THE DIMENSIONS OF URBAN DESIGN
(http://www.rudi.net/node/6584)
Matthew Carmona, Steve Tiesdell, Tim Heath, Taner Oc
This book more or less like a design manual for the creation of urban and public spaces and places. It breaks urban design down to six dimensions namely morphological dimension, perceptual dimension, the social dimension, the visual dimension, functional dimention and temporal dimension. It suggests that these dimensions have critical roles to play in the thinking process of urban design.
In relation to the intervening in the city course, I think this book could be a relevant resource to inform our designs of public spcaes within our interventions that can relate well with the urban context of the broadmarsh area.
There are two dimensions of urban design detailed in this book that I found interesting. They are:
The Social dimension:
In this section, the authors discuss the relationship between the physical and social environment. Firstly the understanding of Human behaviour and their basic needs. which are stated as follows:
-physiological needs
-safety and security
-Affiliation needs
-Esteem Needs
-Self actualisation needs
An important issue raised was that of environmental determinism where the " physical environment has a determining influence on human behaviour" also with related variants such as environmental possibilism and probabilism.
"rather than determining human actions or behaviour, design can be seen as a means of manipulating the possibilities of certain actions or behaviours occuring"
The Perceptual dimension
It is important to consider place creation and how people will relate and percieve those spaces. This is linked with what kind of activities take place in the space, its image and environment (physical).
Here are a few case studies of public places.
Federation square Melbourne
Soeuls Cheonggye waterfront
For more case studies, here's a link to see to latest innovative ideas for public places that I think create a sense of place.
http://www.designboom.com/architecture/designboom-2012-top-ten-public-spaces/
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