3. LITERATURE STUDY
3.1. Historical context
At the end of the 1950’s and during the 1960’s and 1970’s the idea of corridor development, both planned and unplanned, was actively studied and discussed among spatial planners, designers and scientists (e.g. by C.F.G. Whebell, George R. Collins, C. Doxiadis). Many of these practitioners and scholars also encountered the difficulty of visualising the dynamics of corridors and often referred to (earlier) schemes and designs of linear cities.
A study on both the definition and visualisation of corridors in this time-period may contribute to the discussion on corridor development and urban networks. These designs/concepts/studies show early examples of thinking. They recognise the importance and formative character of mobility and modern infrastructure for urban development; not only regarding accessibility but also new ways of urban concentration instead of sprawl etc.
These studies are based on a combination of city and countryside. Three spatial designers and/or researchers; George R. Collins (art- and architecture historian), C.F.J. Whebell (geographer) and C. Doxiadis (architect/urban designer) who were actively involved in the discussion on corridor development during the 1960’s are studied. Each of them has studied the concept of corridor development, from their different points of view and different disciplines.
3.1.1. George R. Collins (architectural historian)
The contemporary art- and architecture historian George R. Collins wrote a series of articles on linear planning in the late 1950’s and the 1960’s. Collins wrote in response to the rising popularity of the concepts for linear cities in those days. There was actual unplanned linear urban growth and lack ...
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• Whebell, C.F. “Corridors: a theory of urban systems.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Vol.59; No.1. (March) (1969): 1-26.
In the 1950s Newcastle was known as a sleep city, Dan described it as “moribund” (1) decades had past and very little economic development had taken place between that time frame and families were left to suffer. In 1959, T. Dan Smith became Leader of Newcastle City Council, he set up his own independent planning department in the council and appointed Wilfred Burns as chief officer in 1960. They both wanted to re-modernise Newcastle for the better by undertaking new road plans to resolve the traffic congestion that plagued the city and breath new life into the city by clearing out the slum areas and rebuilding new homes to help improve peoples living conditions. One way Smith helped promote his grand scheme was through a series of models and held public gatherings to help fuel his passion to help change Newcastle, a method used by Richard Grainger who greatly strengthened Newcastle’s status as a regional capital. In order to achieve Grainger’s equivalent he set out to get renowned architects to develop the city, like Le Corbusier , Basil Spence, Leslie Martin, Robert Matthew and even Picasso to help reinforce his vision for the future “Brasilia of the North” (2). In this essay I will closely examine T. Dan Smith’s proposed plans for the new urban motorway system, that would help solve the traffic problem. Also the redevelopment of Eldon Sqaure that would come under scrutiny, but would later become a commercial success. I will also investigate the new Civic Centre that replaced the Old Town Hall and the intention from the local authorities to demolish the Royal Arcade and replace it with a roundabout.
...0) Sprawling Cities and Transport: preliminary findings from Bristol, UK. University College London, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis and Department of Geography. University College London.
In chapter 8, the author Barry Bergdoll has written about how urban planners were reinventing new concepts to change and improve urban life as well as solve problems relating to poverty and congestion. The author continues the chapter discussing further in depth problems that occurred in Paris, France. For example, due to the narrow streets in Paris it limited and prevented military officers from stopping riots. However, for Napoleon Bonaparte the narrow streets were in his favor when he overthrew the government. Additionally, Napoleon Bonaparte had a goal to create a new more Modernist architecture layout for Medieval Paris by replacing the old layout. Also, Napoleon Bonaparte’s vision for the city of Paris included widen streets, so that
During the last half of the 1800’s and the early part of the 1900’s urban population in western Europe made enormous increases. During this period France’s overall population living in cities increased twenty percent, and in Germany the increase was almost thirty percent. This great flow of people into cities created many problems in resource demands and patterns of urban life. These demands created a revolution in sanitation and medicine. Part of this revolution was the redesigning of cities. G.E. Baron Von Haussmann was the genius behind the new plans for the city of Paris.
With the influx of people to urban centers came the increasingly obvious problem of city layouts. The crowded streets which were, in some cases, the same paths as had been "naturally selected" by wandering cows in the past were barely passing for the streets of a quarter million commuters. In 1853, Napoleon III named Georges Haussmann "prefect of the Seine," and put him in charge of redeveloping Paris' woefully inadequate infrastructure (Kagan, The Western Heritage Vol. II, pp. 564-565). This was the first and biggest example of city planning to fulfill industrial needs that existed in Western Europe. Paris' narrow alleys and apparently random placement of intersections were transformed into wide streets and curving turnabouts that freed up congestion and aided in public transportation for the scientists and workers of the time. Man was no longer dependent on the natural layout of cities; form was beginning to follow function. Suburbs, for example, were springing up around major cities. This housing arrangem...
Richard C. Nelson, the author, is a professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning and the Planning Degree program at the University of Arizona. He has made substantial contributions in real estate analysis and urban growth trends. Nelson also created the term ‘megapolitan’ which he predicts the United States will have over twenty by 2040. These megapolitans are the result of the reverse sprawl and creating major economic centers, which will make America globally competitive. Nelson’s background ties in to many of his ideas in the book, with the main points focusing on demographic changes, housing trends, more space for future jobs and the benefits of reshaping metropolitan America. Changing demographics support the notion that more people are choosing an urban lifestyle over sprawl, which means a higher preference of
Meanwhile, businessman Nof Al-Kelaby provides examples of making and remaking on City Road, in relation to connections and disconnections between people and places. Having arrived...
* Urban Professional^s recognition of the increased variability, robustness, and interest in both the urban area and their work. * Conservation Activist^s commendation of the lower consumption of resources, and reduced pressure on sensitive environment areas, suggestive of a reduction in urban sprawl. * The Development Industry^s equations of profit established through better and higher levels of land use. Essentially urban consolidation proposes an increase of either population or dwellings in an existing defined urban area (Roseth,1991). Furthermore, the suburban village seeks to establish this intensification within a more specific agenda, in which community is to be centred by public transport nodes, and housing choice is to be widened with increased diversity of housing type (Jackson,1998).
During the last century Copenhagen has seen major changes in the physical construct of the city but who was involved and what changes have occurred? When did these changes occur? Where were the main areas of development? Why was this change needed? And also, was it a successful development? Main case studies for this discussion include Copenhagen’s post-war master plan for it’s city looking at how it seamless integrated its transport systems, pedestrian walkways and businesses along with housing and zooming in further to the Ørestad district and its development which includes various architecture projects by practices such as BIG. By beginning to find answers to these questions through different sources and analysing them not only through words but also by illustrations and diagrams, an understanding of Copenhagen’s development can be begun to be made. Before these questions can be answered a step back should be made reflecting Copenhagen’s history.
It was planned on a concentric pattern with open spaces, public parks and six radial boulevards (type of large road running through a city) extending from centre. It will combine the town and country to
Pollins, Harold. "Transport Lines and Social Divisions" from London Aspects of Change: Edited by the Centre for Urban Studies. MacGibbon & Kee, London. 1964.
In Ernest W. Burgess’s “The Growth of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project,” (1925), the author delves deep into the processes that go into the construction of a modern city or urban environment. Burgess lists its following qualities: skyscrapers, the department store, the newspaper, shopping malls, etc. (p. 154). Burgess also includes social work as being part of a modern urban environment. This is supported by his construction model based on concentric circles that divided Chicago into five zones. The first was called a center loop meant for a business district. Secondly, there was an area for business and light manufacture. Third, there was a “zone for working men’s homes” (p. 156). The fourth is the residential area of high-class apartment buildings. The fifth is where suburban houses are located.
Haussmann separated the city by making it into a geometric grid, with the majority of his "Grands Boulevards" running east to west and north to south. This plan brought a new symmetry to Paris, which it desperately needed. The narrow, winding streets that Paris was kn...
At the height of the Second Empire, Paris was one of the leading centres of capitalist culture in Europe during the mid-nineteenth century, made possible by the city’s reconstruction. The modernisation of Paris initiated an unprecedented method of urban planning under Baron Haussmann. It is this concept of modernisation that people immediately think of in terms of Paris and modernity. This focus on Haussmannisation, however, obscures the fact that Paris was already changing before Haussmann, as was evident in the arcades that sprung up during the 1820s and 30s. Plans of renovating the city were already being thought of in order to manage problems of overcrowding, diseases, social upheavals and infrastructure collapse. However, these plans were never realised; it was the small business owners—or the petit bourgeoisie—who saw to the creation of the arcades that drove the changes made within the urban landscape of pre-Haussmann Paris.
Urbanisation is an indispensable component of Economic Development, but along with it arrives in all allied problems. With the increase in urbanization trends the towns and cities not just becomes more densely populated but also they expand geographically. This process of urbanization creates a huge gap between the supply and demand of urban infrastructure and services. This leads to overstressed basic infrastructure services in urban areas. To cope up with these problems the urban local bodies will have to scale up in their capacity to provide adequate infrastructure facilities such as water supply, sewerage system, sanitation, solid waste management, housing and roads in the existing urban areas as well as in new areas. Such haphazard development otherwise poses to severe health and economic risks to the entire community.