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THE IMPORTANCE OF DESIGN IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

A thesis on how cities and the built environment affect

the cultures, lifestyles and behaviors of its inhabitants and beyond

GLOBAL STUDIES AND WORLD LANGUAGES ACADEMY

By

Nicholas Bausas
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Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………..3

Limitations…………………………………………………………………………………………………3

Literary Review……………………………………………………………………………………………4

Definition of Urbanization………………………………………………………………………………..6

History and Urbanization…………………………………………………………………………………7

British Industrialization…………………………………………………………………………………...7

Urban Sprawl……………………………………………………………………………………………...9

Causes of Urban Sprawl…………………………………………………………………………………9

Effects of Urban Sprawl………………………………………………………………………………...10

The

Bauhaus……………………………………………………………………………………………..11

New Urbanism…………………………………………………………………………………………...12

Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism………………………………………………………………15

Happiness Section………………………………………………………………………………………18

Eudaimonia………………………………………………………………………………………………19

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………….21

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………..21

Annotations………………………………………………………………………………………………22
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Introduction

When examining architecture, it is important to recognize what it is at its heart, which is

design. Form precedes function, and so a thing is good to the extent that it fulfills its function

and bad to the extent when it does not. Poorly designed products slow us down and frustrate

us. It represents a lack of transparency and empathy between the customer and the producer.

To make matters worse, people are reluctant to ask for help. No one readily admits to others

what they do and don’t know. Design has an advantage to art in which it is available to a wider

audience on a daily basis. Thus it is the job of designers and architects to balance art,

functionality, and environmental awareness to produce designs that are beautiful, elegantly

functional, environmentally graceful, and most of all, accessible to all people. Architecture

enriches our lives by offering environments that are sensibly compelling, and thought provoking

while maintaining function and accessibility to the public at large. The urban environment that

results determines the activities available to the society, the society’s habits and behaviors,

which in turn forms the society’s culture. Whatever is put in the place of nature’s designs should

represent the best ideals of society, and should never leave the people regretting with the sense

that life was lost.

Limitations

The perspective is taken from an individual currently in residence of an American

suburban neighborhood, who merely visited major cities such as New York and Beijing. While

this may not necessarily discredit his viewpoint, evidence and statistics are primarily on the

basis from studies and observations of experts and other persons.

The author would very much like to stress the human factor in this project. The paper is

not solely focused on climate change alone. Rather, it aims to make observations on how urban

design influences the human behaviors which have been detrimental to both the social and
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ecological environment. The paper is not restricted to the disciplines of geography and

environmentalism.

At the end of 2008, the United Nations has projected that 50% of the world’s population

would live in urban areas. By 2050, this number expected to be 64% in the developing world,

and 86% of the developed. This is approximately 3 billion urbanites, most of which would live in

Africa and Asia. Climate change is not a one size fits all phenomenon. Nor is the urban lifestyle

is not suited for all peoples. The author does not advocate taking extreme initiatives to achieve

desirable ends. Rather, he is interested in the practical approach and open to the possibilities of

multiple solutions. There is no definite solution presented here. and consider the question, “If

climate change is the result of human activities, and human activities are determined by the

community they inhabit, how can we as a society modify the city to effect where it is less

harmful?”

Literary Review

Spatial: of or relating to space (time, density, growth, physical space)

Calthorpe: Mix Create mixed-use and mixed-income neighborhoods

Kunstler: “A sense of place: your ability to create places that are meaningful and places

of quality and character depends entirely on your ability to define space with buildings, and to

employ the vocabulary, grammars, syntaxes, rhythms and patterns of architecture in order to

inform us who we are.”

“One of the problems with the fiasco of suburbia is that it destroyed our understanding of

the distinction between the country and the town, between the urban and the rural.”

Vox Media: Cities in US have attempted car-minimizing projects

Problem: Zoning minimums on parking availability encourage cars

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Parking lots, minimum street width make wide, unwalkable streets

(walkable districts) They’re usually in wealthy areas with lots of existing businesses

Ex. Times Square, Downtown Crossing, Bourbon Street

Zoning policies often require separation of residential and commercial areas

An ideal walkable area would be a mix

Programmatic: of the nature of or according to a program, schedule or method

(infrastructure, designed systems, remediation, resiliency, typology, hybrid)

Calthorpe: Connect Increase density of road network, limit block size

Ride Develop high quality transit and affordable BRT

Focus Match density and mix to transit capacity

Ecological: of or relating to the relation of living organisms to one another and their

physical surroundings (climate systems, living systems, food systems, system systems)

Calthorpe: Preserve natural ecologies, agrarian landscapes and cultural heritage sites

Vox Media: 2014, Barcelona faced serious pollution problems:

City and the 35 surrounding municipalities failed to meet EU air quality targets, causing

3,500 premature death every year

Vitoria-Gasteiz implemented superblocks since 2008

Pedestrian space increased 45% - 74% in the main city center

Noise pollution dropped 66.5 dBA - 61 dBA with less traffic

Nitrogen oxide emissions dropped 42% Particle pollution 38%, business is up

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Social: of or relating to society or its organizations (economics, politics, equality,

immigration, public life)

Calthorpe: Walk Design walkable streets and human scale neighborhoods

Bike Prioritize bicycle networks and auto-free streets

Vox Media:Superblocks:Intended to minimize car presence in city centers

Take nine square city blocks, close off the inside to through traffic

Buses, freight trucks, etc. will have to drive around the perimeter

Inside superblock, speed limited to 10 km/h (6 mi/h)

Walkable districts are a luxury in the US

Car-free spaces in Barcelona is a right for everyone

Definition of Urbanization

The term urbanization refer to the population shift from rural to urban areas, “the gradual

increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas”, and the ways in which each society

adapts to the change. Towns and cities are formed, becoming larger. More people begin living

and working in central areas.

History and Urbanization

Urbanization is not merely a modern phenomenon, but a rapid and historic

transformation of human social roots on a global scale. Predominantly agrarian culture is being

exponentially replaced by predominantly urban culture. The first major change in settlement

patterns was the accumulation of hunter-gatherers into villages many thousand years ago.
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Village culture is characterized by common bloodlines, intimate relationships, and communal

behavior. Whereas urban culture is characterized by distant bloodlines, unfamiliar relations, and

competitive behavior.

From development of earliest cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt until 18th century,

equilibrium. Majority of population engaged in subsistence agriculture in rural context. Small

population centers in towns. Economic activity consisted of trade at markets and small scale

manufacturing. It is considered a primitive period, relatively stagnant agriculture throughout.

Significant increase in global urban percentage traced first millennium BCE. Mughal India, 15%

lived in cities, sixteenth through seventeenth centuries. Compare to Europe, 8-13% in cities

1800.

British Industrialization

The eighteenth century british agricultural and industrial revolution ultimately broke the

relationship. Urban population took over both through migration from the countryside and

demographic expansion. England percentage 17% in 1801, 72% in 1891. 37% in France, 41%

in Prussia, 28% the United States.

High agricultural productivity allowed labourers to move to Manchester and Birmingham.

Commerce, trade and industry were influx. Growing world trade imported: cereals from North

America, refrigerated meat from Australasia and South America. Cities also spatially expanded

due to developed public transport systems. Working class commuted longer distances to the

city center.

Increase in London city sprawl began in the 1800s, when labourers from the countryside

worked in new factories. Large developments of small terraced houses began to appear and the
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new public transportation systems - metro, buses, trams - allowed workers to commute to the

city. Suburban districts sprung up around the city center to accommodate those wanting to

escape squalid conditions of the industrial town.

By mid-1800s, first major suburban areas were developing around London as the city (largest in

the world at the time) got overcrowded and unsanitary. Metropolitan Railway opened in 1860s.

Line joined London City financial center to suburban Middlesex. Harrow 1880, Verney Junction

in Buckinghamshire, fifty miles from Baker Street and London center.

Since the 1950s, urbanization has quickly sprawled across the Western world and has begun to

take place in the developing world as well. Only 15% of the world population lived in urban

areas at the start of the 1900s. 2007 represented a turning point for the UN.

Urban Sprawl

The expansion of people away from urban centers often into low-density, monofunctional

and usually car-dependent communities; suburbanization. The social and environmental

consequences associated with this development. Certain commentators associate it with

decentralization, discontinuity, usage segregation, etc.

Urban sprawl has been criticized for causing environmental degradation, intense segregation

and undermining the vitality of existing urban areas and attacked on aesthetic grounds.
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Causes of Urban Sprawl

Density gradient of industrializing cities has tended to follow a specific pattern: density of

the city center would rise during urbanization and population would remain heavily concentrated

in the city center with a decline in settlement towards the periphery. Continued economic growth

and expanding networks of public transport, people - particularly middle class - would then

slowly move towards the suburbs, softening population density overtime. This point was

generally reached when the city reached a certain stage of economic development. 19th century

London and Paris. 20th century New York.

Effects of Urban Sprawl

Environmental: Associated with numerous negative environmental outcomes. Land loss,

habitat loss and biodiversity reduction. Urbanization endangers more species and is more

geographically ubiquitous in the mainland United States than any other human activity. Sprawl

is disruptive to native flora and fauna and introduces invasive plants. The effects can be

mitigated through careful maintenance of native vegetation, the process of ecological

succession and public education.

Sprawling suburbs consume larger areas than urban neighborhoods. More farmland and

wildlife habitats are displaced per resident as a result. Forest cover is cleared and covered with

impervious surfaces of concrete and asphalt. Rainfall is less effectively absorbed into

groundwater aquifers. Threatens both quality and quantity of water supplies. Water pollution:
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rainwater picks up gasoline, motor oil, heavy metals, and other pollutants in runoff from parking

lots and roads.

Social: Compact neighborhoods foster casual social interactions among neighbors.

Sprawl creates barriers. Sprawl replaces public spaces with private spaces such as fenced-in

backyards.

Critics maintain that urban sprawl erodes quality of life. Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-

Zyberk: In traditional neighborhoods, the nearness of the workplace to retail and restaurant

space provides cafes and convenient stores with daytime customers. It is an essential

component to the successful balance of urban living. Closeness of the workplace to homes also

gives people the option of walking or biking to work or school. Without this kind of interaction

between the different components of life the urban pattern quickly falls apart. James Howard

Kunstler: Poor aesthetics in suburban environment make places not worth caring about as they

lack a sense of history and identity.

The Bauhaus

The Bauhaus German School of Art plays a heavy influence on the Virginia Tech

architecture program and beyond the Institute campus, setting trends in Western Europe, the

United States, Canada and the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv. Their former grounds in Weimar,

Dessau and Bernau have been declared by the UN as a World Heritage Site.

The most basic principle of Bauhaus was that art should meet the needs of society; form

precedes function. The school followed a thorough syllabus that focused on the connection of
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theory and practice by experimenting with various materials and processes in order to unify art,

craft and technology.

Poorly designed things slows down and frustrate society; they represent a lack of

transparency and empathy between consumer and producer. Ideally, everyday objects such as

smartphones, TV remotes and electric appliances, should be readily easy to live with and to use

without the need of an instructional manual.

People are often easily muddled and confused than they would like to admit. No one

readily tells others that they do not understand in some regards to certain concepts. They might

feel that any normal adult would be able to understand how this and that works.

The job of the designer is to remember the vulnerability of the consumer, while mixing

those regards within a context of elegance and dignity. Architecture is at its core design. Design

has an advantage to art in which it is available to a wider audience on a daily basis.

New Urbanism

New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly

habits by creating walkable neighborhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It

arose in the United States in the early 1980s and has gradually influenced many aspects of real

estate development, urban planning and municipal land-use strategies.

New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design practices that were prominent until

the rise of the automobile prior to the 1930s and 40s. Ten basic principles include traditional

neighborhood design and transit-oriented development. Two concepts circle these ideas:

building a sense of community and the development of ecological practices.

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The Congress for the New Urbanism, an organizing body for the movement, was founded in

1993. The Charter begins:

We advocate the the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the

following principles: neighborhoods should be diverse in use and population; communities

should be designed for the pedestrian and transit as well as the car; cities and towns should be

shaped physically defined and universally accessible public spaces and community institutions;

urban places should be framed by architecture and landscape design that celebrate local

history, climate, ecology, and building practice.

Architecturally speaking, new urbanist developments are often accompanied by New Classical,

postmodern, or vernacular styles, although that is not always the case.

Background

Until the mid-1900s, cities were generally organized and developed around mixed-use

neighborhoods. This meant a city that was entirely walkable. Although with the development of

mass transit, the reach of the city extended outward along transit lines, allowing the growth of

new pedestrian communities such as streetcar suburbs. With the introduction of cheap

automobiles and favorable government policies, attention began to shift away from cities and

towards ways of growth more focused on the needs of the car. More precisely, post-World War

II urban planning largely centered around the utilization of municipal zoning ordinances that

segregate residential from commercial and industrial development, and focus on constructing

low-density, single-family, detached houses as the preferred housing format for the growing

middle class. The physical separation of where people live from where they work, shop and
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frequently spend their recreational time, combined with low housing density - which often

drastically reduced population density relative to historical norms - made automobiles

indispensable for practical transportation and contributed to the emergence of a culture of

automobile dependency.

With its rigorous separation of uses, the system that was developed after the Second

World War became known as “conventional suburban development” or pejoratively, urban

sprawl. Automobile use per capita has soared and the majority of U.S. citizens now live in

suburban communities built in the last fifty years, .

New Urbanism as an organized movement would only arise later, but a number of

activists and thinkers would criticize the modernist planning techniques put into practice. Social

philosopher and historian Lewis Mumford criticized the “anti-urban” development of post-war

America. In her 1960s book, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” author Jane Jacobs

called for planners to reconsider the single-use housing projects, large car-dependent

thoroughfares, and segregated commercial centers that had become the “norm.” Also in the

60s, French architect François Spoerry has developed “soft architecture” a concept that he

applied to Port Grimaud, a marina in south of France. The success of the project had a

considerable influence and led to many new projects of soft architecture like Port Liberte in New

Jersey or Le Plessis Robisson in France.

Rooted in these early critics, the ideas that would develop New Urbanism began to

solidify in the 1970s and 80s. With the urban visions and theoretical models for the

reconstruction of the “European” city proposed by architect Leon Krier, and the pattern language

theories of Christopher Alexander, The term itself started being used in this context in the mid-
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1980s. But it wasn’t until the early 1990s that it was commonly written as a proper noun

capitalized.

Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism

1991, the local government commission, sacramento, architects calthorpe, corbett, duany ,

moule, plater-zyberk polyzoides, solomon, set principles. Ahwahnee Principles…

2009, Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism, clarify and detail relationship between

New Urbanism and sustainability. “A set of operating principles for human settlement that

reestablish the relationship between the art of building, the making of community, and the

conservation of our natural world”. Passive heating and cooling solutions, locally obtained

materials, “a culture of permanence.”

New Urbanism is a broad movement that spans a number of different disciplines and

geographic scales. And while the conventional approach to growth remains dominant, New

Urbanist principles have become increasingly influential in the fields of planning, architecture,

and public policy.

Defining Elements

In one Victorian neighborhoods of New Haven, Connecticut, Duany and Plater-Zyberk,

observed mixed-use streetscapes with corner shops, front porches, and a diversity of well-

crafted housing while living. Them and their colleagues observed patterns including the

following:
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Neighborhood has a discernible center. Often square of a green and sometimes a busy of

memorable street corner. There would be a transit stop

Most dwellings are within a five-minute walk of the center, roughly a quarter mile (.4 km)

A variety of dwelling types - houses, rowhouses, apartments - younger and older people, singles

and families, the poor and wealthy may find places to live

Edge of the neighborhood, shops and offices of sufficiently varied types to supply weekly needs

Small ancillary building or garage apartment permitted within backyard of each house. Rental

unit or place to work (office, craft workshop)

Elementary school close enough to walk

Small playground

Street within neighborhood form connected network, dispersing traffic providing a variety of

routes to any destination

Narrow streets shaded by rows of trees. Slows traffic, environment suitable for pedestrians and

bicycles

Buildings in neighborhood center placed close to street, creating well-defined outdoor room

Parking lots and garage doors rarely front street. Parking relegated to rear of buildings, usually

by alleys

Certain prominent sites at termination of street vistas of in neighborhood center reserved for

civic buildings. Provides sites for community meetings, education, and religious or cultural

activities

The Opportunities Urbanization Presents

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The United Nations projected half of the world’s population would live in urban areas at the end

of 2008. By 2050 this figure is projected to be 64% of the developing world and 86% of the

developed. That is approximately 3 billion urbanites, most of which will occur in Africa and Asia.

The United Nations has also recently proposed that nearly all global population growth from

2017 to 2030 will be absorbed by cities, 1.1 billion over the next thirteen years.

Geography, sociology, economics, urban planning, public health. Linked to modernization,

industrialization, rationalization.

This movement is predicted to continue and intensify to sizes unthinkable.

Asian urban agglomerations: Osaka, Karachi, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Manila, Seoul,

Beijing (20 million people), Delhi and Tokyo (40 million). Other agglomerations: Mexico City,

São Paulo, London, New York City, Istanbul, Lagos, Cairo (10 million)

Happiness Section

Philosophers, theologians, psychologists, even economists have long sought to define

happiness. A whole branch of psychology has been dedicated to pinning it down and

propagating it.
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Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being which can be determined by positive or

pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.

Research shows that happiness is not the result of bouncing from one joy to the next; achieving

happiness typically involves times of considerable discomfort. Money is important to happiness,

but only to a certain point. Money buys freedom from worry about the essentials in life - food,

clothing, shelter. DNA, life circumstance, achievements, social relationships, even neighbors all

influence the happiness of an individual or can influence.

As are individual ways of thinking and expressing feeling. Much of happiness is under personal

control, researchers estimate. Indulging small pleasures regularly, engaging in challenging

activities, setting and meeting goals, maintaining close social ties, finding purpose beyond the

self can all increase satisfaction.

Eudaimonia

Rather than simply an emotion, the Greek concept of eudaimonia can refer to the good life or

human flourishing.There is a special word from the Greek language that doesn’t have a direct

translation to English. It is called Eudaimonia, commonly translated as happiness or welfare; but

a more accurate translation would be, “human flourishing”. This word is central to Aristotle’s
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theory of ethics, who used it to refer to the highest human good, along with arête (excellence)

and phronesis (practical wisdom). Aristotle believed that it was the very goal of philosophers,

especially those of the ethical and political sort, to consider and experience what really is

Eudaimonia, and how it could be achieved.

Imagine a person who always knows what say and when to say it; someone who can

diffuse a tense situation or deliver bad news gracefully. Imagine someone who is confident but

not arrogant; brave but not reckless, generous but never extravagant. While it may sound like

an impossible feat, it is possible that these people could exist, albeit rare. In theory, people

naturally want to live a good life, filled with health, wealth, love and happiness. But when posed

with the questions of, “What makes a good life? How do we attain it?” most people usually don’t

know how to answer or if what we ascribe to a good life is just that; health, wealth, love and

happiness. These things are out of a craving for an even higher good. What people are actually

looking for is to be virtuous, and they should strive to be virtuous in order to attain Eudaimonia.

Unlike other moral theories, Aristotle’s Virtue Theory doesn’t state what one should do in order

to be moral. There is no absolute imperative or code of conduct. Virtue theory emphasizes

individual character rather than a set of guidelines. If we can just focus on being good people,

Aristotle reasons, the right actions will follow effortlessly.

It should be worth noting, however, that this is based on the old assumption that

everything, including humans, has a fixed nature. A thing is good to the extent that it fulfills its

function and bad to the extent when it does not. If humans are animals, all the things that

indicate proper functioning for an animal would be the same for humans. Humans need to grow

and be healthy and fertile. But the Greeks also placed humans as “the rational and social

animal”. Thus our function also includes exercising reason and getting along with the social

group.

The natural order has instilled in people the desire to be virtuous. Virtue is a set of

character traits that once developed, it will lead to good behavior. It is the midpoint between the
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two extremes of deficiency and excess. Courage is the midpoint between cowardice and

recklessness. Honesty is the midpoint between failing what needs to be said and being brutally

honest to the point it hurts. All virtues follow this model according to Aristotle. In order to be a

virtuous person, one must do the right thing at the right time, and that would require assessing

the situation before jumping head first; the right action is the moderate action. Virtue is a skill

that can only be truly learned through experience. Virtue is a habit, and when practice becomes

habit, it eventually becomes character. This would mean that in order learn the right moves, we

must find the right person who already knows, and imitate these moral exemplars. It will feel

inauthentic at first, but overtime, it will become integrated into character. It will become fully

realized and will unfold itself every time when needed most.

But why become virtuous? What if there is no interest in finding the will or the courage?

Virtue theory states people should strive to be virtuous because, when we do, we attain the

pinnacle of humanity; we attain Eudaimonia.

A life of Eudaimonia is a life of striving; exerting effort to achieve in difficult labors, rather

than having it handed over. But everything is in a state of progress. Nothing is ever done

improving. The undertaking will be followed by shortcomings and disappointments. But the end

results will prove completely rewarding. Eudaimonia means honing our strengths while working

on our weaknesses. The kind of person who lives like this is the kind of person who is destined

to do great things. This is morality according to Aristotle.

Conclusion

Form precedes function, and so a thing is good to the extent that it fulfills its function and

bad to the extent when it does not. The suburban lifestyle that been developed and glamorized

in the twentieth century has become unsustainable to both the natural environment and the

inhabitants. People can wait for the latest technology and alternative energy source to solve

global ills, but ultimately it comes down to lifestyle that has the biggest effect. If the current world
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is to continue forward into the twenty-first, people will have to think spatially and mindfully of the

designs a city develops to determine how their habits have been formed.

It is a fervent belief of the author that architecture is every bit the equal to the designs of

nature. Buildings should represent the highest ideals humanity strives for as whatever is put in

place should never leave people regretting the sense of life that was lost.

Abstract

The information presented in the paper is based upon the New Urbanist movement and

other related efforts in promoting architectural sustainability. (Calthorpe, Speck, Duany, Plater-

Zyberk, etc.)

Annotations

Piazza, Sabina A., and Lucía C. Lagos. "The eudaimonia in Book I of Nicomaco Ethics:
between stability and vulnerability." Academic Act, no. 58, 2016, p. 95+. Educators Reference
Complete,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=va_s_128_0920&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA4679
14532&asid=d161ba50d151f470318c00720b83e91d. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.

Roberts, David. “Superblocks: How Barcelona Is Taking City Streets Back from Cars.” Vox, Vox,
4 Aug. 2016, www.vox.com/2016/8/4/12342806/barcelona-superblocks.

Rosich, Montserrat Bonvehi, and Joseph Brookover, editors. Catalyst III: Urban Uncertainties.
University of Virginia School of Architecture, 2016.
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Calthorpe, Peter. “7 Principles for Building Better Cities.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Aug.
2017,
www.ted.com/talks/peter_calthorpe_7_principles_for_building_better_cities?language=en.

Kunstler, James Howard. “The Ghastly Tragedy of the Suburbs.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading,
Feb. 2004, www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.

Speck, Jeff. “The Walkable City.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Sept. 2013,
www.ted.com/talks/jeff_speck_the_walkable_city#t-963882.

Speck, Jeff. “4 Ways to Make a City More Walkable.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Oct. 2013,
www.ted.com/talks/jeff_speck_4_ways_to_make_a_city_more_walkable#t-54479.

Haas, Tigran. Sustainable Urbanism and beyond: Rethinking Cities for the Future. Rizzoli
International Publications, 2012.