Project and Design Management
Greg Grammatopoulos
Urban Hierarchy
In order to accommodate the needs of a varied population, an urban lifestyle should be complemented with a spectrum of distinct communities. While the high densities in the urban centers should concentrate development and sponsor a lifestyle of intensity, residential districts further afield should engender a more rural character with development spread out over greater distances. A tightly-woven network of roadways and transit should secure access to smaller villages and towns. Each to play an integral part in the maturation of a new urban development, developing a unique character in response to local population and needs while maintaining an established relation to the larger region.
Public Realm
Developed in unison with the urban hierarchy should be a collection of open spaces, appropriately scaled to accommodate the needs of the adjacent population. On a regional scale, an interconnected network of open spaces should be used to delineate site boundaries and create a buffer along freeways and major roadways. Such a strategy isolates areas of dissimilar use and establishes a cohesive corridor suitable for recreation. Leaving areas of unbuilt space enables the future designation of a number of land uses – places of worship, plazas, parks, wetlands, riparian corridors, watersheds or urban agriculture. A landscaped regional park and a continuous greenbelt are elemental in the creation of a regional open space network.
On a local scale, smaller neighborhood parks and plazas will provide intimate arenas for social gathering. While fully integrated into the urban environment, they will provide a natural escape from the city environment and provide corners of quiet contemplation. Promenades or cornices along waterfronts takes advantage of expansive views and become ideal locations for street-level retail.
Transit Orientation
The transit corridors are the structural backbones of an urban development. They are indispensable for the circulation and strength of the region. A concerted network of light-rail, trams and buses ensures the working-class comprehensive access to the region and improves employee mobility. Additionally, implementing efficient public transit not only reduces the dependence on the automobile, it reduces automobile infrastructure and frees space for civic use and parks. Creating an urban fabric based on the needs of the automobile segregates human interaction and establishes an unrealistic scale.
Orienting development along transit corridors, however, catalyzes the type of dense, mixed-use development which encourages social interaction and a more organic human movement. Roadways should not be abandoned, but scaled down to establish an environment conducive to pedestrian mobility. Only through a comprehensive transit network can communities sustain themselves without coalescing into unfavorable sprawl.
