Urbanized – Gary Hustwit

This documentary shows us about how urban design

affects the everyday life of people, the issues they face
and how it is overcomed.
It gives us glimpse of the design of various architects
and planners. How it is implemented and how each
person reacts to different spaces design by the planners
and architects. We also see that people are influenced by
what others do and so to bring a change in the cities ,
local communities have to be engaged. One solution will
be to engage locals residing in that area and find out
how to strategically respond.
Urban space is a mixture of history, geography, and
decisions made by the citizens that impose themselves.
As an example, in parks , people tend to walk where
there should logically be a path,whether one is provided
or not.On campus quadrangles, planners give up and
pave the way.
According to Alejandro aravena, better location of land is
more important than a large area of land in an
unsuitable space. One method of his design is that he
makes part of the infrastructure and the rest is given for
the user to decide. This will be a better method than
designing wholly by the architect. This method of
designing is called participatory design.
Jane Jacobs tells us that rather than building flyovers
and other massive structures, it is better to build mixed –
use neighbourhoods where people like to stroll down a
street where they know people and shops,there is variety
and novelty, and things to look at.
Industrialization has brought about changes
in production, transportation and
commmuication. How has this influenced the
development of cities?

Industrialization is the process by which an economy is

transformed from primarily agricultural to one based on
the manufacturing of goods. Individual manual labor is
often replaced by mechanized mass production, and
craftsmen are replaced by assembly lines. Characteristics
of industrialization include economic growth, more
efficient division of labor, and the use of technological
innovation to solve problems as opposed to dependency
on conditions outside human control.

Production
Instead of items being produced by hand, people started
producing them with machines. As popularity rose, more
machines started producing more goods cheaper and
quicker.

Transportation
Industrial society need to have faster efficient
transportation, to enable movement of materials and
products , to open up access to raw materials.

Communication
When transportation improved, messages and goods
could be more easily transmitted. The telegraph
revolutionised communication as it enabled messages to
be sent within a fraction of time.

Development of cities
Industrialization has influenced the development of cities
as more industries were set up which influenced more
people to migrate from rural to urban spaces due to huge
increase in job oppurtunities, better lifestyle. People
started finding new and simpler ways to manufacture
goods, carry out everyday work. Machines are intensely
used in everyday life which makes it easier to live. Cities
offer a larger variety of services, including specialist
services not found in rural areas. These services requires
workers, resulting in more numerous and varied job
opportunities. Elderly people may be forced to move to
cities where there are doctors and hospitals that can
cater for their health needs. Varied and high quality
educational opportunities are another factor in urban
migration, as well as the opportunity to join, develop,
and seek out social communities.