19 Mayıs 2008 Pazartesi

IMPLEMENTING URBAN DESIGN

IMPLEMENTING URBAN DESIGN

In this article the role of urban design and designer is mentioned in the development process of a project. It is mentioned under four steps as the role of property development and the development process, “pipeline” model of development process, roles and relationships in the development process and issues of urban design quality.

Explaination of development process is summarized such as process incluiding of combining various inputs ( Land/Labour/Materials/Finance), and composing output and product as change of land use/ new altered building. In the middle of this process entrepreneur(developer) takes place with the role of bringing inputs together. The most clear explaination belongs to Michael Ball about development process he defines this process as a function of social relations specific to time and place, involving a variety of key actors.

To understand development process, some models are ımproved. Equilibrum Models: Includes effective demand,Event-sequence Model: gives improtant to management of stages in process, Agency Models: Explains actors and their relationships in the process, Strucr-ture Models: Explains relation between capital labour and land, Institutional Models: Mentions about events and agencies.

In this article development process is handled with event-sequence model with the pipe-line model that consits of development pressure and prospects, development feasibility and implementation. All of these stages are examined interms of public sector and developer. In a development process there can be external influences and these cause pressure. At the satge of feasibility, it is tested under five ways such as ownership constraints, in this occasion being multiple ownership can cause requiring land assembly. The other way is physical conditions such as site’s physical capasity, location, density and all of these effect developers statement. Third way is public procedures. All pocedures should include planning and development consent. These regulations give direction to development. Market condition is fourth way that consider of trade of between risk and reward, besides todays demand and predicted demand for future. The last way is project viability which is the most important part for both public and private sector because of the balance between cost and profit of the project. Design effects the cost and at sometimes viability requires modification of design to increase the land uses likely to produce most revenue. Developers arrange two types of finance; short term finance to cover costs during the development process and long term finance to cover the cost of holding the completed development as an investment.

The final implementation stage includes construction and sale or letting. Between all these process the other most important factor is key actors and their relationship with eachother. Because different actors perform different roles in the development process. Actors can be differ according to being demand or supply side. While investors, occupies, public sector (regulation), adjacent landowners and general public are in demand side, landowners, funders, builder play at the other side. Approach to price, design issues and factors of motivation differs according to these actors. The relationship between these actors defines development quality. So, urban designer never alone at this process. Designer have to mediater between these actors( suppliers, producers and consumers) with his/her design needs.

To sum up, in a development process objectives and golas of actors ar different for urban design project and it reflects to design quality. While urban designer waiting results of project in a long terms land owners waiting an increase land values in short term because of profit. In contrast to higher architectural quality and better quality materials, better urban design may involve no additional costs for viability.

Gulnur Vuruskan

152002002

IMPLEMENTING URBAN DESIGN

IMPLEMENTING URBAN DESIGN

Development of a urban design project is handled in this article with three stages as development pressure and prospects, development feasibility and implementation. On the other hand the key actors in terms of demand and supply side are mentioned because of having big role in project viability and urban design quality. Although many people struggle to explain development process it can be summarized by Michael Ball’ definition, he defines this process as a function of social relations specific to time and place, involving a variety of key actors. To understand many models are improved but in this article this process explained by pipeline model that is based on event-sequence model. This model consists of stages that is mentioned above.

Development pressure and prospects: Some externalities such as economic growth, fiscal policies, the impact of long term social and demographic trends, technological developments create development pressure and prospects which trigger activity within pipeline. In this stage defining a site is important for actors landowners, developers and urban designer.

Development Feasibility: In this stage five ways are defined;

- ownership constraints: Land aavaibility is often restricted by planning, physical, valuation or ownership constraints. Ownership is important for starting the project because if the site is multiple ownership and then it can be required to land assemling.

- physical conditions: physical capasity, location, density are important to determine the site can accomadate proposed development.

- public procedures: All pocedures should include planning and development consent. The regulations are important in terms of cost or delaying of process.

- Market condition: It includes trade of between risk and reward under the occasion of todays demand and predicted demand for future.

- project viability: Project viability depends on cost of aproject and gaining profit in ashort term in terms of developer. Design of a project can be changed according to cost so an urban design project can not include additional costs in terms of viability.

Implementation: Construction and sale or letting activities can be accepted to be in this stage. If the developer retains the project for letting, then his/her role changes to that of an investor. Once implementation starts, developers lose their flexibility of action.

At the last the development roles and actors are defined as mentioned above in terms of supply and demand sides with their approach to price, design quality factors, objectives,goals. Different actors perform different roles in the development process. Actors can be differ according to being demand or supply side. Urban designer plays in the middle of this relationship. Because the design elements and design quality can be changed at the final viability stage because of additional cost. Supplier side plays for short terms and profit while expectations of urban designer and community is long term. As a conclusion besides high architectural quality, good urban design also minimizes additional costs.

Murat Çevikayak

152002001

5 Mayıs 2008 Pazartesi

THE TEMPORAL DIMENSION

THE TEMPORAL DIMENSION

The article concerns about temporal(time)dimension of urban design under the circumstances of impacts of time on places, changing occasions in cycles by progressive or irreversible ways.
According to Kevin Lynch, affect of time on space can be experienced by two ways: First one is; rhytmic repetition which refers to breathing/sleeping/walking/cycles of sun/moon/the seasons...Second one is; progressive and irreversible change which refers to growth and decay time and space are related to each other.
Three key aspects of temporal dimension of urban design are;
Time cycles and management of activities in space.
Continuity and stability.
Changing urban design projects and policies.

Time Cycles: Main time cycles are based on natural cycles(our bodily cycles). The use of urban space differs according to these cycles of day,night,seasons. At different times of the day,night, urban environment is perceived and used differently and also users differ according to changing time cycle.
Urban designer have to be aware of these cycles to supply usable,effective, lively urban environment. Otherwise the urban space starts to be abondaned. The main point is to compose 24 hours sociable environments.

The Time Management of Public Space: Mixed use creates more life and activity in alocation. So, different land uses can be different preferences for different time cycles. Place design can be differ according to users such as retired people,working people.Their aim of the use of a place differs according to their life style.
Urban designers need to understand activity patterns, how to encourage activities through different time periods and how to achieve synergies from activities happening in the space and time.
Street design can change according to time. As people visit an area to see what is going on, urban viality is further stimulate and the public realm becomes animated by having more people on the streets and in cafes.
Safety, viality, attractive activities, crowdness,congestion are the important points in deigning public realm and design for a broad range of social group is essential for a community. In city centers some time periods are dead. To prevent this, the concept of 24 hour lively design can be applied.
Under the term of “march of time” article mentioned about that time pass causes technological, social and cultural changes. These changes and spirit of time affect urban environment physically. And also, natural processes, forces, wars, revolutions cause irreversible change on urban spaces. For instance, there are some basic time period that are affcted by these changes such as in history, at 1940s and 50s after II post warr there was buldozer movement on slum areas under the name of slum clearence, when we came 1960s and 70s sustainable design and beginning of conservation and soft urban renewal occured. At 1980s conservation of historic environments, buildings started. These are effects of irreversible changes on urban space. Under the topic of conservation Desdall list more common justifications;

Value for aesthetic Value for architectural diversity and contrast.
Value for environmental Value for functional diversity
Resource Value Value for Continuity of cultural memory and heritage
Economic Value Commercial Value
In the process of conservation, conservation policies chage over time. Important point is urban designers need to understant how environments adapt to change in this process. It is importnt to distinguish what is fundamental to the sense of place and should remain, from what is less important and can change. The visual and physical continuity of valued places relates to issue of the obsolescence of buildings and environments.
In historic protection process although there are many types of interventions such as restoration,preservation, refurbishment, conservation etc., it can not prevent the obsolescence. Another essential point of time dimension is to aware of what stays the same and what changes over time. While street and plot patterns changes slowly, buildings and landuses changes rapidly because of the effect of robustness, resillence. These concepts have an fundamental role.
Resillence is the ability to resist change without deformation. It resists physical and structural obsolescence. Robustness is the ability to accomodate chande without significant change in physical form. It resists functional obsolescence.
Under all these interventions fundamental point is management. Decisions have potentially long lasting implications and effects. Furthermore, given the short termism of markets and market behaviour, urban designers must consider long term issues relating to sustainability to create an viable environment and to supply social cultural economical continuity of a community.

GULNUR VURUSKAN
152002002

THE MORPHOLOGICAL DIMENSION

THE MORPHOLOGICAL DIMENSION
The urban morphology which is study of the form and shape of settlements, is explained under Conzen’s(1960) four morphological elements as land uses, building structures, plot pattern and street pattern.
Unlike other key elements, land uses are temporary. By the time changing land uses can be affect the plot pattern and also street pattern. Especially in old settlements change in land uses effect the existing building patterns because of the need of adaptation and conversion.
Building structures can be mentioned under the defined urban spaces. For instance, while in traditional pattern of urban space, building structures composes definete streets and also squares, in modernist urban space pattern building structures transforms to be an object in the undefined space. At the time under this transformation from traditional to modern, surviving of building structure starts to be depend on their robustness which refers the ability of adaptation to new uses or changing according to new need of building structure. For example, a townhouse may successively be an upmarket single-family home, then offices, then student bedsits.
Increasing needs and by the affect of time plot pattern starts to be changing. For example after the small one or two storey buildings, the need of high rise super blocks cause subdividion of large plots or amalgamations. In this process amalgamation is more general than subdivision. On the other hand this process changes the boundaries and causes demosntration of buildings mostly than plots.
Cadastral pattern is the network that is created by the movements and the blocks. Here the term “palimsest” is the most important issue to concern, which the process of change can totaly be observed through the marks of the old and the existing structure. Another thing that should be concerned is the permability of the general system which defines the access, perception and the circulation issues of the spaces of the city.
Concept of the capital web is the broadest thought of the public network. The social character of the spaces and the physical movement spaces interact in same spaces in the city. So, usage,movement and perception notions are what urban designers need to be aware of.
From traditional understanding that defines the relationship between social and physical life in an urban form within the streetscape and building pattern, to the modernist thought that consists of the isolation of the blocks from the ground in relationshipwise. The meaning of the urban elements and social character tend to loose. In this modern process, pod developments offered many different land uses in a single world which can be conceived as a seperate world both physically and socially. This loosing character of the pedestrian understanding, social life and livable street pattern, and the dominating existance of the car, the mobility factor resulted by the modern age; causes a need for reorganization of the activites and functions in the city to achieve a definition which roots the main necessities and adapts to the modern processes.
Gülnur VURUSKAN
152002002

The Temporal Dimension

The Temporal Dimension


The temporal dimension is unevitably the major fact of the design process. Since things changes in time, nothing left as it was thought at first. The environment is changing by seasons, day and nights, and we, as the living population on earth making rhythmical activities; wake, eat, work, sleep.
This rhythyms are the keys to the design process as an input to analyse the concentration of the uses related by the spaces.
The uses of the designed spaces must be importantly considered for that place to be used efficiently and safely by all individuals within all time and all conditions. The “soft” quality of the space should be provided for the activities, events and programmes, and also for the infrastructure and structure issues. The effect of time on physical environment, forces the designers to think about the future conditions, possibilities and the opportunities that should be aware of to develop effeiciency in design.
The elements that are used to define the effects of time on environment, are “resilience and robustness”. The former is the ability to resist change, while the latter is the ability to adapt the change. These elemets are highly used both to conserve a place or re –organize a place for a new use. The transformation of a housing block to a hospital or a streetscape that has been left in an urban center can be the examples for these concepts.
In conservation act, the structures and places are organied and protected. This is a way of resisting the change in time. The need of this act can be caused by many reasons but importantly, a place can resist change in time, not only with its physcial structure but also, the functions that it carried provided a continuity for it to stand in present time.
The designer’s role in an environment with independent force of time and physical structures, social relations; is to overact a design process that endures long time, adapt new uses or occasions with flexibility.

Murat Çevikayak
152002001

THE MORPHOLOGICAL DIMENSION

THE MORPHOLOGICAL DIMENSION

The morphology of the city is discussed the terms of space, configuration of urban form and layout pattern, which also be seperated in modernist and traditional, according to the creation of the places and buildings.
Urban designers, as they should be considering the patterns in local, will be analysing the land uses, structures, plot patterns and street patterns to create, develop, improve a creation within the inputs of existing.
Land use, which is oftenly a temporary character in the physical world, can be a definitive element in such conditions realized within relocation, redevelopment issues. Although adaptation or conversion of existing system is possible due to the change in the land use; demolition or plot amalgamation, redevelopment are also the consequences of the land use actions.
Building structures on the other hand, are more dominant in the urban environment. Since the traditional pattern to modern environment, the street and urban scape has merely changed except the spaces that has high robustness, which means they tend to adapt the upcoming conversion or change easily.
The most important elements of the urban environment are the plot pattern and the street pattern. The combination of these two creates the structure of the circulation and physical pattern of the city. The process of the change in the cities from these properties of plot and street forms, palimsest can be used to define this situation, where the new coming uses do not erase the marks of the existing use.
The important point when analysing an environment, with certain qualities is the permeability qualitiy. This defines the opportunuties that an environment, offers for its residents to read the city and acces the different points in different ways and make the city more vital.
In the modern environment, the settlement principles has changed radically. Different from the traditional thought, the buildings has been enlarged where the streetscape has lost its character between those bigger plots and free-standing structures. The super-block structures named as “pods” resulted with more isolated residents circulating between blocks. The mobility movement with the car invasion through the city life has also effected the loss of the street life in the cities.
The necessity of the streets for social and physical interact between individuals in the city to accomodate more healty environment, emerged new thought to develop a design concerning the necessities both of the individuals in modern time, and of the city for social and physical environment.

Murat Çevikayak
152002001