V - European Urban Summer School

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Open Access
Conditions of selfregulated urbanity
(AESOP, 2010) Kucina, Ivan
Urban structures are material artefacts reflecting the history of the societies that had been creating them, as well as today’s social relations. Post socialist cities are the physical witnesses of the communist ideologies that have gone and the capitalist ambitions that have loudly taken their place. Socialist society projected the high ideals of universal humanity, such as equality, solidarity and unity onto urban development by adopting modernism and following the most progressive concepts of modern architecture and urban planning. Collective values were represented by hierarchical urban structures composed of functionally organised parts which were celebrating social order and a healthy environment.
Open Access
Borderlands : Changes for peripheries
(AESOP, 2010) Cimadomo, Guido
The first known concept of land goes back to the time of the Egyptians, who believed it to be flat and floating on water. Later on, other civilisations raised similar concepts. In Babylon the priests described the universe as an oyster with water above and below, the whole sustained by a solid sky like a closed and round room. The Mesopotamian concept foresaw an ocean that surrounded flat land; it was forbidden for navigation and punishment for those who ignored this was to fall into the abyss. Later still, around the 8th century B.C. the Greeks imagined land as a flat and round disk held up by columns. Anaximander of Miletus saw the world in the form of a cylindrical column surrounded by air that floated at the core of the universe without support and couldn’t fall because it was right in the centre. What is clear is the absence of fear of early civilisations to raise some abysmal edges – very difficult to justify – but with a persuasive and frightening force, highlighting the predominance of specific interests over rationality.
Open Access
Urban morphology incorporating complexity and variation a study in the use of parametric urban modeling techniques in Jingdezhen, China
(AESOP, 2010) Sengupta, Ulysses; Cheung, Eric; Wong, Lenard; Matsuda, Noriko; Yang, Qiao; Lynch, John; Gonzales, Angel; Forcob, Nde
The rapid rate of urbanisation (Burdett, Kanai, 2006) today has resulted in extreme changes to the physical fabric of many cities with the only constant being the increasing rate of change. In developing parts of the world urban territories undergoing constant, sudden and drastic changes in topology due to market led planning and gentrification compete with the speed of rapidly growing informal urban settlements. The failure of most current urban planning and design tools are primarily an inability to address processes of change over time and a powerlessness to genuinely incorporate bottom up and emergent urban processes. How does one design for the unplanned? How does one attempt to influence constant change? This is a short introduction to a number of temporal design tools that were developed in an attempt to incorporate complex behaviour into the design of morphological urban territories. Unit 6, a post-graduate design unit from the University of Nottingham, Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, carried out a remote urban and historic study, as well as on site visual street level studies of the city of Jingdezhen. The aim was to develop postgraduate thesis projects and, contribute through critical discourse to the city’s proposed five year plan, which aims to promote urban growth via an attempt to re-invent the city as a cultural centre based upon its historical position as the ‘Ceramic Capital of China’.
Open Access
Ring road (WZ) : Road vs street
(AESOP, 2010) Hakbart, Bartosz; Klemendi, Naim; Lahutsenak, Darya; Nogalski, Szymon; Rossato, Chiara; Serrenho, Tiago
FROM ROAD TO STREET We make a conceptual distinction between a road and a street. A street is something more than a road. The street is a paved public way with adjoining buildings in an urban context, where people may freely assemble, interact and move about. We are focusing on the current mono-functional character of the road, which serves commuters and local inhabitants. The road should become a street, and its multifunctional aspect should be reinforced to open it to additional categories of users and activities. ANALYSIS We assume that existing traffic on the WZ road will decrease thanks to the building of the DSR ring road and that car technology will reduce noise and air pollution. DIFFERENT AGENTS, DIFFERENT SCALES We assessed this place from the perspective of different stakeholders with diverging interests. For the local authorities this place is potentially very valuable due to its central location, but it is actually a hurdle with negatively impacts on the city’s image as a meeting place. For car users its value is ambivalent, as it is a very convenient shortcut with wide lanes, but with a congestion problem. For bicycle users, it is a good connection through the city, but currently difficult to use, due to heavy traffic and limited number of crossings. For pedestrians, the place is potentially valuable as a connection with the city centre and a place of distinctive heritage character, but it is currently impracticable due to air and noise pollution. For its inhabitants, the area has similar advantages as for pedestrians, but they are more likely to feel the actual drawbacks. Tram users should perceive the place positively due to its good connections and accessibility. For economic agents, this place might bring opportunities, but at present the lack of pedestrian traffic makes it unattractive.
Open Access
Ring road (WZ) : from busy road to sustainable boulevard
(AESOP, 2010) Barranco, Ricardo; Egyud, Reka; Maeiyat, Mohammad; Murseli, Rizah; Swistun, Deborah; Triantis, Loukas
VISION The inner ring road Kazimirza Wielkiego is curtailing people’s mobility and disrupting communication and exchange between the affected adjacent areas. It needs to be given a public space profile. All the intersecting roads can work as bridges between commercial, cultural, recreational and residential areas on either side, connecting to, and reinforcing the grid which constitutes Wrocław’s fabric. The main focus is on walking mobility, turning Kazimirza Wielkiego street into a pleasant public space, with activities happening alongside to favour human presence on it. The desired vision aims to unify what has been divided till now. It is important to bring together the diverse areas which form the city centre, so that all their distinct functions can be fully expressed and interact with each other, converting the city centre into a kind of ‘organic being’ capable of adapting itself to people’s wills and daily needs. TRANSFORMATION PLAN Our vision can be expressed in the physical realm through the following measures: • creating connections between important spaces, • eliminating cross traffic, allowing only endtraffic, • reducing traffic (2x1 lane), • keeping the tram lines (optimise the current line system, and following distance), • accommodating bicycle lanes, • designing more pedestrian friendly streets, • renovating facades, • incentives for development of additional activities at the ground level to attract people, • recuperating the existing actual water channel as an alternative aquatic transportation mode.
Open Access
Thinking at the megaregional scale : The cases of the Southern European diagonal and thames gateway
(AESOP, 2010) Ryser, Judith
This contribution focuses on the regional context of spatial development. It argues that in a globalising world, spatial planning can no longer be undertaken in geographic isolation by solely focusing on a particular area, usually determined by administrative boundaries and political competences. Spatial planning needs to explore various scales simultaneously – others call them ‘layers’ in this book – identifying key issues at each level, discovering their interdependence and relating them to each other. This is particularly relevant for a city like Wrocław with its extremely turbulent history of spatial-political transformation and identity and changing relations with its surrounding regions and countries during its existence. and local authorities, often without an elected government and very limited competences. At a time when cities assume an increasingly important role in the local and global economy their regional position and influence matter at both national and international levels. ‘Shrinking’ space, owing to ever speedier means of communication, contributes to the importance of regional spatial strategies, not least for infrastructure investment. Beyond American planning traditions, the first mega-region was conceived in the 1960s for the north eastern coast of the USA where several supra-regional development strategies were implemented successfully. Since then nine other mega-regions were construed in the USA which are pursuing supra-regional policies to achieve economic prosperity. Together these policies led to the current proposal of a national strategic spatial plan for the USA as a whole (Knowledge creation and sharing planning workshops, 2004 & 2005).
Open Access
Identity and authenticity in urban regeneration
(AESOP, 2010) Lorens, Piotr
Present urban development processes – both in cities aspiring to become metropolitan centres and in smaller ones having different functions in the settlement network – are increasingly related to the concept of regeneration. This concept – frequently mistaken for restoration and modernisation of city structures – has become a part of the urban development cycle, defined by Klaassen already decades ago, and has become common practice since then in many cities around the globe. The urban regeneration concept is frequently associated with problems of preservation and rehabilitation of heritage areas, which are often in need of serious actions to regain their original values and functions. But this process – happening within the circumstances of the liberal development paradigm, globalisation trends and other associated phenomena – has to be associated not only with a proper assessment of the historic importance of the site, but also with its commercial value and possible ways of increasing it. This approach demands to take into account issues such as site identity and the value of the authentic elements of heritage structures. Both can have a certain value, not only symbolic but also economic, thus both of these have to be a part of comprehensive regeneration and development policies.
Open Access
New city form. Analysis to support design and governance
(AESOP, 2010) Engelke, Dirk
The form of a city is visible in terms of its buildings, roads, green infrastructure and so on. But the form of a city is a lot more than just these visible items. To analyse a city is to analyse these spatial patterns but also to analyse other layers, which determine the form of a city as well. The spatial patterns and their management through land use planning cover the debate about norms and visions, driving policymaking and sector-based planning both in the strategic and operative timeframes, as well as the spatial integration of sectorial issues, decision-making, budgeting, participation, implementation of plans and decisions, together with monitoring results and evaluating impacts. The main focus of this paper is the management of spatial patterns through land use planning within different cultural and planning frameworks. It is based on the experience of a European working group within the URBACT programme, funded by the European Union. These experiences of the working group on land use management for sustainable European cities (LUMASEC2) are the core of the paper and are demonstrated by two case studies which show two different approaches of land use management in Europe: St. Étienne Métropole (France) working at the regional scale, focusing on the involvement of different stakeholders, and an urban quarter in the city of Baia Mare (Romania), focusing on the urban pattern. Based on these two case studies, further research and additional case studies within LUMASEC, the paper introduces a model of intervention on different layers, illustrated by the above mentioned case studies which were presented for discussion among young professionals at the European Urban Summer School.
Open Access
Next step for sustainable urban design in the Netherlands
(AESOP, 2010) Meijer, Michaël; Netsch, Stefan
Thinking about and practising sustainable urban design should take a step further: from sustainable urban design to sustainable spatial development. An attractive approach towards planning and urban design aims to improve spatial systems effectively within their spatial and societal context. This paper explains this next step using observations of society, literature and lessons learnt from four case studies2, as well as mainstream development processes in the Netherlands. Although the case study projects are sometimes more than 10 years old and are situated in a specific Dutch societal and spatial context, they provide interesting, even up to date, insights for the planning of sustainable and durable cities. First we look at why a renewed approach to sustainable urban design is both necessary and rewarding. We then turn to this renewed approach and how to put it into practice. Possibilities for the design of sustainable and durable cities are illustrated by the descriptions of the cases in this paper.
Open Access
Wrocław : Silesian capital at crossroads
(AESOP, 2010) Has, Yaprak; Marchesi, Silvia; Ostatek, Izabela; Reis, Jose; Romanyk, Monica; Sofge, Michelle
The first impression of Wrocław is a city of many parts. Despite its organic medieval development on the Odra river, historic circumstances and planning practices resulted in scattered, isolated, often disjointed parts. Most recognisable is the medieval centre with its market square, the traditional ‘core’ of the city which functions as a lively centre. There are also many pockets of 19th century houses, situated not far from the centre. Other interesting built forms include garden cities from the turn of the 20th century, now pleasant, middle class residential neighbourhoods. Scattered among this urban tissue are many industrial sites, often abandoned and unused. These brownfield sites may burden the urban fabric, but they have great potential for reuse and redevelopment as industrial heritage. Housing and planning from the communist era range from 1950s prefab medium rise to high-rise tower blocks built according to modernist planning principles with much vacant space between and around the blocks, disassociating them physically and socially from their surroundings.
Open Access
Introduction Inner City ring road (WZ) transformation
(AESOP, 2010) Mironowicz, Izabela; Ryser, Judith
The ‘Trasa WZ’ (the East-West road) is the first inner ring enabling cars to avoid the city. It is located on the medieval moat, which was filled in during the second half of the 19th century. While the early 20th century plans for the city development have already acknowledged the role of this road as a communication axis, it has taken its present shape between 1977 and 1991. In physical terms, the length of the WZ road is approximately 1,5 km. It has 7 traffic lights (5 concentrated on the first 350 m of its western part and then approx. every 500 m). It has 6 crossings, and 5 entry/exit points to the north and the south. It is a large road, with 2 or 3 lanes on both sides, two lines and a short road tunnel (next to Plac Dominikański) separated from the traffic. For pedestrians, there is an underground passage linking both sides of the Świdnicka street (which is the main historic north-south axis), together with two passages in its eastern part close to the Plac Dominikański.
Open Access
The role of heritage and future in urban change
(AESOP, 2010) Mironowicz, Izabela; Ryser, Judith
The visits, tutor presentations and young planners projects were geared towards exploring what role regeneration and new developments were able to play respectively or in common in bringing about sustainable urban change to prepare the city of tomorrow for future generations. The focus on projects which were designed to generate structural change at intra-urban scale was a logical progression from planning physical and social transformation processes which would enable specific urban places to improve or reinvent their heritage value. There is obviously no neat separation between these two urban interventions and most examples presented, as well as student proposals combined these two urban development objectives. An unresolved issue was that of urban change. Some equated it to constant movement akin to the movement of particles in chaos theory, whilst others considered that the pace of urban change was neither as intense nor as rapid. Also they identified two types of change, either driven by natural organic processes mainly outside governance control, or by wilful political intervention, translated into strategies and operational programmes by the professionals of the built environment on the one hand and the development industry on the other hand. Both types of change did not take place all the time and in every part of the city and beyond. Quite the reverse. What did not change signified what was changing, gave it its meaning, its dynamic and its controversial character at times. Moreover, the political standpoint, the economic context varying from free market to social market economies and the position of the development industry, together with investment opportunities were in constant interplay, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in contradiction.
Open Access
Wrocław : Elaborating the Void
(AESOP, 2010) Bolhuis, Klaas Jan; Brajović, Tamara; Gendek, Izabela; Makhatay, Volha; Marchwicka, Barbara; Mohacsi, Katalin
Wrocław, like the other regional capitals of Poland, is expanding outwards onto green fields even beyond its boundaries, despite its aspiration to harness its physical, economic and human resources fully and efficiently. However, we noticed that expanding the physical fabric without constraints may lead to cracks within the urban fabric. Without a coherent citywide development strategy many areas may not realise their potential. Therefore, we decided not to study the existing city fabric but to focus on what it lacks. We made emptiness the subject of our study.
Open Access
Ring road (WZ) : Designing a liveable place
(AESOP, 2010) Bolhuis, Klaas Jan; Brajović, Tamara; Gendek, Izabela; Makhatay, Volha; Marchwicka, Barbara; Mohacs, Katalin
ANALYSIS The analysis of the this road serves to establish its potential. It encompasses street typology, cultural place typology, and residential typology. In design terms it included the notions of points, lines, grids and direction leading to infinity. STREET TYPOLOGY The street typology focuses on the distinction between a street, a lane and a boulevard. Streets could lead to infinity, but in reality they are closely related to the surrounding fabric which contributes to their profile. Their use as origins and destinations interrupts the flows through the streets. It distinguishes between pedestrian streets, pedestrian priority streets, public transport streets and boulevards. While purely pedestrianised streets constitute gathering points for people, pedestrian priority street facilitate movements on foot. Public transport streets are heterogeneous, providing access and forming shared spaces between mass transit movements and pedestrians moving alongside and crossing into the surrounding areas. Boulevards have a more cultural recreational character. Their wide pavements with trees, greenery and street furniture encourage informal activities, walking, lingering and stopping. PLACE MAKING The place typology responds to the question of what constitutes a real place rather than a placedesign. The group agreed with ‘Project for Public Spaces Inc’ that design remains an important component but not the only factor of creating a place, while generating access, active uses economic opportunities and programmes were often more important than design.
Open Access
Trends and challenges of urban regeneration in Germany
(AESOP, 2010) Vancutsem, Didier
The most pressing problems in urban development in Germany today are the impact of demographic and economic change (decrease of population, ageing, diversification and immigration; globalisation, deregulation and internationalisation of markets, deindustrialisation, privatisation and rise in unemployment). Demographically, Germany’s 82.5 million population will soon be on the decline (Tab. 2). By the year 2050 it will fall to about 75 million, and assuming lower life expectancy and migration to around 67 million (about the population of the former West Germany including West Berlin). Despite calls to prevent these developments, demographic dynamics have inertia and make turning round impossible. The dramatic decline in household size means that half of them are single person households (most of them over 65) in large towns over 100.000 inhabitants. By 2020, there will be roughly an equal number of growing towns and towns with high population losses at the regional level of districts (Fig. 3). The number of young people (< 20 years old) will decline by almost 20% in the West by 2020, and in the East by 2010, while in rural areas the decline will be approx. 30%. The number of elderly people over 60 years will increase by 20% or more in the west and the east.
Open Access
Wrocław’s city structure
(AESOP, 2010) Mironowicz, Izabela; Ryser, Judith
Wrocław, the capital of Lower Silesia, is the fourth largest city in Poland with 640.000 inhabitants estimated in 2004. It lies on the Odra River and four other small rivers (Bystrzyca, Oława, Ślęza, Widawa) connected with the Odra River in the city. Wrocław is an important industrial, transportation and communication centre for all Southern Poland. The city was partly destroyed at the end of World War II; it has been reconstructed and some of the damaged historical buildings have been restored. Situated strategically between Prague, Warsaw and Berlin, Wrocław has a well developed transportation infrastructure that connects the metropolis with the whole of the continent and beyond. A road network is running east-west and north-south, intersecting in Wrocław. The A4 motorway, running east from Dresden and Berlin through Wrocław, Opole, and Katowice, is the main artery of the region. An international airport is located just six kilometres from the city centre, offering regular flights to Warsaw, Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, as well as cargo services. Wrocław is also connected to the European system of waterways. The Odra links the city with the Baltic seaports of Szczecin while a network of canals and the Elbe provide access to Berlin and further to Western Europe.
Open Access
Wrocław sharpen the eye
(AESOP, 2010) Hakbart, Bartosz; Klemendi, Naim; Lahutsenak, Darya; Nogalski, Szymon; Rossato, Chiara; Serrenho, Tiago
A pragmatic look at the city highlighted its green – blue assets. Like many cities, Wrocław was located on its river for its livelihood. The river system continues to play a prime role as a symbol and a nature reserve in the city structure, although its economic functions such as navigation have declined. Its propensity to flood has turned the river into a risk and has impaired its accessibility, safe for speculative developments in flood planes contradicting plans. Rivers present also obstacles to traffic flows due to lack of crossings. Wrocław’s large amount of green areas, agricultural land and allotments is a historic accident which endows the city with unique assets. Disliked by planners and developers allotments provide a sense of belonging and a socialising platform for their users. Continuous car based suburbanisation has worsened traffic and pollution and threatens Wrocław’s considerable heritage.
Open Access
Wrocław filling in the gaps
(AESOP, 2010) Durate, Rui; Gubic, Ilija; Jankovic, Natasha; Moritz, Suzanne; Tusinski, Olivia; Wolff, Manuel
This group took an original narrative approach to under¬stand Wrocław and its regional con¬text as a basis for their proposals of desirable change. The narrative – of which an extract is given below – was interspersed with the description of Wrocław and its re¬gion, included in the introduction to the third student task of understanding Wrocław as a whole and addressing overall city structure. Wrocław has a clear typology of urban patterns, each with its advantages and gaps which influence economic, social and cultural opportunities. The city centre provides spaces for diverse intermingled economic and social activities. A second typology consists of modernist tower block housing estates with vast open spaces between them where social interaction is taking place despite the surroundings. The third major typology consists of linear and mono-functional business developments, characterised by large scale building blocks constructed along main roads, isolated from existing surroundings with minimal opportunities for common space and social contact. Linear and large scale development patterns are currently the most common form of development in Wrocław. This new trend can be interpreted as a new form of ‘main street’ writ large, where the car replaces the pedestrian, and the ‘shopping shed’ replaces small scale shop fronts. This fabric has gaps of social interaction and cooperation. The further from the city centre, the more ‘gaps’ become apparent, such as time taken to reach new destinations, larger building blocks preventing penetration, longer gaps between developments, fragmented disconnected land use, such as industrial parks and shopping centres located next to vacant agricultural land, villages from another era, gated business premises and enclosed technology parks.
Open Access
Creation of city vision preparation of urban development plans and regulations for the city of Kamza
(AESOP, 2010) Dollani, Petrit
Since the fall of communism in Albania, the country has undergone profound changes, almost without equal among the transition economies. The effects of such a transformation, both good and bad, have become very visible – in physical and spatial patterns, and in the living condition of the people – in urban areas and especially those which are growing rapidly and are situated on or near the Adriatic coast with easy communication access to EU countries. This urbanisation process has undergone three distinct phases. The first phase was dominated by the development of the informal sector. The second phase consisted of the consolidation of the informal sector and the emergence of a formal sector. In its third current phase Albania is continuing steady urban growth, further development of the formal sector and rapid regularisation of informal developments (ALUIZNI) alongside new formal developments. Simultaneously, the contribution of the private sector to the growth of the GDP has increased dramatically from 10% in 1992 to 75% by 1996 and is still increasing. As the previous barriers to population movements do not exist anymore, the Albanian workforce has entered regional as well as extra regional economic areas and began to invest their remittances from foreign earnings especially in housing and other real estate sectors. This has provoked an overall rural exodus to urban areas. Between 1990 and 1994, Tirana and its peripheral communes, as well as other provincial cities grew four times more than during the previous 40 years.
Open Access
Wrocław : Culture for Wrocław
(AESOP, 2010) Barranco, Ricardo; Egyud, Reka; Maeiyat, Mohammad; Murseli, Rizah; Swistun, Deborah; Triantis, Loukas
This presentation deals with building local capacity along social, economic, environmental and cultural layers. It focuses on metropolitan governance to show how boundaries can be overcome through cooperation. It promotes environmental awareness, attention to heritage and importance for Wrocław to become a compact city as part of the ‘new Wrocław city culture’. It discusses strategic development opportunities which could contribute to Wrocław’s new image. Wrocław is sprawling, in part due to strong urbanrural migration. However the city has a low density on average compared with other European cities with the same population. The high number of universities is a very big opportunity for the city, and its knowledge base could serve as platform for city development.