Urban Environments as Visual arts or as Social Settings

Philosophical Bases in Urban Design

Theory and Practice - Separation and Synthesis

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I

 • Term Urban Design coined in 1950’s

• First commission in UD in 1957 (established by AIA)

• Harvard university offered 1st course in UD in 1960

• American in origin, profession came into picture in 1990s.

• Two dominant approaches:

Visual / Aesthetic (artistic tradition)

Public use and Experience of urban environment (social usage tradition)

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I

 THE ARTISTIC TRADITION IN URBAN DESIGN

CAMILLO SITTE (1843 – 1903)

• Criticism of post industrial revolution and city design (modern city planning)

• Advocated planning of cities according to artistic principles

• Inspiration from design objectives of streets and buildings shaping medieval

cities

• Special emphasis on streets

• Consideration of ‘Style’ as an important component in Urban Design

• Principles followed in most of continental Europe.

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I The Artistic Tradition in Urban Design
 “Planning should be a creative art and the interplay between public buildings and
open spaces was paramount to good planning.”
‘The relationship between buildings, monuments and their plazas’

Piazza Navona, Rome

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I The Artistic Tradition in Urban Design
 Piazza del Campo, Siena
‘That the centre of plazas be kept free’

• Well designed forecourts for well placed buildings

• Fine locations for statuary (selected lines of vista/aesthetic centers of gravity)
Urban Design Theory And Practice – I
 “ Avoid unrelated freestanding sites”

“Damaging to the scale and effect of the main building to stand unrelated to the neighboring buildings and a
physical /seemingly physical connection to the neighboring buildings is desirable.”

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I

 “ Avoid unrelated freestanding sites”

“(It is)Damaging to the scale and effect of the main building to stand unrelated to the neighboring buildings and a
physical /seemingly physical connection to the neighboring buildings is desirable.”

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I

 “ Experience shows that the dimensions of the
plaza must be atleast equal to the height of the
principle building facing the plaza and that the
maximum dimension depends upon shape,
purpose and style of the building.”

The size and shape of plazas

Proportional relationship between the building’s facade and the dimensions of the squares
Urban Design Theory And Practice – I
 The public squares should be closed entities

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I

 “Practically any system of street design can be brought to an artistic effect provided it is not carried out with that
brutality which may satisfy the local spirit of modern American cities and which, unfortunately, has lately
acclimatized itself in Europe.”
‘Streets and visual succession’
Urban Design Theory And Practice – I
 Qualities of Historic Towns

• Sense of human scale and proportion

• Enclosed public squares - a sense of homeliness in the public

sphere.

• Irregularities blended into picturesque view

• Harmonious relations between buildings and their squares

• Sculptural adornment concentrated on edges, not in centre/facades of

buildings

• Variety of motifs and elements adding to picturesque view (often

culminating into artwork)

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I

 Criticism of Modern City Planning

• The inartistic fake symmetry and thoughtless formalism of T-square

• Grid-iron, diagonal and radial street systems in modern cities - schematic

and uninspired

• The modern plaza – traffic junction

• Concern for pedestrians

• The expansion of the city - the necessary repetitiveness

• The modern building block

• Landscape elements – the tree lined avenues and gardens

• Straying of work of art from streets and plazas to ‘art cages’

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I

 CAMILLO SITTE (1843 – 1903)

Urban Design Theory And Practice – I