urban transformations and sustainability
TRANSCRIPT
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PROGRESS OF RESEARCH ISSUES IN URBANISM 2005
Urban Transformationsand Sustainability
A. van Bilsen, G.J. Bruyns, M.G.A.D. Harteveld, F.L. Hooimeijer, M. Mendona,
C. Mulders-Kusumo, C. Pinilla Castro, C.E. Pinzon Cortes, R. Rocco, and D. Tunas
Edited by F. van der Hoeven and H.J. Rosemann
IOS Press, 2006
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Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Ph.D. Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Ir. A. van Bilsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Correlating graph properties of the land use network and non-graph properties in
neighbourhoods
G.J. Bruyns MSc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Urban Figures as hypothesis
The traditional, contemporary, and fluid figures
Ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Viva Las Vegas
A search for the urban design task of interior public space
Drs. F.L. Hooimeijer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Cities in wetlands
Ir. M. Mendona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Relationships between contemporary local urban scale and communication networks
Ir. C. Mulders-Kusumo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Spatial configuration of the area around Delft central station
C. Pinilla Castro MSc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Pondering planning and emerging approaches to produce urban transformation to
meet contemporary demands
Ir. C.E. Pinzon Cortes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Morphological analysis of the contemporary urban territory:
Is it still a relevant approach?
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R. Rocco MSc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Foreign direct investment and regional growth:
The role of FDI in the tertiary sector in triggering development
Ir. D. Tunas MSc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Conceptualising colonial space in a global city
Professors Department of Urbanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
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Peer group
prof.ir. H.C. Bekkering (TU Delft)
prof.dr. R. van Engelsdorp Gastelaars (University of Amsterdam)
dr. M. Jacobs (TRPC)
prof.dr. A.M.J. Kreukels (University of Utrecht)
prof.dr. V.J. Meyer (TU Delft)
prof.dipl.ing. H.J. Rosemann (TU Delft)
prof.dr. W.G.M. Salet (University of Amsterdam)
prof.ir. J.M. Schrijnen (TU Delft)
ir. D. Sijmons (H+N+S Landscape Architects)
prof. J. Worthington (University of Sheffield, Chalmers University of Technology)
Editors
Dr.ir. F. van der Hoeven
Prof.dipl.ing. H.J Rosemann
Layout
Joost van Grinsven
English revision
Taalcentrum VU
Publishing and distributionIOS Press, under the imprint Delft University Press.
Keywords
sustainability, ecology, water, liberalisation, metropolisation, appreciation
of existing qualities, historic continuity, tradition, changes in the nature of
public life, changes in the relationship between the public domain and private
domains and interiors, mobility, infrastructure, networks, shift from expansions
to transformations, globalisation
ISBN 1-58603-603-3
Copyright
2006 by F. van der Hoeven and H.J. Rosemann
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior
permission from the publisher.
Legal notice
The publisher is not responsible for the use which might be made of the
following information.
Printed in the Netherlands
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Introduction
The conditions of urban development are currently changing radically. Technological trans-
formations such as automation and robotisation in industrial production are leading to new
operating conditions for businesses and employees. New transportation and distribution sys-
tems are changing the scale and flow patterns of the urban agglomerations. The effects of
the general application of information and communication technologies in everyday life are
barely to overlook. Globalisation and internationalisation as well as the processes of Euro-
pean unification have led to increasing competition between urban agglomerations on Euro-
pean and world scales. On the other hand, the social contrasts within these agglomerations
are growing. World-wide environmental problems, the necessity for a more efficient use of
energy and natural resources as well as a limitation of CO2 emissions mean that we have to
make adaptations to our urban structures and building fabric.
These developments have become a fundamental challenge for the discipline of Urbanism.
New urban and regional models and new concepts of urbanisation in general need to be
developed, new networks need to be established and the relation between the city and its
surroundings needs to be defined anew. Existing urban structures need to be adapted, sitesthat have lost their function and waste sites need to be reoriented and redesigned. The
changing role of the state and public private co-operation have led to new planning pro-
cedures, to new negotiation structures and to changed (and mostly longer term) planning
perspectives. The shortage of ground calls for careful consideration, while at the same time
economic interests have a great influence on the potential for realizing urban plans.
The new challenges require new approaches, new methods and instruments, and new strategies
for urban planning. The planning of the future no longer can be based on the certainty of pro-
grams and conditions. Instead the planner is confronted with changing conditions and shiftingprograms. In this framework, more than before, design approaches will be pivotal. Exploratory
research, the reflexive exploration of spatial potentials and the integration of design methods in
spatial research will become a key issue for the scientific development of the discipline.
Due to the growing demands the Department of Urbanism of the Faculty of Architecture at
the Delft University of Technology made great efforts during the last years to intensify and
to enlarge the research in the field of urban transformation and sustainability. Special atten-
tion has been given to the development of Ph.D. research. The number of Ph.D. researchers
working at the Department has been more than doubled.
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To ensure the quality of the Ph.D. research the Department introduced a special procedure
for periodic evaluation: after a period of nine months the potential Ph.D. candidates are
asked to present their research design, theoretical framework and methodological approach
to the members of the Department and to a peer group, drawn up by the professors of theDepartment and by external experts. Depending on the assessment of the peer group, the
candidates will have the opportunity to continue their research at the Department.
In the meantime the (public) review sessions developed into an important element for the
scientific debate of the Department. The sessions became a meeting point for the whole
Department to discuss new research issues and new methodological approaches and to
develop new research collaborations. In this framework the external members of the peer
group are playing an important role. Their critics form a mirror for the scientific standards of
the Department as well as for the scientific (and social) relevancy of the research issues.
With the publication of the series Urban Transformations and Sustainability we want to offer
to a broader public the opportunity to deal with this debate. The different contributions are
based on the papers the Ph.D. candidates prepared for the reviews and have been updated
as a result of the remarks of the peer group and the discussion during the review sessions.
As a result the contributions are reflecting the ongoing efforts to redefine the discipline of
urbanism under globally changing conditions.
The review sessions of the Department started in 2004. This book presents the results of
the first year. In that year two sessions were organised. On 11 March 2004 four Ph.D. candi-
dates gave their presentations (G.J. Bruyns MSc., ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld, drs. F.L. Hooimeijer
and ir. C.E. Pinzon). Participating peers were prof.ir. H.C. Bekkering (TU Delft), prof.dr. A.M.J.
Kreukels (University of Utrecht), prof.dr. V.J. Meyer (TU Delft), prof.dipl.ing. H.J. Rosemann
(TU Delft), prof.ir. J.M. Schrijnen (TU Delft) and ir. D. Sijmons (H+N+S Landscape Archi-
tects).
On 7 Oktober 2004 the second meeting was organised, likewise with the presentations of six
candidates (ir. A. van Bilsen, C. Pinilla Castro MSc., ir. M. Mendona, ir. C. Mulders-Kusumo,R. Rocco MSc. and ir. D. Tunas MSc.). Participating peers in this case were prof.ir. H.C. Bek-
kering (TU Delft), prof.dr. R. van Engelsdorp Gastelaars (University of Amsterdam), dr. M. Ja-
cobs, prof.dr. V.J. Meyer (TU Delft), prof.dipl.ing. H.J. Rosemann (TU Delft), prof.dr. W.G.M.
Salet (University of Amsterdam), prof.ir. J.M. Schrijnen (TU Delft) and prof. J. Worthington
(University of Sheffield, Chalmers University of Technology).
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Ph.D. Papers
Ir. A. van Bilsen
Evaluated 7 Oktober 2004
G.J. Bruyns MSc.
Evaluated 11 March 2004
Ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld
Evaluated 11 March 2004
Drs. F.L. Hooimeijer
Evaluated 11 March 2004
Ir. M. Mendona
Evaluated 7 Oktober 2004
Ir. C. Mulders-KusumoEvaluated 7 Oktober 2004
C. Pinilla Castro MSc.
Evaluated 7 Oktober 2004
Ir. C.E. Pinzon Cortes
Evaluated 11 March 2004
R. Rocco MSc.
Evaluated 7 Oktober 2004
Ir. D. Tunas MSc.
Evaluated 7 Oktober 2004
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IR. A. VAN BILSEN
Correlating graph propertiesof the land
use network and
non-graph properties in
neighbourhoods
Ph.D. research: Mathematical contributions to the development of a scientific body of knowledge for urban designChair: Spatial Planning
Promotor: Prof. dr. P. Drewe
Supervisors: dr. I.T. Klaasen and prof.dr. N.A. Salingaros
Communications to: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The purpose of my research is to identify mathematical structures in urban systems. To de-
scribe an urban area in mathematical terms, it is necessary to convert the area to a mathe-
matical entity. In the graph approach we describe the urban area as points and lines. There
are several ways to define what a point actually encompasses: it can be based on land
cover or function. The lines represent relationships between the urban elements (points),
such as adjacency or mutual visibility.
Several test cases were investigated using this approach. In this paper eleven Rotterdam
neighbourhoods were chosen for their diversity. What do the mathematical properties oftheir graph decompositions say about these areas? Are they safe, healthy, transparent for
navigation, and pleasant to live in? How do they correlate with the social and demographic
data of these neighbourhoods.
INTRODUCTION
Increasing social demands and wishes about the design and planning of urban environments
place a heavier burden on urban planners and designers. Added to this is the growing com-
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10 Ir. A. van Bilsen
plexity of contemporary social and economic processes, which leads to design and planning
errors. A more scientific approach to Urban Design and Planning is likely to help prevent er-
rors in the future. Although a scientific approach to urban design and planning is unusual,
even more unusual is a mathematical one. Nevertheless, there have been some attempts todecrease the randomness of urban plans and designs using mathematics. In 1977 mathemati-
cian and architect Christopher Alexander published his seminal book, A Pattern Language, in
which he presented patterns for building and planning a human environment. A more recent
attempt at using mathematics to improve urban designs and plans is Bill Hilliers Space Syn-
tax(Hillier and Hanson, 1984), which presents a topological analysis of a city.
Up to now, little scientific knowledge has been available for architecture and urban design.
Although most of Alexanders patterns were scientifically even mathematically grounded,
some had a more subjective or emotional basis, or reflected the ideas of the time. Space
Syntax is still in the early stages of development, and although it is promising, its usefulness
in practical situations must still be more thoroughly evaluated. Furthermore, Space Syntax
concentrates almost entirely on transport networks, yet its graphing approach could also be
applied to other networks.
In this paper I explore whether the graph approach is equally meaningful if applied to a differ-
ent network, such as a network based on a land use map. The aim of this paper is to discover
the meaning that three graph (or network1) properties of an urban areas land use map have
for the urban area itself. To discover this, we correlated the three graph properties2
with non-graph properties of eleven Rotterdam neighbourhoods. The only substantial correlation discov-
ered was a correlation coefficient of 0.50 between the number of neighbouring land use parcels
(Beta) and the surface area percentage of houses. Two further correlations were identified
between Beta and companies and public safety, providing the definition of a graph property is
extended to include the variety of land use types (represented by the number of colours in the
graph). The possible meaning of these correlations will be described in the discussion section.
METHODS
Graph definition choice
A graph consists of a set of points and a set of pairs of points, often visualised as lines. In
formal research graph definitions should include what a point actually encompasses and
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Ir. A. van Bilsen 11
what a line between points means. Several definitions can be provided as examples, using
the format of point definition and line definition: land cover and adjacency, land use and
adjacency, urban element and visibility, function and accessibility to path. With npoint defi-
nitions and m compatible line definitions it is possible to form nm different graph definitions(Table 1).
point definitions:
line definitions
land
use
land
cover
road
crossing
transfer
station
monofunc.
parcel isovist
urban
element
adjacency
visibility
accessibility
Table 1: Illustration of a number of different graph definitions indicated with dots.
The marks the graph definition investigated in this paper.
Note that not all of the point and line definitions can be sensibly combined. The graph defi-
nition land use and adjacency was selected for reasons explained in the introduction.
Choice of data properties
We selected the following three graph properties as graph measures because they occurred
repeatedly: the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma indexes, which are defined below. The non-graph
properties were selected based on their importance for policy as well as for research. Allproperties are listed in Table B.
L-P+S
Alpha = L = total number of lines in the graph
2P-5
L
Beta = P = total number of points in the graph
P
L
Gamma = S = number of subgraphs (=1 for all graphs in this paper)
3 (P - 2)
Most of the data properties used in this paper are taken from the electronic databank of Sta-
tistics Netherlands (1999), the agency that is responsible for the official national statistics for
the Netherlands. Data from every neighbourhood in the Netherlands are available from this
databank (see Table A for a list of neighbourhoods used in this paper). A detailed online map
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12 Ir. A. van Bilsen
was the second source (Municipality of Rotterdam, 2002) because it reveals the municipal
town planning scheme (or zoning plan) for most of the Rotterdam area. In this paper it is as-
sumed that the parcels are used as intended by the plan, which is almost always the case,
and therefore the expression land use will be used. Finally, data on public safety (Municipal-ity of Rotterdam, 2004) was selected for its importance to the inhabitants and because it is a
current topic in the Netherlands, especially in Rotterdam. The value of public safety includes
objective and subjective components.
Algorithm
Since extracting a graph from a land use map is labour intensive, a computer algorithm was
chosen and programmed. The algorithm required a coloured land use map as input. Each
land use type has a corresponding colour. Before applying the computer algorithm to the
land use maps, the algorithm was extensively tested. In the first step of the algorithm each
stain of one colour was identified as a point in the graph. Such a one-colour stain represents
one group of adjacent land use parcels(GOLUP) of the same type. In the second step the
adjacencyof GOLUPs is identified as a line in the graph. Adjacency is defined as having a
common boundary. The result can be seen in Figure 2.
With regard to the algorithm, adjacency is determined when at least one pixel from one
GOLUP is orthogonally adjacent to at least one pixel from another GOLUP. When preparing
the image of the map, it is possible for unwanted pixels to emerge. We addressed this by
establishing a minimum for the number of pixels needed to become a point in the graph.The algorithm will thus neglect single or small groups of pixels. In addition, pixels that are
all white were not included because white pixels are only used as fill for the neighbourhood
image to provide the standard rectangular form demanded by the file type (bitmap, uncom-
pressed, 256 colours, see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Land use map of the Oude Noorden
neighbourhood, which was used as input for the graph
decomposition algorithm. Land use types include:
roads, houses, mixed uses, garden/private ground,shops, green space, water, and other uses.
Figure 2: Graph visualisation of Oude Noorden
based on land use and adjacency. See also Figure 1.
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Ir. A. van Bilsen 13
Correlation
We correlated between the graph and non-graph properties by entering the data in an
Excel spreadsheet. All properties were entered against all other properties in a 68 by 68
matrix, with half of the matrix being redundant. If we had restricted our correlation matrixonly to the graph properties and their correlations with the non-graph properties, it would
have limited our insight into indirect correlations. At each field in the matrix the correla-
tion coefficient between two properties was calculated based on the data from the eleven
neighbourhoods. The matrix was scanned for correlations between 0.50 and 1.00 and be-
tween 1.00 and 0.50. Every one of these correlations between a graph and a non-graph
property was checked for correlations having a common origin.
RESULTS
The focus of the results selected was on the correlations between the graph properties
(Alpha, Beta, Gamma, number of different uses) and the rest of the data. We then selected
from these correlations for the most extreme correlation coefficients, which were either near
1.0 or 1.0. The results in the following tables will be detailed in the discussion section be-
low. Plots are available (Figures 3, 4, and 5) for the correlation coefficients that are followed
by an asterisk (*).
correlation coefficient Alpha Beta Gamma
Public safety 0.2 0.23 0.2
Number of different land uses 0.28 0.35 0.27
Fraction of Houses pixels/surface area of total 0.56 0.50* 0.56
Number of points of Mixed purposes (% of all points) 0.59 0.64 0.59
Industry 0.67 0.66 0.67
Fraction of Mixed purposes pixels/surface area of total 0.82 0.83 0.81
Other indicators in range [0.50, 0.50]
Table 2: Selected correlation coefficients of graph properties Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.
Table 2 shows the selected correlations with Alpha, Beta, and Gamma in ascending order. It
must be noted that the number of pixels a GOLUP embodies is proportional to the GOLUPs
surface area. The entries under mixed purposes and industry should be ignored because
they are based on too few points. Only four of the eleven test neighbourhoods contained
mixed purposes. We will return to this in the outlook part of the conclusions.
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14 Ir. A. van Bilsen
correlation coefficient
number of different
land uses
Number of points of Green space (% of all points) 0.93*
Average pixel size of Mixed purposes GOLUPs 0.91Fraction of Green space pixels of total 0.85
Public safety 0.78
Address density 0.68
Number of points of Roads 0.76
Fraction of Shops pixels of total 0.76
Companies 0.92*
Table 3: Selected correlation coefficients for number of different land use types.
Table 3 shows the correlations selected, along with the number of different point types (land
uses), in ascending order. Again the mixed purposes category should be ignored. See Figure 3
for a plot ofnumber of points of green space(percentage of all points) versus the number of
different land uses. See Figure 4 for a plot ofcompaniesagainst the number of different land
uses. The companies data category consists of companies, businesses, and establishments.
correlation coefficient public safety
Number of different land uses 0.78
Address density 0.70
Number of persons of age 014 years 0.68
Number of persons of age 1524 years 0.80
Number of persons of age 2544 years 0.66
Number of persons of age 4564 years 0.90
Number of persons of age 65+ 0.71
Table 4: Selected correlation coefficients with public safety.
Table 4 shows the correlations with public safety (municipality of Rotterdam, 2004). For
more clarity the age categories have been ordered rather than the correlation coefficients.
Although they are not two mathematical properties, the correlations between the age cat-
egories and public safety are intriguing.
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Ir. A. van Bilsen 15
DISCUSSION
As was noted below, for Table 2 only the first three entries are reliable. Figure 5 shows only
one of these entries. Although the correlation coefficient is only 0.50, an increasing trendcan clearly be observed. How can we understand that only the surface area percentage
of houses stands out from the rest with respect to its correlations with Alpha, Beta, and
Gamma? From the maps of the neighbourhoods it can be seen that houses are scattered
throughout the neighbourhood and this scattering increases as the surface area percent-
age of houses increases. From preliminary analysis of the number of neighbouring GOLUPs
around a GOLUP (for each land use type), it was observed that roads and houses have the
highest number of neighbouring GOLUPs. Roads have even more neighbouring GOLUPs than
houses. So why is there no strong correlation between Beta and roads? One reason is the
difference between the amount of surface area roads and houses consume. Houses con-
sume far more surface area than roads, and since they are also more scattered, there are
more house points in the graph decomposition, which means they contribute more to the
average number of neighbours (Beta) than roads do.
Table 2 also shows Public safety and Number of different land uses. There is a negative
correlation between them: 0.78 (see Table 3 or 4). This is understandable because neigh-
bourhoods with a higher variety of land uses are usually more urban, and consequently
more densely inhabited. While this argument is true on the neighbourhood level, on the sub-neighbourhood level the spatial distribution of unsafe events (e.g. a robbery) reveals a more
complex picture; for example, it is important to take into account the number of potential
witnesses of such unsafe events (Hillier, 1999; Klaasen 2004). Although the correlation of
both Public safety and Number of different land uses with Beta is weak, the sign of the
correlations is negative. This may be partly explained -by the direct relationship between
the average number of neighbouring GOLUPs (Beta) and public safety, but we suspect that
the scale of the neighbourhood map is not detailed enough to account for this. The smaller
scale topology and its visibility probably relates more directly to safety. The negative cor-
relation between Beta and Public safety (0.23, Table 2) can be explained for the most partby Address density. The correlation between Beta and Address density is 0.35, and the
correlation between Address density and Public safety is 0.70. In short, more densely
populated areas are less safe, and GOLUPs have on average more neighbours (higher Beta).
Similarly the positive correlation between Beta and Number of different land uses can be
traced to Address density, which is proportional to population density.
The number of different land use types is equivalent to the number of different colours/
points on the graph, since each land use type is represented by a colour on the graph.
This variety of land use types has a strong negative correlation (0.93, Table 3; Figure 3)
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16 Ir. A. van Bilsen
with the number of Green space points as a percentage of all points. In short, when more
Green space GOLUPS are present, there is less variety of land uses. Address density,
which correlates negatively (0.75) with the number of Green space points and positively
(0.68) with the variety of land use types, can also explain this.
The Companies data expresses the number of companies in nine categories: 0-10, 10-20,
20-50, 50-100, 100-200, 200-500, 500-1000, 1000-2000, and >2000. Note that this is al-
most a logarithmic scale. This variable correlates strongly (0.92, Table 3 and Figure 4) with
the variety of land use types in a neighbourhood. It follows that the number of companies,
c, increases exponentially with the variety of land use type, v:
v log(c) c exp(v)
Although these expressions are very approximate, we can still say that the number of compa-
nies varies with the variety of land use types. A small increase in the variety of land use types
corresponds with a relatively large increase in the number of companies. This cannot be en-
tirely traced to Address density, which has less of a correlation (0.50) with Companies. Also,
the number of points of Roads and Shops correlates with both the variety of land use types
(respectively, 0.76 and 0.71) and companies (respectively, 0.87 and 0.84). This indicates that
Companies are sensitive to population density, roads, and shops in the neighbourhood.
Figure 3: Two indicators
with a negative correlation
coefficient (0.93) from
Table 3.
Figure 4: Two properties
with a positive correlation
coefficient (0.92) from
Table 3.
Figure 5: Two properties
with a positive correlation
coefficient (0.50) from Table
2. Beta equals the average
number of neighbouringGOLUPs. The broken fit
line is added only for
comparison with Figures 3
and 4.
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Ir. A. van Bilsen 17
CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK
With one exception, no significant correlations (between 0.5 and 1.0, or 1.0 and 0.5) were
found among the graph properties Alpha, Beta, and Gamma and the data. In general theresults suggest that adjacencyis not very important in the test area on this scale; more
precisely, the average number of neighbouring GOLUPs does not correlate with most of the
data. The exception to this is the Surface area percentage of houses (Figure 5). The combi-
nation of a large number of houses and a large number of neighbouring GOLUPs per Hous-
es GOLUP explains the significant impact on the average number of neighbours (Beta).
The weaker correlations among Beta and both Public safety and Number of different land
use types is probably related to population density. Identifying population density as the
common correlational origin, also helps explain the strong negative correlation between the
Number of different land use types and the Number of green space points as a percent-
age of all points (see Figure 3). The Number of different land use types correlates strongly
with Companies (0.92, Figure 4). Since Companies varies approximately logarithmically
with the number of companies, we can conclude that the number of companies increases
exponentially with the variety of land use types. The sources of this correlation are trace-
able to population density as well as to the presence of roads and shops in the neighbour-
hood. The results indicate that companies are sensitive to the presence of population den-
sity, roads, and shops in the neighbourhood.
The introduction to this paper describes an approach that will be used for further research,
while the above conclusions point the way to future steps. We plan to do more empirical
analyses in order to construct guidelines for these steps. These analysis will include:(1) in-
creasing the number and sophistication of the graph properties, (2) increasing the number
of test neighbourhoods, (3) applying the same approach with the many remaining graph
decompositions of urban areas (Table 1, p. 2), (4) adding line weights (for example, to ac-
commodate the length of the boundary between adjacent GOLUPs), and (5) researching the
influence of scale on the graph and its properties.
NOTES
1 I will use the word graph instead of network from this point on.2 Examples of non-graph properties: population density, average income per inhabitant, number of commercial services,
and so forth. For the full list see Appendix, Table B, left side.
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18 Ir. A. van Bilsen
LITERATURE
Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., Jacobson, M., FiksdahlKing, I. and Angel, S. (1977). A Pattern Language.
Oxford University Press, New York.
Hillier, B. & Hanson, J. (1984). The Social Logic of Space. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Municipality of Rotterdam (2002). Bestemmingenviewer Rotterdam (Online). Available: http://bestemmingsplannen.dsv.
rotterdam.nl/main/main.asp
Municipality of Rotterdam (2004). Veiligheidsindex 2004 (Online). Available: www.rotterdam.nl/veilig
Statistics Netherlands (1999). BuurtinBeeld (Online). Available: http://www.cbs.nl/nl/cijfers/buurtinbeeld/ klikkaartin-
ternet.htm
Table A: Selected neighbourhoods from Rotterdam
1 Oude Noorden
2 Nieuwe Westen
3 Middelland
4 Wittedorp
5 Oud Matenesse
6 Spangen
7 Oud Charlois
8 Wielewaal (midden)
9 Pendrecht
10 Zuidwijk
11 Lombardijen
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Ir. A. van Bilsen 19
Table B: All data categories (left) and all graph properties (right) used in the correlation table
Data categories Graph properties
Address density Roads nop
Degree of urbanization Roads nop(%)
Total surface area Roads aps
Land surface area Roads fp(%)
Population density Green space nop
Houses Green space nop(%)
Market value of houses Green space aps
Inhabitants Green space fp(%)
Men Houses nop
Women Houses nop(%)Persons 0-14 y. Houses aps
Persons 15-24 y. Houses fp(%)
Persons 25-44 y. Garden/Private land nop
Persons 45-64 y. Garden/Private land nop(%)
Person 65+ y. Garden/Private land aps
Immigrants Garden/Private land fp(%)
Singles Water nop
Families Water nop(%)
Families with children Water aps
Average family size Water fp(%)
Average income per inhabitant Mixed purposes nop
Average income per income-receiver Mixed purposes nop(%)
Low incomes Mixed purposes aps
High incomes Mixed purposes fp(%)
Inactive persons Shops nop
Companies/establishments/businesses Shops nop(%)
Industry Shops aps
Commercial services Shops fp(%)
Other services Total number of different points
Public safety index (average of 2001-2003) Total number of points
Mutation safety index (average of 2001-2003) Total number of lines
Average number of lines per point
Total pixel/surface area size
Average pixel size
Alpha
Beta
Gamma
Abbreviations
nop: number ofpoints of type
nop(%): number ofpoints of type as
percentage of totalnumber of points
aps: average pixel(surface area) size ofa point (parcel)
fp(%): total numberof pixels of type aspercentage of totalnumber of pixels
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G.J. BRUYNS MSC.
Urban FIgures as hypothesisThe traditional,
contemporary, and FLuid
FIgures
Ph.D. research: Dispo_za_tif, the evolutionary planning of the South African city
Chair: Urban Renewal and Management (Spacelab)
Promotor: Prof.dipl.-ing. H.J. Rosemann
Supervisor: Dr. ir. S.A. Read
Communications to: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The city figure of today is becoming more uncertain. An urban entity, or what is perceived
as a city, contains developing form within and beyond the framework and formal constraints
of post 19th and 20th-century urbanism. Our current view of the city, or what I term the
built landscape (or territory, urban field), has been shifted from a built object figure (the
traditional morphological discourse) and interpretation to one that interprets and reads the
environment through a spatial framework of material flow, a new operational spatial figure
or morphology of movement.
These new spatial figures, reveal the power of effective urbanism, as space produces theobject(s) we see around us, rather than the other way round. In this framework place is a
consequence of spatial layering, thus establishing a universal too for design and interven-
tion (contextless), clarifying certain reasons for urban change, formation, and transformation
of the city, metropolitan, and urban field. Differences in the becoming of the places, qua
context, are drawn between European and African models.
KEYWORD
To disfigure: To mar or spoil the appearance or shape of; deform
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22 G.J. Bruyns MSc.
POSITION OF THE CITY
The essence of what insist on calling urbanism is composed / decomposed
by these transfer, transit and transmission systems, these transport and transmigration net-works whose immaterial configurations reiterates the cadastral organisations and the build-
ings of monuments.
(Paul Virilio. Cited in Cosgrove, D., 1999, J, The Agency of Mapping)
The city figure of today is becoming more uncertain. An urban entity, or what is perceived
as being a city, contains developing form within the framework and formal constraints of
post 19th and 20th-entury urbanism. The current view of the city, or what I term the built
landscape, has extended its accumulations and productions far beyond earlier traditional
boundaries. To confuse matters even further, such terminology as milieu, territory, or urban
field, remains too vague to assess what the true nature of the object under scrutiny is.
A new spatial context is emerging, transforming the Europe we know to an extended spatial
entity stretching from north to south, east to west. The new European geographical geom-
etry is leading to re-drawing the political and physical borders, negotiation of trade and
work agreements, and expanding possibilities of establishing new economic allies. A context
of vaguer national borders, relocation of capital cities, and definition of new territorial zones
that include special economic corridors have all become spatial devices in the descriptionsof landscape, which are very similar to an architectural spatial language of nodes, paths, or
edges (Lynch).
From scale variations ranging from the very high infrastructures of the multi-national or
global market forces to levels that include movement of individual streets, the results are of
a spatial nature. A new territorial spatial configuration, or sprawling city (Boeri, 2003), de-
tached form historical models or constraints, opens a new landscape of possibilities as well
as new architectures, processes, and mobility.
This extended landscape is not a European phenomenon alone, however. Across the globe
we find developments in the Pearl River Delta or in Africa comparable to the European spa-tial status quo, bringing possibilities that enable revising current practices in urban observa-
tions and investigation of urban formations and their global transformations.
Current notions of urbanism are based on the city as a thing, or rather an urbanism con-
structed as an element consisting of smaller and larger parts. While this specific view of the
city might be applicable to some levels of its existence, the main concern is the usefulness
of these concepts as a basis for what Read terms effective spatial urbanism, which refers
to an urbanism of spatiality, a process landscape that incorporates accounts of actions and
effects (formal or informal), relational and topological, rather than the current framework in
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G.J. Bruyns MSc. 25
Using these landscapes of forces as a framework would deal with scales of intensities of
flow, mobility dynamics, and polarities of actions, which are made possible by the first
formative figure of the city, the networks. This figure becomes a new operational device to
go beyond the constraints of the past by establishing direct relations between actions andeffects, the activity and the city, or relationships between the town and the road. It would
open the possibility for form to aggregate along network edges, around the connective ele-
ments themselves, based on frequencies and intensities of movement that would cause a
polarisation and gravitational pull of matter towards certain hierarchies, establishing flows
to pass though these gravitational points. This is not the network of the well-known function-
object and accessibility model. The street, the lane, the boulevard, and the highway become
active as parts of extended networks, and we see the formations resulting from these exten-
sions in the high streets of established villages and towns in the strips on car routes and in
the edge cities and corridors emerging in todays motorway networks.
It is these extensions of networks that set relationships between the interior and exterior
world as it moves beyond the border, neighbourhood, territory, or city limit. Access to mobil-
ity and interface(s) are made possible, producing sedimentary settlements reaching far into
an open landscape, irrespective of location. No borders are defined, no edges remain, which
negates the inside and outside of an a priori urban figure. Borders that do arise would do
so as part of the flux of activities, and would be based on a collection of effects, rather than
the mental activity we impose on the city of objects.Within our mental frameworks we would always revert to classifying and defining activities
to name territories, neighbourhoods, or places, but our framework and constructions of the
city need not be affected by this construction that we impose on the physical world.
FIRST FIGURE HYPOTHESIS
To understand the contemporary city we need to free ourselves from a framework that lim-
its our view of contemporary urban conditions, and rather than beginning with acceptanceof place as locally bounded or geographically situated, we should attempt to understand
how local place can emerge from a continuous distribution of vectors, forces, intensities, or
concentrations. It is the medieval city figure that shapes most of our pre-established ideas
about what the city is and how it should operate. As alternative, it may be possible to use a
framework closer to home, to our lifestyles and real-life scales as we construct them.
Jane Jacobs suggested that the first large ancient human settlement camps of hunter-gath-
erers were established at nodes where long distance trade routes crossed. It was the traffic
activities that supported urban formations, or more directly, a network composed of produc-
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26 G.J. Bruyns MSc.
tive element in which many points were connected to one continental scale.
Even though these connections among settlements grew incrementally to become a medi-
eval town and its relationships with other towns, and later to 18th and 19thcentury indus-
trial cities, and still later to 20th-century cities and commuter belts and urban corridors, andfinally, the continuous urban distribution of 21st-century sprawl, the problem of how to dis-
tinguish between a city and not a city has always been present. Although the formation of a
centre has always been unaffected, because it has strong identifiable places associated with
it, the question remains what is supportive of a place formation or centrality.
The proposed new spatial framework in its pure state can be viewed as a mobility network
that spreads itself out across the landscape, web-like and borderless. Primary pre-individual-
ised centrality is a diffuse intensity that fills the networks evenly, supporting an urbanism of
flows that is radically different from the urbanism of objects and fixed places. This theory of
mobility networks locates centralities in diverse geographical positions that are not neces-
sary a product of location or situatedness, but rather complex sets of arrangements spread
across the whole landscape, territory, or field, incorporating both what is within the tradi-
tional city as well as what is outside it.
By re-examining territorial arrangements and urban processes in a present European state,
we become more aware of a spatial process that breaches the traditional constraints of na-
tion states and borders, leaving urban discourse not only with a task to investigate thesespatial mutations, but also to reinvent a vocabulary for the processes within.
These new extended activities should provide some proof that our construction of the city
is a direct reflection on the prevailing scales of life and mobility patterns. Urban infrastruc-
ture development in the mid-19th century was characterised by building boulevards and
avenues, creating networks geared to the increasing size of the city and the increasing mo-
bility of its populations. Higher speed and broader networks also began to be built outside
the urban fabric, and these were superseded by the freeway network in the 20th century,
spreading over what in the beginning still appeared to be countryside. For the 21st century,
terminology such as thickenings, concentrations, and intensification are direct reflections ofthe scales and interconnections we produce on a daily basis, each with its own place, locale,
convergence, and centre point. It is our task to question these formations of localities of
centres and their reason for being at a specific point on the network and in the world.
Examples of the local in 19th and 20th century cities were direct reflections of the con-
straints of the movement economies within the bound figure of the city. Material flows of
goods, people, and interfaces of economies, rather than the movements of significant trans-
actions (as studied by sociologists and economists) are what is actually dealt with at an ur-
ban level. This reflects how place and placeless-ness are produced. A material flow that pro-
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28 G.J. Bruyns MSc.
Then what is the status of the layered network image? From what we have discussed, it is
a mental framework for understanding dynamic spatial processes. It is an emergent frame-
work (or second figure in the disfiguring) of the city, an idea isomorphism with a material
frame for organising vectors, forces, intensities, and concentrations. It is a framework forunderstanding effects we would otherwise only be able to see as isolated things. If we look
at the examples of the high street as traditionally formed, we understand it at present as a
local intensity, which we then immediately and almost arbitrarily delimit. The high street is
actually an effect of the layered network field the local circuits of the area around the high
street meeting the circuits of the network on which the high street sits on a higher scale.
What is proposed here is a simple framework capable of producing immensity in the struc-
tured variety of its emergent dis-figured figures. What this model provides is a framework
capable of delivering reasons and accounts in the formation of the city as a machine for the
becoming of the urban world.
When drawing the final figure, the models of the constructive, separated logic of the city
no longer help. From a situation (not so long ago) where the ideologies and operations un-
derlying historically specific planning practices were used to define types of morphology and
layout, and the city was seen as an historical construction planned in concentric layers ac-
cording to the practices of the time, we have come to one where these historical categories
of settlement forms and layout seem to have no clear constructive role in contemporarymetropolitan urbanisation processes. We seek a way to disfigure and define urban form
that goes beyond the inherent historicism of object figure to find a constructive logic figure
useful for our general theories on contemporary urbanisation processes, and which figure
constantly in transformations.
The solution for further development is elementary. A fundamental reconditioning and
realignment of preconceptions of the mental figure of the city are required to address our
methods of thinking. Second, we seek instruments for intervening within a sustainable,
enabling environment that has its own logic or laws within a complex of movements andcontinuous fluxes.
Intervention rests on both a political and technical responsibility, but the suggestions made
in this text, lean towards a technical approach that questions immediate possibilities before
proceeding towards the next best options. By observations and questioning it is possible to
revert to older formal paradigms, but we should scale the attempt to look beyond the figure
of the present, for only then can we proceed to an urban figure free of our own conceptions
or constraints and more attuned to the figures that still need to be drawn.
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G.J. Bruyns MSc. 29
CONCLUSIVE FIGURES: AN ENFRAMING OF CONTEXT
As a final figural circumscription I return to that figure of place, and more particularly the
context, because the basis for this paper still aims to establish a techne, a hypothesisseparated from any geographical or contextual forces. With this I attempt to depart from
the hypothesised abstract level, and deliver a realistic scenario. This serves as an abridged
argument that moves from the generic to the particular. To do this, I shall use a contextual
figure of difference based on South African and European (Netherlands) models.
References were made to particular European examples to bring to light the different frame-
works of operational geographic figures at various, radical moments in continental history.
The effect of each framework was to make apparent a re-conceptualisation of the total
operational outline (pre and post 2004 Europe) (this was taken from loosening up of trans-
portation regulations and commerce agreements), which led internal operational bodies to
shift to alternative models of process and renewed operational relationships. More specifi-
cally, each figure could be read separately, the political boundary being the first constructed
figure. This first figure is then composed, formed, and informed by smaller parts or figures
within a vastly combinational system. Each of these combinations in turn are affected by
other specific forces exerting changes and effects, establishing duality between the very
high and the very low scale of figures. These different figures become specific to both proc-
esses, bound to combinatory regularities of space, place, economy, politics, etc. Deleuzessmetaphorical use of the potential packed into the material (or in this case, the hypothesis)
and its variations of becoming. This equips us with a tangible concept of the importance of
the contextual.
The craftsman can compensate motion for differences in the qualities of his material, for he
can adjust the precise strength and pattern of applications (appropriation) of his toils to the
materials local vagaries.
Therefore, one model of deployment (urbanism as process, as movement) is a set of hy-potheses applied to two vastly historically and spatially differential contexts. This might
bring into question the variations of change as influenced by internal processes of economy
or politics that, as effects, produce the physical reality of the city, and could be translated
through morphology. For the traditional Western European condition, the global effects of
internal process on the external form might produce a figure of minor difference, and thus
establish the groundwork for a fifth and final hypothesis: urban changes and transformation
vary as spatial-cultural context shifts.
For this alone space becomes highly active, having the potential for producing and affecting
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30 G.J. Bruyns MSc.
certain dynamics and finally changing urban character. In theory, processes are constantly
re-shifted and re-aligned to address the fluidity of material flows. In practice, if this fluidity
is altered or non-existent, then the process of material flow itself would become a creative
process in which alternative sources or operational modes are appropriated to rebalancethe dynamics and the livelihoods affected. South Africa is one such a scenario in which the
appropriation occurs for specific livelihoods at very specific moments and conditions, appro-
priating space vastly different from the appropriation visible in the traditional European and
Balkan regions. It is here where the level of the space of the curb or shantytown becomes
a constructive element in the urban spatial figure, as the numbers multiply and the process-
es are realigned. Of greater concern are the particularities of interface models / nodes (point
of material exchange), where flows of materials and the effect(s) these processes produce
are solidifications of the process into the sub morphological parts.
It remains crucial to address all these highlighted figures as sets of hypotheses, as scenarios
for territorial urban conditions. From these conditions conceptual as well as practical mecha-
nisms can be unearthed, allowing our conditioning of the urban body and its process to be
inserted in the already existent mental figure. They also point to the process of city as the
dynamic of the urban body and as the figure we draw in our practice of everyday life.
LITERATURE
Bekaert, G., et al. (2002). After Sprawl: Research for the Contemporary City. Nai Publishers, Rotterdam.
Baccini, P. & Oswald, F. (2003). Netzstadt, Designing the Urban. Birkhauser, Basel.
Bateson, G. (1999). Steps to an Ecology of Mind; Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemol-
ogy. With a Foreword by Mary Catherine Bateson. Chicago University Press, Chicago, pp. 461-2.
Boeri, S. (2001). Notes on a research project. In Mutations. Koolhaas, R. (ed). Actar, Barcelona.
Boeri, S. (ed) (2003). USE: Uncertain States of Europe. Skira, Milan.
Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society. 2nd rev. ed., Blackwell, Oxford
Corner, J. (1999). The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention. In D. Cosgrove, Mappings. London: -Reak-
tion Books. P 213-252
Delanda. M. (2001). Philosophies of Design, The Case of Modelling Software. In Boogazine; Verb. Actar, Barcelona. Deleuze, G. (1998). New Mappings in Politics, Philosophy, and Culture. Kaufman; University of Minnesota Press, Minne-
sota.
Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (1996). A Thousand Plateaus : Capitalism and Schizophrenia, transl. from French. With fore-
word by Brian Massumi. Athlone Press, London.
Dictionary.com: Webiste: (online). Available fromhttp://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=disfiguring (Accessed: on 15
November 2004)
Elden, S. (2001). Mapping the Present: Heidegger, Foucault and the Project of a Spatial History. Continuum, London.
Graham, S & Marvin, S. (2001). Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Motilities and the Urban
Condition. Routledge, London.
Harvey, D . (1996) Justice, Nature and the Geography of Dfference. Blackwell, Oxford.
Jacobs, J. (1972). Economies of Cities. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth. Koolhaas R, & Hans-Ulrich Obrist (eds) (2001). Mutations. Actar, Barcelona.
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G.J. Bruyns MSc. 31
Lefebvre, H. (1992). The Production of Space. Blackwell, Oxford.
Thrift, N & Amin, A. (2002). Cities: Re-imagining the Urban. Polity Publishers, Blackwell, Oxford.
Read, S.A. (2004). The Forms of the Future. Forthcoming.
Read, S.A. (2004). Situated Livelihoods. Presented at the Great Asian Street Symposium. National University of Singa-
pore, Singapore. Taylor, M.C. (1992). Disfiguring: Art, Architecture, Religion. Chicago University Press, Chicago.
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Figure 1: New York, Subway Hub 42nd Street by the Inter-borough Rapid Transit Company (NYC Transit Authority Architectural Staff)
1903-1913 (photo by Maurice Harteveld, April 4th 2004)
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IR. M.G.A.D. HARTEVELD
Viva Las VegasA search for the urban
design task of interior
public space
Ph.D. research: Interior public space
Chair: Urban Design
Promotor: Prof. ir. H.C. Bekkering
Supervisor: Prof. ir. H.C. Bekkering
Communications to: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
In explorations of the notions of public space, public interiors are generally seen as undemo-
cratic and more private spaces. This notion is based on the Roman distinction between pub-
licusand privatus, making public space, as a public case, refer primarily to res publica. - On
the other hand, there is a related Roman public law that deals with the common interest of
urban society, and could include cases of interior public space. Most sociological research in
contemporary daily life reveals these spaces as public. For urbanism, this research can be
seen as the social context, because the urbanist is primarily focused on the city: the civi-
tas, and not the whole societas. More specifically, for urban designers who deal with public
space, it traditionally means focusing on the outdoor space, and although this is almostalways synonymous with the public domain or publicly owned space, I believe that public
space can be more than this. For urbanism this means there is a need for new understand-
ing and an extension of the design task.
INTRODUCTION
The debate around public space seems to focus more and more on interior public space.
Because they approach their work from different angles, designers and critics do not limit
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Ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld 35
at Rotterdam Central Station is as common as a walk through your own street. In New York
people wanting to go from 7th Avenue to Grand Central and 5th, can use a pedestrian tun-
nel and the 42nd Street Shuttle, which provide easy links between the two subway stations.
In Toronto an underground and elevated walkway system link offices and shopping centres,and in Paris arcades form comfortable connections. Not only has traffic defined the usage
of the urban interiors, but the length of stay has as well. Think of the mall, for example. It
is quite common to meet at the mall in American suburbs. Here the enclosed mall becomes
the new city centre. At the same time, in the inner city itself department stores and fashion-
able shops are urban meeting places, with restaurants, cafes, and lounges.
These examples support the idea that private buildings can also be public space; in this
case they are part of the network of public space. But what is the urban design task in this
analysis?
EXPLORING PUBLIC SPACE
Before looking at interior public space as an urban design task, it would be prudent to ex-
plore the notions of public space. In general, an urban design task is an assignment within
urbanism, but it is also closely related to architecture (Bekkering, 1999:7). Urbanism can
be defined as the discipline of planning and organising the city and forming the public do-
main, while architecture plans and forms the private domain: the building and its premises(Heeling, 1991:17). From this hypothesis the two disciplines meet at the boundary between
public and private domains. In this definition public is defined by ownership. Thus, public
domain is the territory belonging to a state or to the government (Websters Dictionary,
1913:443).
Interior public space shows that the boundary of public space is not always sharply defined.
It does not always follow the contours of the public domain. Thus, how can public space be
defined except by ownership?
This leads to a sociological question: What is public? In philosophy the discussion of publicspace is only a few decades old. Although this discussion is comparatively recent, an enor-
mous number of publications from the social and cultural science perspectives have already
been written about it. These publications develop a wide variety of arguments and redefine
contemporary public space as a democratic space. Being public, it is of or pertaining to the
people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community. It
is the opposite of private (Websters Dictionary, 1913:1139, 1159). As in Roman times, par-
ticipation in the res publicais often a matter of going along. Today public life has become
a formal obligation in which most people approach their public business in a spirit of acqui-
escence. From this point of view the private has become a new focus, a new commitment
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36 Ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld
and belief. This private commitment was an escape from the world at large and from the
formalities of the res publicaas a part of that world (Sennet, 1977:3-4).
In this way certain contemporary private buildings, such as the Sony Store in Manhattan(Siegel, 1992), provide places for people to flee from daily life. Conveniently located, the
store is full of the latest electronic toys, from the latest in personal audio technology to
high-definition television. The atrium of the building is a well air conditioned spot to sit down
and rest on a hot summer day. The Sony Wonder Technology Lab is a place for kids of all
ages to learn about technology through interactive exhibits. Young visitors can experience
audio technology, discover technologys role in modern medicine by experimenting with
ultrasound and endoscopy, or play the next wave of interactive video games
By enclosing the public space, a similar example of new social focus can be found. Avoiding
all kinds of climatological, ecological, and social influences, the urban ennui is eliminated.
The West Edmonton Mall (Sunderland, 1981-1985) is the worlds largest entertainment and
shopping centre. This mercantile establishment consists of a carefully landscaped complex
of shops representing leading merchandisers. The size and programme of this Canadian
mall define it not as a regional or super-regional mall, but as a unique international shop-
ping attraction (Crawford, 1992:7). The complex consists of ten anchor stores, eight hun-
dred shops, and more than one hundred restaurants, twenty-six movie theatres, a casino,
and seven amusement parks. It is Albertas number one tourist attraction. There is even a
shuttle service that runs from the airport to the mall. Although the mall is suburban, locatedon a convenient highway and completely enclosed, its interior public space is designed
as a network of promenades, which are typologically similar to others in inner cities. Like
avenues, the covered space is constructed of two rows of palm plants and grassy strips or
canals between the two walkways. The mall has space for fountains, a mini golf park, and
even two lakes, one for ice skating and the other for dolphin shows (with a replica of the
Santa Maria).
Such mega-malls are comprised of synthetic shopping streets with small facades to simulate
lots in blocks. By this the designers stress the iconic idea of a traditional inner city. Never-theless, this image does not make it a new city centre, because carts, commercial activi-
ties, demonstrations, and gatherings are restricted (Sorkin, 1992:xv). How public are these
new city centres? The malls are not democratic space. Like most interior public space, the
property and management are private, limiting accessibility. In the private domain public
seems a fiction.
Unlike the malls, interior public spaces are public. One difference between espacios pblicos
and espacios colectivosseems to be the designers solution (De Sol Morales, 1992:LVG).
Collective space is defined as being public but privately owned. By introducing this new no-
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Ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld 37
tion, the difference in ownership remains the most important basis for defining spaces. For
social science this is defined as public space. According to this reasoning, public is defined
by social behaviour or by social order rather than ownership. Sociologists refer to the public
realm and the public sphere. The public realm, as the sphere of action and speech, contrastswith the private realm of the household as the sphere of necessity or existence. Survival and
reproduction of life are centred there (Arendt 1958:54-58). This is closely related to terms
such as brgerliche ffenlichkeitor simply ffenlichkeit, translated as public sphere (Haber-
mas, 1962:70, 1991:xv). Using the term realm to refer to a region suggests an association
with the dominion of a king. Thus, the public realm could be defined as an area controlled by
the public or the people. A different point of view sees the sphere as the circuit or range of
action, knowledge, or influence. Formally defined, the sphere is a place of existence, but also
a rank; an order of society or social position (Websters Dictionary, 1913:1384).
If the space of private ownership is not always primarily private since people can also cometogether on private property (as a public), we should redefine public. In this way we can
begin to understand interiors as part of urban network public spaces, and thus, by redefin-
ing public , we can also formulate the urban design task for these interiors.
REDEFINING PUBLIC, FORMULATING THE URBAN DESIGN TASK
Ideas of public and private derive from the Roman distinction between publicusand priva-
tus, thereby making public space refer to respublica. Yet Roman public law did not stop at
Figure 3:
Edmonton, West
Edmonton Mall
by Maurice
Sunderland, 1981 1985 (photo by
Matthias Huijgen,
July 7th, 2003)
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Ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld 39
(involving what is owned by the government).
To redefine public in contemporary society according to the triad of religion, society, and
government is very difficult. First, the difficulty begins with the religious places in the con-
temporary city. Although buildings such as temples or churches can still be found, religionhas become a private matter now. Yet, unlike other private domains, many countries forbid
police officials and parliamentarians from entering such places during services. Second,
even the government buildings have become more private. For safety reasons most gov-
ernment buildings are now only accessible through appointments. Security gates mark the
entrances of parliament, city hall, and ministry buildings.
Third and most relevant, in redefining public space the most hidden difficulty lies in what
the Romans called res communes omnium - what is most vital for society. For example:
water and air were included under Roman law. But what else is a vital part of contemporary
society? What should be public in the contemporary city? Like the general question of what
is public, this can be a sociological question. This may explain the enormous number of
recent publications redefining public space by social geographers and urban sociologists. For
urbanism their research can be seen as providing the social context, because the urbanist
is primarily focused on the city: the civitas, and not the entire societas. For urban designers
dealing with the public space traditionally means centring outdoor space. Although this is al-
most always synonymous with the public domain or the publicly owned space, public space
can be more. If society has changed, so has the city. And if the pubic realm has changed, so
has the public space.
Extraordinary examples can be found in Las Vegas. In this city the buildings form the urban
structure, and urban life takes place inside. Without redefining public (res publica), we can
conclude that these places are the domain of this society and are an integral part of this
city. Focusing on The Strip, we find 514 square miles of interior, most of which is publicly
accessible. From Sahara (Maltzmann, 1952) to Mandalay Bay and Luxor (Klai and Juba,
1993-1999), we find all kind of shops, casinos, food courts, entertainment halls, and hotel
rooms. While some people watch Elton John playing the red piano at The Colosseum at
Caesars Palace (Grossman and Harris, 1966), others visit the DKNY store and Siegfried andRoys white tigers between gambling at The Mirage (Bergman and Corrao, 1989). Amazing
hotels, incredible light shows, unforgettable performers in a place that seems unreal. Once
it depended on the car for transport, now it is configured for collective forms of movement.
The public buildings of The Strip are connected with moving sidewalks, monorails, walkways,
and skywalks (Obrist and Koolhaas, 2001:592-617). All these connections are covered over,
which makes it, along with the public space in the buildings, one huge network of interior
public space. It is a new pattern. Like Nollis Las Vegas, public buildings can be part of the
usage of the city. The designers aim is to derive an understanding of this new pattern (Ven-
turi, Brown and Izenour, 1972:24-25, 76).
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40 Ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld
Another interesting example is downtown Las Vegas. In the 1980s the old inner city was los-
ing retail and office tenants to the suburbs, and its gaming revenues were lost to The Strip.
With the design of Fremont Street Experience (Jerde, 1995-1996), the decline was not only
reversed, but the design became the number one reason to visit. Today, downtown FremontStreet comes to life every evening with a show of millions of lights and half a million watts
of sound. It is part futuristic mall, part urban theatre. In the design an arched glass and
steel roof was introduced. The old main street is covered over so rain wont discourage the
public. Because the quality of the public space has been improved, it has attracted new
investors and visitors. The design of the enormous vault turned the outdoor space into an
interior public space.
Both the public interiors of The Strip and the covered public space of Freemont Street ask
for new understandings of urbanism. To redefine the urban design task we should focus on
the contemporary use of the urban network and the real public space in the contemporary
city. As the Las Vegas examples show, the usage of the city is not always defined by its out-
door space. The usage of this city is mainly within interior space. In addition, stations, hubs,
skywalks, and arcades are part of the contemporary city. In most metropolises public inte-
riors give access to shops and supermarkets. Entrances to parking garages and specialised
stores can be found in department stores, and many restaurants are accessible from food
courts. In general, public buildings and covered public spaces are part of the network of
public space. For this a new approach to the design of public space is needed. New mapsshould be drawn, redefining the public space and the urban design task. This can be compa-
rable to Nollis Map of Rome (Nolli, 1748).
By researching interior public spaces within their spatial context, their contribution to the
urban network becomes clearer. Do they contribute, is there urban usage? What is the po-
sition and composition of such space? Is it freely accessible and does it provide access to
other interiors? Most important, we need to know why this is so. Every design solution had
and has a different social context. How do the changes in the city affect the design task of
public space? There is more than one answer. Every type of public interior has its own evo-lution, and because the meanings of public have also evolved, the analyses of interior pub-
lic spaces must be made over time. Research on interior public space must be more than
simply research in the present. Research like this will provide insight into the changes in the
contemporary and the future city. We can learn from our own disciplinary history and use
our knowledge for designing public interiors. In urbanism the public space was always there,
but it should not be limited to outdoor space.
From the point of urban design, this research will join the many explanations and answers
sociologists have already given to these changes. Against the backdrop of terms such as
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Ir. M.G.A.D. Harteveld 41
public realm and public sphere in the design of public space, the res extra commercium
has not really left the theatre.
LITERATURE
Arendt, H. (1958). The Human Condition. The University Press, Chicago.
Bekkering, H.C. (1999). Voetlicht op het stedebouwkundig ontwerpen in het fin de sicle: naar een stedebouw van con-
ventie. Oration (Inaugural address), Delft University Press, Delft.
Crawford, M. (1992). The World in a Shopping Mall. In: Sorkin, M., Variations on a Theme Park. The New American City
and the End of Public Space. Hill and Wang, New York.
De Sol Morales, M. (1992). Un Nuevo reto: Urbanizar lo Privado. Espacios pblicos y espacios colectivos. In: Seccin de
Cultura y Arte, La Vanguardia, Barcelona.
De Sol Morales, M. (1992). (Translation: E. Bet) Openbare en collectieve ruimte. De verstedelijking van het priv-do-
mein als nieuwe uitdaging. In: Oase No 33, SUN, Nijmegen.
Habermas, J. (1962). Strukturwandel der ffentlichkeit. Untersuchungen zu einer Kategorie der brgelichen Gesellschaft.
Hermann Luchterhand Verlag GmbH, Neuwied and Berlin.
Habermas, J. (T. Burger). (1991). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bour-
geois Society, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Heeling, J. (1991). Stuurman op de wilde vaart. Oration (Inaugural address), Publikatieburo Bouwkunde, Delft.
Kichner. (1949). Beitrge zur Geschichte des Begriffs ffenlich und ffenliches Recht. Dissertation, Universitt Gttin-
gen, Gttingen.
Obrist, H.U. and R. Koolhaas. (2001). An Interview with Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi. In: Chung, J.C., J. Inaba,
R. Koolhaas, and S.T. Leong; Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping. Project on the City 2, Taschen Verlag Benedikt,
Cologne.
Sennet, R. (1977). The Fall of Public Man, Knopf, New York.
Sorkin, M. (1992). Variations on a Theme Park. The New American City and the End of Public Space, Hill and Wang, New
York.
Venturi, R., D.S. Brown and S. Izenour (1972). Learning from Las Vegas, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and
London.
Webster Dictionary (1913) Edited by Noah Porter. Online version of Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary (updated on
January 9, 1997). G. & C. Merriam Co., University of Chicago, Chicago.
DESIGN CASES
Bergman and Corrao (1989). The Mirage, Las Vegas, USA,
Grossman, M. and J. Harris. (1966). Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.
Jerde, J. (1995 1996). Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas.
Klai, J. and K. Juba. (1993 1999). Mandalay Bay and Luxor, Las Vegas.
Maltzmann, M. (1952). Sahara, Las Vegas.
Nolli, G. (1748). Map of Rome, Rome, Italy,
Siegel, G., The Sony Store in Manhattan, 550 Madison Avenue, 1992. In: Johnson, P. and J. Burgee. (1978 1984). The
Sony Building, originally The AT&T Building, New York.
Sunderland, M. (1981 1985). The West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Canada.
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Photo by Karel Tomei, June 2004
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DRS. F.L. HOOIMEIJER
Cities in wetlandsPh.D. research: New Dutch Water City
Chair: Urban Compositions
Promotor: Prof. dr. ir. V.J. Meyer
Communications to: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The dynamics of the regional water system, which includes groundwater and rainwater as
well as surface water, is crucial for the development and urbanisation of the Dutch polders.
The Dutch polder landscape has been built by cultivation of the natural landscape of rivers,
seas, and peat marshes through civil engineering, which has also built the urban landscape.
This essay describes how the physical and functional structure of the polder landscape is
recognisable in the urban design, both implicitly in the land reclamation grid and explicitly
as an architectural determination of lines, points, and planes.
INTRODUCTION
The dynamics of the regional water system, which include groundwater and rainwater as
well as surface water, is crucial for the development and urbanisation of the Dutch polders.
Until the eighth century, the Dutch lowlands were uninhabitable marshes where the forces
of water and wind had free reign. The Romans were not at all interested in working or living
in this part of their empire . They only stayed to build fortresses and defensive works calledthe Limes on the northern boundary of the empire.
The first developments in the lowlands were built on higher level ground, such as dunes
and riverbed sedimentary layers; later they built on constructed dikes and boroughs. People
in the areas that are now Groningen and Friesland lived on mounds, while fortified towns
were mainly constructed in the areas of Holland and Zeeland. Regardless of whether they
were designed on higher ground or not, Dutch towns are settlements built around a river,
shore, fortress, dike, or dam. These interesting and unique Dutch town types form the basis
of the oldest polder settlement, the peat polder city. With the construction of drained lakes
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Drs. F.L. Hooimeijer 45
drainage sluice. Together with tidal movements, drainage water was used in a practical way
to ensure the depth of the harbour as well as city access for sea-going vessels. The dam,
including the drainage sluice that formed the city centre, was vital to the economy of trans-
port over water to the hinterland. The drainage sluice could only support smaller ships, andgoods from larger vessels had to be hauled or sold on the dam. The dam became a trading
market, and the estuary outside the dikes of the peat river became a sheltered harbour.
Thus, the dam town and polder become hydraulically as well as economically connected.
STRICT CONTROL
Of the various dry cores on which the peat polder cities were developed, the dam town was
the most significant. Dike residents, who lived alongside a peat bog and controlled the wa-
ter through the dam, were conceptually ahead of those in peat polder cities. This is where
the second important spatial characteristic can be seen: the need for strict control because
any expansion of the polder city needed to be realised with caution. First, the size of the
expansion needed to be carefully determined: it not only needed to meet the requirements
of the time, but had to serve for centuries to come. The second consideration was to de-
velop a technical plan that would ensure water could be discharged and controlled, and that
the water in city canals would stay at a constant level. In most cases the project was initi-
ated by building an encircling canal (outer canal), which was connected through the expan-sion area by means of a sequence of parallel canals. The outer canal was primarily built for
drainage, but also had a military or defensive function and a transport function (access to
warehouses) (Burke 1956). By means of sluices and windmills, the water level of the canal
system was regulated and the excess water discharged. Then the reclaimed land needed to
be raised to obtain the required protection level, and it had to be consolidated and prepared
for building. Mud excavated from the canals (muddle) was used for raising the level, and
was supplemented by ground, which often needed to be transported from far away. Long
foundation piles were driven into the ground prepared for building to stabilise the housing in
the deep-set stratum of sand.
The difference between the urban composition of the dry core and that of the polder city
can be seen on the map of early medieval Alkmaar and its sixteenth-century expansion in
the peat. The lax controls on the higher section, located on geest, are very different from
the strict control employed within the polder city. The difference in height of the urban
ground is also unmistakable: extending from the dry core, the streets show a slight de-
scending course, while the water level in the canals remains the same.
It is obvious that random development is absolutely out of the question in an area where
land has been reclaimed, raised, drained, and protected with so much effort. In polder cit-
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46 Drs. F.L. Hooimeijer
ies there is no chance growth, and the cost and effort involved in building reclaimed land
required that this land be used optimally.
This requirement was met by means of a detailed plan with an orderly, compact layout, inwhich there was no room for markets or wide streets (Burke 1956). The quays along the
canals were the only public areas, so rows of trees were planted on each side of the canal
to beautify the city. The canals functioned as promenades in the summer and skating rinks
in the winter. The rows of trees were borrowed from the polder landscape, where they had
been planted on either side of the polder roads and encircled farms to serve as fencing for
the land and windscreens against the rain.
In addition to the dry core and strict control, another spatial characteristic of the polder city
was significant involvement with the organisation and design of the polder landscape.
The expansion from the creation of polders, initiated by technological developments in the
twentieth century, also had a fundamental spatial effect on polder cities. The space, which
became available from the impoldering and manufacturability of the territory, made the
scale and shape of urban expansion possible. The polders offered space for each spatial
strategy and ideal of city planning. Cities such as Zoetermeer, Almere, and Lelystad could
drop into the polder and expand almost endlessly.
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Drs. F.L. Hooimeijer 47
PEAT POLDER CITIES AND TOWNS IN DRAINED LAKES AND DIKES
While cities in peat polders, drained lakes, and dikes have common characteristics, they
also differ from one another. One crucial difference between the cities in the peat and thosein the drained lakes is revealed in the expression, God created the world, but the Dutch
created Holland. Through the reclamation of peat, a natural fuel, the Dutch disrupted as
much of their land as they won by creating polders (Heslinga 1985). Heavy storms made
the growing water landscape more important because of the manual work involved. Sev-
eral cities were lost as a result of this work, including Nieuwerkerk, which drowned in the
Haarlemmermeer in 1554. Peat polder cities are built on peat ground that remained after
removing the peat. They were built on top of the agricultural pattern, often preserving the
latter, while in the drained lakes of the peat bogs settlements were designed as part of the
landscape. Among the dikes in the Zuiderzee it is normal to see cities and towns that were
designed together with, but independent of, the agricultural landscape. This is why the geo-
metric ratio in peat polder cities, as in peat polder allotments, is on a smaller scale than is
true of the drained lakes, and also why cities on dikes show independent patterns.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the introduction of the steam-driven pumping sta-
tion enabled cities to be built in drained lake beds. The manufacturability of the drained
lake and the new landscape are asserted in the concept of cities; it is also outlined in large-
scale consanguinity with the drained lake landscape.
Residences on the new land, ideally orderly arranged in a ring of solidarity, inhabited by
a hard-working autonomous population, ideally monitored by state-of-the-art steam-driven
systems. This was the idea that caught on in the forties after the Haarlemmermeer was
further uncovered (1839-1853). Perhaps the technological triumph, this domestication of the
age-old water wolf in the centre of the Netherlands was the determining factor for concep-
tual broadening of the impolderment. In this decade the Netherlands discovered that space,
even if this space had