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WHAT IS THE CITY?

WHAT IS THE CITY?. An Artifact: (Object/Tool Produced by Human Workmanship). Santos: Port City of Brazil. TOPICS. Urban Form Process of City Building Motivations for the Process of City Building Historical Periods and Categories of Cities. I. URBAN FORM: Architectural Historians.

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WHAT IS THE CITY?

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  1. WHAT IS THE CITY? An Artifact: (Object/Tool Produced by Human Workmanship)

  2. Santos: Port City of Brazil

  3. TOPICS • Urban Form • Process of City Building • Motivations for the Process of City Building • Historical Periods and Categories of Cities

  4. I. URBAN FORM: Architectural Historians • Is always lodged in cultural contexts • An artifact (object or tool produced by human workmanship Architectural Meaning Brasilia: Candangos here to stay

  5. Spiro Kostof– Architectural Historian • “The more we know about cultures, about the structure of society in various periods of history in different parts of the world, the better we are able to read their built environment”.

  6. Understanding meaning (of form) requires that we know the intentions of the builders. • accommodates a startling variety of social structures • Territorial aristocracy in Greek Sicily • Republicanism in Thomas Jefferson’s America • Setting for the Second Coming in Salt Lake City • Cosmic setting for Joseph Stalin Grid

  7. Overarching Principle to Understand the Meaning Urban Form The form of the city is neutral until it is impressed with specific cultural content

  8. I I. URBAN PROCESS • First sense: people and forces and institutions that bring about urban form • Who designs cities? • What procedures do they go through? • What are the empowering agencies and laws • A central concern of social science

  9. Alternative (Architects & Urban Planners) • Second sense: physical change through time • City is never at rest • Physical environment is a recorder of physicality; perceived as akin to the flow of a river

  10. Rise and Fall of Cities • London and Lisbon • Mexico City (Tenochtitlán) • Pit hole, Pennsylvania • Guatemala City • Phenomenon of urban longevity

  11. Lisbon Today

  12. THE ROMAN “RIVER”: A CASE STUDY Founding Myth: The wolf, who is feeding the twins Romulus and Remus; this is probably the most famous legend Etruscan walled town, Civita di Bagnoregio

  13. Roman Forum at Height of Empire

  14. Rome : 1800 (Bucholic Ruin)

  15. Contemporary Rome

  16. Changing Population of Rome • 1600 • 100,000 • 2009 • 2,726,927 • 350 BC • 30,000 • 44 BC • 1,000,000 • 1528 • 20,000

  17. DISASTERS AND THEIR AFTERMATHS • Staying put • Urban conflagration • London • Chicago • Earthquakes, Floods and Hurricanes • Indus Valley civilizations • Myths accompanying the destruction of Port Royal

  18. THE DESTRUCTION OF WAR • Damnato Memoriae (Carthage) • Sacks: light and through • Second World War • Dresden • Hiroshima • Reconstruction • Aftermath of terrorist bombing in Israel • Warsaw • Firebombing: Dresden

  19. Haussmannization: Policy I • Policy of massive urban surgery • Baron Haussmann remade the urban fabric of Paris between 1850-70 • model for cities anxious to meet new demands of traffic

  20. Haussmannization: Policy II • State exercises power of eminent domain • Expropriated land (after surgery) • May be sold to a third party • Not original owner

  21. Haussmannization: Public Utility and Stretching the Law • Legal presumption that running new streets or opening squares against grain of old streetscapes – is for the public good • Relatively short history • French law 1841 – public work construction permitted, but could only follow line of existing streets • 1850 law – allowed clearing of unhealthy areas • 1852 decree allowed for straightening streets

  22. Haussmannization: Law & Property • Taking of property • Originally prerogative of absolutist kings • Augustus, in building Roman Forum, retain myth of that private property is unassailable • Muslim law – arbitration of price • Once taken property almost always demolished

  23. Haussmannization: Limits • Structure of preexisting buildings/street patterns • Financial costs

  24. HAUSSMANNIZATION OUTSIDE OF EUROPE • First undertaken in provincial France • Muslim World • Cairo • Sofia – five radial streets • Latin America • Buenos Aires • Rio de Janeiro

  25. Robert Moses and New York City • First appointed by La Guardia • Reshaped transportation in Manhattan and the New York metropolitan area • Technocratic approach • Replaced when he challenged interests of ruling elite

  26. Urban Renewal Western Style • Slum clearance in U.S. in 1960’s led to replacement by large monolithic structures and open spaces • Central business districts transformed (more parking lots) • Similar trends in Europe and Japan • Revolution with these transformations led to “gentrification.”

  27. III. MOTIVATIONS FOR THE PROCESS OF CITY BUILDING • Normative models have to do with the prime motivation of the city, or its self perception • Three normative models • Cosmic Model • Practical Model • Organic model

  28. COSMIC MODEL • Plan viewed as an interpretation of the universe • Cosmos of creators of Teotihuacán recreated in design of its creators • Baroque ideal plans as an articulated expression of power - monumental axis

  29. Brasilia: Home to a High Cast of Priests of Brazilian Nationalism

  30. Resembles Shape of an Airplane • Wings • Commercial areas • Blocks of residential apartment buildings • Foreign Embassies • Fuselage • Offices of National Government

  31. “Airplane” Design • Nose of plane on east edge of city • Key government departments • President’s office • Congress • Supreme Court (Housed in Plaza of Three Powers)

  32. Lago do Paranoa • West edge: site of presidential residence (Palace of the Dawn) • Surrounds the city on three sides • Formed by dam across Parana River

  33. PRACTICAL MODEL • Views sees city as • factual, • functional • cool, • grid towns of the U.S. • Le Corbusier’sRadiant City made up of parts • Small • Undifferentiated • Autonomous parts • Linked to the machine and to the rise of industrial civilization

  34. ORGANIC MODEL • City seen as a living thing - rather than a machine (F. Olmsted, L. Mumford). • Came into vogue after First World • Only this model possesses a more or less “homologous” (corresponding or similar in position) morphology (biological study of the form and structure of organizations

  35. Purposes of the Three Normative Models • Provide the basic metaphors for the city • Supply the language of discourse

  36. IV. Periods and Categories of Cities Based on Historical Periods • Pre-industrial city – from work of Gideon Sjoberg. • Population rarely exceeded 100,000 • Minimal land use specialization • Little social/physical mobility

  37. Pre-Industrial City Center of the Pre-industrial city taken up by: : religion government nodules residences of elite

  38. Categories of Cities: Industrial City – Gradually Replaced Pre-industrial City • Crucial date: 18th. Century • Urban land seen primarily as a source of income • Ownership divorced from use • Property primarily means to produce rent British industrial landscape (18th century)

  39. LONDON: FIRST INDUSTRIAL CITY

  40. Categories of Cities: Socialist City Central Operative Principals • Abolition of the capitalist system of control over land and property • Old business district replaced by a monumental governmental core • Retail and banking takes up a small area of urban landscape

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