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International Journal of Environment and Sustainability, 2016, 5(2): 1-11 3
sustainable life cycles should also be added as Figure 1: The European city model (here
drivers of our future urban planning. Barcelona) features frequently variations of 3 to
Urban design is intimately dependant on the maximum 10-storey urban perimeter blocks,
economic cycle. Usually, much of the worst supporting the public realm, mixed-use
development emerges from a building boom, compactness and streetscape.
when there is too much development and not
enough reflection. For centuries or even Cities and Their Public Spaces, Always
millennia, good and thoughtful urban design has Evolving
combined and balanced artistic with scientific
and technological knowledge to shape civic The commercialisation of urban public space
places that are rich in cultural diversity and and the increasing involvement of the private
history, and sought to continue the richness and sector in the design of public space have
complexity of the older city districts. The aim frequently been criticised. In the age of
was always the creation of ‘place’, a concept communication technologies and networks, old
defined as a meaningful specific location with public space typologies are being retrofitted to
emotional, spiritual and symbolic dimensions contemporary needs while new types of public
(Sitte 1889/1945; Jacobs 1961; Rossi 1966; spaces are emerging. In this regard, Mehta notes
Rowe & Koetter 1978; Alexander 1979; ‘while modern societies no longer depend on
Norberg-Schultz 1980; Madanipour 1996; the town square or the piazza for basic needs,
Kostof 1999; Krier 2003; Bosselmann 2008). good public space is required for the social and
psychological health of modern communities’
The attributes of compactness, mixed-use and (Mehta 2014, p. 53).
walkability are a city’s elegant and enduring
qualities, where monumental civic buildings In all this we should remember that cities were
touch us and where quality density manifests never intended to be completed. Any city is
itself through diversity in variations of 3 to inherently evolutionary, in constant transfor-
maximum 10-storey urban blocks, supporting mation, and much in its character lies in the
the public realm and streetscape (see Figure 1). complexity and diversity of its urban spaces.
They are also well-known principles of timeless However, with the impact of globalization,
urban design that should be applied to all new population growth, demographic change,
developments, and an experienced urban climate change and the urgency of global
designer will always be aware of how to apply warming, achieving sustainable urban develop-
them generously to existing urban situations to ment has become significantly more relevant as
ensure pleasant, human-scale, compact yet well as urgent and complex. The questions that
comfortable, mixed-use precincts and neigh- characterize the contemporary city have now
bourhoods (avoiding monotonous, repetitive shifted; the spaces between buildings keep
buildings, which are so easy to create). changing and the notion of ‘Smart City’ is
discussed everywhere. Since the Industrial
Today, many developments lack the monu- Revolution the process of urbanisation has
mental grandeur, aesthetic unity and continuity
that we associate with the great urban
achievements of earlier eras. But we can build
on these distinctive characteristics of our cities
while maintaining their sense of place, cultural
diversity and walkability, to produce meaning-
ful public-spirited works. In arguing for a new
ethics of the urban condition, we can point out
that the traditional urbanism of European cities
- such as Barcelona, Paris, Berlin or Athens - is
also ecological urbanism (Lehmann 2005;
Brugmann 2009).
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