BOOK REVIEW

Book Name Urban Design: Street and Square (Third Edition) Authored By Cliff Moughtin Published By Architectural Press Year Of Publish First Published 1992 Reprinted 1995 Second Edition 1999 Reprinted 2001 Third Edition 2003 Reprinted 2004, 2005

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cliff Moughtin, the author of this book is Emeritus Professor of Planning at the University of Nottingham. He is a trained architect who has specialized in urban design since the 1960s. He was Professor of Planning at The Queen's University, Belfast prior to his appointment as Professor in Nottingham. He is also the author of books Urban Design: Green Dimensions, Urban Design: Street and Square, Urban Design: Health and the Therapeutic Environment, Urban Design: Ornament and Decoration is the Professor of Planning at University of Nottingham, UK

INTRODUCTION In this review, I summarize the book and offer comments on selected aspects, as the content of this book is about the dilemma is caused by the tension between the desire to practice an art form based upon method and principle, while, at the same time, involving people actively in the design process., He points out the contradiction between the Professionalism and the Populism in the society, also its causes and lays out theoretical ground rules for incorporating public participation into the urban design process. ARTICLE SUMMARY Moughtin starts out by defining urban design as an art which is a peoples use of an accumulated technological knowledge to control and adapt the environment for social, economic, political and religious requirements and states the relationship between man and the city by stating Central to the study of urban design is man, his values, aspirations and power or ability to achieve them. He then stated that an architect has lost touch with his client by explaining the difference between the traditional practice and the practice now and how an architect serves a wider client group now which includes the church congregation, the ordinary voter and the general user of the buildings. Some of the concepts for the analysis of architectural composition have formed the subject matter of the chapter basic design concepts of the urban design. Architect has enlightened the tools for urban designing that are order, unity, balance, symmetry, scale, proportion, rhythm, contrast and harmony. The author of this book has stated the ways in which the buildings can be arranged in the space. He says there are a number of techniques by which the buildings of three dimensional mass can be unified, with the use of landscaping, through the unified architectural treatment of simple volumes and by the use of right angles, axis, or vista. The author in the later chapter talks about the square plazas, streets which are the key element in the 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. He says the chief quality of a street is created by its architecture. The author suggested that it is necessary to develop methods and techniques for use when working with community groups and explains that the values of the client in the new heterogeneous group may not be the same as the designer.
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He explains that this difference between the opinion of the client and the architect can be bridged by acknowledging the problem as existing and its nature defined: when the complexity and heterogeneity of the client group is admitted and when the designer realizes that culture is never static: it is in a constant state of change and to some extent, he or she the designer is an agent for those changes. Moughtin recognized the reasons for the present public antipathy to much recent urban development admitting that architects, urban designers and planners have been trained in a rarefied atmosphere where the subject is taught with little or no reference to the public for whom the product is intended due to which the gap between the designer and client goes unnoticed. Hence to overcome this problem, he suggests the designer by giving illustrations to develop a menu or a charter of techniques for incorporation into the design process which would encourage public participation in the design process. He recommends the designer to follow Sherry Arnsteins typology for a better participation of people. He states that urban development is the result of a process. It is, therefore, a little simplistic to discuss participation in planning or design unless one is specific about the type of participation and the techniques used at each stage in the process. Later in this bookss chapters , Moughtin has shown some case studies to elaborate his theories and lastly Moughtin talks about the importance of water, water is one of the elements in urban design, it has a number of functions and can take a number of specific forms. An understanding of the potential of water in the planning and design of cities. In particular its use in street and square, is based on an analysis of the set of generic forms which it can take and the suitability of those forms in serving the functional and aesthetic requirements of any given situation. CONCLUSION In this book, Moughtin has presented an analytical research on design process an urban designer should go through while a design process. He has extensively divided the whole book into four sections the problem(chasm between the designer and the client), the cause of this problem(zero reference to public in the teaching process) and how to resolve this problem by following few recommended theories and decision sequences. He has basically tried to lay out an order of the design process. I found this book highly comprehensive; I think every designer should take a look at this book because there are certain aspects of the design process that we overlook while practicing architecture.