CE 78: URBAN PLANNING & LAND DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 3

AESTHETICS & COMMUNITY

PLANNING

ARCHT. MARCELINO ENALAS DUMPA, ASST. PROF

 INTRODUCTION
• A study of the urban world from the aesthetic
perspective would suggest a more compelling link to
the world of art and architecture, more than to
geography.
• The aesthetic refers to the beautiful, its creation and
its appreciation.
• The aesthetic could be viewed as a spatial, as a result
of the assemblage of structures that form an
interrelated whole, the city.
• Spatial interaction of form and function create "the
city's" needed internal cohesion and viability.
 URBAN AESTHETICS
• An analysis of the beautiful in the urban
landscape is more than desirable; it is an
essential component of the urban realm and is at
all times circumscribed by the prevailing
contemporary reality.
• Art in the urban context as the outgrowth of the
quest for;
• Visual enhancement of the built urban
environment as social space.
• Placed in the context of culture and time.
 CITY PATTERN
• A theory of aesthetics about how the shape
and character of development should
happen.
• Cities are determine by the ways in which
people interact with one another are their
urban form, the pattern and density of
their land uses, and their transportation
systems—the means by which people travel
within metropolitan areas.
CITY PATTERN
 Fundamental Principles
for City Pattern
• Visual structure:
Strengthened and enhanced by large-scale
planting on streets and open spaces.
• City Form and Image Clarity:
– Tall, slender buildings at the tops of hills and
low buildings on the slopes and in valleys to
accentuate the form of the hills.
– Contour streets on hills align buildings to
create a pattern of strong horizontal bands
that conflict with the hill form.
STREET PLANTING
Central Park, New York
• Visible Open Spaces
– Act as orientation points, and convey
information about the presence of recreation
space to motorists and pedestrians.
• Preserve Views and Visibility:
Where large parks occur at tops of hills, low-rise
buildings surrounding them will preserve views
from the park and maintain visibility of the park
from the other areas of the city.
PRESERVE VIEWS
• Unifying Rhythm:
Street spaces impart a unifying rhythm to the
pattern and image of the city.
• Open Space Link to Neighborhoods:
Landscaped pathways can visually and
functionally link larger open spaces to
neighborhoods.
• Visible and Apparent:
The pattern of major streets can be made more
visible and apparent to users of the street system
if the landscaping and lighting of major streets is
different from that of local streets.
MAJOR STREET PATTERN
HEIRRARCHY OF ROADS
• Extensive Planting:
Large-scale or extensive planting on major
roadways that define areas of the city can
enhance the importance of the roadways as
both thoroughfares and visual boundaries.
• Lighting fixtures and quality light
Street lighting enhance the identity of
districts, distinctive areas, and important
shopping streets.
• Views from Roadways :
Reveal major destinations or that provide overlooks of
important routes and areas of the city assist the
traveler in orientation.
• Screening unattractive or distracting elements:
Arterial routes can be clarified by screening
unattractive or distracting elements with landscaping
when such elements cannot be removed.
• Direct down streets Views:
Open spaces with direct views down streets have a
greater sense of spaciousness and can be seen more
easily from a distance.
• Provide Panoramic Views:
Hilltop roads and open spaces provide
panoramic views if adjacent buildings are far
enough below the viewpoint.
• Highly visible open space:
Presents a refreshing contrast to extensive urban
development.
• Effective Contrast:
Strong and organized development adjacent to
parks creates an effective contrast.
 Policies for City/Urban Pattern:
To recognize, promote, emphasize, make, indicate the purposes of the ff;

Major views open space and water

Existing street pattern
Buildings
landscaping and open space
nature of each district.
centers of activity more
prominent
natural boundaries of districts
major destination
routes
purposes of streets
characterizes the city and its districts.
define districts and topography.
through distinctive landscaping and other features.
design of street features and by other means
with connections between districts.
the visibility of areas and other points of
orientation.
Increase the clarity for travelers.
Plan for street landscaping
• Urban patterns are associated with particular
typologies, properties, units, sets of ‘rules’,
‘models’ and relationships, that can be a
subject of study.
• The pattern of the city shows how different
functions and elements of the settlement
form are distributed and mixed together
spatially.
 Six (6) Elements of
Urban Settlement Patterns
Town closed set of dense building zones.
Urban district Result from a partition of towns
through road, railway and
hydrographic network.
Urban block Built from an aggregation of similar
adjacent blocks
Empty space in block blank parts in a block.
Buildings group in block urban pattern composed of buildings
positioned as a queue.
Buildings alignment an order between buildings has to be
defined.
 CITY FORM TYPES
Examples of pattern typologies focused on
physical patterns.
Four (4) Physical Entities are:
• roads,
• land-use areas,
• built-up areas,
• open spaces, and so on.
These are entities are represented on maps as
lines and areas.
COMPONENTS OF URBAN PATTERN

1. Landform 5. Architecture

2. Shape 6. Inhabitants

3. Size & Density 7. Movements

4. Routes 8. City Functions

 Seven (7) Landform &
Nature Elements
Topography Affects circulation network

Form & Character

Features (Indigenous)

Natural Vegetation Landscape and bodies of water.

Forms Relating to Landscape

Relations of Nature to City

Relations of City to Nature

 Shape
1. - Large circle with radial corridors of
Radiocentric development from the center.

2. - Two corridors of intense development

Rectilinear crossing at the center.

3. Star - Radiocentric form with open space at

the outreaching development corridors.

4. Ring - City built around a large open space.

5. Linear - Result of natural topography which

restricts growth.
6. Branch - Linear span with connecting arms.

7. Sheet Vast urban area with no articulation

8. Articulated Accented by one or more central

Sheet and several clusters.

9. Constellation Equal sized cities in close proximity.

10. Satellite Constellation of cities around a main

center.
 Size & Density
• Relates to Spatial Nature
Amsterdam - walk across, but 1,000.000 pop.
• Relates to Size and other factors
• Number of people/unit
• Number of houses/unit
• Number of cars
• Built-up area/open space
• Floor area/unit
POPULATION
 Routes
• Principal determinant of urban form.
• Begin in non-urban countryside.
• Imageability
Should define and help.
Not slash through being divisive or
blighting.
IMAGEABILITY
 Architecture/Visual Pattern
• Each building relationship with one another
contributes to the overall visual pattern.
• Details, architectural and others contribute to
the overall visual effect of the urban
environments such as; traffic signs, billboards,
store signs, sidewalk and street furniture,
landscaping and others.
 Inhabitants
• Ethnic
background,
social classes or
• dominant sex of
the inhabitants,
• translate to
unique
architecture that
forms the physical
environment.
 Movement
• Primary considerations in understanding
circulation patterns broken into:
Two (2) movements:
1. Pedestrian
2. Vehicular
• Provide friendly pedestrian environments but
accommodate vehicular traffic.
• Mix vehicular and pedestrian routes without
compromising pedestrian safety not limiting
walking experience.
 City Functions:
• Economic
 Acting as producers and market places.
 Strategic points for exchange of goods and
services.
• Defense & Protection
• Worship & Governance
• Transportation
• Education
• Cultural
• Housing
 Climate
• Temperature
• Light
• Precipitation
• Sun
• Winds
• Micro-Macro
• Climates
 Pattern
• Relates to Shape or a smaller scale;
– Curvilinear
– Rectilinear
– Cul-de-sac
– Mixtures
 Major Routes--Internal
• Carry high volume
• Help define city
• Create ties to other routes to other districts
• What effect do they have upon cityscape,
districts, buildings?
• How can they be improved?
• How do they relate to secondary streets?
 Pedestrian Areas
• Pedestrian often overlooked. Some areas require it for
maintenance of vitality
• Points to Consider
• Quality of Pedestrian Spaces
1. Width
2. Paving
3. Condition
4. Protection
5. Furnishings
6. Interruptions
7. Flow across interruptions
8. Visual quality
PEDESTRIAN CROSSING
IMPROPER CROSSING
 Vista & Skyline
• Internal & External--related to terrain
• Views into city are an asset.
• Skyline often most important asset—creates
identity, reference
 Tall buildings in groups
 Effective
 Singles often disruptive
CHINA & NEW YORK
Create landmark
Night Lighting
Excitement dynamics
 CONCLUSION
• The main structure of every city is a
fundamental characteristic of the city’s form
which has a remarkable role in that city’s
stability, continuity, identity, originality and
meaning.
• It has also been noticed that environmental
aesthetic factors have always played a vital
role in the formation of a city’s structure.
END