Module-2

12hrs.

Techniques of urban design

Urban design policies for – Landscape, Infrastructure, Built-form

Urban renewal - scope , need and procedure.
Urban conservation and economic considerations.
Urban elements

Road form and hierarchy

Road pattern & street quality
Pedestrian areas & Malls
Planning issues - Open spaces and waterfront development
Urban design policies and guidelines
Cities & towns are formed by our culture ,must continue
to evolve sustainability
– ensuring an economic and social future
Policies that guide the evolution of cities and towns.
Maximize public benefits – ensuring development in
coordinated and assessed in relation
To the long term urban outcome
1.How the urban area should expand to its
hinterland
2.Coordinate existing date on physical and
social characteristics of urban areas.
3.Guildline focus on public domain. ( layout and
design of streets , infrastructure , parks, squares ,
hierarchy of public space and buildings, landmarks and
community facilities)
4.The interrelationship between public and
private domains.
-private domain is diverse, individual and changing
-Public domain is more continuous ,interconnected ,
cohesive and permanent.
Private domain is dependent on the public domain.
Urban design policies and guidelines
Policies could be from simple guidelines to designing and estimating an urban street furniture.
APPROCH TO URBAN DESING POLICIES
1.Regenerative approach – recognize that every intervention should build on past
experience and seek to be therapeutic, by measurably improving conditions in both the
built and natural environments and addressing social and economic inequalities.
2. Recognize the significance of the public realm – it serves vital functions as a place
for both formal and informal social gatherings, commerce and economic development,
intellectual transactions, cultural expressions and experience of place.

3.Maintain and reinforce the integrity of the public realm- stress the importance of
building materials, public art, public expression, landscaping, and streetscapes:
we all “experience” place, in our own unique, individual ways.
4. Emphasize the significance of public infrastructure – recognize that the physical
assets collectively owned by the community perform vital public functions and are a
tangible expression of our collective commitment to the future as a community, not a
collection of individuals.

5.Encourage multiple uses, functions & expressions – recognize the importance of mixed-
use, Density, diversity, whimsy and creativity.
6.Encourage multiple design expressions – avoid “one size fits all” or pre packaged,
off the shelf solutions.

7.Maintain a people and pedestrian orientation - give priority to living beings over
machines

8.Enable multi modal travel and connectivity

9.Promote heritage and historic preservation –provide rich temporal experiences
and preserve the past.

10.Create safe and secure environments through appropriate design measures

and design based strategies.

11. Encourage productive partnerships – at all levels.

12. Promote community involvement and engagement listen to the voice and
will of the community. Help cultivate and shape it.

13.Respect context and place based research and analysis – insist on factual and
historically accurate analysis.
URBAN DESING POLICIES IN INDIA
We never had UD polices till the 21st century , we had only urban
development policies.

Upto 1966 – re-habitation , refuge camps , slum housing,

building bye laws , mater plan for big cities
- NBC & schools of architecture & planning
1967-88 - low income housing , satellite towns. Steel cities ,
HUDCO
ULCA urban land ceiling act
1989 -2000 - liberalization, private developers,
NCR ( New Delhi national capital region)
NCU
(National commission on urbanization – chairman
Ar.Charles Correa gave guideline for urban
policies NUP)
DUAC - Delhi Urban Art Commission - to preserving
developing and maintaining the aesthetic quality of urban
and environmental design within Delhi.
2000 + Mega cities – DL,MUM,CHN,KOL,HYD & BLG.
80% private development - more polices and bbl for
specific type of building or estates.
GIS and LIS , online web site for local authorities
and tax JNNURM – urban reforms
IUDA – Indian urban designers association)
CURRENT PLANNING PARAMETERS FOR DEVELOPMENT CONTROL
the urban form and design that currently exists, has
been the outcome of the ideas of individual developers on individual projects with
little reference to the principles of good urban design and integration with the
surrounding existing or future urban fabric.

The main objectives of prescribing rules for development control are:

• Control density;
• Minimize negative impacts which may be created over the adjoining properties
such as noise, vibration and to provide privacy;
• Control and regulate traffic generation; and
• Optimum utilization of available and planned infrastructure.

Instead of having too many parameters, it is suggested that the following minimum
number of parameters would serve the purpose:
• Minimum road width;
• Setbacks;
• Maximum permissible area or FSI;
• Maximum permissible coverage;
• Maximum height; and
• Parking standards.
The objectives of an urban design scheme are inevitably a mixture of economic, behavioral and
aesthetic ends.
FUTURE ORIENTATION AND PLANNING PRINCIPLES FOR DEVELOPMENT PLAN –

Unlike the conventional two dimensional zoning plans,

which tend simply to define areas of use, density standards and access arrangements,
the development plan must establish three dimensional frameworks of buildings and
public spaces and create more sophisticated visual models.
A city is an assemblage of buildings and streets, system of communication and utilities,
places of work, transportation, leisure and meeting places.
The process of arranging these elements both functionally and beautifully is the
essence of urban design.
The vision of the development plan must fulfill the following essential needs:
• Allow understanding of what the public spaces between buildings will be like before they are built;
• Show how the streets, squares and open spaces of a neighborhood are to be connected;
• Defines the heights, massing and bulk of the buildings
• Control the relationship between the buildings and public spaces to maximize
street frontage and reduce large areas of blank walls;
• Determine the distribution of uses, and if these uses should be accessible at street level;
• Control the network of movement patterns for people moving on foot, cycle, car or public transport;
• Identify location of street furniture, lighting, landscaping, monuments, etc;
and
• Allow understanding and visualization of how a new or enhanced urban
neighborhood is integrated with the surrounding urban context and natural
environment.
Urban renewal
Urban renewal, which is generally called
urban regeneration - is a program of
land redevelopment in old areas and
moderate to high density urban land use.

Urban renewal involves

-the relocation of businesses,
-the demolition of structures,
-the relocation of people,
-and the use of eminent domain (government
purchase of property for public purpose)
-as a legal instrument to take private property
for city-initiated development projects.
-To make it for better use
Scope for urban renewal
First it allows finance improvement projects.
• Second, it allows for special powers to buy and assemble sites for development or
redevelopment, if that is desired.
• And third, it allows for special flexibility in working with private parties to complete
development projects.
For a municipality to use urban renewal, it must establish an urban renewal agency and it must
adopt an urban renewal plan. need and procedure
Need for Urban renewal
1.Historic Preservation
2. Slum Clearance
3. Reduce Crime
4. Improving Housing Stock
5. Economic Vibrancy
6.Good & useable urban space
examples of Urban renewal
Procedure for
urban renewal

Urban Renewal
Plan and Report
urban renewal in India
 Connaught place new delhi 1930

Connaught place new delhi 1980

Urban conservation
CONSERVING OR PERSERVING
THE BUILDINDS OR URBAN
ZONES
Urban conservation is not
limited to the preservation of
single buildings.
It views as one element of the
overall urban setting, making it
a complex and multifaceted
discipline.
HERTITAGE - conservation
HERTITAGE - conservation
Conversation in India
Conversation in India
ASI archaeological survey of india
INTACH
UNESCO
The Hierarchy of Roads

The road network fulfils a variety of

functions ranging from the strategic
movement of traffic to vehicle access,
to individual premises.
To fulfil these contrasting functions
requires roads of different
characteristics.
(a) Motorway and Trunk Roads These
provide for the traffic movement and
economic activity between major towns
and cities on a national level.
(b) Strategic/Key Principal Roads These
provide for traffic movement between
centres of population and economic
activity on a regional level.
(c) Principal Roads These link centres of
population from the strategic and trunk
road network.
(d) District Distributors These distribute
traffic within towns and link the
Principal Roads to residential and
industrial roads.
(e) Tourist Routes These provide the Fife
Tourist Route and in cases can utilise
strategic and principal routes.
(f) Supporting Network A network of
minor B and C class roads which link
villages and towns.
(g) Industrial Roads These link
industrial/commercial premises to the
network.
(h) Residential Core Roads These provide
frontage access serving more than 200
properties within a residential area and
link with District Distributor Roads.
(i) Housing Roads/Culs de sac/Category 4 & 5 Can serve
up to 200 dwellings with direct frontage access. Loop
roads are category 4 and culs de sac category 5.

(j) Shared Surface Roads/Category 6 Category 6 routes

are vehicle/pedestrian mix areas with service strips
instead of footways.
A Category 6 route shall take access from a Residential
Core Road or Housing Road only.

(k) Housing Courts Can serve up to 20 dwellings around a

private communal parking court.

(l) Private Access A maximum of 4 houses with parking

and flats/houses with communal car parking.
Classification of roads in India
 20

3 14 3

Typical 20 mts road section

Roads Pattern
Street Networks are
the backbone upon
which we build
communities.
Good street network
designs reduce land
consumption, provide
greater accessibility
through more direct
routes, and increase
overall network
efficiency and
reliability through
added redundancy.

.
Street quality
The perceived quality of a street depends on both physical
and operational attributes, some of which are incidental,
while others are designed.

Street life, visual complexity, social status and population

density are incidental attributes dependent on culture and
history.

On the other hand, safety, security, comfort, and a sense of

enclosure are functions of design.

operational attributes such as the level of maintenance and

cleanliness.

Taken as a whole, these attributes produce a memorable

image and a pleasurable feeling
in the user & driving ease and safety to the driver.

The sociability of a street - Informal contacts that develop

into social networks are at the root of feelings of belonging
and security, which are prime factors in resident
satisfaction.
Street activity cannot be designed but it can be encouraged
inhibited certain street characteristics.
The most negative influence on sociability is heavy car
traffic, whose negative effect is proportional to its volume.
To enhance sociability, particularly with regard to
children safety and play, most traffic experts
recommend
discontinuous street patterns of the kind found in
conventional loop and cul-de-sac suburbs.

Walk-ability - implies comfortable access to amenities

such as schools, recreation areas, retail stores and
workplaces.

Viewing nature, an urban environment is a source of

delight.

A city dweller behind the wheel expects as much

pleasure out of driving as out of walking.

Narrow, twisted and crowded streets may please

pedestrians, but they frustrate drivers.

To be enjoyable, driving requires unimpeded flow,

perceived safety and rich visual experiences on a large
scale.

These qualities are generally achieved by reducing and

simplifying intersections, increasing lane widths,
lengthening
straight stretches, dividing traffic lanes, widening
curves, and completely separating opposing streams of
traffic
by man-made or natural dividers.
Street quality
The best of both worlds
Discontinuous streets with loops and culs-de-sac
provide safety, sociability and efficiency; continuous
grid patterns provide connectivity and easy
orientation.
To create streets that provide all these attributes,
requires combining the two patterns. Such a
combination would have the following characteristics:
1) it would return to orthogonal geometry for clarity
of organization and directness of pedestrian
access.
2) it would provide loops and cul-de-sacs for local
streets for safety, tranquility, sociability and land use
efficiency;

3) it would use open space as a structuring element

of the layout for connectivity, relief, comfort, water
retention, interaction and delight;

4) it would adopt a road hierarchy of local, collector

and arterial, for distributing and moving car traffic
effectively; and

5) it would transform arterial roads from mere traffic

conveyors to activity generators. The aim of this new
combined street layout is
to prevent non-resident through traffic,
to maximize the number of houses on culs-de-sac
and loops,
to situate open space for maximum accessibility and
to accommodate a range of housing types.
Pedestrian areas
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-
free zones, are areas of a city or town reserved for
pedestrian-only use and in which most or all automobile
traffic may be prohibited.

Converting a street or an area to pedestrian-only use is

called pedestrianisation.

Pedestrianisation usually aims to provide

better accessibility and mobility for pedestrians,
to enhance the volume of shopping and other business
activity in the area
and/or to improve the attractiveness of the local
environment in terms of aesthetics, air pollution, noise and
accidents involving pedestrians.

However, Pedestrianisation can sometimes lead to reductions

in business activity, property devaluation, and displacement
of economic activity to other areas.

Pedestrianisation schemes are often associated with

significant drops in local air and noise pollution, accidents,
and frequently with increased
retail turnover and increased property values locally.
Pedestrian zones have a great variety of approaches to
human-powered vehicles such as bicycles, inline
skates, skateboards and kick scooters.
Characteristics and benefits of car-free
developments
Characteristics of car-free developments:
• Very low levels of car use, resulting in
much less traffic on surrounding roads
• High rates of walking and cycling
• More independent movement and active play for
children
• Less land taken by parking and roads, so more
available for
green or social space

The main benefits found for car-free developments:

• Low atmospheric emissions
• Low road accident rates
• Better built environment conditions[
• Encouragement of active modes
The main problems related to parking management.
Where parking is not controlled in the surrounding area,
this often results in complaints from neighbours
about overspill parking.
Problems caused by
pedestrianisation

Noise Nuisance - Trafalgar

Square, London, after
pedestrianisation caused noise
nuisance for visitors to
the National Gallery.
Fewer users local business
Reduced through traffic can lead
to fewer customers using local
businesses, depending on the
environment and the area's
dependence on the through
traffic.
The shopping mall
is the quintessential American contribution
to the world’s consumer culture.
It has been praised by the millions who find
an unmatched selection of fashion and
specialty merchandise in its climate-
controlled splendor, and it has been vilified
for promoting both suburban sprawl and the
decline of downtown shopping districts and
mom-and pop stores.

But regardless of the differing opinions they

evoke, malls are a unique and inescapable
part of everyday life in America—and,
increasingly, around the world.
In many places, the mall is the community’s
de facto downtown
—the main public gathering spot
—as well as a highly valued shopping
location.
As a result, what happens to the mall may
ultimately define what happens to the
community.
Mall Architecture with top-quality
streetscaping, and a multiuse environment
Urban design elements for a mall

Urban character & image

Connectivity
Legibility
Diversity
Pedestrianisation

Planning issues - Open spaces and
waterfront development
Water is, an infrastructure for transport and communications,
a medium of commercial transitions, a location-source of
economic prosperity, but, at the same time, a source of a
multiplicity of dangers. Water provides a dynamic, reflective
or experiential element for the built environment.
The relation between the inner city and urban waterfront is
the function of technological change in maritime field, socio-
economic pressure and environment improvement
programmes.
Early water edge cities have to do more with the functional
relations than with their 'urbanity
-The lost relation between the waterfront and the city has
been rediscovered.
-Urban waterfront is currently a 'hot' real estate issue which
consists of both challenges as well as opportunities.
-Urban waterfront planning and redevelopment is currently a
civic interest that is pervasive and powerful
waterfront developments.
The water body is enhanced by major public open spaces
such as green urban parks and wide pedestrian promenade
with major key areas for fun and leisure activities
The scale of development is human size with emphasis on the
pedestrian network system
WATER FRONT DEVELOPMENT – DESIGN & ISSUES
WATER FRONT DEVELOPMENT – DESIGN & ISSUES
Waterfront Heritage The urban
context of a waterfront is partially
determined by its heritage.
It comes as no surprise that many
waterfronts are rich in resources of
historical and cultural significance. The
type and importance of these
resources varies depending on the age
and location of the city. The heritage of
waterfront can either produce many
opportunities for adaptive use or
prohibit reuse altogether.

Impact on waterfront:
• Avoid negative visual impact on
waterfront by variation in height and
massing
• Provide public access to waterfront
• Respect sensitive waterfront
amenity
Urban design policies
Urban renewal.
Urban conservation

Road form and hierarchy

Road pattern & street quality
Pedestrian areas & Malls
waterfront development

Thankyou.