – DEVELOPMENTS IN PARIS• REBUILDING OF THE LOUVRE – 1667, Lorenzo Bernini’s designs rejected -- Claude Perrault – a court physician -- Viewing conditions same as Palladio’s San Giorgio Maggiore

and Michelangelo’s Campidoglio

• BEAULEVARD–city is enlarged, old walls torn, creating broad, long streets -- term derived from Dutch word “bulwark”

• 1748 – proposals for new plazas -- Place de la Concorde – 1757, finished by 1770

• 1789 – French Revolution

• 1793 – new plan for Paris called Plan des Artistes -- 1748, emphasis on plaza 1793, emphasis on street

• NAPOLEON I – Champs Elysees improvement -- Arch of Triumph

• NAPOLEON III – assigned Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann

-- Jean Charles Adolphe Alphand, landscape architect

MODERN CONCEPTS – IDEAL TOWNS & WORKER TOWNS• CLAUDE NICOLAS LEDOUX – French architect -- late 18th and early 19th century, a new era in urban design -- CHAUX, France (1776) – principal work

• LEDOUX’S DESIGN – an ideal plan where “everything is motivated by necessity”“Architecture” – Ledoux’s book published in 1804

• ROBERT OWEN – English social reformer -- NEW LANARK, Scotland (1799)

• OWENITE COMMUNITIES – England and United States – “New Harmony” in Indiana, by Owen’s son – “Brook Farm” in Massachusetts by New England transcendentalists – “Icarus” in Red River, Texas, by Frenchman named Cabet “Icarus” failed, Cabet joined theMormons in search for the

promised land and helped lay out Salt Lake City

• FRANCOIS FOURIER – French social reformer -- “Phalanstery” -- “The New World of Industry and Society” – published in 1829

• JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM – “Victoria” -- “ National Evils and Practical Remedies” – published in 1849

• ROBERT PEMBERTON – “Happy Colony” in New Zealand

• DR. BENJAMIN RICHARDSON – “Hygeia” in United States

• THOMAS JEFFERSON – “Jeffersonville”

MODERN CONCEPTS – PLANNED INDUSTRIAL TOWNS• FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL – Georgiaville, RA (1812) -- Waltham, Massachusetts -- Harrisville, NH (1816) -- Lowell, Massachusetss (1822)

• OLIVE – French architect, anticipated the 20th c. Garden City – Vesinet, France (1859)

• OTHER INDUSTRIAL TOWNS – Essen, Germany (1863), Krupp factories called Siedlungen (worker colonies) -- Pullman, Illinois (1879) -- Port Sunlight near Liverpool (1887) – W.H. Lever Soap Company -- Bournville near Birmingham (1889) – Cadbury Chocolate Company -- Gary, Indiana (1906), laid out by a steel corporation, a “made to order” city

TONY GARNIER – French architect, anticipated modern day zoning -- “Une Cite Industrielle” (1901-04) -- Plan is incredibly detailed

-- imaginary site (high plateau and level valley along a river)-- residential on plateaufactories on valley -- dam for hydroelectric power-- hospital on high hill -- smelting factories and mines at respectful distances -- locations for sewage plant, abattoir, bakery, and civic center -- testing grounds for cars and even airplanes!

MODERN CONCEPTS – URBAN DESIGN AND MACHINES

• DON ARTURO SORIA Y MATA – Spanish businessman and engineer -- created Madrid’s 1st streetcar and telephone system -- “La Ciudad Lineal” – Linear City -- Stalingrad – planned linear city

• INVENTIONS INFLUENCING URBAN FORM – Electricity – Peter Kropotkin (1899) -- Railroad

• OTHER VISIONARIES – Edgar Chambless, American vehicles running on rooftops -- “Motopia” – proposed in England -- Eugene Henard, French, published “Les Villes de l’Avenir” (1910)

may have influenced Le Corbusier

• ANTONIO SANT’ELIA – Italian futurist -- “La Citta Nuova” – enormous metropolis -- inspired by the complex plans for the New York Grand Central area

• METABOLISM GROUP– Japanese architects -- underwater cities, biological cities,cities changing their own forms,

cities built as pyramids

• OTHER VISIONARIES – Edward Bellamy, published in 1887 “Looking Backward, 2000-1887” -- H.G. Wells (1902-1911)

MODERN CONCEPTS – RENEWED ATTITUDE TOWARD NATURE

• TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES– not necessarily a sign of progress

• CHIEF SPOKESMEN- Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (French)- John Ruskin (English) - Henry David Thoreau (American)

• ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT- Led by William Morris, return to simpler Christian virtues of the Gothic period- Norman Shaw, created Bedford Park (1875-81)

• GOTHIC REVIVAL IN 19TH CENTURY “Gothic period was the last original architectural era”

- Frank Lloyd Wright

THE CONSERVATIONISTS AND THE PARK MOVEMENT

• GEORGE PERKINS MARSH – American conservationist -- the founder of modern conservation -- “Man and Nature” – published in 1862, an introduction to ecology

• FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED – pioneer of the American park system -- also a social reformer, concerned w/ moral disintegration in large formless cities -- also a farmer, landscape design as olution to social ills (i.e urban park) -- Central Park of New York City won in 1859 -- San Francisco, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Montreal, Boston -- “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns” published in 1870 -- Cities – planned for two generations ahead

-- maintain sufficient breathing space -- design embraces the whole city

• CHARLES ELIOT– completed Olmsted’s Boston park system

• GEORGE KESSLER -- layout of Kansas City park system

• JENS JENSEN -- designed Chicago’s original park system

• ALPHAND -- Haussmann’s landscape architect -- “the French Olmsted”

• DANIEL SCHREBER -- a physician and educator -- “Schrebergarten” – small gardens for children; later, used by elderly -- popularized the idea of the urban playground in Europe

• EXPLORATIONS INTO THE PAST– ARCHAEOLOGY became a science in 19th century– CAMILLO SITTE, Viennese architect

-- “An Architect’s Notes and Reflections upon Artistic City Planning” published in 1889

THE GARDEN CITY MOVEMENT

• EBENEZER HOWARD – An English stenographer -- “Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to Social Reform” published in 1898 -- Proponent of the “Garden City” concept

• LETCHWORTH – the first garden city (1902), located 35 miles from London -- architects Barry Parker and Raymund Unwin -- became a satellite of London because factories did not materialize

• WELWYN -- the second garden city (1920), more successful than Letchworth -- architect Louis de Soissons

THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH

• HOWARD’S ANALYTICAL APPROACH– city so large & operations so complex -- Proper understanding can only be gained by full application of precise analysis

• PATRICK GEDDES – Scottish city planner. established tool for analytical approach -- “Cities in Evolution” published in 1915 -- coined the term “connurbation” -- laid out some 50 cities in India and Palestine

• MARSH -- interrelationship between MAN and NATURE

• GEDDES -- interrelationship between PEOPLE and CITIES

• CONNURBATION - “the waves of population inflow to large cities, followed by overcrowding and slum formation, and then the wave of backflow”

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT • GOLDEN AGE OF URBAN DESIGN – From 1890 to the Great Depression (1930s), termed the “City Beautiful Era”

• WORLD’S FAIRS – as works of civic art -- application of latest technologies; façade architecture;

promise of America come to life -- as urban renewal operations-- Jackson Park – Chicago World’s Fair,

San Francisco Marina, Treasure Island, SF

• McMILLAN COMMISSION -- AIA nat’l conference in Washington D.C. (1901) -- Daniel Burnham, Augustus St. Gaudens, and Frederick Law Olmsted among present -- plan for improvement of central Washington -- reviving the original L’Enfant plan

• CIVIC CENTERS – city hall, county court house, library, museum, opera house, and a plaza

• PUBLIC WORKS – BRIDGES, designed as pieces of sculpture -- RIVERS, made into classical garden terraces -- COLLEGES and UNIVERSITIES, as visions of classical world -- RAILROADS, built Roman basilicas and baths

• CITY AS A WHOLE -- Daniel Burnham – father of American city planning -- plans for Chicago, San Francisco, Manila, etc. -- “Make no little plans… they have no power to stir men’s blood” -- last use of French Renaissance principlesapplied at the largest scale possible

• PLANNED RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES – Roland Park, Baltimore (1892): start of commuter suburb -- Country Club, Kansas City -- Forest Hills Garden, L.I., New York: commuter suburb for Manhattan (1911)

• MANY DEVELOPMENTS – American city planning profession -- Zoning introduced in 1916 -- Many lessons from abroaD -- England and garden city movement

-- English architect-planners lectured in US-- English books in city planning

• SUMMARY: CITY BEAUTIFUL ERA--CIVIC CENTER and COMMUTER SUBURB

THE NEW COMMUNITIES MOVEMENT • PROPONENTS – Henry Wright “Rehousing Urban America” (1934) -- Clarence Stein “Towards New Towns for America” (1951)

• “SUPERBLOCK” CONCEPT – Answer to problem of through traffic -- Island of green, bordered by houses and skirted by peripheral automobile roads -- Best examples -- Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles; Chatham Village, Pittsburgh -- Community-level development

• RADBURN, NJ– Series of superblocks, not completed due to Depression

-- One of the most important designs conceived for the modern residential community • “RADBURN” IDEA – Organization of town into cohesive neighborhoods -- Clarence A. Perry -“The Neighborhood Unit” published in 1929; Community planning

• “TOWN COLONIZATION” CONCEPT -- G. R. Taylor -- Metropolitan growth through colonization, Reinforces Ebenezer Howard’s belief -- “Satellite Cities, A Study of Industrial Suburbs” (1915) -- “The Building of Satellite Towns” (1925)

REGIONAL PLANNING• ROOTS OF REGIONAL OUTLOOK– Howard & Taylor: satellite colonization -- Radburn – demonstrated satellite colonization -- Marsh and Geddes – laid the groundwork -- Henry Wright and Benton MacKaye: championed the regional outlook

• HENRY WRIGHT AND PLAN OF NEW YORK – Worked under commission by Clarence Stein

“Report of the Commission on Housing and Regional Planning for the State of New York”

-- Development of New York -- Small trade centers for an agriculture society -- Decline due to cheaper Midwestern farms -- Industrialization took hold -- Hudson and Mohawk valleys became spine -- New York City became the financial heart and core for a constellation of communities

-- Wright’s plan – one of finest models of regional planning-- not officially adopted, but recommendations realized-- led to formation of RPAA

• REGIONAL PLANNING ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK – 22 counties, 500 municipal districts, 10 million people, NY state, NJ and Conn. -- Thomas Adams – Scottish planner

2-volume plan produced in 1928 most complete plan study ever done

• BENTON MACKAYE– Originally, a forester -- “The New Exploration, A Philosophy of Regional Planning” published in 1928 -- Envisioned the “townless highway” and “highwayless towns” -- Showed NY City as the entry and exit portal for the entire US industrial empire -- “New Exploration” – the exploration of the wilderness and conservation had

to be expanded to include cities

ACHIEVEMENTS IN EUROPE

• ENGLISH NEW TOWN MOVEMENT – Sir Anthony Barlow headed commission “The Report of Royal Commission of Distribution of Industrial Population” (1940) -- Sir Patrick Abercrombie and J.H. Forshaw “The County of London Plan” (1943) -- “New Towns” – Plan of Hook; Plan of Cumbernauld

• OTHER DEVELOPMENTS – London’s Barbican area -- Garden cities in France

-- Dourges – 1st garden city in France (1919)-- Longueau, Tergnier, Lille-le-Deliverance

-- Berlin, Germany – Martin Machler -- Baku in Russia -- West Kungsholmen, Stockholm -- Tapiola, Helsinki in Finland -- Amsterdam South, Amsterdam in Holland -- Other countries – Italy, Switzerland, Israel

ARCHITECTS IN URBAN PLANNING

• ELIEL SAARINEN – Prize-winning plan for Helsinki in 1911 -- Teaching of architecture and urban planning -- “The City” published in 1943

• WALTER GROPIUS– Took same approach to architecture & urban planning

• RICHARD NEUTRA – “Rush City Reformed”

• LE CORBUSIER -- Fused ideas of modern architecture and city form -- Spokesman for the “International Movement” -- “Une Ville Contemporaine” – 1922, traceable to Henard’s and Garnier’s ideas -- “Plan Voisin” (Neighborhood Plan) – 1925; “La Ville Radieuse” – 1935

-- “Le Plan de Paris” – 1937 – “When Cathedrals Were White” – 1947 -- Chandigarh, India – designed the entire city

-- “Concerning Town Planning” – 1948 -- Lewis Mumford – critical of Le Corbusier -- Helped organize the “Congres International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) -- Conceived the “CIAM grid” – graphic file system for recording pertinent

information in an urban study and for explaining a plan -- “CIAM grid” four component sections: work, residence, circulation, leisure• MARS Group – The English CIAM organization -- Proposed a plan for rebuilding London -- Sixteen finger corridors all connected

by a major circulation spine and encircling circulation loop

ARCHITECTS IN URBAN PLANNING

• LOUIS KAHN – Made important designs for central Philadelphia

• KENZO TANGE – Plan for Tokyo -- Circulation as determinant of urban form -- New Tokyo over Tokyo Bay, hung on bridges

• FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT -- Followed Howard, Geddes and social reformers -- “The Disappearing City” – published in 1932 -- “Broadacres” – every family on an acre of land

-- Marin County Civic Center north of SF, Calif.

-- Changed scheme – Full Mile High Superskyscraper • CONSTANTINE DOXIADIS – Addressed the urban problem on a worldwide scale -- Major designs are made for countries where economy and productive system

can be coordinated by policy and decree -- Best work is in newly developing nations of Africa and Middle East -- “Architecture in Transition” (1963) – explains Doxiadis’s total view -- Magazine “Ekistics” – shows Dixiadis’s many plans and programs -- “Ekistics grid” – system for recording planning data and ordering planning process -- Town planning as a science which includes planning and design, and contribution

of sociologist, geographer, economist, politician, anthropologist, ecologist, etc. -- EKISTICS – the science of human settlements

• CHARLES ABRAMS – Housing as one prime field of endeavor for solving urban problems -- “Man’s Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World” (1964)

• BUCKMINSTER FULLER -- “Inventory of World Resources – Human Trends and Needs” (1963)

• LEWIS MUMFORD -- Authored some twenty books and innumerable articles -- “The City in History” – published in 1961, summary of Mumford’s thought