REMINDERS

Those who have not taken their Midterm Exams, please

take it this week – August 22-25, 2016

Those who have no permits, please submit your permit

within the week also.

Your grades will be submitted on August 30, 2016.

THEORY OF URBAN
DESIGN
I. CONCEPT OF SPACE

Two meanings of space:

1. Time or duration
2. Area or extension (more common definition)

In physics, space has three dimensions (x-y-z axes) and is considered as a volume
not an area.

Sir Isaac Newton (17th C) elaborated that space is absolute….proper to

itself…..and independent of the objects it contains (objects fit into space an d
not vice-versa)
NEW APPROACHES
Two main categories of space exist:
1. Mental Space (experiential)
2. Physical Space (existential)

The notion of space is said to originate in an observers mind and

is later imposed as a structure on the physical world….mental
space is an image of physical space

The concept of space differs from culture to culture…Different

cultures have characteristic spatial designs as expressed in their
cities, buildings, and art…but space itself is universal!
(transcends culture)
II. THE CONCEPT OF AESTHETICS

• Aesthetics in urban design refers to the creative

arrangement of the elements of a town in a beautiful
and functional manner.

• Order and beauty in a town are a necessity, not an after

thought…..they are as much a prerequisite to human
health as is fresh air.
 SITE-CITY-OBSERVER RELATIONSHIPS
(viewing city from surrounding and vice-versa)
• EXTRACTED FORM: harmony between buildings and
nature….e.g consider basic slopes, angle of hills,
vegetation/tree canopies, and rock outcrops. Reflects
dominant and pervasive features of nature

• VISTAS AND SITE SUPREMACY: view of landscape

from the city…beautifully framed countryside (panorama)
Site-City-Observer Relationships
(viewing city from surrounding and vice-versa)

• EXPRESSION: space markers /symbology/

ornamentation/detail e.g towers and minarets;
landmarks; accent of urban landscape and skyline

• ENTRANCE/APPROACH: profound impact of

cities on the visitor who traverses long, crowded
streets/water.
Site-City-Observer Relationships
(viewing city from surrounding and vice-versa)

• COLOUR AND LIGHT: choice of colour to

reflect aesthetic sensibility; quality of natural light
an important visual factor.

• WATER: proximity to water and possible

interplay a natural asset; water edges, harbours,
shorelines, islands, canals e.t.c
Site-City-Observer Relationships
(viewing city from surrounding and vice-versa)

• GEOMETRY: form and relationships of angles,

lines, curves e.t.c

• HUMAN SCALE: how each inhabitant would use

space and how they would feel in it.
ASPECTS OF URBAN FORM

• Imageability: Physical Image v/s Functional Image

• Form-Function Relationship
• Main Variations of urban form and structure: Linear,
radial, grid, cluster e.t.c
• Objectives of urban form (includes growth; Meaning
and identity e.t.c)
• Growth and decline
EXISTING THEORIES AND PRACTICE
• Theories that have motivated and still inform the construction
of cities are both normative and functional.

• Normative theories attempt to specify "goodness“….what is

good city form?... and discuss in detail the aspects that create
good cities…..Prescriptive…..What cities ought to be!

• Functional theories attempt to explain how cities perform by

concentrating on city form processes, spatial and social
structure, and form models……Descriptive……What cities
are!
 NORMATIVE THEORIES
1. The Cosmic Model
• Assertions that the form of a permanent settlement should be a magical
model of the universe and its gods. 

• Such a crystalline city has all of its parts fused into a perfectly ordered
whole and change is allowed to happen only in a rhythmically
controlled manner

• specific phenomena included: such as returning, natural items, celestial

measurement, fixing location, centeredness, boundary definition, earth
images, land geometry, directionality, place consciousness, and
numerology
 2. The Machine Model
• The analogy between city and machine has a long history

• it occurs often when there is no long-term goal in mind but the settlement
has to be created hurriedly and its future growth will be determined by
still unforeseen forces

• Its form requires a few simple rules of urbanization and the outcome is
factual, functional and devoid of the mystery of the universe. 

• Among its attributes are convenience, speed, flexibility, legibility, equality,

and speculation.
3. The Organic Model

• The analogy between city and living organism is

fairly recent arising with the growth of biology in
the 18th and 19th centuries (ref. metabolists)

• Model is critical of others, especially the machine

model with its "simple grids" as “static”
3. The Organic Model (cont)

• It asserts that an organism:

- is an autonomous being, with a definite boundary and is of a

specific size.
-does not change merely by adding parts but through reorganization as
it reaches limits or thresholds. 
- contains differentiated parts but form and function are always
linked. 
- is homeostatic, self-repairing and regulating toward a dynamic
balance. 
- undergoes cycles of life and death as is rhythmic passage from one
state to another.
 Organic model (cont’d)

Greeenbelts not only ensure an intimate contact

-
with nature but enclose healthy growth.
 
-A model with typical physical forms, among
which radial patterns, anti-geometrical layouts,
and a proclivity for natural materials.
Organic model (cont’d)

-- Often the organic idea is extended regionally to

connect settlements to valleys, trails and other extended
natural systems. 

-There is an attraction to small-scale modes of

production or services as opposed to large-scale
synthetic processes.
Often the model aligns itself with a socio-economic
philosophy that sees increases in urban value as the
result of communal rather than individual endeavor.
 4. The Contextual Model
• This relates new development to an analysis of existing urban
structure.

• In architectural theory, contextualism is a theory of design

wherein modern building types are harmonized with urban
forms usual to a traditional city.

• A prominent concept of this canon is that of “serial vision” ….

the sequential and unfolding nature of urban experience
(foreground/middle ground/background),……with its corners,
divisions/modules, protrusions, and recesses/setbacks e.t.c
creating aspects of interest and surprise.
 4. The Contextual Model (cont)

• Context is something that has no clear or common spatial

definition; thus the impact of contextualism will vary
with geographical location and cultural influence.

• The mainstream urban design has been strongly

influenced by contextualism in terms of a new respect for
the overall form of the traditional urban street and block
and a concern for public realm
 5. The pragmatic Model
• This is whereby urban design is defined according to the
needs of the epoch….. where the tools and concepts are
used selectively and exclusively in regard to the locality.
 5. The pragmatic Model (cont)

• The danger with this model lies in:

- Likely loss of understanding of the larger
processes affecting urban form
- Possible inability of making informed
decisions at urban scales
- Failure to embrace environmental
disciplines that are currently excluded and isolated
from mainstream urban design.
6. The Constructivist model
• This explores techniques of form to create urban
interventions that express the spatial and temporal
complexity of a given age.

• “Deconstructionists” are constructivists who use

unconventional techniques of form to express the
essential fragmentation in city environments.
 7. Functionalist Model
• This was dedicated to exploring new interwoven urban
structures that would allow opportunities for social
encounter/contact and exchange whose end result is a
humanising influence.

• The interpretation of this philosophy, however, varied

widely in practice: low-, medium-, and high- density;
vehicular and pedestrian segregation e.t.c
 8. Rationalist Model
• This offered a morphological/structural approach to urban design that
related new urban development to the historical structure of the city and
typologies of urban space.

• As “critical reconstruction”, this method was used to maintain and restore

the traditional 19th century street pattern and form of the urban block,
street and square, without constraining the contemporary architectural
expression of new building additions.

• This was not a plea for unthinking preservation or for regarding the city as
a museum; rather, the aim was to explore the deep structure inherent in
building types and how built forms accommodate changing, living uses
over time.
FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTIVE THEORIES
These are founded on the following characteristics:

• Urban history: the city is regarded as a unique historic process...

explaining cities as derivative of their own culture

• Urban Ecology: city is regarded as an ecology of people, each social

group occupying space according to economic position and class.
FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTIVETHEORIES
These are founded on the following characteristics:

• City economy: regards the city as an economic

engine in which space, unlike in the previous
category, is both a resource and an additional cost
imposed on the economy for production or
consumption….location of cities an optimization
of raw materials, labour and market locations
 Functional Descriptive Theories (cont’d)

• Urban Communication: regards the city as a field of forces, a

communications network of particles which attract and repel
each other much as they do in physics.
• Sub-sets of these ideas include population potential maps,
gravity models, communications flows, and various
topological models.

• Urban Politics/Governance: understanding the city as a system

of linked decisions...affluence, imminent domain, citizen
participation in a democratic city; the game theory, in which
people interact together according to fixed rules and produce
agreed-upon outcomes
Design Principles and Techniques
• Together these help in the correlation and synthesis of spaces,
functions, circulation, sites, and orientation…

• Their choice and application (singly or combined) will

depend on the problem context (modus operandi)

• Overall they facilitate the conceptualizing

process…..entailing decisions and choices
 1. DESIGN PRINCIPLES
i) Scale: refers to any system of measurement appropriate to
the context. Proportion as an aspect of measurement
introduces the aspect of relativity…between two objects…
the measured and a universally known object…e.g
headroom describes space relative to human height.

A module is one part of a system of relative proportions,

where one part can combine with other parts to form a larger
object
 Applications of Scale in urban design
• Scale and Human vision: our eyes have two fields of view –
general and detailed. General cone of vision 30 deg up; 45 deg
down; 65 deg to either side.
• The above determines urban scale in several ways: we cannot
see an object that is further from us than 3500 times its size…8
feet is normal conversation distance; a person between 3 and 10
ft is in close relationship to us…use of normal voices; we can
pick facial details up to about 75ft. Beyond this, there is need to
complement with gestures…up to about 450ft…also maximum
for distinguishing man from woman…maximum viewing
distance for human figures is around 4000ft.
Scale and circulation: scale is determined by the means we
employ for movement around the city as well as the way we
move between cities across the country.

Scale is determined by the different modes of movement based

on their speeds and sizes, but also characteristics in movement…
express versus stop-over/interactive…

Scale and neighbourhood size: The citizen numbers and levels of

services will determine the scale of a neighborhood…the scale
of a network of neighborhoods would determine the scale of the
entire town.
SCALE IN NEIGHBORING BUILDINGS AND
SPACES:
Buildings and spaces have to be in scale with people, as
well as in scale with each other….this will also apply to
other variables like materials, colour, bulk, and siting.
Intentional variations in scale could be used to achieve
emphasis and hierarchy in design of buildings and spaces
• Scale and parameters: This is where we use attributes of
familiar and known objects and details such as cars,
trees, humans, light poles e.t.c to judge the sizes of other
things near them
SCALE VERSUS AGE, TIME, CONVENIENCE AND HABIT:
Our sense of urban scale varies with our ages and habits….the world of a
child begins with the home…as one grows the world enlarges and
separate parts are linked together…the scale of their world enlarges

Our sense of urban scale is also determined by what we are accustomed

to…people adapt to environments with time…say getting used to the
skyscrapers around us.

Urban scale may also vary with the temporal cycles of the city…the rush
hour with its fast traffic has a different view of scale to the sluggish period
of the day, when people have all the time to observe and pick details about
the city.
 ii) Urban Space: may be isolated or linked; may be purposely
designed to display linkage or to emphasize buildings and objects
they contain.

Space may be linear/corridors; squares; or reserves…based on

their sizes they define the hierarchy of spatial types…..from small
intimate sizes to urban squares and the natural space within which
the city is set.

Spaces may also be enclosed or open….45 deg is full enclosure;

30 deg is optimal; 18 deg is minimum…anything less is lack of it!
iii) Urban Mass; This refers to the arrangement
of ground surface, buildings, and objects to
influence the quality of urban space and to
shape urban activity patterns on both large and
small scales.

In terms of massing, buildings may be

projecting into space, be on a space, or in a
space.
Our vision and light conditions govern the way we perceive
masses…

Vision: 45deg is for details; 30deg is for whole objects; 18deg is

for object plus context

Light: under bright, clear sunlight the individual parts of objects

will tend to stand out…..as light subdues we tend to see less of
details and more of the overall object. Sculptured objects are
best viewed under even light such as shadow light…thus
northern and southern facades may transmit details
differently…..depending our position in relation to solar
patterns.
iv) Responsiveness; these could be sensual or environmental

 Sensual: attempt to cater for all the senses: Visual, Tactile,

Auditory, Olfactory, Kinaesthetic

 Environmental; that which provides users with essentially

democratic settings and enrich their opportunities by
maximising the degree of choice available to them; the
available techniques include:
i) Permeability
This refers to the number of alternative routes
through an environment; it affects where people can
go and where they cannot. This offers choice through
accessibility and must be considered at early stages
of design.
ii) Variety
This refers to the range of uses availed to people in a given
environment; it is the experience of a degree of choice provided
by intermix of uses

iii) Legibility
This refers to the ease with which people can understand the
layout of a given environment and the kind of opportunities it
offers.

iv) Robustness
This refers to the degree to which an environment can be used
for different purposes as opposed to those with a single fixed use.
v) Visual appropriateness
This refers to the detailed appearance of a place that
makes people aware of the possible uses; it affects the
interpretations people put on places.

vi) Richness
This refers to the degree of choice in sensory
experiences that a place offers to its users.
vii) Personalisation
This refers to the extent to which people can put their
own stamp on a place; decisions about forms and
materials of the scheme must be carefully made to
support personalization but also protect public role.
 Other techniques

• Open space technique: where to build versus where to

keep open; a variety of uses…parks, watersheds, public
transit lines, airports, e.t.c

An open space structure would be the framework for

relating land development to transportation and also
allow for other decisions related to community life:
schools, churches, playfields e.t.c.
• Transportation system technique; patterns of movement as
primary land shapers; morphology of networks against that of
the land parcels they define….density of development versus
intensity of circulation. Varios levels of network, their
hierarchic connectivity, as well as terminal facilities.

• Plug-in Technique; where a modular system such as that of a

grid is created and within these defined uses and objects can be
“inserted” and removed with ease (flexibility)…initially used
as a technique for design of functions in individual buildings
but later replicated in city-wide design
 THEORY VERSUS PRACTICE
(why urban design matters)

• We design spaces to attract people (public realm)

• Urban design creates a framework for our lives.
• Understanding how humans perceive the physical scale and form
of cities is essential to mastering design.
• We feel and experience urban design every day
• Every road width and building height delivers a message to their
users on how to use the public realm
• Design brings order and relation into human
surroundings

• Different designs affect residents in different

ways, and make the city’s image more vivid and
memorable
• Embedded in urban design theories is the fundamental
goal of balancing private development and public good
in a way that incorporates the social, economic, and
cultural needs of a diverse urban population

• Urban design must solve practical problems of

functionality first and foremost, as it creates tools for
people and their quality of life.
REMINDERS

Those who have not taken their Midterm Exams, please

take it this week – August 22-25, 2016

Those who have no permits, please submit your permit

within the week also.

Your grades will be submitted on August 30, 2016.

Cheers!!!