urban design principles address form and function

8/15/2019 Urban Design Principles Address Form and Function

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The scale of the discussion of urban design principles might legitimately range from a

bloc! to an entire city. (nd despite the term )urban design,) smaller towns and cities,

including villages, need to become very aware of urban design principles.

Citizens' List Of Urban Design Principles

*hile the boundaries of the field may be elusive, we can and should set forth some of

the most obvious urban design principles that will help you improve your community.

1. Centers And Nodes et Up !"e Pattern For !"e Cit#.

( village, town, or city needs one or more focal points, depending on si"e. Traditionally

these were the downtowns. +ow most regions are multicentric -sometimes called

polycentric. $t%s actually fine to have more than one center in a large city, but sound

urban design principles would describe a hierarchy of centers. (nd do$nto$n should

the !ing of the hill.

+ode is simply a term more li!ely to be used by professionals for the idea of an activity

center or an area where traffic, money, information, or other flows come together.

/ou might have employment centers, shopping centers, entertainment centers, or multi

function activity centers.

ach center or node should e'ude a strong sense of place. $f you were a tyrant and youcould ma!e the perfect hierarchical set of nodes within a ma&or city, you also should

ma!e each center or node have some distinctive elements.

o cultivating a dynamic and e%citing communit# center or "ierarc"# of centers ,

that most people can )read) intuitively, is perhaps the most important of the urban

design principles. *hen applied to a city or town, )legible) means that people from the

same culture have an intuitive sense of what is coming ne't and how to navigate2 thus

we say that they can read their surroundings.

$ncidentally, spra$l ruins legibility.

&. Creating A trong ense Of Place s (e# !o A uccessfulNeig"bor"ood.

http://www.useful-community-development.org/downtown-redevelopment.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/suburban-sprawl.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/suburban-sprawl.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/downtown-redevelopment.html


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$f you hang around the architecture or planning communities, you%ll hear this term

bandied about as if it were something you learned in !indergarten. $ didn%t learn it until

much later, so let%s tal!.

3ertainly distinguishing this place from other places on the basis of history, culture, wellpreserved natural systems, and distinctive human inventiveness and ornamentation

somehow stimulates the brain in a pleasant way.

$f you flatten off the mountaintop, which $ still see occasionally, haven%t you given up a

very distinguishing feature4 $%d love to see a mountain outside my window now instead

of asphalt, concrete, #radford pear trees, a distant awning, and a nondescript building.

ecogni"ing history, including human history, natural history, and cultural history,

contributes greatly to the collective memory that helps form a great community.

(long these lines, a district needs to feel li)e a district* that is, a relatively cohesive

place with boundaries. $n the influential 1961 boo! The $mage of the 3ity, 7evin 8ynch

called these boundaries )edges,) and they should be discernible.

$f you wor! at the neighborhood scale, it%s important to define your neig"bor"ood

boundaries. The edges enhance sense of place also, because they reinforce the notion

that we are leaving one place and entering another.

+. !"eme And ,ariation s Among !"e (e# Urban Design Principles.

ver and over in these pages, we are reminded that urban design principles are similar

to the !ey concept behind music, which is the enunciation of a theme or two, and then

endless variations and comple'ities rendered on the themes.

This is especially true when we consider architecture. #uildings on a street may be

generally twostory bric!, but we might want to see different colors of bric!, slightly

varying building heights, slightly varying window and door patterns, inventive use of

accent color, and even the occasional threestory bric! or stucco building that is insympathy with other building members on the face of the bloc!. :aybe the cornice type

and height varies along the bloc! face.

o theme and variation is among the !ey urban design principles. $n a town, you want

some slight degree of predictability about buildings, in a neighborhood a little more

predictability, and on a bloc!, still more predictability.

http://www.useful-community-development.org/neighborhood-boundaries.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/neighborhood-boundaries.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/neighborhood-boundaries.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/neighborhood-boundaries.html


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/et in all cases, we still want to be surprised. *e humans need variety and delight in the

creativity of others. ;on%t ta!e that away if you want a successful town or city.

#ut if you shoc! us on every bloc! with a radically different loo! and feel, it%s going to

read li!e a museum of architecture and not a very homey one at that.

-. Decide "ere !o /a)e A Design tatement* /a)e t* 0ut Don't /a)e t2er#$"ere.

(ttention to


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$n the public space, your bac!flow preventer cover doesn%t need to be lavender, but

maybe the flowers in your planters should be lavender with some yellow and white

thrown in for contrast.

Usually your street furniture -benches and such is important, but perhaps an e'


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"e mean those gray, brown, or rusty streets, roads, stormwater inlets, manholes,

utility bo*es, ugly bridges, and so forth. "ith determined effort, you can design an

attractive and brightly colored street and you certainly can build a good!looking bridge.

owever, making every road an art statement isn/t the answer. 0he answer isskinnier roads and more options for walking, cycling, and transit. 1ook into

acomplete streets policy and see if you don't like it.

1and use patterns and the amount of private land that each residence is allowed to

absorb are maor determinants of how much of a metropolitan or micropolitan

area must be devoted to roads and other gray infrastructure.

So your urban design principles should emphasize compact de/elopment

patterns and the most narrow and unobtrusive infrastructure that will accomplish

the goal of a well!functioning flow of people and goods.

,omplete Streets

4. Functional /et"ods Of !ransporting People Of All Abilities* 5oods*And Utilities Are ssential.

ere%s where many (merican cities and towns are failing.

$s it really functional to have every desirable destination lined up along a single

roadway, which then becomes ridiculously congested along about 5=00 p.m. every

>riday4 urely not.

$s it useful for people to have to commute to wor! for ?0 miles4 :aybe somewhat

useful, but not economically efficient or friendly to the environment.

$n most contemporary (merican cities, the pedestrian, the cyclist, the scooter user, the

baby carriage, and the s!ateboarder are all but forgotten. :a!ing it safe and easy for

these people to move over the land is an essential part of a functional transportation

system.

The flows of people, electricity, water, freight, and so forth literally comprise the urban

structure. othe distribution of people* goods* and energ# should be redundant,

intelligible, and efficient..

>or e'ample, when a freeway is being rebuilt, we need an alternate street system. This

is why it%s a mista!e to destroy a historic street grid, which allows for abundant detours

that are only slightly less efficient than the route of choice.

http://www.useful-community-development.org/complete-streets.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/complete-streets.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/complete-streets.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/complete-streets.html


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( system of culdesacs may provide a comforting sense of familiarity, and thus meet

the intelligibility factor for those who live there. owever, visitors from outside the

neighborhood won%t find it so easy to navigate because it isn%t redundant. (nd systems

that don%t have ready substitutes are unforgiving of small mista!es, or if people who

don%t drive.

7ids, the frail elderly, and the temporarily or permanently disabled actually comprise a

substantial portion of the population, so we need to accommodate their movement also.

6. Land Use s Usuall# econdar# !o 0uilding cale* /ass* Andetbac)s.

lsewhere we describe how segregating land uses through zoning was the norm in

urban planning until a paradigm shift that began in the 19@0s. (nd we%re pretty

consistent proponents of mi%ed7use de2elopment. #ut that doesn%t mean a complete

hodgepodge.

$magine trying to wal! down a sidewal! by a street, and in this order you pass=

A ( dry cleaner with a small amount of suburban type par!ing in front of it

A ( typical big bo% discount store

A (n apartment comple' with three or four driveways onto the public street and two rows

or par!ing in front of the first buildings

A ( large old singlefamily house

A ( fourstory bric! office building of vaguely 3olonial architecture

;isorienting, isn%t it4

o not every mi' of uses is a good one. 3omplete lac! of consistency in building

setbac! and height, as well as a disparate set of uses, isn%t comfortable. o the

soundest of urban design principles is that the land and building uses need to be

compatible with their neighbors, particularly if you can see from one to another.

$s a concrete plant li!ely to need to be close to a >ivetar restaurant4 $ thin! not. #ut

would a loft condominium development mar!eting to young people need to be near a

moderately priced, loud, and popular restaurant4 /es.

18. Ci2ic And Public 5at"ering pace "ould 0e 5enerous.

http://www.useful-community-development.org/land-use-zoning.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/mixed-use-development.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/big-box-stores.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/land-use-zoning.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/mixed-use-development.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/big-box-stores.html


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Probably civic space is simply another twist on the idea of a sense of place, but let%s

emphasi"e that there should be a physical place where people can have chance

encounters and also purposeful gatherings.

very culture needs to demonstrate its pride in some heritage or accomplishment, andevery democratic country needs places where those who are unhappy can assemble.

#ut what ma!es a good ci2ic space is appropriate scale, visibility from one end to the

other, a sense of spaciousness ade


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Urban design is a fascinating and certainly evolving field. People tend to claim their

particular slant on how communities should be formed as representative of good urban

design principles.

ne of the search terms that found this page concerned whether these principles areuniversal in all cultures. $ tend to thin! not, but we would li!e to hear what some of you

thin!.

:y best advice is that you have to decide in your community on your own urban design

principles. $f your town or city is full of life, full of people en&oying themselves, relating to

one another, doing business with one business, and creating things, you have a great

urban design, whether the design professionals thin! so or not.

*hen everything is high polish design, nothing stands out2 you%re better off with a wellfunctioning community full of people relating, than with a tooprecious and too self

conscious )design.)

n the other hand, you may be ready to try to enforce a communitydetermined set of

ideas about how all or part of your community should loo! and function. $f so, please

read our introduction to local design guidelines, which might be either mandatory or

advisory. uch standards are part of almost all historic district designations and

condominium master deeds, but increasingly are used to ma!e local design review less

arbitrary.

http://www.useful-community-development.org/urban-design-principles.html
http://www.useful-community-development.org/local-design-guidelines.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/urban-design-principles.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/local-design-guidelines.htmlhttp://www.useful-community-development.org/urban-design-principles.html

urban design principles address form and function

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