Designing the City: Towards a More Sustainable Urban Form

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Designing the City: Towards a More Sustainable Form

Hildebrand Frey, Spon 1999

Sustainable urban form is one of those hotly debated topics and there are considerable differences of view concerning suitable urban models. This book seeks to define criteria and investigate different macro and micro structures to see how successfully these are fulfilled. It examines theoretical forms of city such as concentric, star, satellite, linear and net and ascribes them weightings to indicate how well they meet the criteria. Whilst people may form different views about these weightings, the conclusion is that the search for a generally sustainable form is a bit of a red herring; what really counts is the search for a sustainable city region and in this respect it is the network of settlements that is generally applicable. The criteria put forward for sustainability can however be applied to the individual parts which make up the network.

The second part of the book applies the objectives and criteria to Glasgow. One chapter examines the historical development of the city and concludes that as it stands, it is unsustainable. Another chapter analyses the macro and micro form of the city by identifying existing and potential neighbourhood boundaries and districts, aggregating these to form towns and service centres and exploring linkages between parts of the city. This analysis results in the definition of a hierarchical structure of provision centres and linkages from which a diagrammatic structure of the Glasgow conurbation is derived.

The chapter that follows examines the strategic design of districts through case studies of Bridgeton, Easterhouse and the Partick/ Govan area. The figure ground maps of the areas provide a basis for defining potential neighbourhoods, and mixed use centres are proposed at the heart of them. The structure of Bridgeton uses traditional blocks whilst Easterhouse is a typical peripheral estate with a series of unconnected parts. In Bridgeton the structure is rationalised with a more severe grid although it is unclear how much of the existing community facilities remain within the new structure. In Easterhouse a permeable grid replaces the earlier form and additional areas of land - for example school sites and open space - appear to be used for development. The third case study of Partick and Govan does not seem to fit the pattern of examining a district structure in greater detail.

A concluding chapter argues that to achieve more people friendly cities we need strategic plans and design frameworks for city regions, cities and districts. These should involve incremental "conservative surgery" as described by Geddes. The search is therefore for a sustainable city region framework which is unlikely to fit political boundaries as they stand - needing at the very least cooperation between adjacent authorities. The fact that the community needs to be involved in urban regeneration, should influence professional education through interdisciplinary working and training.

No one can argue against the view that what is needed is a rigorous analysis of urban areas to ensure that natural boundaries of neighbourhoods form the basis for the structuring of the city and that a long term view of urban form is needed to overcome the deep seated problems of many communities. Whether that takes enough account of today’s political realities is doubtful. Urban design as defined here is close to the Urban Task Force report and is seen as an activity shared by all those involved in improving a community’s physical environment and structure. The book demonstrates how this can be applied to Glasgow and should be a useful stimulus to urban design issues in that city.

(This review was first published in Urban Design Quarterly 72, October 1999 and is reproduced with the Editor's kind permission)