Week 4 - Urban Context

Question 1

Two Historical Models of Town Planning

+ local examples: Suburbs & Traditional Planning

Answer 1

hi

Question 2

Who developed Garden Cities in the 19thC? What are some positive and negative characteristics of these garden cities aka town country?

Answer 2

-Ebenezer Howard
Positive
-low rents/rates/prices, high wages
-field for enterprise/social opportunity
-pure air and water, no smoke or slums
-plenty to do and easy access
-mixed use land
Negatives
-hierarchy of social status, ex. Blind and orphans on the outskirts with the farmland, out of sight out of mind
-segregation of functions and income levels
-wealthiest people are nearest to the center, farthest away from the factories

Question 3

Who designed Broadacre City in 1958? What are some of its characteristics?

Answer 3

• Frank Lloyd Wright
• high density
• separation of land uses
• very organized and grid like
• high dependency on transportation, cars, underground system

Question 4

Who is Le Corbusier and what is he credited with? What were some of his ideas for urban city planning?

Answer 4

• Charles-Édouard Jeanneret
• was called the “crow” because of his beak like nose
• he developed our modern idea of city centres, ex. High-rises etc.
• very strong socialist, left-wing, believed things should be affordable, fair and equal for all
• “The house is a machine for living in”
• proposed building to extreme densities to keep green space around the tall buildings
• transportation was by car along uninterrupted freeways, often with separate, underground service roads

Question 5

Le Corbusier designed ‘Dom-ino Houses’ in 1915? What are some of thier characteristics?

Answer 5

• simple, bare-bones design
• nothing to cause jealousy between people
• house size based on size of household, rather than income
• pilotis;supports such as columns, pillars, or stilts that lift a building above ground or water
• open-floor plan, free facade

Question 6

‘The 5 Points of Architecture’ is an architecture manifesto by architect Le Corbusier. What are his 5 Points?

Answer 6

1. Pilotis (reinforced concrete stilts); to lift the bulk of the structure off the ground, provide structural support for the house, and allowed a free facade
   - space in between pillars is wide enough to accommodate a car driving through, and can park under the shelter
2. A free façade (non-supporting walls that could be designed as the architect wished)
3. Open floor plan; the floor space was free to be configured into rooms without concern for supporting walls, made possible because of the pilotis
4. Long strips of horizontal ‘ribbon’ window; allow unfettered views of the large surrounding yard, made possible because you didn’t need to break them up with the support walls of previous buildings
5. Roof garden; compensates for the green area consumed by the building and replaces it on the roof

Question 7

Which project did Le Corbusier build that most perfectly show his 5 Points of Architecture?

Answer 7

• Name: Villa Savoye
• Location: Poissey, France
• Built from: 1928 - 1931

Question 8

Who are the 7 victims of sprawl as told in Andres Duany’s Suburban Nation?

Answer 8

1. Kids; a child who lives as a prisoner of a thoroughly safe and unchallenging environment
   - when kids and teens depend on adults to drive them around, they lose opportunities to practice becoming adults
2. Parents; derail their careers so that their children can experience a life beyond the backyard, they go from professional to chauffeur
3. Bored teenagers; parents often buy children and extra vehicle, as much to regain their freedom as to give the kids some independence
   - public realm devoid of decent public gathering places leads to boredom and frustration, trouble
   - car crashes are the number one killer of adolescents
   - teen suicide, less money spent on school infrastructure because of money spent on roads
4. Elderly; as driving skills diminish with age, parents become more dependent on others for mobility, just as their children were once dependent on them
   - many who lose their licenses find the location of their home puts them out of reach of their physical and social needs
   - may have no choice but to retire to a specialized home
5. Commuters; the eight hour day has once again become the ten hour day, because of land use patterns
6. Municipalities; services are expensive, (los of money to cities) crime prevention (cops have to drive, can’t walk like they used to), hard to police suburbs
7. Immobile poor; separated from the middle class, inner city poverty