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City in layers-part 1- An urban design concept

This post is not a promotion for Terry Ferrell Idea of Shaping London nor for Pedro Ortiz concept of The Metropolis. It’s about the notion of city growth, the urban form changes and how this transformation happens to make a city a bigger component the metropolis. how the concept city in layers contributes in creating a good urban form. The below image is the central part of the city subject of our discussion.

city in layers road transport network as one of city layers creating the urban form.
Figure 1, Montreal Place-The strand , London-UK in 2017

City in layers VS paradigms of urban regeneration.

Beyond urban design theories, city design contribution to the urban form and city evolution making the metropolis. The urban regeneration methods are considered in various studies is the base paradigms for this transformation; here I am discussing mainly the professional practice role in the direct influence of shaping the urban form and the city and creating it by layers. To start with in old times, Since the creation of human being’s people gathers in nature to establish settlements, village’s starts with homes around a water source and land for cultivation. Village’s congregation builds a town regarding spatial space or infrastructure, and consequently, towns develop in size and population to create sectors and the later connect to form what we call in the modern world a big city. Every city in the world is built of complex urban form, a spatial structure consisting of not only transport nodes, open parks, public spaces but linking spaces between buildings. Cities suburban areas are connected by transportation nodes, commercial, administrative forms and buildings and here we observe the metropolis.

City in layers characteristic of transformation

This is where we start to draw and criticize the formation of a metropolis:” What are the characteristics of a transformed city to formulate a metropolis?” “What are the characteristics of the spatial structure of a metropolis? “I am here concerned about the role of urban design and designer in professional practice in creating the metropolis and how he establishes the design layer by layer. In this post I am going to go through the evolution of London central city in the last century to stand on side by side theory and practice on the process and method of this transformation and layer creation. The post will focus on the specific timeline in the metropolis life (2000-2015), (1950-1970) and (1900-1935) criticizing the distinctive urban development.

References

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5 Comments

  1. […] translation of an official urban plan was in late 1950 in an official London development plan. The urban regeneration plan laid out by a professor in architecture and urban planner comprised three major mini plans to […]

  2. […] in layers: urban design in practice is the seventh article of a series of articles defining and analyzing the new urban design concept. In this article, I will summarize the previous […]

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