Journal of Design for Resilience in Architecture and Planning
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Brasília: Superblocks in perspective
Get PDFThe design for the Superquadra Norte 109 [North Superblock 109] of the Brasília Pilot Plan, Brazil’s Federal Capital, has started from a critical appraisal of the existent superblocks and makes a proposal that intends to: 1) establish clear relations of the block with the surroundings, stressing the importance of elements as the entrance for vehicles, the bus stop and the connections with the local shopping and the club, through the dimension and form of places, the localization of facilities, public lighting and vegetation; 2) improve internal legibility of the block, by creating places clearly defined by the buildings, to which entrance doors open; 3) create a street system in rings, not in a tree-like one, which are common in the existing superblocks, to improve internal circulation; 4) locate facilities internal to the superblock accessible to its entrance, by recognising (against what was predicted) that non-locals use them; 5) establish a continuous system of sidewalks that privileges the pedestrian, not the vehicle, as is traditional; 6) use vegetation and illumination to reinforce the identities of places in the superblock; 7) implement a configuration that explores a clear variation in forms, dimensions and uses, which favour the identity and orientability of the block; 8) configure open spaces and localise facilities of the superblock to favour co-presence and co-awareness among the inhabitants and between the latter and those passing by
Transformation of urban form in Shkodër during the Ottoman period
Get PDFUrban form in Shkodër is studied according to six stages during the period 1479-1913, which are reconstructed based on historical descriptions, maps, photographs, and the spatial interpretation of the Venetian cadastral registry in 1416. Like other Ottoman cities in the Balkans, the old quarters in Shkodër evolved by preserving the original medieval street network, while the new part of the city grew by expanding suburbs with dendritic street patterns and large plots along existing intercity arterial roads. The unique location of the city confined by hilly ranges and surrounded by three rivers and a lake produced a distinctive urban form due to the position of the external bazaar and the crisscrossing of arterial roads. The comparative space syntax analysis of the street network for each stage reveals a gradual transformation in the spatial structure of the city broken by two stark changes: during the early Ottoman period when the bazaar became distinctively more central in comparison to the living quarters, and after the opening of new boulevards during the late Ottoman period when the new urban center that emerged in the new city drew the spatial integration away from the historical bazaar
Resilience in intentionally destroyed historic settlements: An examination on Kirkuk Citadel and the old town of Van
Get PDFArmed conflict is considered a major risk for cultural heritage since the Second World War and guidelines are prepared by international organizations such as UNESCO and ICCROM on risk management and protection of cultural heritage in conflict-affected areas. However, the main concerns are reducing risks prior to the armed conflict by identifying, analyzing, evaluating, treating and monitoring risks and managing them before the risk occurs. The literature is quite narrow in respect to the ways of protecting cultural heritage and sustaining life for both buildings and people in intentionally destroyed historic settlements. Within this context, this study aims to raise the question on how to manage change in the intentionally destroyed historic settlements and how to strengthen resilience in conflict-affected areas. In order to achieve this aim, an examination on two case studies, Kirkuk Citadel and the Old Town of Van, which were both intentionally destroyed as a result of armed conflict is made using comparative analysis method. The cases are chosen to represent different time periods, scales and types of destruction. Depending on the international law and guidelines, the study tries to understand the impact of armed conflict on the historic settlements embracing tangible and intangible cultural heritage, types of risks that threaten them and the ways to strengthen resilience in such areas. It is revealed as a result of the study that for both case study areas, being in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage is seen a primary step to be internationally recognized and to claim help for future actions aiming to reduce risks. Nevertheless, it can be argued that strategies have to be developed depending on the size and level of destruction, and the level of intervention to preserve and to rehabilitate life in such historic settlements, as each intentionally destroyed historic settlement has unique cultural, political and economic characteristics
Towards a holistic interpretation of resilient cities\u27 concept: The case of Doha, Qatar
Get PDFResilience and resilient cities are heavily used terms in the current architecture and planning discourse. Given the mixed interpretations of the concept of “Resilient Cities”, this paper calls for a more holistic understanding of the concept and its impact on the way cities are designed, planned and developed. By labelled as resilient, cities should transcend the current limited definition of the resilient cities concept which focuses merely on facing environmental challenges and readiness for climate change impact and other forms of natural disasters. Resilience as an attribute for cities and as will be shown in the case of Doha, the capital city of Qatar, should be holistic and inclusive to embrace all aspects of city development including economical base, cultural assets, social structure and urban development. Using the case of Doha, the paper illustrates a new conceptual understanding of cities’ resilience. The paper analyses the contemporary evolution in Doha and highlights the milestones in structuring the new vision for Doha’s development as a resilient city holistically. In the last decade, the city was subjected to several radical transformations started from winning the bid to host the 2022 FIFA world cup, decrease in oil prices and finally the sea, air and land blockade imposed on Qatar by its adjacent neighbors. The paper illustrates Doha’s model in providing a worthy case of resilience which allows the city to successfully cope with the consequences of all the major shocks, stress and unforeseen challenges, the city have faced in the last decade
A Methodology approach for the comparison of cases in space syntax and morphology studies
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is examining a research design methodology approach. This methodology approach is mainly focusing on investigating the comparison of consistent cases within a research structure. The comparison is carried out through the 2D drawing layouts such as plans in the selected study. Although the main concern is examining the methodology covering the comparison of low-rise apartments’ domestic space plan layouts, the exemplar study is also introduced briefly within the paper for a better understanding of the introduced comparison structure and the part of the methodology scrutinized. Comparison of plan layouts related cases in space syntax and morphology studies is the starting point. Afterwards, the discussion on the selection of similar plan types (2D drawings) in meaning and sizes made the methodology introduced possible. Focusing on an architectural design related research study is a crucial part of this paper supporting the core discussion. For this reason, focusing on a former research based on architectural design related domestic space investigation with its context related to low-rise apartment plans’ in Istanbul was needed. Other than domestic space investigations, this approach may also be applied to similar investigations covering building design morphology and spatial syntax related researches focusing on the comparison of cases depending on a systematic selection. The selection of the analyzed cases in this design methodology approach is crucial with their similar extent of plan sizes and semantic coherence in relation with their use of spaces. Environment-Behavior Studies related research context is also crucial for this methodology approach. Behavioral circuits, behavior setting, and culture-ecology perspective within the building scale should be primarily discussed in order to use this paper’s methodological approach
Outside the school: A review of the non-formal short-term architectural workshops
Get PDFOver the last fifteen years, apart from compulsory curricular studios, extracurricular intensive studios in architectural design (ISAD) have become a mainstream educational environment worldwide. ISADs cover an actual weight in non-formal architectural education. However, to date, there is no review on the methods, processes, or implementation of extracurricular ISADs. The field needs to enhance the visibility of workshop results with regular reporting of workshop activities to raise awareness among future professionals and the wider public. This review aims to make visible existing learning-teaching-experiencing environments and pedagogical conditions, practices, tendencies, and implementations in ISADs. The study follows three stages. It first conducts a scoping study to examine the research outputs on ISADs indexed in SCOPUS and Web of Science from January 1975 to September 2020. Second, it expands the workshop pool by including past ISADs reached via websites/papers. It codes each workshop with the codes and themes determined through the scoping study. Finally, it creates an interactive mapping detailing the following analysis: (1) Quantitative analysis of ISADs (Geographical distribution; outputs; principles, as elements creating the atmosphere and tactics); (2) Qualitative analysis to reveal the impact of workshop outputs on the interested stakeholders. The review suggests that ISADs, including their processes and outputs, contribute to the knowledge triangle in architecture by serving two fundamental roles: (1) A research-by-design activity to address socio-economic-ecological problems caused by the built environment; (2) A pioneering venture in improving the curriculum and practices of teaching and learning. Within the scope of the exigencies of the education field, this review uncovers the potential of ISADs in overcoming time-related, geographical, economic limitations; providing fresh perspectives on content and methods concerning architectural education; expanding the intellectual resources of students; enabling international collaboration between HEIs; breeding an experimental/flexible learning and research environment in the 1st and 2nd cycles to absorb ever-changing tools/methods promoted in professional/research sides of the field. This review provides the reader with an array of diverse teaching and learning practices on these non/informal grounds. The number of workshops included in this study is relatively small, therefore, researchers are encouraged to expand the number of workshops for further analysis
Historico-geographical approach in the study of urban form: roots, development and reflections in the study of Mersin, Turkey
Get PDFThis study focuses on the emergence and development of historico-geographical approach that is systematized by M.R.G. Conzen in the mid-twentieth century through his studies of English cities. The background of historico-geographical approach was discussed in a detailed way. And the ideas of M.R.G. Conzen was examined in many early and recent studies. This study aims to identify the philosophical background of historico-geographical approach throughout its historical development and seeks to answer whether it would be appropriate to adopt the basic concepts and principles of investigation to the Turkish cities, with a focus on the city of Mersin. The research on the urban form of Mersin was uncovered before in elsewhere, but they were concentrated on the specific concepts and processes of historico-geographical approach. This study aims to reveal the comprehensive framework to investigate a city from a Conzenian view. The study on Mersin revealed that the urban growth pattern of the city brought about amalgamation of inner and middle fringe belts, and occurrence of an ‘umbrella fringe belt’, while dialectical interaction of morphological agents resulted in emergence of morphogenetic types in the interplay of building and plot patterns
How local street networks contribute to the traffic accident occurrence: Mersin city case
Get PDFIn this study, the issue of the accident frequency/occurrence in local residential streets where vehicle counts are not obtained is discussed. The accident reports received from the Ministry of Interior include fatal and injury accidents. But since the number of deadly accidents is minor, a binomial regression was not employed in the statistical analysis. This study investigates the role of morphological characteristics of the street network where main arterials are excluded in the safety of residential neighborhoods of Mersin, Turkey. Results showed that commercial and industrial uses generate more traffic than residential neighborhoods, therefore, responsible for higher rates of accidents. The number of vehicles, employment, and population increase the accident rate. Empirical model results showed that population density, street length per capita (meters), and number of intersections significantly affect accident occurrence. Number of intersections increases accident frequencies while street length per capita reduces. In contrast, the number of links, street density, link to node ratio, and average link length have no significant effect on accident occurrence. Traffic safety cannot be achieved if the street length is not proportional to the number of vehicles. In addition, street design is also a matter of efficient use of urban space
Relative rhythms, urban oases, and spatial resilience / Exploring syntaxes of seclusion, solitude, and tranquility
Get PDFThis article engages with the role of what one might tentatively call “secondary” urban spaces, in that while they are public, they are not the most vibrant, populated, or active places. These are not the spaces envisioned in many project illustrations. They are not full of people and activity. They are however a crucial part of a wider texture of urban situations, and important to extending our understanding of seclusion, solitude, and tranquility beyond distant parks and recreation areas. My aim here is to understand the emergence of these spaces in-between; those that are close to the vibrant streets and are embedded in city centers yet which offer a respite from the most bustling urbanity. These spaces, I will argue, more easily allow for the kinds of interactions that can lead to bridging and bonding with the unknown, in addition to the important everyday encounters that occur on central streets and squares. Using qualitative methods which build on Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis, the discussion will draw on observations of the syntactic properties that condition, enable, and characterize such spaces, and address a series of concepts, including capacity, insulation, sequencing, and interface. A better understanding of such places, it is argued, not only allows a richer set of tools for working with urban design and planning, but offers possibilities for more resilient planning in terms of generating social relations, the emergence of communities, and for cities to manage and withstand extraordinary conditions
Linking space syntax and cluster analysis to design and plan temporary housing neighborhoods: A taxonomy of sites in Norcia
Get PDFBuilding Back Better in disaster recovery and reconstruction requires the adoption of integrated and context-sensitive approaches to the design and planning of Temporary Housing (TH) sites. However, there is a lack of methods for enabling successful outcomes in housing assistance provision, e.g. via a quantitative evaluation of the social-spatial qualities of the sites, and supporting the negotiation of urban design changes and the development of a coherent end-of-life plan. The paper aims to uncover formal analogies between different TH sites’ layouts by linking Space Syntax and Clustering analysis within an unsupervised machine-learning pipeline, which can consider a virtually unlimited number of configurational qualities and how they vary across different scales. The potential benefits of the proposal are illustrated through its application to the study of 20 TH sites built in Norcia after the 2016-2017 Central Italy earthquakes. The results indicate the proposal enables distinguishing different types of spatial arrangements according to local strategic priorities and suggest the opportunity to extend the study in the future to set up rules of thumb for the design of site layout options. The paper ultimately aims to equip local administrations and contracted professionals with a much-needed tool to develop and rapidly audit proposals for temporary neighbourhoods oriented at enhancing the resilience of disaster-affected towns both in the medium and in the long term