Urban Planning: City Concepts, Morphology, and Transport
City Concepts and Criteria
City planning considers three main criteria:
- Numeric: Starting rates vary by city, for example: Argentina (ARG), Belarus (BY), France (FRA) 2000, U.S. 2500, Austin 5000, Spain (ESP) 10,000, and Mechanics 20,000.
- Concentration: Density, continuity, and real numbers, focusing on the continuity of houses.
- Professional Activity: No need to exclude large cities and rural areas, including Mediterranean and major fishing ports.
Urban Morphology
Urban morphology examines the city’s outline, identifying geometric shapes and their historical context. Old city streets often appear scrambled, with some dead ends. Pre-industrial cities were enclosed by walls, maximizing available space. Deterioration from wars, fires, and time has slowly modified cities according to population needs, such as services and transport. Monumental areas are well-connected for tourist visits, highlighting historical significance.
Orthogonal Plan
This simple plan uses perpendicular streets and buildings with a parallel shape. During the late 19th century, many cities removed walls and traced expansions. This plan allows for fairways and sunny streets outside the village. Expansions were built for middle and upper-class houses, while lower floors were for the working class. Horizontal and vertical traffic is easy, but diagonal movement is complicated, leading to solutions like Barcelona’s diagonal avenues.
Radiocentric Plan
This plan radiates from a central focus, with streets crossing in circles. The center often features activities and communications, such as a triumphal arch.
New City Plans
Architects and politicians are developing new, coherent city planning methods, such as the British model with a large city surrounded by green parks. In the U.S., bedroom cities are residential areas with individual houses and gardens, causing significant distances between jobs and homes.
Transport and Urban Morphology
The railway’s influence on urban areas led to growth, allowing people to live far from work. Urban transport development in the 19th century introduced trams, causing large traffic from the town center to the suburbs, which became dormitories. People could live away from work by traveling via tram. Buses facilitated more flexible and specific travel within urban centers. Cars have led to the creation of places outside the city where people live, creating agglomerations of cities in more pleasant and tranquil locations.