Urban Transformations and Sustainability

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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


Drs. F.L. Hooimeijer


Ir. M. Mendona


Ir. C. Mulders-KusumoEvaluated 7 Oktober 2004

C. Pinilla Castro MSc.


Ir. C.E. Pinzon Cortes


R. Rocco MSc.


Ir. D. Tunas MSc.



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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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


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


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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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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(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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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


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

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Urban Transformations and Sustainability