Community Planning & Design

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A Brief History (1)

Defensive outpost: live in close proximity within a

walled enclosure with agricultural fields around

the perimeter .

A Brief History (2)

费城 1683年规划 (by William Penn, established a

new pattern for town design, one that could

easily sustain growth)

1785 the Land

Ordinance ,

pioneers moved

west, frontier

town has

uniform size of

6 s. miles.

A Brief History (3)City Beautiful Movement, 1893 the World

Columbian Exposition;

Garden City Movement, by social reformer,

Ebenezer Howard (1898) Tomorrow: a peaceful

path to real reform;

A Brief History (3) (late 19th C. to mid-20th)

Last half C. with a preoccupation of parcel plan reviews

that focus myopically on the minutiae of detail rather than

on how to accommodate growth effectively to make better

places for people to live.

Think of our communities as Living organisms

Not the domain of a single professional group. It has

to be a cooperative effort between the public and

private sectors if we really want to start making

better places to live.

Rudimentary tools for this task are already in place

in the form of an existing system of site plan, zoning

regulations.

However, this system’s flaws lie in the fact that it

offers guidelines for solutions that are minimally

acceptable rather than requiring the very best. The

essential character of many communities has been

lost, making it almost impossible to distinguish one

region of the country from another.

What is community design?The art of making sustainable living places that both thrive

and adapt to people’s needs for shelter, livelihood,

commerce, recreation and social order.

The nature of community design suggests some

predetermined intention rather than haphazard

coincidence. But it is more than the adherence to a set of

rules for development or a means for implementing the

political will of government. It is the merging of what we

know about ourselves with what we know about our

neighbor when we chose to live in proximity to one

another.

The Building Block of Community Design

From a physical standpoint, the components apparent in

successful communities can be inferred from The Image

of the City –Kevin Lynch (1960)

Paths

Edges

Districts

Nodes

Landmarks

Paths: predominant form-giving element within a community; including

walkways, streets, transit lanes, canals, railways and interstate

highways. They are lifelines along which the majority of activity

takes place and adjacent to which lies all the functions a

community depends on: gov., commerce, industry and housing.

In true communities, there are networks of paths for

automobiles, pedestrians, bicylcists, mass transits and wildlife.

Automobiles are not given priority over every other user.

Boulevard\avenue\street\close\alley\lane: disperse traffic as evenly

as possible, optimize opportunities for citizens to chose the best

mode or route to travel.

Anticipate a variety of users

Create a balanced environment;

传统方法 : 支路、次干道、干道？

EdgesLinear elements that are the boundaries between

two kinds of districts. While not as dominant as

paths, they are perceived as strong organizing

elements.

They are lively, positive places or shared open

spaces. They could be paths such as

landscaped boulevards, or they could be

creeks, farmland, and forest.

Districts

Areas that can be entered. You know when you get

there. Buildings or structures within a district

share certain recognizable commonalities and

characteristics.

NodesSpecific points in a community that have a name/

place recognition value. They are points to and

from which people travel, and very often they

serve as the center or core of a district. Nodes are

closely associated with paths and thus can also be

found at the transition points between districts.

Another important characteristic of nodes is that

they are usually thematic in nature.

Landmarks Are very similar to nodes, but are usually perceived as a single

element, either structural or natural. They are the reference points

used by all in navigating a path through the community, and they

usually take the form of great public spaces, artwork, or a

significant building.

Landmarks usually contrast greatly with their background in which

they are perceived, which enhances their visual importance in the

landscape as beacons or reference points. They evoke a feeling of

familiarity with a particular area and helps to establish an identity

for it.

toolsAxial design: very powerful space articulator, usually

overpower the other organizing elements. Linear in nature,

is used to establish order, and serve to connect two or

more features or terminal points.

Formality? Rigidity?

HierarchyThe gradation of design features, important in any spatial

design;

One of the best methods to reduce a grandly scaled space to a

more comfortable human scale.

Drama and excitement be enhanced.

TransitionJoin adjacent space; transitions are overlap areas that exhibit characteristics of both or all of the spaces that meet in a certain location. Repetition of a design element, similar sizing, color of architectural features, or landscape materials, or even the continuation of paving patterns,

Dominant Feature

Create contrast; crescendos to

climax, art (focus), focal point

gives a space a purpose,

(empty)

How many?

Sense of enclosureScale of space

Direct Relationship between the height of vertical elements

and horizontal distance between them that must be

respected in creating a functional yet comfortable space.

H>d? vertical >space

D>4*h? sense of enclosure lost

Fall btw thw two extremes at a ratio 2-3 D/H,desirable

Circulation: enrich a static space, 2 lanes to 6, 8 lanes?

Function or space?

Open space: ethereal?

The spatial componentsCirculation

Open space: seemingly void zone

between vertical element-not just

the leftovers.

Structure: > 25%

Multiple buildings of exactly

uniform height/avoided.

Where does community design begin?

Maps

Information

Comprehensive plans

Zoning ordinances

Soil surveys

Team?

Analysis drawingsExisting conditions map

A site analysis

Character analysis

The design phaseNever one perfect plan.

The optimum solution will probably be the one that is the

best marriage of the market-driven goals of the program

and the desires of the community. –not necessarily the one

that makes the prettiest picture.

Freehand graphic sketch plan

Bubble diagram