Urban Planning Concepts Quiz

Space in Urban Design

• Space in urban design is a combination of mental (experiential) and physical (existential) aspects.
• Mental space refers to the image of physical space.
• Physical space is defined and continuous, unbounded in three directions, voided of matter and independent of its surroundings.
• Space in urban design has three main types: place-space, path-space, and transition-space.

Three Types of Space

• Place-space: major spaces with a clear sense of location or position.
• Path-space: directional transition spaces like corridors, connectors, or passageways.
• Transition-space: smaller spaces which facilitate changes in conditions between destinations, interior/exterior, or natural/building settings.

Urban Open Spaces

• Urban open spaces include paths, squares, gardens, and parks.
• Open spaces shape cities, provide recreation, and support economic activities.
• Also, open spaces preserve natural beauty and encourage interaction between people.

20 Types of Urban Spaces (Positive Spaces)

• Natural/Semi-Natural Urban Space: traditional urban spaces accommodating a wide array of activities.
• Civic Space: urban natural features, often state-owned.
• Public Open Space: managed green spaces accessible to everyone, potentially with temporary restrictions.

Negative Spaces

• Movement Space: space primarily designed for motorized transportation.
• Service Space: space dominated by servicing requirements, like parking lots.
• Leftover Space: residual space after development, often without specific function.
• Undefined Space: undeveloped land, either abandoned or awaiting redevelopment.

Ambiguous Spaces

• Interchange Space: transport hubs and interchanges (internal and external).
• Public/Private Space: seemingly public spaces that are privately controlled.
• Conspicuous Space: public spaces designed to draw attention, potentially uninviting for strangers.
• Internalized/Public Space: formally public but internalized and often privatized.
• Retail Space: privately owned but publicly used exchange spaces.
• Third-Place Spaces: semi-public spaces for meeting, socializing (public and private).
• Private/Public Space: publicly owned but functionally determined by user needs.
• Visible Private Space: physically private but visually accessible.
• Interface Spaces: demarked interfaces between public and private space.
• User-Selecting Spaces: spaces for specific groups, often determined by age or activity.

Private Spaces

• Private Open Space: physically private spaces.
• External Private Space: yards, gardens, and grounds.
• Internal Private Space: enclosed spaces like homes or businesses.

Proxemics

• Proxemics is the study of measurable distances between people as they interact.
• Various distances affect people's feelings in a given space (from relaxed to anxious).

Urban Aesthetics

• Urban aesthetics is the creative arrangement of urban elements to create a beautiful and functional environment relating to public spaces.
• It focuses on the attractiveness of a place, considering elements like architectural design, landscapes, views, and public furnishings.

Elements of Aesthetics

• Extracted Form: harmony between buildings and nature (e.g. slopes, vegetation, outcrops).
• Vistas and Site Supremacy: scenic views of the landscape from within the city (e.g. framed countryside, panoramas).
• Expression: space markers, ornamentation, and accents that define the city's character (e.g., towers, landmarks).
• Entrance/Approach: impact of urban spaces on visitors navigating crowded streets (e.g., welcoming entrances).
• Color and Light: reflecting aesthetic sensibility through color choice and quality of natural light.
• Water: interplay between urban features and water (e.g., waterfronts, canals).
• Geometry: relationships between angles, lines, and curves of urban forms.
• Human Scale: how inhabitants interact with and perceive the urban space, considering both the physical and emotional experience.

How to Achieve Urban Aesthetics

• Design attractive, welcoming streets, with contiguous development.
• Frame public places with buildings to create a distinct street frontage for a pleasing pedestrian experience.
• Plant broad canopy trees to create shade and a better environment for pedestrians and cyclists.
• Design stimulating and attractive walking/cycling routes through the city.
• Design vibrant parks and open spaces for people to relax and interact.

Avoid in Urban Aesthetics

• Inactive development (e.g., car parks, service areas, blank facades).
• Spaces without seating or other elements for sitting.
• Street verges with insufficient space for street tree planting and public furniture.
• Poorly maintained parks and open spaces.

Urban Pattern

• Urban pattern is a complex ecological system with interactions among social, economic, institutional, and environmental variables.
• It describes how different functions and elements of a settlement are distributed and mixed spatially.

Specific Planning and Design Guidelines for More Sustainable Urban Form and Settlement Patterns

• Community design is a response to the need for more comprehensive considerations at a neighborhood level.
• A design approach emphasizes land use, site engineering, and survey techniques to improve lot efficiency.

Movement Pattern

• Movement patterns are repeated sequences of movement ideas, rhythmic movement sequences, spatial designs, or specific relationships/groupings of people.
• Essential factors include connectivity, integration, vehicular access control along arterial routes, classification of local streets, and the management and control of vehicle speed in local streets.

Lot Layout

• Lot layout is the plan showing present or future intended use of lands and position of roads, buildings, and important structures.
• Different types of lot layouts include layouts for housing diversity, density, and special uses; future residential and commercial areas; and arrangements to natural areas and or main streets.

Public Parks and Open Spaces

• Public parks and open spaces provide a wide range of activities and promote community interaction.
• Guidelines for public parks include expanding open space diversity; altering current space requirements for facilities; promoting natural areas; visual supervision for safety; and establishing joint parkland and drainage provisions, including riverside and regional open spaces.

Urban Water Management

• Urban water management considers the holistic water cycle, integrates water factors early in land planning, and encourages government and industry to adopt sustainable water management practices.

Aspects of Urban Pattern

• Imageability: quality that makes a place recognizable and memorable.
• Form-Function Relationships: visual appearance and structural/functional requirements of a building.
• Urban Forms and Structure: arrangements of layouts (linear, radial, grid, cluster, etc.)
• Growth and Decline Urban Growth: patterns of movement within and outside urban areas.

Forms of Urban Spaces

• Compact Development: densely packed development.
• Scattered Development: decentralized and dispersed buildings.
• Linear Development: development along a line or corridor, such as roads.
• Polynuclear Development: a variety of central business districts and areas.
• Leapfrogging Development: scattered development pattern.

Urban Structure

• Arrangement of land uses in areas.
• Refers to urban spatial structures.
• Key elements include Natural Environment, Topography, Soil Types, Water Courses, Types of Vegetation, Climate and microclimate, Environmental Characteristics, and Landscape Features.

Types of Urban Structures/Patterns

• Grid Iron/Rectangular Pattern: city streets forming a grid/rectangular pattern (right angles).
• Radial/Concentric System: visual material organized around a central point with inner/outer rings (like a target) and radiating roads.
• Linear System: elongated urban formation with functionally specialized parallel sectors.
• Multi-centered System: city grows with several independent points instead of one central area.
• Irregular System: develops based on relief (e.g., following the contours of hilly terrain).
• Poly Nuclear: idea of strategic planning for a network of cities and towns.

The Three Models of Urban Structure

• Burgess Concentric Zone Model: circular zones growing outward from the CBD, with successive rings of residential and transition areas.
• Hoyt Sector Model: modification of the concentric model, considering variations in house rent and growth that expand outward in sectors.
• Multiple Nuclei Model: cities tend to develop around multiple districts/centers, not one dominant area.

Responsive Environment

• Responsive environment is a helpful tool for architecture and urban planning to create democratic spaces by maximizing choice.
• Factors affect people's choices in place design like permeability, variety, legibility, robustness, visual appropriateness, richness, and personalization.
• Permeability: ease of traversing a space.
• Variety: diversity of uses and forms.
• Legibility: how understandable/graspable a place is.
• Robustness: adaptability for various uses.
• Visual Appropriateness: visual appeal and awareness of choices.
• Richness: offers positive sensory and varied experiences.
• Personalization: space reflects people's tastes and values.
• Visual and Non-Visual Richness (All Senses): various sensory experiences, movement, hearing, touch, sight, and smell.