The essay explores an updated application of Giancarlo De Carlo’s participatory method through the renovation of a hotel timeshare in Gioiosa Marea (ME), which was used by one hundred and thirty-five families. The experience integrated sociological enquiry, metric-environmental surveys, and subjective and objective tools to meet the needs of users who wished to adapt the spaces to their new living requirements. The shared design produced flexible solutions, improving functionality and comfort, and renewing the link between space and people. The experimentation allowed clients to re-evaluate the architect’s role as a social and cultural mediator in the development of living space, and the designer to develop a replicable method.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Architectural drawing and design
Gabriele Paolinelli, Marco Cei, Nicoletta Cristiani
et al.
In a present deteriorated by the anthropocentric illusion of domination over Nature, imagining the change of a landscape in a perspective of coevolution is part of a broader contemporary movement of scientific and social culture. The conditions and dynamics of a plain area belonging to the Ombrone stream in Pistoia are emblematic as a case study for the criticalities and risks they present. It is intuitive that the transformation of the area into an urban park can be an effective antidote to its current inability to respond to contemporary needs, but how such a process can be initiated and sustained is a question with many significant variables. This article proposes some research results relating to the design of the plant change of places as a possible cornerstone of a process of generating the park understood as a co-evolutionary response based on the properties of the landscape to which it belongs.
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
In “Revolution at point zero”, the feminist scholar Silvia Federici (2020, 25) defines caring as the “day-to-day activities through which we produce our existence, develop our ability to cooperate, and not only resist dehumanization but also learn to reconstruct the world as a space of nurture, creativity, and car”. This definition based on participation and collaboration resonates with the contemporary debate on commons, and most particularly the one led by Peter Linebaugh.
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
Jennifer Viezzer, Daniela Biondi, Angeline Martini
et al.
Áreas verdes urbanas (AVU) são espaços livres de edificações, com predominância de cobertura vegetal, que geram serviços ecossistêmicos importantes nas cidades, como a melhoria microclimática, a segurança hídrica, e a saúde física e mental dos seus habitantes. Geralmente, as AVU são consideradas como um só componente em estudos sobre a floresta urbana, embora possam ter coberturas do solo e qualidade da vegetação diferentes entre si. Esta pesquisa buscou caracterizar tipologias de áreas verdes usando o índice de vegetação por diferença normalizada (NDVI) para investigar se existe distinção entre elas. Para isso, Curitiba foi selecionada como área de estudo, tendo 18 tipologias de áreas verdes. O NDVI do município, das áreas verdes em conjunto, e de cada tipologia foi calculado com base em imagem LANDSAT-8 e classificado em água, não-vegetação, vegetação gramínea e ou arbustiva, vegetação arbórea esparsa, ou vegetação arbórea densa. Uma análise estatística descritiva e um teste t de igualdade de médias também foram realizados. Os resultados demonstraram diferenças entre a maioria das tipologias, com alta amplitude entre valores mínimos, máximos e médios, estes diferentes entre si na maioria dos casos (72,50%). A proporção ocupada por cada classe de NDVI variou bastante entre as tipologias, principalmente para vegetação gramínea e ou arbustiva (0,00% a 72,22%) e arbórea esparsa (5,26% a 80,00%). Por isso, destaca-se a importância de se conhecer e qualificar a vegetação de diferentes áreas verdes em estudos futuros.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
Este artigo trata dos aspectos botânicos relacionados ao projeto paisagístico, destacando a vegetação como elemento relevante na concepção de paisagens urbanas. O ensaio exploratório é desenvolvido a partir do estudo de uma das mais importantes áreas de lazer do Rio de Janeiro – o Parque do Flamengo. O projeto paisagístico é de autoria de Roberto Burle Marx, que se destacou pelo uso inovador da vegetação, pautado pelos estudos da botânica e pelo assessoramento de profissionais da área. A análise é feita a partir da reflexão
sobre quatro pontos: a diversidade vegetal característica do projeto; o uso de vegetação inédita em áreas urbanas; a presença de espécies em risco de extinção; e a utilização de plantas singulares na paisagem. Nesse último ponto, destaca-se a palmeira corifa (Corypha umbraculifera) e suas características peculiares. O artigo aponta para o valor como acervo botânico da vegetação de projetos paisagísticos em áreas urbanas e ressalta a necessidade de implementação de estudos científicos para maior conhecimento do comportamento das espécies vegetais nessas áreas, ampliando os subsídios para o uso dessa relevante ferramenta de projeto.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
The influence of urban design on economic vitality has been analyzed by a number of researchers and is also a key focus of many planning/design theories. However, most quantitative studies are based on just one city or a small set of cities, rather than a large number of cities that are representative of an entire country. With the increasing availability of new data, we aim to alleviate this gap by examining the impact of urban design upon economic vitality for the 286 largest cities in China by looking at a grid of geographical units that are 1 km by 1 km. We use these units and a set of new data (emerging big data and new data that reflecting urban developments and human mobility) to look at the impact of urban form indicators, such as intersection density (urban design), level of mixed use, and access to amenities and transportation, on economic vitality represented by activities using social media data. Our results show that these urban design indicators have a significant and positive relationship with levels of economic vitality for cities at every administrative level. The results contribute to a holistic understanding of how to improve economic vitality in cities across China at a detailed level, particularly at a time when China’s economic growth will depend largely on growth of the service sector in urban areas. We think these results can help decision makers, developers, and planners/designers to improve economic vitality in cities across China.
Evgeniya Bobkova, Meta Berghauser Pont, Lars Marcus
The importance of the plot (also referred to as ‘property’) as one of the fundamental elements of urban form is well recognized within the field of urban morphology. Despite the fact that it is often described as the basic element in the pattern of land divisions, which are essential as organizational frameworks for urban form, studies offering comprehensive descriptions and classifications of plot systems are quite scant. The aim of the paper is to introduce a classification of plot systems into typologies based on five European cities, in order to distinguish particular spatial differences and similarities in terms of their plot structure. The proposed typologies are developed using unsupervised k-means cluster analysis based on numeric attributes derived from central theories in urban morphology. The introduced typologies are essentially configurational, allowing collective systematic properties of plot systems to be captured. Numeric attributes include plot differentiation (or plot size), plot frontage and compactness ratio, corresponding to essential qualities of plot systems such as the capacity to carry differences in space, the ability to operate as interface between street and building and providing a framework for evolution of built form over time. All three attributes are translated into configurational measures in order to capture the context of the plot system, rather than the parameters of individual plots. The combination of these deductively defined variables with algorithmically defined classification methods results in seven plot types that can be used to scale up traditional urban morphological analysis to whole city regions and conduct substantial comparison of patterns within, but also between these regions. Further, it also makes it possible to describe commonly recognized plot patterns and discover new ones.
This research aimed to explain the co-presence patterns in public spaces, i.e. pedestrian movement rates, based on the analysis of spatial patterns established in street segments. Two dispersed residential neighbourhoods with different spatial characteristics – morphological configuration, land use and physical/visual permeability – were analysed in Santa Maria city. Generalized linear regression models were used to infer the relations among variables. The research question was: which spatial characteristics are related to co-presence in public spaces of dispersed residential neighbourhoods? The configurational morphological attributes had statistical significance for almost all regression models for neighbourhood 1. In neighbourhood 2, commercial activity was significant and positively related with all models. The results regarding physical and visual permeability were inconclusive for both study areas.
The growing number of private transportation ownership from year to year creates congestion problems, especially in urban areas. Public transportation conditions such as the Rapid Transit Bus (BRT) are an alternative way to use transportation. BRT Trans Semarang Corridor 1 is the busiest public transportation route in Semarang City that stretches from Mangkang Terminal to Penggaron Terminal. About 50% of the passengers of BRT Trans Semarang Corridor 1 chose to walk to and from the bus stops. However, in reality, currently, the conditions of the pedestrian paths are less than optimal in creating pedestrian comfort, and the integration system is still minimal with various modes. The purpose of this study is to identify a travel demand model suitable for pedestrian BRT Trans Semarang Corridor 1 passenger using the new urbanism 3D approach (Density, Diversity, Design). Where the data collection for analysis needs using naturalistic observation techniques by looking at the condition of the object of research in a more real way directly to the field. Density analysis used descriptive statistical analysis methods and simulated interpolation of population and building density data using the ArcGIS 10.3 application to generate pedestrian demand for their environmental density. In analyzing diversity using the land-use distribution simulation method with ArcGIS 10.3 and FAR (Floor Area Ratio) analysis using the 2016 Sketchup simulation. Compile a pedestrian path model recommendation under pedestrian demand.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Building construction
This research was done as an effort to observe, write, and publicize eco-activism and achievements by a number of eco-actors in the midst of an increasingly natural environmental crisis, to be used as stimuli and teaching materials for the course of EcoArt. A number of artists practicing ecoartivism were purposively selected as a sample; their works and achievements are exposed. They are Endar Progresto, Widya Purwoko, Bernadeta Pudiasminarsih (Dyas Ecoprint), and Nasirun. These eco-activists not only work ecologically real, but also creatively communicate ecological values to surrounding communities to change. Nevertheless campaigning this environmental crisis for the better cannot be done partially, but must be jointly supported, organized and socialised continuously. For this reason, their works and achievements, as well as their individual ecoartivism need to be exposed, documented, and assembled as one unit as part of selected subjects of the EcoArt Course in the Fine Arts Department of the Indonesia Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta, to generate enthusiasm in articulating or representing ecological concerns for ecosystem sustainability and preservation of natural environment through Art.
Arts in general, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
With a population of more than 120 million people, most Mexican cities suffer from socioeconomic inequalities and these are worsened by spatial inequalities resulting from their urban form and structure. A number of studies have been published looking at limited public services and how this may affect those on lower incomes in Mexico. However, very few studies have used spatial accessibility as a means of explaining urban inequalities and informing city planning. Spatial accessibility is defined as the measurable geographical access from residential locations to destinations for services and public goods. This paper investigates the potential of a spatial accessibility index to provide evidence for making location/planning decisions that benefit the largest number of residents. To achieve this aim, we combine three geographical secondary data sets with geospatial analysis. First, two important urban public services, i.e. health and education, are located, and catchment areas are then generated according to their respective sizes. For the second set, the integration values of each city at metropolitan and district scales are calculated using Space Syntax to observe how its configuration may influence the distribution of activities and the way the inhabitants live and move. The third set is demographic data from the 2010 national census of Population and Housing, analysed at the residential block level. This paper focuses on the results of combining two accessibility indices (cumulative opportunities and Space Syntax’s integration value) that examine the degree to which the lack of a basic public service could be associated with the spatial segregation of an area to provide evidence (comprehensible by decision-makers) for making location and planning decisions that benefit the largest number of residents.
Interpreting some dimensions of the horizontal/vertical relationship in the transformation cycle of Milan, this article develops a reflection on the current urban planning phase of this city referring to some of its specific characteristics.
Despite the emphasis on the common debate as well as the scientific one, considering the vertical development of Milan, this paper argues that the increasing quality of the city, as perceived in recent years, derives from its improved ‘horizontality.’
This article, also resorting to sources from the local debate, argues this thesis in a discussion on peculiar features of some of the most recent, and the near future, transformations of the city, including those of the former trade fair site (City Life project), Garibaldi-Repubblica area (Porta Nuova project), and the abandoned railway yards.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Architectural drawing and design
La sostenibilidad, como abanderada de la equidad y el reequilibrio de las disfunciones observadas en las dimensiones social, medioambiental, cultural y económica, se constituyó como la respuesta internacional a los síntomas de colapso. Constituyéndose como la tendencia internacional aceptada, se apostó por su incorporación a todas las políticas públicas tratando de forma progresiva de consolidar la transición de un modelo basado en el crecimiento económico, a un modelo basado en los principios de sostenibilidad urbana. Principio que finalmente se instituyó bajo la nota común denominado Regeneración urbana Integrada.
La transición a este modelo urbano sostenible desencadenó la creación de herramientas para el análisis, evaluación y proposición de soluciones para el reequilibrio de las relaciones, ahora desproporcionadas, entre el hombre y el medio. Estas nuevas herramientas, que derivaron en la creación de sistemas de indicadores cuantitativos, serán el núcleo central de la presente investigación que, a través de su análisis, tratara de mostrar la relación que subyace entre la metodología empleada para su definición, el modelo sostenible heredado de los documentos internacionales, y la permanencia de las tendencias insostenibles en los sistemas urbanos.
Abstract:
Sustainability, as the standard-bearer of equity and rebalancing of dysfunctions observed in the social, environmental, cultural and economic dimensions, was established as the international response to these sings of imminent collapse. Becoming itself as the accepted international trend, the firm commitment to its incorporation in all public policies was established, trying progressively to consolidate the transition from a model based on economic growth to a model based on the principles of urban sustainability. This principle was finally established under the common approach called Integrated Urban Regeneration.
The transition to this sustainable urban model triggered the creation of tools for the analysis, evaluation and proposition of solutions for the rebalancing of the unbalanced relationships between human beings and the environment. These new instruments that led to the creation of quantitative indicators systems will be the core of the present research that, through its analysis, will try to show the relationship that underlies the methodology used for its definition, the sustainable model inherited from the international documents, and the permanence of the unsustainable tendencies in the urban systems.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
To commence this conference, the following essay presents the results of the Church Census for the Diocese of Bologna in comparison with national statistics regarding the number of churches and priests in other Italian dioceses. The Census of Italian Churches is then contextualized in a sequence of historical representations within the ecclesiastical landscape, reflecting an evaluation with regards to a new orderliness and its potential usefulness both in relation to a deeper knowledge of the buildings and to a more efficient management. The distribution of Churches in the dioceses of Bologna confirms the national trend which displays a higher density in rural areas and a residential decline, where the clergy is not interested in starting processes of restoration and promotion. Given these results, it is then necessary to expand social and institutional programs in order to generate territorial plans aimed to manage not a single church but their plurality which emerges in the landscape as a real territorial infrastructure.
Architectural drawing and design, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
Negli ultimi anni si sta diffondendo anche nelle grandi città Europee, un fenomeno complesso che coinvolge la disciplina dell’architettura: l’agricoltura urbana, ovvero la pratica della coltivazione, di prodotti orticoli “nella città, per la città”. La produzione agricola, trasportata in un contesto urbano, diviene ad oggi una strategia concreta per la riqualificazione delle città grazie a: l’innesco di una rete di attività sociali, ricreative e commerciali, la possibilità di rifunzionalizzazione di spazi privati e pubblici (soprattutto quelli inutilizzati), di creazione di verde condiviso, la possibilità di integrazione con l’ambiente costruito, la valorizzazione di stili di vita sostenibili, l’occasione di educazione e collante sociale, il potenziamento e nuove possibilità all’infrastruttura verde (produttiva). Questo fenomeno necessita dunque di essere studiato per comprenderne e definirne le potenzialità, poiché l’architetto è chiamato a concepire spazi per rispondere a nuove esigenze ed a progettare soluzioni innovative alle diverse scale. Sulla base di tale consapevolezza è stata condotta una ricerca sul tema della riqualificazione della città in chiave sostenibile e sulle nuove tecnologie da mettere in atto finalizzata ad analizzare ed individuare le possibilità dell’agricoltura urbana come strategia innovativa per il potenziamento delle reti verdi nella città, definendo lo spettro di possibilità che questa offre al progettista, e di rimando alla pubblica amministrazione, per una nuova interpretazione della funzione sia dello spazio aperto che del patrimonio costruito.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Architectural drawing and design