Town Planning & Urban Design History

Principles of Urban Design LECTURE 4

Abhishek K. Venkitaraman Iyer Assistant Professor Faculty of Architecture, MIT

Primary Reference

Planning: Historical Overview and Influences A history of urban and regional planning from its early development up to the present. PL 511 | Urban & Regional Planning Slideshow developed by: Arch. Edeliza V. Macalandag, UAP Bohol Island State University | College of Architecture & Engineering

THE BEGINNINGS SETTLEMENT DESIGN • Agricultural Societies • Rectilinear Plotting LAYOUT 1. Grid (or Rectilinear) – product of the farmer 2. Circular (Fencing) • •

product of the herdsman defensive role

3. Radiocentric – when circular settlements enlarge – fortress cities (i.e. Paris) **

“And when we saw all those cities and villages built in the water and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Tenochtitlan, we were amazed…Indeed, some of our soldiers asked if it was not all a dream” (Spanish chronicler, Bernal Diaz del Castillo) – describing Aztec Chinampa agriculture

Circular Layout

Radio-centric Layout

Radio-centric Layout

ANCIENT GREECE LANDSCAPE HIGH PLACES

– powerfully assertive – fortified hilltop – sacred precinct TOWN DESIGN = SENSE OF THE FINITE • Aristotle’s ideal size of city = 10,000 – 20,000 people • Never attempted to overwhelm nature • Buildings give a sense of human measure to landscape THE STREET – not a principal element but as a leftover space for circulation PLACE OF ASSEMBLY – market (agora)

Acropolis

Acropolis

The agora was a central spot in ancient Greek city-states. The literal meaning of the word is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city.

Ancient Athens

ANCIENT ROME URBAN DESIGN • Greek : sense of the finite • Romans : political power and organization USE OF SCALE • Greek use of scale is based on human measurements • Romans used proportions that would relate parts of building instead of human measure

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ANCIENT ROME MODULE • Greek use of house as module for town planning • Roman use of street pattern as module  to achieve a sense of overpowering grandeur  made for military government

THE STREET • Greeks : as a leftover space for circulation • Romans: street are built first; buildings came later PLACE OF ASSEMBLY • Greeks: market (agora) • Romans: market, theater, and arena **

Roman Forum

Imperial fora overlapping other sites

Trajan Forum

MEDIEVAL ERA DECLINE OF ROME • “Dark Ages”, but not for urban design URBAN SETTINGS • Military strongholds, castles, monasteries, towns MILITARY STRONGHOLDS • Acropolis and Capitoline Hill CASTLES • Built atop hills, enclosed by circular walls • Radiocentric growth **

MEDIEVAL ERA MONASTERIES • Citadels of learning • Laid out in rectilinear pattern MEDIEVAL TOWNS • Like Greek towns, small and finite in size • Lacks geometry • Became parts of larger territorial states • Growth and population created the need for marketplaces **

MEDIEVAL ERA TOWN DESIGN VISIBLE EXTERIORS • Suit the viewing conditions of small spaces VISTA considerations and HUMAN SCALE • Fine accents in landscape STREET LAYOUT • Functional • But with no logical form

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MEDIEVAL ERA TOWN DESIGN MEDIEVAL ERA sets the stage for RENAISSANCE • Skill of builders • Wealth of bourgeoisie and nobility • Organization of the military and new force in gunpowder • Development of political powers and expertise • New organizations • Scholarly knowledge of the church

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MEDIEVAL ERA TOWN DESIGN 3 MAJOR EVENTS MARKING TRANSITION FROM MEDIEVAL TIMES • Dawn of science • Fall of Constantinople • Discovery of the New World

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Lucca, Tuscany

Carcassonne, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

Medieval Design

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An urban square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a city used for community gatherings.

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a forum for exchange, both social and economic ideas

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Their significance and intensity of meaning is expressed through “harder” intensively used landscaping.

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They tend to be formal and urban in nature in contrast to parks and open space, which are typically soft landscaped, larger and less intensively used.

Piazza Grande - Roman

Piazza del Campo,Siena, Italy

Structure of a Square

Structure of a Square

Approach

Arrival

1

2

3

Approach 5

4

Arrival

Basic Design Structure

Todi

Perugia

Basic Design Structure

Florence

Venice

FROM MEDIEVAL ERA TO RENAISSANCE ERA MEDIEVAL URBAN DESIGN were to be discarded • Sense of scale • Intimate relation between house and street MEDIEVAL SYSTEM OF TOWN DESIGN • Truly livable • Humanist basis RENAISSANCE SYSTEM OF TOWN DESIGN • Role of the individual as builder of his town was lost **

RENAISSANCE – EARLY DEVELOPMENTS REBUILDING FERRARA • Palazzo Diamanti  Most famous structure

• Biaggio Rossetti  Architect and town planner  Regarded as one of the world’s earliest modern urban designers

Rossetti’s plan • Street widening, new buildings, wall improvement • Enlarge the town • Carry on with the plan o build upon **

RENAISSANCE – EARLY DEVELOPMENTS LESSONS FROM ROSSETTI’S EFFORT • Repair an existing city • Plan for enlargement • Decide which to concentrate effort • Lay down a plan that is logical and realizable • Provide framework for others to build upon

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RENAISSANCE – REBUILDING ROME PROBLEMS    

Circulation Defense Water supply Sanitation

SOLUTION  Popes have to undertake civic improvement projects

PILGRIMAGE • St. Peter’s Cathedral improved • Campidoglio (Rome’s city hall) improved **

RENAISSANCE – REBUILDING ROME DOMENICO FONTANA • Architect commissioned by Pope Sixtus V

FONTANA’S PLAN • Streets were visually accented using OBELISKS

OBELISKS • As “stakes”, as GUIDEPOSTS for the whole city • as SCALE REFERENCE POINTS for successive designers

DESIGN PRINCIPLE • Architecture of ancient Rome • New design of early Renaissance **

Renaissance Rome

In a classic example of Baroque planning, the encircling arms of the colonnade of Bernini’s St Peter’s basilica, crowned with sculptures by the same artist, reach out into the wider vista towards the Tiber river. (Thomas Mawson, Civic Art, 1911, p107)

Renaissance Rome

RENAISSANCE – THE CAMPIDOGLIO • Piazza del Campidoglio – One of MICHELANGELO’s finest works

• Seen at a distance as a whole composition • EQUESTRIAN STATUE of Marcus Aurelius – Serves as Centerpiece or Guidepost

• ENTRANCE RAMPS – widen toward the top – perspective effect and stairs appear shorter – similarly, SIDE BUILDINGS are not parallel

• Significance of a REMODELLING JOB **

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

Campidoglio

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

il Campidoglio or Monte Capitolino

RENAISSANCE – URBAN PLAZAS: FRANCE & ENGLAND JACQUES ANDROUET DU CERCEAU (520 -1586) – French architect who visited Rome – Brought plaza idea to Paris, France INIGO JONES – First significant English architect, brought the Renaissance plaza to London – Bedford Square – started in 1631 – Covent Garden – modeled after Livorno

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RENAISSANCE – URBAN PLAZAS: FRANCE & ENGLAND OTHER PLAZAS IN LONDON – Leicester Square – started in 1635 – Bloomsbury Square – 1665 – Six more plazas were built before 1700 RENAISSANCE PLAZA – one of the elements of urban design par excellence – but did not tie whole city together – Rossetti’s Ferrara (street system); Fontana’s Rome (guidepost system) **

Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles (built 1668–74), with its famous gardens by André le Notre, had bisecting land and water axes that created impressive vistas. It inspired Pierre L’Enfant when he designed Washington DC as the new capital of the United States of America in 1791.

Versailles, France

RENAISSANCE – REBUILDING LONDON

The GREAT PLAGUE (1664–1666) was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in the Kingdom of England (modern day United Kingdom). It happened within the centuries-long time period of the Second Pandemic, an extended period of intermittent bubonic plague epidemics which began in Europe in 1347, the first year of the "Black Death" and lasted until 1750.

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London

Th Great Plague of London 1664-1666

Th Great Plague of London 1664-1666

THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall. It threatened, but did not reach, the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles II's Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums.[2] It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants.

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London

Th Great Plague of London 1966

Th Great Fire of London 1666

RENAISSANCE – REBUILDING LONDON SEVERAL DESIGNERS PROPOSED PLANS • Christopher Wren > Robert Hooke > John Evelyn > Valentine Knight

1707-1709 • laws banning use of combustible materials, led to extensive use of bricks

JOHN GWYNN • produced plan for London 1766 “London & Westminster Improved” • heralded the “Golden Age” of building • key figure in the introduction of the Building Act 1774 which improved standards of materials and workmanship

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John Gwynn believed that the Great Fire of the previous century had created a great opportunity to plan and improve London. This volume includes four engraved and hand-colored maps showing the proposed improvements to Westminster and London.

Gwynn wanted a scenic London, with boulevards pointing to noble buildings. Looking at congested bottlenecks like Charing Cross and Temple Bar, the refuse piling up at street corners, and open sewers like the Fleet, Gwynn asked: 'Where is the taste and elegance?'

One of his achievements came in with the Building Act of 1774, which graded houses both in measurements and materials. The first triumph was Bedford Square, with 'first-rate' materials being used. It thus became desirable quarters for lawyers and other professionals.

Bedford Square is a square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England. Built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, the square has had many distinguished residents, including Lord Eldon, one of Britain's longest serving and most celebrated Lord Chancellors, who lived in the largest house in the square for many years. The square takes its name from the main title of the Russell family, the Dukes of Bedford, who were the main landlords in Bloomsbury.

RENAISSANCE – REBUILDING LONDON GOLDEN AGE : encompassed a 30-year period • ADELPHI TERRACE  work of the Adam brothers; built along the River Thames

• BATH      

created by architects John Wood, Sr. and Jr. 1702, discovered by the aristocrats 1727, rectangular plaza (Queens Square) 1754, great circle (King’s Circus) 1767, Royal Crescent EDINBURGH – 1767, Scottish architect James Craig

END OF LONDON PLAZA ERA : coming of industrial era **

Adelphi is a district of London, England in the City of Westminster. The small district includes the streets of Adelphi Terrace, Robert Street and John Adam Street. Picture shows the main terrace of Aldelphi Terrace raised high above the noise and smell of the river on an arcade of warehouses.

RENAISSANCE – REBUILDING LONDON GOLDEN AGE : encompassed a 30-year period • ADELPHI TERRACE  work of the Adam brothers; built along the River Thames

• BATH      

created by architects John Wood, Sr. and Jr. 1702, discovered by the aristocrats 1727, rectangular plaza (Queens Square) 1754, great circle (King’s Circus) 1767, Royal Crescent EDINBURGH – 1767, Scottish architect James Craig

END OF LONDON PLAZA ERA : coming of industrial era **

Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in the south west of England.The City of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

The city was first established as a spa with the Latin name, Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis") by the Romans sometime in the AD 60s about 20 years after they had arrived in Britain (AD43), although verbal tradition suggests that Bath was known before then.

Much later, it became popular as a spa town during the Georgian era, which led to a major expansion that left a heritage of exemplary Georgian architecture crafted from Bath Stone. The Circus is a perfect circle of Georgian houses constructed out of the startlingly white Somerset stone that cloaks the entire city.

The Royal Crescent is a residential road of 30 houses laid out in a crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom.

The Royal Crescent, Bath, Somerset, England.

The Circus and the Royal Crescent, Bath, Somerset, England.

BAROQUE

Design over Time – Piazza Del Popolo

Plaza del Popolo

References • • • •

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LeGates, Richard and Stout, Frederic. Modernism and Early Urban Planning, 1870-1940. Knox, Paul. Urbanization. Cullingworth, Barry. Planning in the USA . Various online sources.