Lesson 13 - Urban Design Flashcards
What is urban design
Urban design is the process of creating the physical setting for cities and urban spaces. This can involve the design of buildings, spaces and landscapes. It is a multi-disciplinary process, including planners, to shape the urban context.
Urban design vs urban planning
New Zealander Michael Gunder, of the University of Auckland, reviews decades of literature seeking an
operational definition of urban design. He concludes that “contemporary urban design, as an independent field, is largely a creation and product of neoliberalism,
because it effectively mirrors its values of reification and facade, the superficial, the surface, in the commodification of the built environment for the achievement of capital accumulation under competitive globalization.”
Urban design differs from planning in scale, orientation, and treatment of space. Its scale is primarily that of the
street, park, or transit stop, as opposed to the larger region, community, or activity center, which are foremost in planning. Its orientation is both aesthetic and functional, putting it somewhere between art, whose object is beauty, and planning, whose object is utility. The treatment of space in urban design is three-dimensional, with vertical elements as important as horizontal ones. Urban planning, on the other hand,
is customarily a two-dimensional activity, with most plans visually represented in plan view, not model, section, or elevation.
Context-Sensitive Design (CSD)
Context-Sensitive Design (CSD) refers to roadway standards and development practices that are flexible and sensitive to community values. The CSD allows design decisions to better balance economic, social and environmental objectives within the community. It promotes several key principles:
- Balance safety, community, and environmental goals in all projects;
- Involve the public and affected agencies early and continuously;
- Use an interdisciplinary team tailored to project needs;
- Apply flexibility inherent in design standards;
- Incorporate aesthetics as an integral part of good design.
Form-based code
Form-based code is a means of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-based codes create a predictable public realm by controlling physical form primarily through local government zoning regulations with a lesser focus on land use. Form-based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks.
The regulations and standards in form-based codes, presented in both diagrams and words, are keyed to a regulating plan that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development rather than only distinctions in land-use types. This is in contrast to conventional zoning’s focus on land use. In simple terms, the conventional zoning code focuses on use over form whereas form-based codes focus on form over use.
Landscape Urbanism
Landscape Urbanism is a theory that argues that the best way to plan and organize a city is through the design of the city’s landscape. The theory argues that historically there has been too much focus on buildings and not enough focus on the surrounding landscape.
New Urbanism
New Urbanism promotes compact, walkable neighborhoods. Its principles are defined in the Charter of the New Urbanism, which was adopted by the Congress for New Urbanism. These principles apply at regional, local, and neighborhood levels.
At the neighborhood level, New Urbanism promotes mixed income, walkable neighborhoods with a variety of architectural styles. The neighborhood should be well-defined with an edge and a center. It should include public green spaces. People should be able to access shopping, work, and school within a five-minute walk, or at least be able to access transit within a five-minute walk.
The Congress for New Urbanism, which was founded by Peter Calthorpe, provides information about these principles.
Transect
Transect is a term that refers to development on a rural to urban continuum. This concept is used in New Urbanist planning practices.
Tactical Urbanism
Tactical Urbanism refers to low-cost temporary changes to the urban environment that are intended to demonstrate the potential impacts that change can have. For example, adding a temporary bicycle lane, street furniture, or turning empty storefronts into pop-up shops. Park-ing Day which turns parking spaces into temporary park spaces is one example of tactical urbanism.
Transit-oriented development (TOD)
Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a mixed-use development designed to maximize access to public transportation. This type of development typically has a light rail, bus, or other types of transit station located at the center.
