URBAN PLANNING+DESIGN:
Urban life and urban culture have long been at the heart of
civilization and economic development. Cities all over the world
are facing great challenges attempting to meet the dynamic and
contradictory trends of today. With economic globalization,
growing population demands for the Earth’s resources driving
costs ever higher, and the need to protect life-supporting
environmental systems on the one hand, and, individualization of
everyday life and politics on the other, we see new urban
landscapes evolving.
A city is a landscape. It has richness, diversity and complexity
similar to natures ecology, with different components. The World
doesn't need man. Man needs the World. Man needs the World’s
natural systems to support the human enterprise. The economics
of ecology are of incalculable benefit to life.
The concept of creating sustainable urban places should model
natural systems to attract people to live, work and play there.
People maintain things they respect and love and think are
beautiful. We need to make our cities beautiful, safe, healthy and
stimulating. To be sustainable our cities must have adequate
opens spaces, clean air - a wholesome environment - including
forests with large shade trees, flowering ornamentals, meadows,
streams and ponds - 'GREENways' and 'BLUEways'. Nature
provides ecosystem services to urban dwellers.
Nature inspires people; the beauty of the earth, diversity of
landform, plants, rivers, birds, fish and animals inspires. Nature
affects people on several levels; recreating there can re-create
spiritually, mentally and physically. But we need a daily does of
similar influences where we live daily. We need great cities with
their diversity, inclusiveness and richness of human interaction
provided for by good design. Design that is a catalyst for chance
meetings with neighbors at the market, in the park, along
greenways, on the sidewalks to and from nearby destinations,
outdoor dining cafés, and people watching places and spaces
where after-work walks through woodland parks along streams
happen, and Frisbees are tossed, and softball is enjoyed, and
kids fly kits in meadows, and jogging, bicycling and evening
strolls are commonplace.
Most new urbanism communities tend to be improved suburbs –
still expanding the need for vast infrastructure producing less-
sustainable living. Europe’s model of ‘if you have to drive you’re
using too much energy’ is more sustainable. We need to teach
cities how to re-tool to provide attractive sustainable places to live.
Understand first – then seek to plan and design. This simple
philosophy drives our practice and generates more successful
solutions. In depth analysis, achievable economic goals,
environmental responsibility and cultural sensitivity combine to
create workable, memorable places to live, work and play.
Urban design requires the synergistic collaboration of various
disciplines. Our work includes programming, planning, designing
and implementing re-vitalized urban spaces, streetscapes, plazas
and waterfronts.
Regenerating and rebuilding older downtowns and neighborhood
centers presents additional challenges. Socioeconomic shifts and
normal cycles of urban change mandate creative adaptive re-use
of older structures. Cultural assets and social traditions,
economic opportunities and challenges, and the unique
character of each site, and stakeholders comprise the complex
set of variables we work with to design a better future.
In times of rapid change there is an obvious risk of a city losing
its soul. Local history, identity and culture clashing with new
populations, influences and life-styles are raising questions about
the competitive, attractive and exciting city. At the same time
there is tremendous pressure on cities to be ecologically sound
and socially balanced. For most, the heart of a city – the sense
of memorable place – is created by not by building icons, but by
the people space in between.
Urban life and urban culture have long been at the heart of
civilization and economic development. Cities all over the world
are facing great challenges attempting to meet the dynamic and
contradictory trends of today. With economic globalization,
growing population demands for the Earth’s resources driving
costs ever higher, and the need to protect life-supporting
environmental systems on the one hand, and, individualization of
everyday life and politics on the other, we see new urban
landscapes evolving.
A city is a landscape. It has richness, diversity and complexity
similar to natures ecology, with different components. The World
doesn't need man. Man needs the World. Man needs the World’s
natural systems to support the human enterprise. The economics
of ecology are of incalculable benefit to life.
The concept of creating sustainable urban places should model
natural systems to attract people to live, work and play there.
People maintain things they respect and love and think are
beautiful. We need to make our cities beautiful, safe, healthy and
stimulating. To be sustainable our cities must have adequate
opens spaces, clean air - a wholesome environment - including
forests with large shade trees, flowering ornamentals, meadows,
streams and ponds - 'GREENways' and 'BLUEways'. Nature
provides ecosystem services to urban dwellers.
Nature inspires people; the beauty of the earth, diversity of
landform, plants, rivers, birds, fish and animals inspires. Nature
affects people on several levels; recreating there can re-create
spiritually, mentally and physically. But we need a daily does of
similar influences where we live daily. We need great cities with
their diversity, inclusiveness and richness of human interaction
provided for by good design. Design that is a catalyst for chance
meetings with neighbors at the market, in the park, along
greenways, on the sidewalks to and from nearby destinations,
outdoor dining cafés, and people watching places and spaces
where after-work walks through woodland parks along streams
happen, and Frisbees are tossed, and softball is enjoyed, and
kids fly kits in meadows, and jogging, bicycling and evening
strolls are commonplace.
Most new urbanism communities tend to be improved suburbs –
still expanding the need for vast infrastructure producing less-
sustainable living. Europe’s model of ‘if you have to drive you’re
using too much energy’ is more sustainable. We need to teach
cities how to re-tool to provide attractive sustainable places to live.
Understand first – then seek to plan and design. This simple
philosophy drives our practice and generates more successful
solutions. In depth analysis, achievable economic goals,
environmental responsibility and cultural sensitivity combine to
create workable, memorable places to live, work and play.
Urban design requires the synergistic collaboration of various
disciplines. Our work includes programming, planning, designing
and implementing re-vitalized urban spaces, streetscapes, plazas
and waterfronts.
Regenerating and rebuilding older downtowns and neighborhood
centers presents additional challenges. Socioeconomic shifts and
normal cycles of urban change mandate creative adaptive re-use
of older structures. Cultural assets and social traditions,
economic opportunities and challenges, and the unique
character of each site, and stakeholders comprise the complex
set of variables we work with to design a better future.
In times of rapid change there is an obvious risk of a city losing
its soul. Local history, identity and culture clashing with new
populations, influences and life-styles are raising questions about
the competitive, attractive and exciting city. At the same time
there is tremendous pressure on cities to be ecologically sound
and socially balanced. For most, the heart of a city – the sense
of memorable place – is created by not by building icons, but by
the people space in between.
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The importance of public urban spaces is expressed by
The Word Cities Forum professionals' comments:
According to Lord Norman Foster, director of Foster and
Partners, London, "The connection between the buildings is
more important than the buildings themselves. When I think
of exciting cities, I think of infrastructure, not architecture.
The essence of the city is (captured in) the connections
provided by public space. The value of architecture is about
what it contributes to the public domain.”
ULI Chairman Marilyn Taylor said,“If we think of public space
as connecting…with humanity, and that providing great
public spaces will draw people to cities, we will have been
successful.”
A. Eugene Kohn of Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, New York
City, concurred, citing several public spaces in New York—the
plaza at Rockefeller Center, recently revitalized Bryant Park, and
Central Park—as key contributors to the welfare of that city’s
residents. “The reality is that the quality of the city fabric is
what is important. Icons are not what cities are.”
Paul Finch, editor of the Architectural Review, pointed to the
irony of public space as being a key contributor to a city’s
success. Although its value cannot be increased through real
estate development, “psychologically, it (well-designed public
space) is a city’s greatest asset … start with a park or
water, and you will find your city.” “For me, the essence of
the city is the quality of life contained in the public space,”
Jean Nouvel, Atelier Jean Nouvel, Paris, said. "Open space is
the key defining characteristic signifying the extent to which
a city values all its residents."
According to ULI Trustee and World Cities Forum Co-Chairman
Sir Stuart Lipton, preservation of the civic landscape will be a key
part of the urban agenda resulting from the event. “The civic
landscape is at the roots of our society, part of our
humanity. It is both a real and symbolic space where we
reflect and exercise our civil liberty. We have to put quality
into the ordinary. The totality of civic space is what matters,
not just a few good buildings.”
http://www.uli.
Org/Content/NavigationMenu/MeetingsEducation/Forums/World
CitiesForum1/London2005/Overview/Overview.htm
Top of page
The Word Cities Forum professionals' comments:
According to Lord Norman Foster, director of Foster and
Partners, London, "The connection between the buildings is
more important than the buildings themselves. When I think
of exciting cities, I think of infrastructure, not architecture.
The essence of the city is (captured in) the connections
provided by public space. The value of architecture is about
what it contributes to the public domain.”
ULI Chairman Marilyn Taylor said,“If we think of public space
as connecting…with humanity, and that providing great
public spaces will draw people to cities, we will have been
successful.”
A. Eugene Kohn of Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, New York
City, concurred, citing several public spaces in New York—the
plaza at Rockefeller Center, recently revitalized Bryant Park, and
Central Park—as key contributors to the welfare of that city’s
residents. “The reality is that the quality of the city fabric is
what is important. Icons are not what cities are.”
Paul Finch, editor of the Architectural Review, pointed to the
irony of public space as being a key contributor to a city’s
success. Although its value cannot be increased through real
estate development, “psychologically, it (well-designed public
space) is a city’s greatest asset … start with a park or
water, and you will find your city.” “For me, the essence of
the city is the quality of life contained in the public space,”
Jean Nouvel, Atelier Jean Nouvel, Paris, said. "Open space is
the key defining characteristic signifying the extent to which
a city values all its residents."
According to ULI Trustee and World Cities Forum Co-Chairman
Sir Stuart Lipton, preservation of the civic landscape will be a key
part of the urban agenda resulting from the event. “The civic
landscape is at the roots of our society, part of our
humanity. It is both a real and symbolic space where we
reflect and exercise our civil liberty. We have to put quality
into the ordinary. The totality of civic space is what matters,
not just a few good buildings.”
http://www.uli.
Org/Content/NavigationMenu/MeetingsEducation/Forums/World
CitiesForum1/London2005/Overview/Overview.htm
Top of page
