Book Review: Principles of Urban Structure
Principles of Urban Structure by Nikos A. Salingaros. (Amazon)
In his introduction to this book, the outspoken critic of much contemporary architecture and planning Nikos Salingaros calls the collection of previously-published essays a "call to arms for those concerned with the built environment." He further states that "mankind needs to shape and repair its cities following some proven logic, rather than dogma masquerading as rationality." These statements basically explain the author's position: to improve the built environment by educating practitioners on the application of scientific principles to their work. Many architects and planners working today would deny that any scientific application is relevant, perhaps stating that architecture embodies art as much as science and that cities are far too complex -- encompassing political, market, and other forces. Salingaros, Christopher Alexander and other like-minded thinkers of course disagree, using science as a foundation for approaching the built environment, though at times it seems like science is also used as a rational for a historical way of building, predating the automobile and 20th-century Modernism.
The essays collected here attempt to explain how cities work, as well as providing guidelines for architects and planners to create humanizing environments. Each essay introduces various scientific themes in relation to the city, such as emergence, information fields and fractals. This last is perhaps the most interesting, though misunderstood, means of applying science to another discipline. When one thinks of fractals, one thinks of the symmetrical repetition of patterns at various scales, though a blind application yields something more formal than functional, exactly what the author is against. Instead, Salingaros explains that the "fractal city" embeds detail and complexity from the largest of scales to the smallest, which ties him strongly to Christopher Alexander. So what we have is a theory that now also includes architectural detail, strongly uniting architecture and urbanism in opposition to today's tendency to separate the two.
Probably the most valuable lesson in these pages -- something that permeates just about every essay -- is connectivity. Here, the author confronts the single biggest problem of contemporary urban planning head on: the automobile. As planners cater cities and developments to the car, other means of getting around are negatively affected, especially biking and walking. It's these small-scale connections and means of moving about the city that need to be strengthened for the contemporary city to be more humanistic. It may not be the ultimate solution, but it's a start.
In his introduction to this book, the outspoken critic of much contemporary architecture and planning Nikos Salingaros calls the collection of previously-published essays a "call to arms for those concerned with the built environment." He further states that "mankind needs to shape and repair its cities following some proven logic, rather than dogma masquerading as rationality." These statements basically explain the author's position: to improve the built environment by educating practitioners on the application of scientific principles to their work. Many architects and planners working today would deny that any scientific application is relevant, perhaps stating that architecture embodies art as much as science and that cities are far too complex -- encompassing political, market, and other forces. Salingaros, Christopher Alexander and other like-minded thinkers of course disagree, using science as a foundation for approaching the built environment, though at times it seems like science is also used as a rational for a historical way of building, predating the automobile and 20th-century Modernism.
The essays collected here attempt to explain how cities work, as well as providing guidelines for architects and planners to create humanizing environments. Each essay introduces various scientific themes in relation to the city, such as emergence, information fields and fractals. This last is perhaps the most interesting, though misunderstood, means of applying science to another discipline. When one thinks of fractals, one thinks of the symmetrical repetition of patterns at various scales, though a blind application yields something more formal than functional, exactly what the author is against. Instead, Salingaros explains that the "fractal city" embeds detail and complexity from the largest of scales to the smallest, which ties him strongly to Christopher Alexander. So what we have is a theory that now also includes architectural detail, strongly uniting architecture and urbanism in opposition to today's tendency to separate the two.
Probably the most valuable lesson in these pages -- something that permeates just about every essay -- is connectivity. Here, the author confronts the single biggest problem of contemporary urban planning head on: the automobile. As planners cater cities and developments to the car, other means of getting around are negatively affected, especially biking and walking. It's these small-scale connections and means of moving about the city that need to be strengthened for the contemporary city to be more humanistic. It may not be the ultimate solution, but it's a start.
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated for spam.