Ancient Medieval Pre-Modern Modern Contemporary Some Urban Design

Approaches

Urban Planning

Civic Design

Urban Design

City Engineering

Quality of Space

Socio-economic

Intentional Intervention

Laissez faire
City Beautiful

Urban Design Plan

Revolution

Movement
Industrial

San Francisco
Renaissance

World War II

(1972)
Ancient
 Ancient Period
• Antiquity to 5th Century
• Indus Valley, Egyptian, Greek, Roman
• Many ‘planned’ settlements
• Urban form and urban spaces were often
intentional
Ancient Medieval

Renaissance
 Medieval Age
• 5th to 13th centuries
• Feudalism and religion dominated
• Emphasis on faith rather than intellect
• Little intentional intervention in urban form
• “Organic” settlement patterns
 Ancient
Medieval

Renaissance

Revolution
Industrial
Pre-Modern

City Beautiful
Movement
 Pre-modern Age
• The Renaissance
– Emphasis on the intellect rather than faith
– Advances in science
– Ideal city designs
• The Industrial Revolution
– 18th century
– Rapid urbanization
– Sanitary reform
 Ancient
Medieval

Renaissance

Revolution
Industrial
Pre-Modern

City Beautiful
Movement
Modern

World War II
 The Modern Age
• City Beautiful Movement
– 1840 to 1914
– Reaction to urban problems
– Greco-Roman themes and monumental plans
– Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmstead
• World War II
– Increased emphasis on social/economic
issues
– Systematic methods of planning
 Ancient
Medieval

Renaissance

Revolution
Industrial
Pre-Modern

City Beautiful
Movement
Modern

World War II

Urban Design Plan

San Francisco
(1972)
Contemporary
 Contemporary Urban Design
• The San Francisco Urban Design Plan
(1972)
• Use of research, citizen input, rather than
idealized visions
• Second-order design rather than large
architecture
 What is a City
• City is a Place where
a certain energized
crowding of people of
happen.
• There is no minimum
population needed
• “a relatively large,
dense and permanent
settlement of
heterogeneous
individuals”
 What is a City
• Cities come in
clusters.
• No town exists in
isolation, they are
always locked in an
urban system.
• There is always a
hierarchy in size,
function and services
in a cluster of towns
 What is a City
• Cities invariably have
a limiting boundary.
• Even if there is no
identifiable boundary
there will be a legal
perimeter within
which restrictions and
privileges apply.
 What is a City
• Cities are places
where there is a
specialized
differentiation of work
and wealth is not
distributed equally.
• This creates
identifiable clusters of
physical environment
 What is a City
• Cities have a
predominant
resource: trade,
industry, mineral,
leisure, or even a
human resource like
power.
• Written records are
the lifeline of a city.
 What is a City
• There is always a
hinter land for a city,
normally it is the
primary source of
food.
• Cities have one or
more distinguishing
public landmark
 Topography

DETERMINANTS OF
NATURAL Climate
URBAN FORM

Materials/Technology
 Economic/Political

Religious

Defense

MAN MADE
Might/Power
DETERMINANTES

Grid Iron/Mobility

Aesthetic/Legislation

Ethnic Grouping

Leisure
 Determinants
• Topography
– Sea as an edge, an island
or peninsula
– River Bank with a
subsidiary city growing on
the other side.
– Hill or ridge origin with the
top most portion occupied
and city grows downwards.
– Topographical
determinants are similar
across various cultures.
 Determinants
• Climate
– Court yard houses
– Double storied houses
– Independent dwelling
• Construction
Materials and
Technology
– Vernacular forms gave
rise to similar grouping
of dwelling.
 Determinants
• Economic
– Agricultural market
– Markets on caravan routes
– Industry
• Political
– Control of population through barricade or
limited mobility.
– Internal security.
 Determinants
• Religious
– Most prominent place for
the abode of worship or
form based on rituals.
• Defense
– Fortifications and changes
in the form of war defined
many urban forms
• Show of Might
– Combination of power,
religion, and defense gave
rise to grand manner
 Determinants
• Urban Mobility
– Form of transport used in the early
settlements defined the form of street pattern
• Aesthetic concern and Legislation
– Cities organized on a set of principles with
legislative support.
• Infrastructure
– Dams/Bridges/Aqueducts/Railway
 Three Branches of Theories

Planning Theory How decisions need to be made for

Issues which concern public cause

Functional Theory How the city form has come about and
how does it function

Normative Theory How the cities need to be designed

And how to identify a good city
 Planning Theory
• Procedural
– How to collate the interests of various interest
groups
– What should be the sequencing of
implementation.
• Decision Theories
– Prediction of outcome
– Participant reaction
– Rational Methods
 Functional Theories
• Cities are Unique Historical Process.
– Under the influence of culture, climate and
economic and political structure cities grow as
a result of a historical event.
– The city can also be seen as a “story” with
actors, events, triggers, plot and structure.
Hence it is very unique, cannot be replicated
and is a specific theory.
– Future predication is impossible
 Functional Theory
• The city is an ecosystem human groups.
– The city is seen as layer, sector, group of
people of varied social and economic groups,
who behave in a predictable manner.
– Predication of movement, behavior and
choice can be empirically proved. In addition,
replacement and displacement of groups is
documented.
– The entire field is driven by quantitative
methods
 Functional Theories
• The City is a space for the production and
distribution of material goods.
– Cities are looked at as a patterns of activity in space
which facilitate the production, distribution and
consumption of goods.
– Space imposes cost on production ( transport and
labor) and hence an optimum space needs to be
found. In addition space is also a resource, hence
activities compete to find an optimum space.
– Theories which help in creating an optimum
equilibrium in space, cost and transport. These in turn
are thought explain the phenomena of city.
 Functional Theory
• The city is a field of force.
– Cities consist of distinct particles (human),
distributed and moving in space, which
communicate with, attract and repel each
other. Hence the field of force (
electromagnetic).
– Cites can be mapped with particles, mass,
distance and force of attraction. Hence a new
city can be configured based on the
assemblage of such forces.
 Functional Theory
• The city is a system of Linked Decision
– A settlement grows as a result of repeated decisions
of many persons and agencies ( with diverse goals
and resources) who are continuously influenced by
each others actions.
– Computers can map and predict this complex
network, the network in space can result in an ideal
form.
– Game theories have been applied to predict the
system.
 Functional Theory
• The city as an arena of conflict
– Competing for resources leads to conflict,
hence the city is thought to be an arena of
struggle.
– Domination of a region, resource, people, and
ideology has resulted in establishing of urban
settlements.
– Within city the areas of conflict result in
spatially inequalities.
 COSMIC MODEL

NORMATIVE THEORY
MACHINE MODEL

ORGANIC MODEL