Functional Dimension

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FUNCTIONAL DIMENSION

Functional dimension involves how places work, and how urban designers can make better places

Functional Considerations:

The use of public spaces Mix use and density Environmental design Aspects of the capital web

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The Use of Public Spaces

The design of urban spaces should be informed by awareness of how people use them

Public places should be designed and managed to serve the needs of their users

Public spaces should be:

MeaningfulDemocraticResponsive Adds:

ComfortRelaxationPassive engagementActive engagement Discovery

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A sense of comfort is reflected by:

Environmental factors ( relief from sun, wind, etc ) Physical comfort (comfortable and sufficient seating) Social and psychological comfort (Security)

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Relaxation: Trees, greenery, water features, and separation from vehicular traffic make it easier to be relaxed

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Passive engagement: The need for an encounter with the setting, without becoming actively involved.

People watching: watch people while avoiding eye contact.

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Active engagement: It involves more direct experience with a place and the people within.

Triangulation: The process by which some external stimulus provides a linkage between people and promote strangers to talk to other strangers as if they knew each other.

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Discovery: People desire new spectacles and pleasurable experiences.

It depends on variety and change. These may come with the cycle of seasons, and they may also result from the management and animation of public space.

Ex. Lunch-time concerts, art exhibitions, street theater, festivals, markets, society events, etc.

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The Social use of Space

Most sociable spaces usually possessed the following features:

A good location, is on a busy route and both physically and visually accessible

Spaces which are not isolated –by fencing- from street

Spaces level or almost level with the pavement

The availability for places to sit (steps, low walls, seats, etc) with movable seats.

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Movement:

is an important factor in generating life and activity through public spaces.

For pedestrians, the connection between places is important, and successful public spaces are generally integrated within local movement systems, putting in mind that a pedestrian journey is rarely single purpose.

The “by-product” of movement: The potential for other (optional) activities in addition to the basic activity of traveling from origin to destination.

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The shape, center, and edge of public spaces

• There are many design features that needs to be taken into consideration to create successful public space according to Hillier.

• Exposed spaces often perform better than enclosed spaces. (visual access)

• Urban designers must understand movement, and design movement systems –and therefore places- that are connected.

• The center and the edge should be considered in public spaces design.


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A public space without a center is quite likely to stay empty.

The center provide:- since of identity - lead to triangulation

The edge is the most important element for a successful urban place.It should be designed to provide formal and informal places to sit.It should be higher than the space and partly protected from the weather

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Boston city hall: shapeless, it has an exceedingly poor image in a city where image should be paramount. It

conveys nothing in the way of information about Boston, its history, or its sense of place.


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Building facades should be designed so that buildings reach out to the space and offer an active frontage.Windows and door ways suggest a human presence.

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Piazza Annunziata, Italy.


San Antonio Central Library

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The Public Square

The public square is the most important element in city design, it is the chief method by which a town or city is both decorated and given distinction. It is the natural setting for the most important civic and religious buildings, a place for fine sculpture, fountains and lighting and, above all else, a place where people meet and socialize. When such public places are designed according to some fairly basic principles and are imbued with a sense of place, they take on an added symbolic meaning.

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Privacy

The edge of the public space provides the interface between public and private realms and need to both enable interaction and protect privacy.

In Urban Design terms, privacy is defined in terms of selective control of access and of interaction.

In functional terms, Privacy can be discussed in terms of Visual and Aural privacy.

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Visual Privacy

It’s related to the interface

between the public and

private realms

(physically and visually)

Aural Privacy

Noise can disturb and invade privacy.

A broad distinction can be made between noise generating activities (cafes, traffic, market place) and noise sensitive uses (houses, schools...etc. through different measures:

- Physical distance- Sound insulation- Use of screens and barriers

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Mixed Uses

The mixing of uses has become a widely accepted urban design objective. Areas may have mixed uses in either or both of two ways: by having a mix of single-use buildings, or by having buildings which each contain a mix of uses.

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Density and Urban Form If all the potential mixed-use elements are located at the edge of the development, it undermines the role of the center.

Although geographically proximate, the uses are still zoned with roads forming the boundaries between uses.

More vibrant and sustainable neighborhoods and areas result from the complex interweaving of uses and by blurring the distinctions between uses.


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Jane Jacobs argued that the vitality of city neighborhoods depends on the overlapping of activities. She outlined four conditions to generate diversity in the city’s streets and districts:

The district must serve more than one primary function.

Most blocks must be short; that is, streets and turn- corners must be frequent.

The district must mix buildings that vary in age and condition.

There must be a sufficiently dense concentration of people.


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Llewelyn-Davies identifies the following benefits of mixed-use development:

Minimizing travel-to-work congestion.

Greater opportunities for social interaction.

Socially diverse communities.

A greater feeling of safety through more eyes on the street.

Greater energy efficiency and more efficient use of space and buildings.

More consumer choice of lifestyle, location and building type.

Greater urban vitality and street life.

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DensityCompacted cities can offer a high quality of life while minimizing resource and energy consumption, which helps to create more sustainable cities.

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Lower density was initially a response to conditions within the industrial cities of the nineteenth century, during the twentieth century it became an objective in it’s own right, backed by various regulations that effectively prohibited higher density development, and thus virtually mandated suburban sprawl. Density zoning, road widths, sight lines, the space required for underground services, were all to blame for pushing buildings further and further apart.

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Density and Urban FormHigh-rise development standing in open space:• No private gardens, poor amenities directly available to the inhabitants.• No direct relationship between the buildings and the surrounding streets.• Large area of open space required management and maintenance.

Street layout with 2-3 storey houses:• Front and back gardens.• Continuous street frontages define the public space.• High site coverage minimizes potential for communal spaces.

Urban perimeter block:• Surrounding buildings can be of different heights and configuration.• Buildings are arranged around a landscape open space.• open space can contain a community-based facility.• Commercial and public facilities can be distributed along the ground floor, maintaining an active street frontage.• space is available for uses as, rear gardens, communal areas or a park.


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Llewelyn-Davies suggests a range of benefits from higher densities of development:

Social: encouraging positive interaction and diversity, improving access to community services.

Economic: enhancing the economic viability of development.

Transport: supporting public transport and reducing car travel.

Environmental: increasing energy efficiency, decreasing resource consumption, creating less pollution, reducing overall demand for development land.


Technology

Functional Dimension