Very interesting information in the article my views on the topic are: when one looks at the work of le Corbusier, it is difficult to not see the massive influence that he has had on the design of the contemporary city. His legacy can be seen in the way that traffic control systems are designed, in the way that buildings are constructed, and in the way that people interact with urban life in the predominant cities. However, while his influence is indisputable, it is also important to consider how his work has been criticized. Allan Jacobs and Donald Appleyard, Mike Davis, David Harvey and Ali madanipour have all argued that le Corbusier’s work has contributed to the dangerous urban life that we see in many contemporary cities. They argue that his work has led to a loss of urban vitality and a feeling of disconnection from the city. While these criticisms are important, they should not take away from the fact that le Corbusier is one of the most important architects of the last century. There are a lot of things that the author mentioned in the article which I believe should be highlighted or explained further
The author mentions some key points: the design of the contemporary city: le Corbusier is one of the pioneers in the modernist movement which is also widely known as an international style in architecture. According to him, the layout of this city should have been geometrical with a certain set of mathematics in place. The contemporary city was designed with an approach where traffic control systems barely existed. Introduction to the reality of urban life in the predominant cities: Allan jacobs and Donald Appleyard are shocked by the innumerable examples of los Angeles, new york, London and other large cities that mike Davis, David Harvey and Ali madanipour focus on the hazardous and dangerous urban life that makes it polluted and noisy and how the fortress buildings with windowless facade contribute to the problem. The intent is to create urban communities to sustain great densities in the overall urban vitality. Key solutions to these issues create a safe comfortable and liveable space, retaining the sense of identity and heritage value, highly inclusive environments with a strong regional identity, encouraging public participation in a well-thought-out community space and lastly acknowledging the issues faced by the residents.
My conclusion on the post is: At the onset of the 21st century, cities are larger, more complex, and less easily designed than ever before. After many modernist proposals to remake the city in the guise of some rational system, postmodern architects, planners, and thinkers have begun to accept (and in some cases, even celebrate) the city for its unreadable and uncontrollable aspects. This paper proposes a discursive approach to the contemporary city. Instead of analysing existing arguments and proposals and then coming up with a new comprehensive and exclusive reading of the city, why not engage the city through the plural and conflictive debates of our era? In what follows, four such urban movements-traditional, marketplace, social, and conceptual-are examined, contrasted, and then juxtaposed with the aim of theorizing a city of difference.
Reference
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Le-Corbusier
https://thecharnelhouse.org/2014/06/03/le-corbusiers-contemporary-city-1925/
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=cjud20
Urban interventions: Part B
Collective analysis of the design aspects of the public realms leads to proactive spaces that increase the quality of spaces.
- Takebacks on Le Corbusier, A contemporary city, in The City Reader
- Takebacks on Jacobs, A. & D. Appleyard, Toward an urban design manifesto, in The City reader
1a. The design of the contemporary city:
Le Corbusier is one of the pioneers in the modernist movement which is also widely known as an international style in architecture. One of the notable works “The Contemporary City” has been taken from his work “The City of tomorrow and its planning”.
The Contemporary city was designed to inhabit about 3 million people and was designed to be densely packed having all the amenities within the same premises. Ideal site conditions must be leveled without any undulations for easier transportation and a sewer network.
Figure 1: Easy accessibility (10 minute walk) to utilize public spaces
b. Principles to design the city:
The citizens of this city would be of mixed typologies such as Urban, Suburban, Business owners, etc. This concept was quite the contrary to FL Wright’s “Broadacre city”. The open spaces were considered as the lungs, which were in the periphery of these structures. His main intention was to reduce commutation and thereby have no traffic issues, and an increase in open spaces. The ground floor of the building would comprise a delicate network of roads leading to desired directions. The city would typically have twenty-four skyscrapers and in these skyscrapers, we would find markets, businesses, schools, hospitals, etc. on different levels of the same structure.
c. Built to unbuilt areas with the open space ratios:
The rest of the inhabitants would be located in the Garden City. According to him, the layout of this city should have been geometrical with a certain set of mathematics in place. This would solve numerous problems faced in the urban scenario. The ratio between the open spaces and the build had to be considered in such a manner that the open spaces would have a major percentage.
The contemporary city was designed with an approach where traffic control systems barely existed. Terraces and open parks on the pedestal on which the skyscrapers lay. Integrated sewers and drainage network. A shared sense of community with patches of forests.
Figure 2:
2a. Introduction to the reality of urban life in the Predominant cities:
Allan Jacobs and Donald Appleyard are shocked by the innumerable examples of Los Angeles, New York, London, and other large cities that Mike Davis, David Harvey, and Ali Madanipour focus on the hazardous and dangerous urban life that makes it polluted and noisy, and how the fortress buildings with windowless facade contribute to the problem. They describe and emphasize mainly the urban environment that needs to be designed. The intent is to create urban communities to sustain great densities in the overall urban vitality. Alan Jacobs spent time in Europe and South America during summers to arrive at similar observations as Camillo Sitte. These were closely related to Kevin Lynch with his philosophies and ideas that strongly influenced their works.
Figure 3 and 4:
b. Urban city manifesto- Some of the principles that remake the city space:
They formulated a new manifesto for urban design against the principles of CIAM (International congress of modern architecture). It was a public declaration to lay out basic principles to establish a healthy, humane, and beautiful urban environment for the inhabitants. It must encompass the social economic and political phenomena. The solution to these highly dense urban environments popularly known as slums with detrimental social living must be replaced by demolishing unsanitary housing, introducing green tribunals, and constructing a new high rise. Residential areas could be detached from the work establishments, keeping the identifying feature in terms of all the sensory features one feels in an urban environment.
Figure 5:
c. Comparison with the deteriorated urban conditions:
They address the key issues of modern urban designs are inhumane living conditions, lack of control in the neighborhood, destruction of heritage places, lack of identity, inequality, and rootless professionalism. Key solutions to these issues create a safe comfortable and livable space, retaining the sense of identity and heritage value, highly inclusive environments with a strong regional identity, encouraging public participation in a well-thought-out community space, and lastly acknowledging the issues faced by the residents.
Figure 6:
Figure 7:
Figure 8: Urban furniture for different age groups that acts as a dynamic element in public realms.
Picture courtesy:
Figure1: https://www.cnu.org/what-we-do/build-great-places/boston-public-realm-plan
Figure2: https://www.fiverr.com/oneopenmovement/architecture-and-urban-design-sketch
Figure3: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/james-corner-field-operations-diller-scofidio-renfro-new-york-city-high-line/
Figure4: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/367113807118767465/
Figure5: https://www.business-live.co.uk/commercial-property/new-arena-central-plans-reveal-7113259
Figure6: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/604537949995110354/
Figure7: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/491244271855669306/
Figure8: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/315322411423179261/
Very interesting information in the article my views on the topic are: when one looks at the work of le Corbusier, it is difficult to not see the massive influence that he has had on the design of the contemporary city. His legacy can be seen in the way that traffic control systems are designed, in the way that buildings are constructed, and in the way that people interact with urban life in the predominant cities. However, while his influence is indisputable, it is also important to consider how his work has been criticized. Allan Jacobs and Donald Appleyard, Mike Davis, David Harvey and Ali madanipour have all argued that le Corbusier’s work has contributed to the dangerous urban life that we see in many contemporary cities. They argue that his work has led to a loss of urban vitality and a feeling of disconnection from the city. While these criticisms are important, they should not take away from the fact that le Corbusier is one of the most important architects of the last century. There are a lot of things that the author mentioned in the article which I believe should be highlighted or explained further
The author mentions some key points: the design of the contemporary city: le Corbusier is one of the pioneers in the modernist movement which is also widely known as an international style in architecture. According to him, the layout of this city should have been geometrical with a certain set of mathematics in place. The contemporary city was designed with an approach where traffic control systems barely existed. Introduction to the reality of urban life in the predominant cities: Allan jacobs and Donald Appleyard are shocked by the innumerable examples of los Angeles, new york, London and other large cities that mike Davis, David Harvey and Ali madanipour focus on the hazardous and dangerous urban life that makes it polluted and noisy and how the fortress buildings with windowless facade contribute to the problem. The intent is to create urban communities to sustain great densities in the overall urban vitality. Key solutions to these issues create a safe comfortable and liveable space, retaining the sense of identity and heritage value, highly inclusive environments with a strong regional identity, encouraging public participation in a well-thought-out community space and lastly acknowledging the issues faced by the residents.
My conclusion on the post is: At the onset of the 21st century, cities are larger, more complex, and less easily designed than ever before. After many modernist proposals to remake the city in the guise of some rational system, postmodern architects, planners, and thinkers have begun to accept (and in some cases, even celebrate) the city for its unreadable and uncontrollable aspects. This paper proposes a discursive approach to the contemporary city. Instead of analysing existing arguments and proposals and then coming up with a new comprehensive and exclusive reading of the city, why not engage the city through the plural and conflictive debates of our era? In what follows, four such urban movements-traditional, marketplace, social, and conceptual-are examined, contrasted, and then juxtaposed with the aim of theorizing a city of difference.
Reference
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Le-Corbusier
https://thecharnelhouse.org/2014/06/03/le-corbusiers-contemporary-city-1925/
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=cjud20
The blog holds relevance as two of the predominant modernist architects who were exceptional at their work are being spoken about. Drawing a comparison between the Broadacre and Contemporary city has given out two different narratives about how a city is planned. The vertical city approach grabbed the attention of various critics as the context and the identity was totally disregarded. This way of planning makes sense in creating breathable peripheral green spaces around the urban dense jungle and provides an insider into the traffic network planning for a city of 3 million people. Here the author of the blog talks about the concept of urban renewal where several solutions for replacing the slums with quality and affordable housing are provided by various urban planners from the CIAM (International Congress of modern architecture).
Architect Kevin Lynch simplifies the idea of various principles that need to be considered while planning the city. He narrows it down to five principles and draws a comparison with different American cities. Several European cities have been cited for their dense yet well-designed public realms. Camillo Sitte is one such planner who is mesmerized by the way the European cities were perceived. However, efforts have been made to improve the conditions of the neighborhood by deriving the principles from these urban theorists.
The figures/Illustrations used in this blog find relevance to how small urban interventions can cause significant transformation. Several former industrial zones have been transformed into liveable and breathable neighborhoods. The future of these cities vastly depends on how these principles are incorporated. The authors highlight the ideology of several urban theorists and assimilate the narrative they are demonstrating. I enjoyed reading the chapters of Allan Jacobs and Donald Appleyard where they set out goals for the urban areas and the perception of how the urban environments must be designed.
Inception for a new Urban design manifesto was transcribed by these designers. Citing the close observation of these urban cities, buildings having proximity to the streets were found to be detrimental to a healthy lifestyle. Open spaces could be in this urban fabric and residential zones could separate yet near the work areas. Explained problems of the Modern Urban design by stating various factors that impact the lifestyle of the inhabitants such as poor living environments, Giantism and loss of control, large-scale privatization and the loss of public life, Centrifugal fragmentation, place lessness, destruction of valued places, Injustice, and lack of identity.
I resonate with the author addressing all the issues faced by inhabitants with respect to their living conditions, disregard for the context, and heritage value. The sensory features hold significance in how a space is remembered by an individual. We need to find a collective solution to resolve these issues and design spaces with the utmost regard for the citizens.
References:
The city reader – Chapters on Kevin Lynch , Le Corbusier , Camillo Sitte , Allan Jacobs and Donald Appleyard