History of Urban Design and Urban Design Movements ( Lecture 1 )

History of Urban Design and Urban Design Movements ( Lecture 1 )

Garden City Movement

The garden city movement was first initiated by Sir Ebenezer Howard during 1898. Sir Ebenezer believed in having a balance in both architecture and nature. He wanted to create a place where people could experience nature within their living spaces and to create something new. He also planned that after a city has been fully developed, it would spread to nearby small towns and develop the same way, creating a chain of Garden cities that were all interlinked together. He had the idea whereby people were living all together, connected within a "green wall".  "human society and the beauty of nature are meant to be enjoyed together." is what he believes in.

Corbusier , The Radiant City

The Radiant City also known as Ville Radieuse was one of a unrealized project by Le Corbusier in 1924. The idea was a linear city based upon an abstract shape of a human body with the head, spine, arms and legs. The design principle was aimed at being a linear city, this was to ensure accessibility and effective means of transport, as well as an wide and huge open space for sunlight. Buildings were all planned to be high-rise which was to save space and it was split into different zones. Commercial, residential, etc.

Looks quite like what we have in Singapore.

Archigram, The Walking City

Archigram was an avant-grande architectural group in the 1960s. It was a group that focus on futuristic, anti-heroic and pro-consumerist. The walking city project was initiated by Ron Herron in 1964 who was also in the Archigram group. The walking city was inspired by robots, the walking city was constituted by intelligent buildings, or robots in the form of giant, self-contained living pods that were able to move freely around. From the video, it shows the rough processes of how the walking city will work, a city within a giant robot structure with movable legs which can then transport the whole city on its "back". 

The Metabolist City/ Plug in City

Also known as the Metabolism Movement. The Metabolism movement was created and founded by the Japanese. The idea of this movement is mainly buildings and infrastructures that are made out of blocks which was easily adaptable to different environments and believed to be easily upgradable, just by plonging in "blocks".

Plug in City from Cooperjay Kim on Vimeo.

As seen from the video above, the whole idea of metabolism was just to fit in blocks, which then in whole create a whole new structure, and massive structure altogether. The structures which follow the idea of metabolism looks very squarish, very cold and stern.

One of the ideas of a marine city in Japan. 

As we can see, it looks very robotic, very futuristic. Blocks are fitted together just like a robot to form a structure. 

The Compact City/ Walkable City/ Human-Centred City

Compact city as what the title has stated is whereby all the buildings are centred around each other to increase efficiency. The main aim was to create an easy and efficient way of people traveling. Since the buildings are all so close to each other. Transport can be minimized as everything is so close together, just by walking you are able to reach your destination. When transport is being minimized, carbon will be reduced and the idea was to reduce carbon emission which is eco-friendly. Main aim of the Compact City was to be sustainable and green. Also boosts interaction between people and creating a safe environment for everyone.

From the picture above, we can see that the idea of a Comapct city is like a cell, spreading it roots around the interior of the circle. Which is then further zoned into the different zones such as Commercial, Residential, Entertainment, etc. The whole idea looks like a City where everything was able to be reached just by walking and is like a One-Stop City. Everything is interlinked and able to reach just by foot.

This video is about design students coming together to create a model base on the Compact City. From the model itself we can see basketball courts on the roofs of the building, bridges linking from one building to another which fits the theme of being Compact, A One-Stop City where it has everything and connects with everything.

Participatory Urbanism/ Urban Planning

Again as the title states, Participatory Urbanism is whereby locals come together and gather to have a meeting or a conference and individually give ideas on how to improve and upgrade on the existing city that they live in. This method has both pros and cons because when locals have their say to decide on the design, locals themselves knows the city and they also know the problems with the design of their city. They experience it themselves so further upgrading or rectifying the problem will be much easier. However, experts have shown studies that locals as they do not have sufficient knowledge about urban planning on such a large scale, sometimes, designs that they come out isn't practical or doesn't succeed in serving their purposes. 

Here is the link where it shows people participating in Urban Planning : http://participatoryurbanism.blogspot.sg/

Overall, Urban planning is where everything comes together. Design principle , Form , Function. Not just planning of a space but planning in a large scale such as small areas for activities are also considered and thought of and how they link together as a whole to bring to you a City.