Sessions 01-02 - City and Urban Form PDF

URBAN MANAGEMENT SESSIONS 01-02  CITY+ Production and Diversity in the Contemporary City SUSTAINABILITY  How did I encounter this word? How has my understanding changed over time? Regenerative urbanism The regenerative city Regenerative urban design R...

URBAN MANAGEMENT SESSIONS 01-02  CITY+ Production and Diversity in the Contemporary City SUSTAINABILITY  How did I encounter this word? How has my understanding changed over time? Regenerative urbanism The regenerative city Regenerative urban design Regenerative urban development SOME ISSUES WITH REGENERATIVE… Maybe countering the footprint of a city is not so innovative either? Maybe not the most of what we can extract from a contemporary city? GENERATIVE? Net-zero energy Net-positive energy Take this, and apply it to non- energy and non-carbon issues? Can we simply make the city productive, and take it out of the black and into the red? CITY + Generative urbanism Surplus urbanism Super urbanism But, Prof. Davis would say, “here are too many urbanisms...” Considerations… ISSUES TO BE WARY OF… Consideration 01 WE HAVE BLINDSPOTS Consideration 02 WE TEND TO NOT UNDERSTAND PUBLIC SPACE SO WELL. Consideration 03 THE TOP-DOWN HAS LIMITS, BUT SO TOO DOES THE BOTTOM-UP Consideration 04 NEGOTIATION WITHOUT DESIGNING DOESN’T SEEM TO WORK. Think, think, think. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. Then start. Issue of translation, of dominant language, of delayed action. Negotiating table and creativity? Planner’s Triangle (Campbell 1996) Doughnut Economy (Raworth 2012) We must be designing, while dealing with environmental, economic, and social issues. We cannot solve the issues, and then begin designing. At least I don’t think so. Consideration 05 CITY IS NOT EVERYTHING “we will end this century as a wholly urban species.” (Doug Saunders) I do not share this worldview. The city will support a large portion of our species, but the suburbs and countryside will play a role that is much greater than I think the current discourse is imagining. The suburb is not just a stepping stone to the city. E.g., United States, Consideration 06 URBAN PARADOX One of the main benefits of early cities, it seems, is that they were able to support agriculture. Dense settlements predate the emergence of agriculture, remember. But today’s city, moreso than not, falls short of that initial achievement How much farming is taking place in Madrid or its immediate surroundings? How much of the population is employed in that task? Industrial cities were able to support industry. But many cities seem to move down a path wherein industry is pushed out of the urban boundaries. So... Why are we so set on cities? Maybe there are other settlement structures that offer different benefits that cities inherently have difficulties with? A TINY EXPERIMENT… 595 URBAN FORM URBAN MORPHOLOGY URBAN DESIGN… Consideration 07 AN OUTDATED IDEAL OF UNINFRINGED MOVEMENT Consideration 08 OPTIMIZATION + HOMOGENEITY V. BASELINE + VARIETY Disruptions? Inefficiencies? Consideration 09 THERE IS NO IDEAL … ONE (not the) EXAMPLE JJ BLOCK + NYC BLOCK Consideration 10 T-INTERSECTIONS Mexico City Consideration 11 ALLEYS AND ROADS Turn left Parking, garage, sheds Economies (food catering here) ADU’s, micro units Consideration 12 Mid-Block Incisions Consideration 13 MICRO SIDE SETBACKS Consideration 14 MULTI-MODAL STREETS Consideration 15 SLOW STREETS v. FAST STREETS Green Alleys Consideration 16 LEVERAGE (NOT NEUTRALIZE) TOPOGRAPHY Porto Consideration 17 MULTI-SCALAR PLAZAS (Cullen 1961) Consideration 18 DIVERSITY AT MATERIAL LEVEL ONE (not the) EXAMPLE URBAN MANAGEMENT SESSIONS 01-02