Brasilia, Brazil, 29 March - 3 April 1999
The Urban Village and City of Tomorrow Revisited
Mark David Major, Alan Penn and Professor Bill Hillier
The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies
(Torrington Place Site)
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
England
tel (44) (0)171 504 5914
fax (44) (0)171 813 4363
email mark.major@ucl.ac.uk
www http://www.spacesyntax.com
The paper describes the application of space syntax in the development
of strategic masterplans for the redevelopment of two problematic modern
housing estates in the United Kingdom. The estates examined are Chalkhill
Housing Estate in Wembley, North London and Marple Square Housing Estate
in central Nottingham. At first glance, the formal design philosophies
of each estate would appear to be quite different. One could be characterised
a 'city of tomorrow' model based on high-rise, high density, generous
provision of green space and elevated 'streets in the sky', whereas the
other as an 'urban village' model incorporating low-rise flats aggregated
on a hillside geography and a pedestrianised pseudo-street system. Both
possess a rigid separation between pedestrians and vehicles. The paper
proposes that careful analysis of historical precedent and the local context
can provide a powerful diagnostic tool for use in redevelopment aimed
at improving the quality of the urban environment in existing housing
areas. In these two cases, it is suggested that despite the differing
formal design philosophies, they both exhibit a common spatial design
philosophy based on enclosure, repetition and hierarchy (Hillier, 1988).
The paper then describes how space syntax can build on the knowledge based
of existing areas to evaluate masterplanning options for new housing developments
on the urban fringe.
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