Alex Krieger and William S. Saunders recently published “Urban Design,” a 368-page collection of essays and discussions featuring prominent figures in city planning, architecture, and landscape architecture. Together, they trace the field as it “evolved less as a technical discipline than as a frame of mind shared by those of several disciplinary foundations.” The volumes take the reader through the history of urban design by offering a critical analysis of competing theories and predicts future challenges posed by growing urban populations. Because the book features writings from multiple viewpoints, readers gain a well-rounded assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the differing schools of urban design theory.
The book begins with excerpts from transcripts of the first Urban Design Conference held at Harvard University in 1956. This landmark conference, hosted by José Luis Sert, marked the establishment of urban design as a distinct planning discipline, as it was here that the field’s assumptions and ambitions were first discussed. The essays that follow help to contextualize and critique the emerging urban design theories and illustrate the stark differences in opinions among those attending the conference.
Subsequent essays discuss urban design as it has evolved from the 1956 conference to its present state. Because this field represents an overlap of so many disciplines – including city planning, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, sociology, and politics – it has struggled to find its true identity as its focus has been pushed and pulled in many directions. Urban designers are faced with the task of creating a cohesive plan that balances a macro-focus of developing a cohesive, functional, navigable and economically healthy city while still maintaining a micro-focus on the beauty, livability, sustainability, and ecology of individual neighborhoods.
Now, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population lives in an urban environment. “We are becoming an urban species to a degree unimaginable,” and as a result urban designers will be confronted with more complex problems in the near future. The final collection of essays attempts to predict some of the daunting problems that are looming on the horizon, and challenges designers to “inventively confront the morphological, functional, and human needs of cities and their citizens.”
“Urban Design” is a great starting point for readers looking to become familiar with urban design history and the development of design theory. For practitioners looking for a blueprint for designing an urban space, however, you probably want to look for another source, as this book does not focus on case studies or the practical steps that go into the process of designing and building a city.
Contributors: Jonathan Barnett, Denise Scott Brown, Joan Busquets, Kenneth Greenberg, John Kaliski, Timothy Love, Fumihiko Maki, Richard Marshall, Eric Mumford, Michelle Provoost, Peter G. Rowe, Edward W. Soja, Richard M. Sommer, Michael Sorkin, Emily Talen, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Wouter Vanstiphout, Charles Waldheim.
Image credit: ASLA 2009 Professional Honor Award. Teardrop Park, New York, NY. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., New York, NY
