Foundations of Urban Design

Marcel Smets

Description

The book is structured into twenty-nine essays, each dedicated to a pair of urbanistic concepts.

Discussing historical and contemporary, interpretive and designerly approaches to urbanity, the notions composing the 29 pairs relate dialectically, as theses-and-antitheses. Still, we are warned, ‘the presented antagonisms are not a priori in opposition, but rather complementary.

Sujets

• urban planning
• Architecture

Informations

• Publié par: Actar D
• Date de parution: 31 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781638400912
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Foundations of Urban Design





Marcel Smets


Actar / Public Space


Foundations of Urban Design





05


Introduction
This book has its origins in the Legacy Award I received from property developer Matexi in 2016. The CEO at the time, Gaëtan Hannecart, had set up the award to preserve the expertise that signifi- cant people in our field had acquired over the course of their extensive careers. He invited me to synthesize the fundamental lessons that my theoretical and project-based research, as well as my practice as a pol- icy adviser, had taught me about urban design. For him, this personal experience was a valuable form of implicit knowledge that had to be passed on to future generations in an intelligible way.
In the intricate process of formulating a meaningful answer to this apparently simple question, I gained a number of essential insights. On the one hand, I realized that attempting to synthesize the complex layered nature of spatial design in a few forceful principles would be a mistake. Indeed, there is good reason why the training to become an urban designer requires years of study, application and apprenticeship. On the other hand, it did seem feasible to iden- tify recurring concepts that have played a role in the design of cities throughout history. Their appearance at different periods of time clearly demonstrated the fundamental importance of these theories for urban design. By sounding out their meaning, it would become possible to understand the insights on which our design-based reflec- tion rested. Without delving deeper into the method that enabled us to synthesize these concepts into a meaningful project, we could still manage to discover the ‘foundations’ of urban design.
Proceeding by this methodology, I might succeed to open up the core ideas of urban design to the wider public. Contributing to such a form of intellectual emancipation in the field of urban development would help people to look at the urban environment with a trained eye. It would inspire them to be more demanding with regard to its overall spatial quality. To achieve this ambition, however, I would need to incite my readers to reflect by themselves on the concepts I advanced. My responsibility went beyond making the ‘foundations’ that were set out clear and comprehensible. I also had to provoke readers into


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confronting their insights into the built environment with the per- spectives that would emerge from my texts. The multiple meaning of the concepts I proposed would then be constructed through the implicit dialogue with the reader’s own views and opinions.
To promote this dialogue, I chose not to approach the selected concepts singly, but to illuminate them from complementary view- points. Spatial concepts or design attitudes only fully acquire their ‘holistic’ character when one understands, as an assessor, that they lead to a certain result in one case, but that in another design they can be implemented in a different but equally consistent way. By contrast- ing both views, each one of them is clarified individually – through opposition with the other. In addition, the main concern underlying both views is made more obvious.
Working with antagonisms inevitably raises the question of which of the two (contrasting) visions or interpretations should prevail. Without evading the question, I would like to offer a few thoughts that may help us to approach the following texts aptly. First of all, the antagonisms that are played off against each other in this publication are not intrinsically in opposition with one another but are rather complementary. One view supplements the other and is not necessarily in conflict with it. Complementarity prevails in some pairs of concepts, while in others it is difference. In the former case, the more obvious choice is dictated by context. In the latter case, the preference results from a sociocultural consideration. Despite the detachment required for a thorough analysis of an idea or character- istic, the careful reader will undoubtedly see my contextual and social involvement shine through in the texts.
This barely concealed personal stance does not prevent this volume from aiming first and foremost at clarifying the meaning of the foundations put forward. Its ambition is not to evaluate but to explain. The texts seek to illuminate the key concepts of urban design for everyone. They do not prescribe a course of action but let the read- er decide how to deal with the proposed positions.
To avoid being long-winded or pedantic, all texts have deliber- ately been kept short. They attempt to gauge the essential substance of the concepts dealt with, but they also want to leave room for further


Introduction



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interpretation by the reader. Despite its rather strict configuration, this volume aspires to stimulate the imagination. It is not a textbook, but the start of a conversation about urban design. It hopes to broad- en the discussion rather than settle it.
The illustrations are in line with this way of thinking. In the age of the internet, when interested readers can see the cited examples illustrated with two mouse clicks, it seemed indicated to complement the textual exposition with personal sketches. The intensive dialogue with Heinrich Altenmüller – to whom I offer my sincere thanks – resulted in images that interpret the texts in their own way, but whose self-sufficiency also leaves room for personal interpretation.
Marcel Smets


Foundations of Urban Design



F01 Ribbon — Cluster 10
F02 Ladder — Star 15
F03 Network — Polynuclear Field 18
F04 Fabric — Citadel 23
F05 Fortified Castle — Palace 26
F06 Tower — Belfry 31
F07 Monument — Icon 35
F08 Island — Archipelago 39
F09 Oasis — Camp 42
F10 Market Square — Parade Ground 47
F11 Cape — Lighthouse 50
F12 Slope — Step 55
F13 Threshold — Transition 58
F14 Street — Road 63
F15 Path — Avenue 68
F16 Brook — Ditch 73


Foundations
of Urban Design



F17 River — Canal 79
F18 Current — Shelter 85
F19 Hole — Void 88
F20 Natural — Artificial 93
F21 Panorama — Perspective 98
F22 Appearance — Experience 105
F23 Use — Morphology 109
F24 Grid — Composition 115
F25 Creator — Curator 120
F26 Blueprint Implementation — 125
Incremental Development
F27 Continuity — Change 129
F28 Growth — Improvement 133
F29 Reminiscence — Renovation 136



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F01
Ribbon — Cluster
A settlement comes into being through an accumulation of built-on plots. In its most primitive form, such a settlement is made by a juxtaposition of farmsteads along a common access road. This is the primal form of the ribbon . Each plot stands on its own. And each is in principle large enough to be self-sufficient. Its size enables the individual family to build a house and live off agriculture and cattle breeding.
The plot is private. The road is collective. The road opens up the plots and provides access to the rest of the world. The road allows for exchanges with travelling artisans and between the plots themselves, among others for barter in the manorial economy. It constitutes the only collective element – the only urban compo- nent – in this type of urbanization.
The road has neither beginning nor end. The ribbon can always be extended. Hypothetically, the accumulation of plots is infinite. The only condition restricting the length of the ribbon is the walking distance between the scattered plots or the remote position of collective destinations. For even the most autonomous household in terms of lifestyle or production method still requires certain shared facilities: jetties on lakes and rivers, markets or supply points, temples for religious services.
Besides the primal form of the agricultural settlement, the ribbon also involves other types of applications. In the late eight- eenth century, mansions emerged in British spas and leisure resorts. Located along ring roads on royal plots, these mansions gave onto landscaped parks. They were self-sufficient thanks to their domes- tic staff. In this sumptuous form of urbanization, the size of the lots was no longer determined by agricultural yield but by social status. Its plot surface was primarily intended to create a garden large enough to highlight the status of its ‘bourgeois palace’.
This model of stringing together self-sufficient plots persist- ed in the nineteenth and especially also in the twentieth century. The size of the plots decreased gradually and the little ‘villas’ built on them moved closer and closer to each other. The introduction



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Foundations of Urban Design


of the tram and metro, at first, and later also of the car extended the serviceable length of the ribbons. The appearance of domes- tic appliances, telecommunications and later the internet firstly increased the autonomy of the individual house and ultimately connected every household directly with the world. The initial limitation of the ribbon came to disappear. The ensuing decentral- ization of collective facilities instigated the phenomenon of urban sprawl , the contemporary expression of the ribbon.
The cluster is the complement of the ribbon. The cluster results, not from the juxtaposition of plots, but from their den- sification . The primal form of the cluster goes back to the first extension of the medieval suburbium, around the gates of its earli- est ci