To
better understand urban development is was helpful for me to look at the role
of urban design in process of urban change through the effects brought on by
regulators, producers, and users. Urban design and the dynamics of urban change
occur through the flow of investment spurred by actors, builders, and facilitators.
The urban process of creating place happens through human intervention and it
is our duty as designers to implement rules of spatial organization to create a
regulatory framework for a better developed place.
This
set of lectures covered some important information on the regulations and code
of urban design and how they influence how cities take shape and form.
Regulating urban form requires many components to function properly such as
through the implementation of zoning restrictions, guidelines, code ordinances,
form-based codes and building codes. Code is a set of rules of spatial
organization which helps us to better understand how things relate to one
another as in through their context and surroundings. Modern code and
regulations have added on a notion of segregated, zoned spaces in a clinical,
technical, compartmental manner. Urban design codes in particular are
regulatory frameworks of place making which emphasize physical planning and
predictable urban form giving a “sense of place”. For example, the American
urban landscape, also known as “generic America”, as an urban development process, was set up to solve
problems such as sprawl, car dependency, and big box developments. Development
and growth boundaries were established to help contain this as well.
The
reading, Production of the Build
Environment, highlights urban development as a process to create and
transform the city’s socio-spatial fabric. The understanding of this helps with
shaping/ designing the built environment. From a broader look at the
macro-scale, social and economic processes shape cities. The best way to
understand urban process is to concentrate on development agencies and the
structures they interact with and the special context within which they
operate. The image below, from this reading excerpt, illustrates how the combination of the physical and social environment
work together to collaborate resources and rules and ideas to form new urban
development. From my own experience as a designer, I know that many aspects of
design come from various different sources such as past successful designs and
even code book specifications which aim to frame the public realm.
From
the lecture on code, form based codes were discusses as an American product to put
an emphasis on building relationships and fitting the building to its use and
surroundings. This type of urban code calls attention to/ focuses on streets
and neighborhoods, mixed use, building to boundary lines, diversity in
neighborhoods and the ability to transform and preserve as opposed to what
traditional zoning does. The hybrid code
approach combines form based codes with traditional zoning which allows
communities to adjust code to fit design goals and resources. With varying
objectives in this hybridized code there are degrees of flexibility that can
benefit urban development. Code can be a pain to work with sometimes, but
having this option of flexibility has allowed for some well-crafted spaces such
as Portland’ s Pearl District which was primarily crafted through Piece-by-piece
urban design. This typology of urban design consists primarily of incremental
district development. General policies and procedures are applied to a district
of a city to steer development in specific directions while still giving
developers the freedom of choice.
Political
Economy Models are the driving forces of the urban development process, which act
as its structural imperatives. Capital-labor models the way markets are
structured such as the roles of capitol, labor and land. Structure-agency
models the state at a central/local level, the financial industry, construction
industry, planning regulations, taxes, and public policies which help to govern
the development process of urban design. These models set guidelines and the
basis of code for which designers can develop urban space. They can be a bit restrictive
sometimes, as I known well, but in the end they are for the best and keep the
political and economic world in check.
As
a design student, I am already seeing the importance of understanding code, and
regulatory frameworks in the creation of the physical realm in relation to
developing a well-functioning space in which people will want to accommodate. I
believe that code from an urban design standpoint can also be about
accessibility and safety of the space even through it was not really brought up
in this module. Based on what I have learned, political economies are strong
influencers in the development of urban space, but there is still some
flexibility of code which help designers to develop a responsive environment to
its surroundings.
