Cultural Heritage of Urban Definitions: Centres and ...

Full Paper ID REF438

Title

Cultural Heritage of Urban Definitions: Centres and Borders

Keywords

City Organization, Growth, Pattern, Boundary, Culture

Introduction Although modern movement nowadays among dozens of latter styles is nothing but a voluminous part of history books, no one can deny the extended fashion and even attitude which this glorious period has seeded in our teachers` mind and interestingly to some extents ours. Precisely, this idea that we all are totally the same and therefore live and grow similarly leads to this consequence that our needs are likewise, too. Despite the general obsolescence of this concept, it seems that sometimes we still believe in that and act correspondingly. Here it will be tried to reveal one of these misunderstandings in the urban planning field of study and practice. During history many thinkers have talked about different types of humankind settlements. Shapes of these colonies, their organizations and evolutions through time have always attracted scholars as a challenge of decoding or maybe predicting mankind`s social behaviors. After modernism many writings discussed about city types and patterns of city growth; some of them focus on political, economic and official parameters and some others on topological and historical aspects. By the way, this fact that the people can be totally different, place to place and their reactions to stimulants – all political, economic, topological, social, etc. – may differ in many ways forces us to consider other possibilities; because already we know that sometimes results are far more unlike from which we expected. Especially when we talk about Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) the outcomes can be ridiculously upside down; namely, the character which has meant to encompass, gets into a new cradle to more redounding. In a more unknotted manner, here are the questions: I. What are general types of city shapes? II. In which categories, types of UGBs can be classified? III. How can we manage our application of UGBs on diversity of city types? And for answering the latter, this writing suggests to define a new parameter as cultural inherited characteristics beside all other factors, based on some observations and comparisons between two contrast types of cities, such as Natanz and Qaemshahr in Iran. I. City Organization Types Kevin Lynch (1984, p.284) in a voluminous appendix in “Good City Form” explains almost all different types of city shapes: “Some models refer to overall settlement patterns of outline or skeleton, such as the radial star, the linear city, the various grids, the “lace-work,” the baroque axes …, the “capillary” form, the box-within-box of the sacred Indian city, the satellite city idea, or the megaforms, bubble covers, and underground and floating settlements of current invention. Other models focus on the pattern of central place, such as center hierarchies, multifocal or focal patterns, linear centers or strips, neighborhood centers, civic centers, special-function or mobile centers, enclosed shopping malls, and so on.” Although considerable writings have been represented since 1984 – collage city of Rowe, metabolism movement of Japanese architects and

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generic city of Rem Koolhaas, for instance – we can still rely on Lynch`s summarization, because most of those new concepts deal with large scale cities and metropolitans. Another reference which can be mentioned here - especially because of the importance of transportation for categorization of urban structures and development - is a working paper which Transportation Center of The University of California at Berkeley has published in 1997. In this Page | research, abstract statistical approaches like point pattern analysis, fractals approach, and 2 defining Subcenters are suggested as three main tactics for understanding city structure (Anas, Arnott and small, 1997, pp. 2-5 – 2-8). Comparing to Lynch attitude, this list is palpably shorter but totally useful as a development prediction tool. After all, maybe the most abstract classification in this field is represented by a diagram which seems originally produced by Norman Pressman (1985). UNEP1 refers to that after “Newman, 1997” in its 2011 report, “Towards a Green Economy” (UNEP, 2011, P.399): “Planners have investigated and postulated growth patterns for cities over the years. Six of the most common forms of city evolution or current growth patterns are outlined in Figure 11. The “compact city”, which accommodates increases in population through densification of the city centre and the “corridor city”, which is synonymous with transit-oriented development are thought to be the most sustainable spatial approaches. …On the other hand, the “fringe city” based on suburban sprawl is synonymous with a heavily private car-dependent society, a result of a traditional, sectoral-based, planning approach.” According to this diagram, growth pattern of different types of cities contains these varieties: -

Dispersed City Edge City Ultra City Compact City Corridor City Fringe City

Figure1.Growth patterns for cities around the world (UNEP, 2011, P.399)

Since talking about structures of cities is totally preferred here to be about growth and evolution and this script is going to be so brief compared to the whole area of study, this picture can fit into the frame. So we rely on these final forms through this paper and refer to all other structures and categories in case of relating facts to each other. II. Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) Types An urban growth boundary (UGB) is a jurisdictional border which tries to control urbanization growth. It will set two areas as inside and outside: The area inside the boundary as the higher 1

United Nations Environment Programme


density designates fields in which public services will be expanded, and the area outside remains less dense, more rural, and usually does not have expansion of public services for near or even far future. UGB defines an entire urbanized area and is used by local governments as a guide for zoning and land use decisions as part of an overall community or regional master plan. Urban growth Page | boundaries are usually considered long-term growth management tools, often established for 15 3 or 20-year periods (Samuel, et al., 1999, p.4). A UGB is more than just a line which divides city into two parts as outside/inside or separates city from its surroundings. As Florida land use analyst Marie York has noted (2000), “An urban growth boundary is a pro-active growth management tool that seeks to contain, control, direct, or phase growth in order to promote more compact, contiguous urban development.” So, different types of UGBs considering limitation tool consist of these categories: -

Natural urban growth boundary: It is a sort of natural phenomenon such as river, mountain, protected area … which is the limitation line and prevents the city to develop from that direction. The first practice of this type was the greenbelt around the London, England, in 1500's, when the Queen of England created a buffer green zone around the city to keep green lands close to the city center and protect it from urban development.

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Artificial urban growth boundary: Sometimes there is an artificial construction which prevents an area to grow further. This kind of man-made boundary can be railways, walls, highways, fences … which is the end line of the territory.

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Official urban growth boundary: sometimes there is an assumptive, conventional line between two areas. It is just a virtual limit, an imaginary line, to separate them from each other, just like the one between Canada and USA. Also it can divide two different cultures, languages or ethnics from each other or even one into two parts.

III. Intro: Cultural Inherited Characteristics: Cultural Attitude When you look into a group of people which in any definition can be classified under one culture, there are always many similarities, especially in life styles, social values and decisionmaking processes; three factors which we accept as the main forces of shaping the organization of humankind settlements from a single unit or house to a block or even whole city. We cannot decide which first affects which, physical form of living space or cultural characteristics deep inside our mind. By the way, both are inherited from our ancestors and both determine many changes around us. Some part of these determinant ideas are cast by natural and topological parameters, while others are generated by more abstract forces like religion, rites or believes. Interestingly in both fields, there is a huge diversity among human colonies especially in Iran which is a very exciting case in this point of view. At least 4 different climates containing a wide range of natural phenomenon like deserts, mountains, seas, deltas, etc. have been blended with an extended list of religious beliefs and ethnic values. Therefore, it is not so erratic that reaction of these different people to official spatial plans may vary and in some cases get totally contrasted to each other. So, we define cultural Attitude (CA) as an exhaustive paradigm in which all actions (civil, economic, social, cultural, etc.) in a specific geographical area can be described. One of the very


first items that can be affected by CA is space organization pattern, which defines attraction or dispersion of population to specific points. III. Relating I: Correspondence of city types to cultural attitudes

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deep understanding of people behaviour and morals, we prefer to narrow the title from this part into more domestic examples of Iran. Therefore, some kinds of cities and cultures may be more common in this geographical area and consequently the emphasis will be more on them. Tradition of habitation typology in Iran has followed the climatic classification of regions generally. To be exact, green deltas of Khazar shores, mountainous lands of Zagros, arid central deserts and humid hot shores of Persian Gulf fill the wide range of climatic diversity. Of course, there are many local variations in all of these large-scale divisions; nonetheless, the cultural similarities are acceptably relevant to this classification and dictate our research to follow this order. If we want to investigate the organization of spaces – as the main witness and first production of CA - within all parts - results are extraordinarily meaningful. Firstly, let`s take a look at the typological characteristics of each region and then we can make connection between some facts. -

Khazar Shores: constructing buildings on top of some columns, bounding buildings with roofed terraces, thin walls, open plans and shapes, with extensions in geometrical forms.

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Mountainous lands of Zagros: compact and close plans, reduced external façade, plane roofs and heavy thick walls.

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Arid central deserts: again, compact and close plans, thick covers, least openings possible, inner courtyards and wind-catchers.

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Humid Southern Shores: again, surrounding covered terraces, thin covers and windcatchers. (Kasmai, 2007)

If we want to summarize, all we build in Iran fits in one of two patterns of open or close plans. In the other words, first group organizes its living spaces along a roofed open terrace and second one arranges it inward around an open courtyard or close hall: Linear VS Radial. On a bigger scale, when we look at cities in these climates, the same patterns are emerged repeatedly. Considering mentioned classifications, except a few big cities and some new towns, the majority of cities commonly can be sorted in two main classes: Corridor city and Compact city. Again, corridor cities are mostly build by those people who live in houses by linear organizations along a terrace, while, inversely, compact cities are made by habitants of inward houses which are arranged around a courtyard radially. Studying the process of city growth in two sets of cities confirms this attitude again. It means, some people, live in linear houses, which are gathered along linear centers and new habitants continue the same line, while the others, live in radial houses around a yard, their houses are accumulated around squares in each way through a fractal or lace network, and new constructions are stick to this radial net. Now, it seems obvious that if you want to limit this process of extending city borders, you have to talk to these people differently. For first group, any linear phenomenon has some attractions incidentally. In agricultural form of it, this population for a long time has been living along rivers,


seashores and rock edges. After industrialization, most of these regions have attracted many tourists because of their natural richness. Thus, main roads have become new one-dimensional centers. Abundance of resources and more lenient believes can be assumed as affecting parameters, too. We can consider this obsession to linear centers as a cultural attitude. Contrariwise, introspection of the second group can be originated by the harsh climate, Page | centuries of plunder and radical religious believes, as a cliché. By the way, imagining the cores of 5 habitation may help to understand and absorb the whole idea. Water resources in form of fountains, and after that, great mosques and squares were the focal point of attraction. Industrialization also emerged in these regions as factories, mines and other types of central points. So, attraction to focal points in a radial arrangement for these colonies is totally expectable. III. Relating II: Usual application of UGBs to city types As explained above a UGB talks about an area which should contain development. It defines a line around the urbanized area as guidance for land-use decisions which must be compatible with the main objectives of the city development and also the city type. The city council from one side and planners and developers from the other as the most important groups to decide must pay attention to the city and its growth typology in order to avoid from wrong decisions. Because in some cases not only it hasn’t improve but also has had such a bad impact on the development and increased the urban sprawl, destroyed the green protected zone around the city and grew the city to the unwilling sides. Considering the growth typology alongside the natural and artificial phenomenon around at the same time can be resulted in defining the more correct border which can control the city’s future growth. About the three different typologies, the official UGB is the one which in most cases is not in the field of planners and developers, so we don’t focus on it. Therefore, we have the other two categories as natural and artificial which will be discussed in the relation to the main types which are usual in Iran: -

Compact cities: In the compact cities which are the result of the harsh climates (very hot or very cold) both types of urban growth boundaries are not the effective elements for the cities’ development. Because cities in this types generally grow in a radial model. The natural UGBs such as mountains, rivers, natural greeneries, and deserts are potentially the limitation lines which don’t allow the cities to develop in these sides. On the other side the artificial UGB cannot disorder the cities’ growth because of the cultural altitude which is inner ward.

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Corridor cities: The Corridor city as the result of the moderate climate are the one which can be more affected by UGB through the process of the development. In these cities because of the diffused urban elements both types of UGBs can cause a bipolar development; one from the city to the surrounding and at the same time from the surrounding to central parts which will be resulted in the urban sprawls. In this city type the artificial UGB is more dangerous than the other one. The natural UGB can be controlled to some extent by the government and different kinds of groups and NGOs because of their sensitivity in the protection and preservation of the natural environment during these days and also the development is happened only in the side which is inside the cities.


But the artificial one can make more segregation. Because of the expensiveness of the land in both side of it, population is attracted to both sides of UGB at first step of the development which will be resulted in a very extensive urban sprawl between these parts and the city centres. III. Case Study: Qaemshahr VS Natanz

Figure 2. UGB of two cities of Qaemshahr (left) and Natanz (right) ant their main transportation axes. (Originally captured from www.maps.google.com)

In a short comparison between radial attitude and linear one, we selected two cities, one in northern strip and one in vast dry desert: Qaemshahr and Natanz. Pattern of growth in both cities is vivid and totally according to those attitude that can be predicted. Whereas Natanz follows the order of concentric radial development, Qaemshahr tracks its extensions along roads. Since outer boundaries of city, which are mostly ring roads, may coincide with official UGBs, and rules are far stronger and more effective rather than cultural motivations we exempt those from this study. Yet, the form of city shows the effect of axes obviously. The area that demonstrates the disaster clearly, is an internal ring road, Valie-Asr Boulevard, which has already unbalanced the distribution of constructions within the city fabric. In fact, it has meant to be a limitation to the city extension in past years. Indeed, the irregularity between two official UGBs approved in two different periods, multiplicity of empty lands between them and density along two roads proves this attraction. It comes more interesting when you consider the prohibition of commercial activities in those edges. In the other words, although the main attractions are vanished, still the road is more magnetic rather than green calm inner parts.

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Figure 3. Approved areas for development through times for Qaemshahr. (From Reza Yazdani Master Thesis, 2009, After Master Plan of Shahi (Qaemshahr), Emco Consultant Eng.)

On the other hand Natanz keeps its roots – ancient great mosque and water resources – as a social and meanwhile geometrical center. The only tranche in the form of city is made by a natural border of mountains. III. Deduction: Suggested application of UGBs to city types Returning to the subject of urban growth limitation, the problem is innately within the concept of boundary. After all, any UGB has this axial characteristic. The important point that is missing is the approach of applying it. Here as the result of this script, we are going to draw some lines between right and wrong uses of different kinds of UGB. In a more precise manner, it is not the application of border itself which may cause problems; it’s the probable attraction to these borders. The official ones, like the borderline between countries, usually are not palpable and even attracting. Instead, natural and artificial lines of limitation, often magnets population – as described before. So these are resulted suggestions for reducing side-effects of UGBs as much as possible: -

Make the boundary by natural materials. Roads, railways and other non-natural items can be replaced by water and tree, or at least been empowered or thicken by natural elements.

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Take boundaries as thick as possible. If we want it to contribute to other parts, it`s better to be two-dimensional relating to the length of the strip. Additionally, passing through a wide boundary always is harder. So, a lake works better than a river in this manner.


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To be realistic, we have to accept that this attitude will tear the city apart. In fact, new boundary will become new cradle to further growth. So it has to be considered in future planning which empty lands inside the territory are inevitable in this fashion.

In the other words, flow of population is blocked physically by the boundary, and at the same Page | time is absorbed along it. 8

Last Word In a world that closes everyday more and more to linear models we cannot ignore advantages and disadvantages of one-dimensional models. Safdie describes the future of urbanization as the result of “the desire for dispersal out” (1998, p.97): “The new urban center would be linear, structured by a spine of intense activity, a modern-day Cardo. As the place of maximum interaction in the region, the New Cardo would be designed specifically to create an urbanism that invigorates those who move through it, to foster the accidental and spontaneous encounters so central to urban life. To this end, each district would seek that critical mass of population and institutions to achieve the complexity and diversity we associate with stimulating and vital environments.” (Safdie, 1998, p.154) On the other hand, highways and railways nowadays are basic structure of almost any city all over the world and in many of them these elements play the main role in urban changes. We hope this paper could put a step farther in understanding and prognosticating human colonies more realistically. It is more than optimistic to seek for a cure for our settlements without any side-effects. The authors are aware of empty lands inside the city area, but compared to the case of uncontrollable sprawl it does not seem so inappropriate to break a big problem to some smaller ones.

Figure 4. Aerial view of the new center in the regional city (Safdie, 1998, p.167)


References: -

Lynch, K., 1984, Good City Form, Massachusetts; MIT Press.

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Anas, A., Arnott, R. and Small, K., 1997. Urban Spatial Structure, Berkeley: University of California Transportation Center.

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UNEP, 2011, Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, Available Through: www.unep.org/greeneconomy [Accessed 10 august 2012]

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Staley, S., Edgens J., Mildner, G., 1999, A Line in the Land: Urban-growth Boundaries, Smart Growth, and Housing Affordability, Policy Study, 263 (11).

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Stanford University. Urban Growth Boundaries. [online] Available at: [Accessed 10 august 2012]

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Kasmai, M., 2007. Climate and Architecture. 2th ed., Isfahan: Khak Press.

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Yazdani, R., 2011. Effective factors involving in the development of city dispersion: a case study: Qaemshahr city. M.A., Islamic Azad University, Central Branch.

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Safdie, M., Kohn, W., 1998. The City After The Automobile: An Architect`s Vision, Boulder: Westview Press.

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