In September 2022, a new shipping canal was opened connecting the Polish part of the Vistula Lagoon to the Baltic Sea. Largely political, the project links the lagoon and the port in Elbląg to the southern part of the Baltic, independent of the Russian Federation. In addition, its economic dimension enables the handling of small ships, as well as supporting tourism and yachting without the need to pass through the Russian-controlled Piława Strait. The scale of the new canal is relatively small—one and a half kilometre long and 25 metres wide. Nonetheless, it is sufficient for the navigation of small marine vessels of up to five-metre draft. The shipping canal through the Vistula Split is certainly not as important as the Corinth or North Sea Canals, still, it frees maritime and tourist traffic from Russian jurisdiction. The planned key port in the Vistula Lagoon is the port in Elbląg, a historic city that was once a member of the Hanseatic League, which brought together all the major cities of the Baltic Sea basin in the 14th and 15th centuries. The purpose of this article is to present the project’s historical context, its urban, technical, and shipping solutions, as well as the correlations between the new transport development and its anticipated impact on the environment (including the natural environment). The findings are complemented by a PESTEL analysis which shows the leading trends that are relevant to the implementation of the project in the region. The analysis identified areas that have a significant effect on the social, political, and economic settings of the new canal.
{"title":"A New Shipping Canal Through the Vistula Spit as a Political and Transportation Project","authors":"P. Marciniak","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6737","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6737","url":null,"abstract":"In September 2022, a new shipping canal was opened connecting the Polish part of the Vistula Lagoon to the Baltic Sea. Largely political, the project links the lagoon and the port in Elbląg to the southern part of the Baltic, independent of the Russian Federation. In addition, its economic dimension enables the handling of small ships, as well as supporting tourism and yachting without the need to pass through the Russian-controlled Piława Strait. The scale of the new canal is relatively small—one and a half kilometre long and 25 metres wide. Nonetheless, it is sufficient for the navigation of small marine vessels of up to five-metre draft. The shipping canal through the Vistula Split is certainly not as important as the Corinth or North Sea Canals, still, it frees maritime and tourist traffic from Russian jurisdiction. The planned key port in the Vistula Lagoon is the port in Elbląg, a historic city that was once a member of the Hanseatic League, which brought together all the major cities of the Baltic Sea basin in the 14th and 15th centuries. The purpose of this article is to present the project’s historical context, its urban, technical, and shipping solutions, as well as the correlations between the new transport development and its anticipated impact on the environment (including the natural environment). The findings are complemented by a PESTEL analysis which shows the leading trends that are relevant to the implementation of the project in the region. The analysis identified areas that have a significant effect on the social, political, and economic settings of the new canal.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46494274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Green and blue infrastructures have always played a key role in shaping European cities, acting as drivers for urban and rural development and regeneration. There is a reawakening of consciousness by European cities towards their waterways following long periods of estrangement relating to (de)industrialisation and, consequently, the decline in industrial riverfronts. This article reviews the precedents relating to the regeneration of disused waterways in European cities, depicts the common threads that distinguish those locales, traces similarities with the Manchester Ship Canal, and develops a catalyst-based approach for future development. The catalyst-based approach is a well-established methodology in other disciplines but has not been tested in urban design. The article investigates the Deux-Rives in Strasbourg and similarities to, and possible scenarios for, future development of the Manchester Ship Canal. The catalyst-based approach focuses on connectedness, employment, health and well-being, affordable housing, and the challenge of governance in managing cross-border areas around waterways. The article explores the potential of a catalyst-based approach in developing a smart ecological urban corridor, applying possible scenarios alongside the Manchester Ship Canal. Through an investigation of the possible application of the distinctive innovative methodology, combining the catalyst-based approach with a community engagement process, the article examines possible scenarios of urban development with green and blue infrastructure linked by a linear mobility spine for a smart and sustainable urban corridor between Manchester and Liverpool alongside the Manchester Ship Canal.
{"title":"A Catalyst Approach for Smart Ecological Urban Corridors at Disused Waterways","authors":"S. Biscaya, H. Elkadi","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6866","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6866","url":null,"abstract":"Green and blue infrastructures have always played a key role in shaping European cities, acting as drivers for urban and rural development and regeneration. There is a reawakening of consciousness by European cities towards their waterways following long periods of estrangement relating to (de)industrialisation and, consequently, the decline in industrial riverfronts. This article reviews the precedents relating to the regeneration of disused waterways in European cities, depicts the common threads that distinguish those locales, traces similarities with the Manchester Ship Canal, and develops a catalyst-based approach for future development. The catalyst-based approach is a well-established methodology in other disciplines but has not been tested in urban design. The article investigates the Deux-Rives in Strasbourg and similarities to, and possible scenarios for, future development of the Manchester Ship Canal. The catalyst-based approach focuses on connectedness, employment, health and well-being, affordable housing, and the challenge of governance in managing cross-border areas around waterways. The article explores the potential of a catalyst-based approach in developing a smart ecological urban corridor, applying possible scenarios alongside the Manchester Ship Canal. Through an investigation of the possible application of the distinctive innovative methodology, combining the catalyst-based approach with a community engagement process, the article examines possible scenarios of urban development with green and blue infrastructure linked by a linear mobility spine for a smart and sustainable urban corridor between Manchester and Liverpool alongside the Manchester Ship Canal.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47895536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christopher Alexander and Serge Chermayeff co-authored Community and Privacy: Toward a New Architecture of Humanism in 1963. This seminal contribution has largely been forgotten. Today, a human-centred framework is rarely discussed by researchers and practitioners, neither from a theoretical nor a pragmatic perspective. Nonetheless, some fundamental principles defined in that book 60 years ago are pertinent today in our hyper-connected world, and they have been illustrated by the need for human-centred housing during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. This commentary explains the spatial organization of domestic architecture that can support and sustain choices about private and public life in world of global networks, intrusions of social media, and increasing video surveillance that challenge our autonomy and privacy.
Christopher Alexander和Serge Chermayeff于1963年共同撰写了《社区与隐私:走向一种新的人文主义建筑》。这一开创性的贡献在很大程度上已被遗忘。今天,研究人员和实践者很少讨论以人为中心的框架,无论是从理论角度还是从实用角度。尽管如此,60年前那本书中定义的一些基本原则在今天这个高度互联的世界中仍然适用,在最近的Covid-19大流行期间,对以人为本的住房的需求就证明了这些原则。这篇评论解释了国内建筑的空间组织,它可以支持和维持在全球网络世界中关于私人和公共生活的选择,社交媒体的入侵,以及日益增加的挑战我们自主权和隐私的视频监控。
{"title":"Community and Privacy in a Hyper-Connected World","authors":"R. Lawrence","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.7189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.7189","url":null,"abstract":"Christopher Alexander and Serge Chermayeff co-authored Community and Privacy: Toward a New Architecture of Humanism in 1963. This seminal contribution has largely been forgotten. Today, a human-centred framework is rarely discussed by researchers and practitioners, neither from a theoretical nor a pragmatic perspective. Nonetheless, some fundamental principles defined in that book 60 years ago are pertinent today in our hyper-connected world, and they have been illustrated by the need for human-centred housing during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. This commentary explains the spatial organization of domestic architecture that can support and sustain choices about private and public life in world of global networks, intrusions of social media, and increasing video surveillance that challenge our autonomy and privacy.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48373871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne-Lene Sand, Anniken Førde, John Pløger, Mathias Poulsen
Despite the significant emphasis in Scandinavian cities on vital urban spaces and creative unfolding in urban development, there is a tendency towards designing for “finished” urban spaces with a pre-defined conclusion. The result is often standardised design and staged play, ignoring the diversity of lived experiences taking place in the here and now. How can urban spaces be generated to accommodate unforeseen encounters fostering moments of intensity, affect, and disorder? In this article, we explore the potential of improvisation in urban spaces by examining how urban public spaces facilitate improvisation in interactions between places, senses, materials, and participants. Improvisation is understood as a productive force in urban development that gives space to what occurs in urban encounters. The article draws on Richard Sennett’s concept of “disorder” and Jennifer Mason’s concept of “affinity.” By using design experiments and sensory and visual methods inspired by ethnographic methodology the article analyses two improvisational practices occurring in public spaces in Norway and Denmark, which emphasise the performative, affective, and sensory elements of urban life. The analysis brings forth a discussion of how improvisation unfolds in multimodal urban encounters, between order and disorder, and sensory and emotional connections. The authors argue for a more place-sensitive form of city-making and more improvisatorial urban designs that stimulate varied, spontaneous, and changeable use.
{"title":"Improvisation and Planning: Engaging With Unforeseen Encounters in Urban Public Space","authors":"Anne-Lene Sand, Anniken Førde, John Pløger, Mathias Poulsen","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.6318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.6318","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the significant emphasis in Scandinavian cities on vital urban spaces and creative unfolding in urban development, there is a tendency towards designing for “finished” urban spaces with a pre-defined conclusion. The result is often standardised design and staged play, ignoring the diversity of lived experiences taking place in the here and now. How can urban spaces be generated to accommodate unforeseen encounters fostering moments of intensity, affect, and disorder? In this article, we explore the potential of improvisation in urban spaces by examining how urban public spaces facilitate improvisation in interactions between places, senses, materials, and participants. Improvisation is understood as a productive force in urban development that gives space to what occurs in urban encounters. The article draws on Richard Sennett’s concept of “disorder” and Jennifer Mason’s concept of “affinity.” By using design experiments and sensory and visual methods inspired by ethnographic methodology the article analyses two improvisational practices occurring in public spaces in Norway and Denmark, which emphasise the performative, affective, and sensory elements of urban life. The analysis brings forth a discussion of how improvisation unfolds in multimodal urban encounters, between order and disorder, and sensory and emotional connections. The authors argue for a more place-sensitive form of city-making and more improvisatorial urban designs that stimulate varied, spontaneous, and changeable use.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45630513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ports worldwide are shifting from their original locations, and the reasons behind these patterns of port development are multifaceted. Reasons for locational changes may include local factors such as natural conditions, or global trends like containerisation. This article argues that flows play a significant role in making and breaking metabolic relations between spaces. The authors use a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to characterise the evolution of port and territory interactions. A historical sequencing illustrates the successive phases of connection and disconnection between port and non-port spaces over the years. Drawing from the urban metabolism framework, the analysis of a port’s traffic structure demonstrates how flows influence a port’s extraterritoriality. For this research, the case of the Loire estuary was chosen: the Grand Maritime Port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire is a polycentric port that originated in Nantes and extended coastward in Saint-Nazaire. The case study reveals that a port reaching an urban area does not necessarily mean it will engage or support metropolitan development. Moreover, it concludes that flows are active drivers of territorial development in port regions. The research more broadly discusses the extraterritoriality of large logistics and transport infrastructure, like that of ports.
{"title":"Flows as Makers and Breakers of Port-Territory Metabolic Relations: The Case of the Loire Estuary","authors":"Annabelle Duval, Jean‐Baptiste Bahers","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6757","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6757","url":null,"abstract":"Ports worldwide are shifting from their original locations, and the reasons behind these patterns of port development are multifaceted. Reasons for locational changes may include local factors such as natural conditions, or global trends like containerisation. This article argues that flows play a significant role in making and breaking metabolic relations between spaces. The authors use a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to characterise the evolution of port and territory interactions. A historical sequencing illustrates the successive phases of connection and disconnection between port and non-port spaces over the years. Drawing from the urban metabolism framework, the analysis of a port’s traffic structure demonstrates how flows influence a port’s extraterritoriality. For this research, the case of the Loire estuary was chosen: the Grand Maritime Port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire is a polycentric port that originated in Nantes and extended coastward in Saint-Nazaire. The case study reveals that a port reaching an urban area does not necessarily mean it will engage or support metropolitan development. Moreover, it concludes that flows are active drivers of territorial development in port regions. The research more broadly discusses the extraterritoriality of large logistics and transport infrastructure, like that of ports.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44219997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Today’s urban design of new quarters in the fringes of German metropolises shows a renaissance of the garage building as a cluster for car parking. In contrast to the past, parking garages are planned as multifunctional “mobility hubs.” Planners enrich them with new mobility and sharing options and incorporate sports or social infrastructure facilities on the roof and the ground floor, thus contributing to vibrant neighborhoods. In contrast to the internationally renowned example of Nordhavn (Copenhagen), we observe a decentralization in the mainstreaming of the approach: Mobility hubs are to become constitutive parts of small subcenters. In this respect, they can be seen as a common leitmotiv for urban design in Germany’s metropolises. The hubs form a new model of local mobility, guaranteeing a certain flow of pedestrians and freeing the adjacent streets of car traffic. Integrated into a system of alternative modes of transportation and nearby mass transit, those infrastructural and mobility clusters might contribute to a change in mobility habits and ultimately reduce car dependence. If their underlying mobility policies can be implemented and if they are ultimately more successful than traditional parking garages or even create an incentive not to use private cars at all remains open to further investigation. For this purpose, the article will trace the emergence of mobility hubs in the discourse and practice of urban design with a particular focus on major new developments at the periphery of German cities. It analyzes urban design competitions and the formal planning and implementation following them.
{"title":"Mobility Hubs: A Way Out of Car Dependency Through a New Multifunctional Housing Development?","authors":"A. Krüger, Uwe Altrock","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6336","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6336","url":null,"abstract":"Today’s urban design of new quarters in the fringes of German metropolises shows a renaissance of the garage building as a cluster for car parking. In contrast to the past, parking garages are planned as multifunctional “mobility hubs.” Planners enrich them with new mobility and sharing options and incorporate sports or social infrastructure facilities on the roof and the ground floor, thus contributing to vibrant neighborhoods. In contrast to the internationally renowned example of Nordhavn (Copenhagen), we observe a decentralization in the mainstreaming of the approach: Mobility hubs are to become constitutive parts of small subcenters. In this respect, they can be seen as a common leitmotiv for urban design in Germany’s metropolises. The hubs form a new model of local mobility, guaranteeing a certain flow of pedestrians and freeing the adjacent streets of car traffic. Integrated into a system of alternative modes of transportation and nearby mass transit, those infrastructural and mobility clusters might contribute to a change in mobility habits and ultimately reduce car dependence. If their underlying mobility policies can be implemented and if they are ultimately more successful than traditional parking garages or even create an incentive not to use private cars at all remains open to further investigation. For this purpose, the article will trace the emergence of mobility hubs in the discourse and practice of urban design with a particular focus on major new developments at the periphery of German cities. It analyzes urban design competitions and the formal planning and implementation following them.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43196709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article seeks to address long-standing questions in academia, practice, and policymaking regarding the role public spaces might have in promoting cross-cultural encounters and experiences of social cohesion in socially and culturally diverse urban contexts, and what theories and methods researchers and practitioners might use to objectively evaluate this. To answer these questions, this article carries out a systematic literature review of theories and methods for studying person-environment relationships from a range of social science and built-environment disciplines. The review provides a basis for interdisciplinary knowledge exchange to develop an innovative theoretical and methodological framework that draws together key analyses of social cohesion with recent urban design literature, to hypothesize how key social dimensions that characterise intercultural encounter and their social experience of cohesion link to physical, management, and use attributes of public space design. The proposed framework provides a multi-dimensional account of how public spaces with different design approaches are connected to different experiences of social encounters, which in turn impact varied experiences of social cohesion, paving the way for new knowledge about the geographies of encounters.
{"title":"Geographies of Encounter, Public Space, and Social Cohesion: Reviewing Knowledge at the Intersection of Social Sciences and Built Environment Disciplines","authors":"P. Aelbrecht, Q. Stevens","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.6540","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.6540","url":null,"abstract":"This article seeks to address long-standing questions in academia, practice, and policymaking regarding the role public spaces might have in promoting cross-cultural encounters and experiences of social cohesion in socially and culturally diverse urban contexts, and what theories and methods researchers and practitioners might use to objectively evaluate this. To answer these questions, this article carries out a systematic literature review of theories and methods for studying person-environment relationships from a range of social science and built-environment disciplines. The review provides a basis for interdisciplinary knowledge exchange to develop an innovative theoretical and methodological framework that draws together key analyses of social cohesion with recent urban design literature, to hypothesize how key social dimensions that characterise intercultural encounter and their social experience of cohesion link to physical, management, and use attributes of public space design. The proposed framework provides a multi-dimensional account of how public spaces with different design approaches are connected to different experiences of social encounters, which in turn impact varied experiences of social cohesion, paving the way for new knowledge about the geographies of encounters.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47250365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article demonstrates that geometric analysis by itself is not enough to evaluate Alexander’s wholeness in public spaces and that his theories of wholeness can—and should—be extended into the realm of events. The first section provides a summary of the theory of centers and the relevance of events with regard to the theory of wholeness. In the second section, a new way to classify centers is presented, along with insights from Alexander’s works into an approach for incorporating event centers into the theory of wholeness. The final part puts these ideas to the test on a public square in Stuttgart, Germany, using a geometric analysis and an analysis of user activity to determine the performance of the square as a center. The research concludes that utilizing Alexander’s theories from an event-first rather than a geometry-first perspective is an approach especially well-suited for public spaces.
{"title":"Centers in the Event Domain: A Retake on the Wholeness of Urban Spaces","authors":"Ridvan Kahraman","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6758","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6758","url":null,"abstract":"This article demonstrates that geometric analysis by itself is not enough to evaluate Alexander’s wholeness in public spaces and that his theories of wholeness can—and should—be extended into the realm of events. The first section provides a summary of the theory of centers and the relevance of events with regard to the theory of wholeness. In the second section, a new way to classify centers is presented, along with insights from Alexander’s works into an approach for incorporating event centers into the theory of wholeness. The final part puts these ideas to the test on a public square in Stuttgart, Germany, using a geometric analysis and an analysis of user activity to determine the performance of the square as a center. The research concludes that utilizing Alexander’s theories from an event-first rather than a geometry-first perspective is an approach especially well-suited for public spaces.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42772617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Harmony-seeking computations, as proposed by Christopher Alexander, offer a way to tackle complexity. Smart, free agents, facing uncertainty, look for order in a context powered by fifteen attractors, or patterns. Harmony-seeking would then be a relatively guided path across those idealized patterns, towards wholeness and beauty. However, individuals acting to change the city must combine circumstances imposed by external and inner urban forces with personal interpretations of one or more of those patterns that could change all the time. Moreover, each action is intertwined with others, in an unpredictable outcome. This article explores the possibility of bringing together urban inner and outer forces and ingenious individuals’ actions of city change by hypothesizing: (a) wholeness as a structural attribute defined as spatial centrality; (b) beauty as meaning attached to places, evolving either from historic accumulation or individual assignment; (c) order as every meaningful approximation between them; (d) a disaggregated description of the urban organism, based on multi-layered graphs, in which would be possible to record both morphological and territorial characteristics (form, transport, infrastructure) and semantic attributes (land uses, public image, remote associations, symbolic relationships); and (e) a set of spatial differentiation measures, mostly based on centrality, potentially able to depict wholeness (by measuring the effect of each component on all others) and beauty (by measuring urban robustness derived from any selected set of components). A multilayer graph-based approach to spatial differentiation algorithms provides a framework for the description, analysis, and performance evaluation of every component, as well as the whole system, both through quantitative and qualitative representation.
Christopher Alexander提出的求和谐计算提供了一种解决复杂性的方法。面对不确定性,聪明、自由的行动者会在由15个吸引物或模式驱动的环境中寻找秩序。寻求和谐将是一条相对有指引的道路,跨越那些理想化的模式,走向完整和美。然而,采取行动改变城市的个人必须将外部和内部城市力量所施加的环境与个人对一种或多种可能随时变化的模式的解释结合起来。此外,每个动作都与其他动作交织在一起,产生不可预测的结果。本文通过假设:(a)整体性作为一种结构属性,定义为空间中心性;(b)从历史积累或个人分配演变而来的地方的美;(c)次序作为它们之间每一个有意义的近似;(d)基于多层图的城市有机体的分类描述,其中可能记录形态和领土特征(形式、交通、基础设施)和语义属性(土地使用、公共形象、远程联系、符号关系);(e)一组空间差异度量,主要基于中心性,可能能够描述整体性(通过测量每个组成部分对所有其他组成部分的影响)和美感(通过测量从任何选定的组成部分中得出的城市稳健性)。基于多层图的空间分异算法提供了一个框架,通过定量和定性的表示来描述、分析和评估每个组件以及整个系统的性能。
{"title":"A Quanti-Qualitative Approach to Alexander’s Harmony-Seeking Computations","authors":"Alice Rauber, R. Krafta","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6826","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6826","url":null,"abstract":"Harmony-seeking computations, as proposed by Christopher Alexander, offer a way to tackle complexity. Smart, free agents, facing uncertainty, look for order in a context powered by fifteen attractors, or patterns. Harmony-seeking would then be a relatively guided path across those idealized patterns, towards wholeness and beauty. However, individuals acting to change the city must combine circumstances imposed by external and inner urban forces with personal interpretations of one or more of those patterns that could change all the time. Moreover, each action is intertwined with others, in an unpredictable outcome. This article explores the possibility of bringing together urban inner and outer forces and ingenious individuals’ actions of city change by hypothesizing: (a) wholeness as a structural attribute defined as spatial centrality; (b) beauty as meaning attached to places, evolving either from historic accumulation or individual assignment; (c) order as every meaningful approximation between them; (d) a disaggregated description of the urban organism, based on multi-layered graphs, in which would be possible to record both morphological and territorial characteristics (form, transport, infrastructure) and semantic attributes (land uses, public image, remote associations, symbolic relationships); and (e) a set of spatial differentiation measures, mostly based on centrality, potentially able to depict wholeness (by measuring the effect of each component on all others) and beauty (by measuring urban robustness derived from any selected set of components). A multilayer graph-based approach to spatial differentiation algorithms provides a framework for the description, analysis, and performance evaluation of every component, as well as the whole system, both through quantitative and qualitative representation.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46288738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores the use of the pattern language approach in bridging the gap between formal and informal urban planning practices in the African context. This study focuses on a case application within the urbanised region encompassing the Nakivubo wetland located in Kampala, Uganda. As in other cities in Africa with a colonial past, Kampala’s planning system signals a profound gap between a technocratic, European paradigms-based type of planning and the everyday practices of citizens. This results in a “dual city,” with formal and informal communities using resources and spaces differently, leading to spatial segregation and non-implementation of urban plans. To overcome this challenge, the pattern language approach is utilised in this research to link formal and informal practices through facilitating meaningful community participation and integrating tacit knowledge into the planning process. To achieve this, the researchers conducted fieldwork and interacted with the local community in informal settlements to develop informal patterns, while analysing the history and current organisation of formal planning institutions in Kampala to formulate formal patterns. The patterns were used as input for a community workshop, which resulted in a pattern language of wetland management practices and a framework that begins to bridge both formal and informal domains of urban practice. By using the pattern language approach as a tool to understand informal practices and their possible incorporation into a planning process that captures the needs of citizens, this research offers relevant insights into achieving sustainable and inclusive urban environments.
{"title":"The Pattern Language Approach as a Bridge Connecting Formal and Informal Urban Planning Practices in Africa","authors":"Priscilla Namwanje, Víctor Muñoz Sanz, R. Rocco","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6799","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6799","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the use of the pattern language approach in bridging the gap between formal and informal urban planning practices in the African context. This study focuses on a case application within the urbanised region encompassing the Nakivubo wetland located in Kampala, Uganda. As in other cities in Africa with a colonial past, Kampala’s planning system signals a profound gap between a technocratic, European paradigms-based type of planning and the everyday practices of citizens. This results in a “dual city,” with formal and informal communities using resources and spaces differently, leading to spatial segregation and non-implementation of urban plans. To overcome this challenge, the pattern language approach is utilised in this research to link formal and informal practices through facilitating meaningful community participation and integrating tacit knowledge into the planning process. To achieve this, the researchers conducted fieldwork and interacted with the local community in informal settlements to develop informal patterns, while analysing the history and current organisation of formal planning institutions in Kampala to formulate formal patterns. The patterns were used as input for a community workshop, which resulted in a pattern language of wetland management practices and a framework that begins to bridge both formal and informal domains of urban practice. By using the pattern language approach as a tool to understand informal practices and their possible incorporation into a planning process that captures the needs of citizens, this research offers relevant insights into achieving sustainable and inclusive urban environments.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49640285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}