urban planning project
URPN 201 Instructor: Bob CowellAssigned : April 5, 2021 Total: 100 PointsDue: April 21, 2021 ASSIGNMENT#2: CITY EVOLUTION In this assignment, you are asked to research the historic background of a selected city and how the city’s physical design has transformed over time. As you learned in the lectures, design, especially urban design is largely influenced by many different aspects of society. In particular, a city is a mirror of human activities and thoughts, as it is an outcome of development decisions made by individuals. Therefore, it is important to understand how theoretical perspectives shaped the city and the implementation of human activities. You are asked to choose one city from the list of cities below. You are then asked to evaluate the physical development of the City against each of the identified timelines and related design movements. For example, if your city is Houston and you are evaluating the historic period between the 1990s and 2010s, take a look at the new development patterns during that era, as this era is generally under the strong influence of New Urbanism. It means many new developments happening in this period express the principles of New Urbanism such as, walkable streets, pedestrian-oriented activities, reduced street widths, and so on. If your findings are that this type of developments prevailed in Houston during the selected time period, you may want to argue that Houston was under the significant influence of New Urbanism in the early 2000s. You do not have to search for many different cases, but at least one case representing the suitable example of each of the historic influences would be a good start. List of Cities List of Historic Timelines and Related Design Movements Houston, Texas San Antonio, Texas Denver, Colorado Atlanta, Georgia Chicago, Illinois Phoenix, Arizona Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Kansas City, Missouri New York, New York Dallas, Texas Detroit, Michigan 1890’s to 1920’s: Post-Industrial Utopian influence such as Ebenezer Howard, Raymond Unwin, and Daniel Burnham. Related design movements included Garden Cities and City Beautiful. Notable projects include Greenbelt, Maryland and the Chicago World’s Fair 1920’s to 1940’s: Early Suburban influence such as Clarence Perry, John Nolen, and Clarence Stein. Related design movements included the Neighborhood Unit and the Residential Super-block. Notable projects include Mariemont Ohio and Radburn, New Jersey 1930’s to 1960’s: Modernism and Suburbia influence such as LeCorbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. Related design movements include the Radiant City, Towers in the Park and the Disappearing City. Notable projects include St. James Town Toronto and Broadacre City Environmental influence such as Ian McHarg, Lewis Mumford, Kevin Lynch, and Jane Jacobs. Notable projects include the Woodlands, Greenwich Village in New York, and Germantown in Memphis, TN. 1960’s-1980’s: Urban Design Reclaimed influence such as Kevin Lynch, Jane Jacobs, and Ian McHarg. Related design movements included Image of a City and Design with Nature. Notable projects include preservation of Greenwich Village, New York, Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland and Amelia Island, Florida 1990’s – 2010’s: New Urbanism Influence such as Andres Duany and Peter Calthorpe. Related design movements include New Urbanism and Transit Oriented Development. Notable projects include Seaside and Stapleton in Denver, Colorado Helpful Points To make this assignment more productive and to narrow your scope of work at the same time, you may want to consider the following steps: 1) Browse some local newspapers or internet websites providing news or some informative contents (not gossip) about the selected city. 2) Find out one or two interesting urban development projects that happened in the selected city and search for more detailed information on the developments. You may also want to view photo imagery on Google Earth to look for distinctive physical patterns associated with the various time periods. 3) Look at the year of construction or plan for selected projects, and try to connect to the historic events that are in the table. 4) Write down any possible linkages between the developments and design principles of that era. If the developments were placed in the mid-1930s, then it probably was influenced by modernism design principles such as, car-oriented, efficiency-maximized, proportions, symmetry and so on. Whereas a project that took place in the late 1960’s was probably characterized by Suburbia design principles such as, car-dominated, distinct separation of uses, very low density, etc. 5) Write down your thoughts about the projects and the city. Good questions to think about are; do you see any similar development patterns still going on? Or do you see the development patterns changing? Finally, if you were asked to modify the project to bring it closer to the design ideals expressed by the principal proponents of the era, what would you do (i.e., increase open spaces or density, change the street pattern, etc)? The Deliverable Your report should be at least three pages, using 11-size fonts with 1.15 spacing. It should be written in a succinct manner and provide a keen observation on the projects and their linkages to the history. You should use graphics (aerial photos or representative images) to help illustrate your findings and conclusions. You do not need to be a historian to finish this assignment, but you should be aware of the differences in historic movements. Your lecture slides, reading materials, and a little bit of internet searching skills will help you get through. I have provided a brief example of the type of information that should be contained in your report to help illustrate what is required with this assignment. This assignment is due by 5:00 pm April 21, 2021. Please send the assignment via email to
[email protected] Amarillo, Texas through the urban design movements 1890 – 1920 Post-Industrial Utopia This was a time of very early formation of the City, being incorporated only in 1913, a few examples exist influenced by this movement displayed in the following.This first example is the first park developed in Amarillo, in the very early 1900’s. It’s natural or pastoral design and statuary are reminiscent of design elements found in parks common in the City Beautiful movement The second example is the City cemetery. Again, the pastoral or park-like design and placement of key structures are reminiscent of the City Beautiful movement. The third example shares features found both in the City Beautiful movement and the modernist movement – owing to its development in the 1930’s. The park with central axis reflects City Beautiful influence while the civic cluster is more reflective of the early modernist movement. The final example is actually a residential example with City Beautiful and garden City influence embedded in a development heavily influenced by the Early Suburban design – again owing in part, to its date of development in the late 1920’s. Note the central traffic circle and streets radiating outward. 1920-1940 Early Suburban This was a major growth period for the City and examples of this pattern abound. This pattern is so widespread in the City that it has in many ways become linked with its identity, enabling elements of this design concept to remain relevant even in contemporary designs. This first example is a residential development from the 1920’s-30’s and is a nearly textbook example of the neighborhood unit. Contained within a residential superblock, the curvilinear streets provide high levels of connectivity while maintaining privacy. The integration of a large neighborhood park, small pocket parks, and a neighborhood school further exemplify this influence. The second example is a good example of a fully developed residential superblock, bound on all four sides by an arterial street. Note the central location of the school and park and the corner locations of commercial and multi-family, again characteristics often found in superblocks and in the neighborhood unit. This final example is a good representation of a transition from the neighborhood unit within a residential superblock to Suburbia within a residential superblock. Note the difference in street patterns between north and south and the inclusion of the central park and school on the south versus the north. 1930 – 1960 Modernism and Suburbia As with many U.S. cities, Amarillo quickly saw a transition from developments that accommodated the automobile, as seen in the early suburban period of urban design to one utterly dominated by the automobile common with Modernism and the move to Suburbia. These examples are best seen in early auto-oriented shopping centers and civic complexes. This is an example of an early auto-oriented shopping center. The center is located on the edge of a residential superblock but has clearly been developed with the automobile in the forefront of the design. This is a pretty classic example of a Suburbia pattern of development with curvilinear disconnected streets, limited public open space, low density, and single use. This is an example of just how extreme this influence has been in the later part of the 20th Century as exhibited by an auto-oriented regional mall. 1960 – 1980 Urban Design Reclaimed Unfortunately the City of Amarillo, largely remained in the grip of the design practices of Suburbia and as in many older urban centers in the U.S., the dis-investment in its urban core. Small examples of urban plazas are evident projects from this era. This example is of the City’s Civic Center which was largely constructed in the early 1960’s. Though it is predominantly influenced by modernist designs, later redevelopment of portions of the area such as the Centennial Plaza relate more to urban design 1990 - 2010 New Urbanism A few small examples can be found in Amarillo demonstrating a nod to this design movement. Interestingly, within these developments you can still see the remnants of the influence of the neighborhood unit and the residential superblock. In this example you can see the influence of the residential superblock and the neighborhood unit with the neighborhood school and the perimeter arterials. However, you can also note the nod toward walkable areas and a more formal urban design element with the central path system and more formal green space. This example again retains the residential superblock though you can notice the increasing intrusion of larger commercial and multi-family areas along its perimeter, common with suburbia developments. The more formal green spaces and walking paths represent New Urbanist influences. Note the central traffic circle and radiating streets. These features provide some of the examples of the details found in more contemporary developments, again under the influence of the New Urbanist movement. Note the reintroduction of civic features such as gazebos and clock towers and the formal pocket parks and walking paths. City Evolution of Denver, Colorado Lauren Stephens URBN 201—700 Fall 2018 Denver was founded in 1858 and towards the end of the 1880’s and the beginning of the