UDSU

22nd IAPS Conference in Glasgow, June 24th-29th 2012

admin — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 08:26:53 +0000

The University of Sheffield, The University of Strathclyde and the University of West of Scotland are pleased to announce that the 22nd IAPS Conference entitled, Human Experience in the Natural and Built Environment: Implications for Research Policy and Practice, will take place at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow from the 24^th to the 29^thJune 2012.

In accordance with the IAPS mission, the Conference will explore human behavior and experience in both the built and natural environments and will focus on the relationship between research, practice and policy and how this can significantly impact on socially and environmentally sustainable development.

The Conference intends to achieve its main goal by tracing and recording development in research, identifying future research strategies, and critically strengthening research links with professional practice and policy making. This will be done within three themes: Geography and Context (urbanisation and planning in developed and developing countries); Planning, Design and Evaluation in Human Environments; Policy Implementation and Management.

In exploring the inter-relationships between research, policy and practice, the Conference seeks to address questions such as when, how and why should these areas come together? By addressing these questions theConference aims to highlight the importance of multi-disciplinary research and critical thinking, the potential impact of environment-behaviour research on policy and practice and future areas for collaboration and implementation of expertise.

The Conference will also feature a jointly organised thematic event with the Council for European Urbanism: ‘Evidence-based Design: a promising new basis for progress on real changes in the built environment.’ Please stay tuned for more details.

Articles 2012: The Primal Approach reprinted in EP best works selection

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:03:51 +0000

Ref: Porta, S. Latora, V. Crucitti, P. (2012), The Network Analysis of Urban Streets: A Primal Approach, in Thrift, N. Barnes, T. Peck, J. (eds), “Environment and Planning”, Sage, London.

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Our benchmark article “The Network Analysis of Urban Streets: A Primal Approach”, originally published in Environment and Planning B in 2006 (see the original paper), has been selected for reprint in the 2012 volume of best articles entitled “Environment and Planning”.

Download the 2012 summary and article from here.

Iain Brodie best Urban Design Student in the UK!

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:09:14 +0000

Iain Brodie, our MSc UD Student in 2010-11, won the prestigious UDG Award for the best Urban Design student work in the UK.

Announced by Urban Update the Urban Design Group Student Award 2012 winners: “Richard Hayward introduced the students awards, announcing the winner: Ian Brodie (University of Strathclyde) for his project on the Gallowgate Renewal in Glasgow, with Ralf Furulund (Edinburgh College of Art)- Radical Reconstruction and Serena Yao (University of Cardiff)- St Pauls Neighbourhood, Bristol as finalists”.

WELL DONE IAIN we are so proud of you!

Ombretta keynote speaker at IAPS 2011 in Korea

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:37:29 +0000

Ombretta delivered the keynote speech entitled “Planning for change. A question of scales, tools and responsibilities” at the IAPS International Network Symposium held in Daegu, Korea, on October 10th 2011.

The year 2011 will see the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jane Jacobs’ seminal work ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’. This keynote seeks to commemorate the occasion by reflecting on the extent to which Jacobs’ vision for the socially healthy city has been incorporated into contemporary approaches to urban regeneration and design, offering a way forward.

Whilst there is much evidence in the academic literature and in practice guidance of good intentions, embodied in the now widespread acceptance of the ‘liveable cities’ concept, for example, it is equally clear that concerns remain about the social value of what prevailing approaches to urban regeneration and design delivers. Recent discourse in urban design theory highlights that the essence of Jacobs’ sociological aspirations for the built environment have yet to become evident in the mainstream of theory and practice, where urban development too often over-privileges economic interests and rapid delivery over social relevance. Despite significant advances in so called socially responsive urbanism and attempts to place human experience and social functioning at the heart of urban design, there remains no fully coherent approach capable of delivering the kind of urban realm so passionately advocated by Jacobs.

In response, this paper will draw from recent theoretical research which argues that the main obstacle to progress lies with a current emphasis on ‘designing’ without enough linkage to societal processes, resulting in urban environments that compromise, rather than enhance, social sustainability. The paper will then detail ongoing research at the University of Strathclyde1 which has developed a new theoretical and practical approach to urban development in which urban form and space can be more easily reconnected to social organisation and experience. At the basis of this work is an extensive review of urban settlements across time and space, their relation to planning and urban theories of development and in particular the study of physical structures and units of development within these settlements.

The study will be illustrated at different scales: changes in urban structure will be presented at city/town scale, the concept of neighbourhood as geographic entity will be criticised in favour of the more responsive “sanctuary area”, and the commonly intended unit of development, the urban block, will be substituted by the combination street-street/front-plot.

Ultimately, this presentation will illustrate how a plot-based, rather than block-based, approach can more easily accommodate the sociological dimensions of urban form called for by Jacobs. Integral to this are processes of informal participation2, acting as catalysts for local management and adaptation of the urban environment, within the parameters set through planning and formal participation.

This approach to urban development aims to provide the ambitions of responsiveness of current planning practice with appropriate theoretical and practical implementation tools. These tools are derived from an extensive study of urban forms and their robustness over time and take into account the different levels at which a place can be designed and managed, to maximise the strategic and structural long term impact of decisions whilst at the same time delegating small scale organisational and managerial tasks to a thus more empowered, responsible and engaged society.

Ombretta and Sergio at Dortmund Lectures on Civic Art

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:33:37 +0000

Ombretta and Sergio are invited speakers at the prestigious Dortmund Lectures on Civic Art in Dortmund, DE, on Friday 9th of December 2011. Both will give a lecture entitled “Plot-Based Urbanism” among distinguished scholars such as: John Norquist, Harald Bodenschatz, Ben Bolgar, Matthew Carmona, and Michael Hebbert.

All our grateful thanks to Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sonne of the Technische Universität of Dortmund for the kind invitation.

Sergio invited speaker in Paris: Les rencontres de la Ville

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:30:12 +0000

Sergio has been invited to speak at the “Les rencontres de la Ville” seminar in Paris, organized by the Secrétariat Général du Comité Interministériel des Villes on September 29th 2011 (download the Programme). His lecture, entitled “Comment penser la place des services dans le fonctionnement de l’espace urbain?” has been recorded in video and is available here: LINK TO VIDEO along with those by Jean-Francois Revah and Charles Rojzman. Sergio’s talk is in Italian, translated in French.

Partial Coverings

Jacob — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:35:03 +0000

Adopting the strategy of depressing the motorway along its current course, this group focused on the opportunities in Glasgow to reconnect isolated areas and bring City usage towards the motorway rather than away from it. The important moves in this program include bridges across the River Clyde, street extensions over the motorway, partial coverings in the form of parks and green spaces over the motorway and the establishment of new local and district amenity centres (nodes) which would both promote usage of these new streets and parks and be dependent on the connections created by those streets and parks

Group Members:

Jacob Dibble (MSc)
Tereza Haubeltova (Exchange)
Ho Jak Hui (AAD)
Patrick Vogel (Exchange
Gina Zadeikyte (MSc)

Vital Sighthill – Martina Donatova & Tereza Haubeltova

Jacob — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:19:51 +0000

Sighthill is interesting because it was never included in the city structure or policies as it was isolated and used as a railway and chemical industry facility. Therefore the land was underused since the railway and heavy industry disappeared and the large isolating infrastructures of railway and M8 motorway appeared. The intentions to improve Sighthill led to including the area to COD planning. The place is generally perceived as dangerous place, a haven for immigrants, drug dealers and criminals. Undermaintained Sighthill Park helps this atmosphere howevever has a great potential of being one of the leisure centres of the city (even more when connected to Clyde Canal).

Our vision is to create a neighbourhood with its identity, balanced density and good system of urbanised streets and public transport, which will be able to interact with Townhead, Royston and Port Dundas and attract desired activities. This will be achieved by downgrading the M8 motorway into a boulevard, creating a new urban fabric with adaptation of existing elements, creating new nodes and good distribution of densities and finally providing new functional public transport.

Group members:

Martina Donatova (Erasmus Exchange)
Tereza Haubeltova (Erasmus Exchange)

Resources for Current Students 2011 – 2012

Jacob — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:17:40 +0000

This page is intended to keep useful information about the course, events and anything else that needs to be shared in one organized place.

Design Brief Analysis

Design Brief – Strategy

Design Brief – Coding and Foundation Masterplan

Design Brief- Masterplan

Street Front Analysis Pairings

Manual For Streets

Minimal Change

Jacob — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:29:56 +0000

What happens when it’s not the right time to address the problems normally associated with large scale infrastructure? While the other groups analyze more intrusive options for intervention, the Minimal Change group analyses the best ways to manipulate the City without majorly changing the M8. The group focused on noise and visibility reduction tactics for the motorway and ways to maximize utility of the space below the motorway.

Group Members

Martina Donatova (Exchange)
Barbara Le- Fort (Exchange)
Felicia Lee (AAD)
Pei Ei (AAD)
Maria Siti (MSc)

Tunnel

Jacob — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:15:44 +0000

This strategy group based their recommendations on the tunnelling of the M8 and connecting Clydeside Expressway. By tunneling the M8 but retaining it’s original route, the beneficial network connections that the motorway has with the City are retained while countless new benefits are obtained as the Urban Tissue at ground level can be united.

The incorporation of a new rail line within the tunnel brings the benefits of tunneling the motorway beyond the immediate effects of removing the motorway from the regular Urban Tissue.

Group Members:

Nathan Bliss (MSc)
Alessandra Feliciotti (Exchange)
Sean Fisher (MSc)
James Nolan (MSc)
Edmund (AAD)

Minimal Change

Jacob — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:45:47 +0000

What is the least intrusive method of mending the harm caused by large- scale infrastructure? Leave it as it is!

The minimal change group explored the ways in which Glasgow’s Urban Fabric and the City as a whole could prosper without intervention on the motorway. This group explored noise reduction techniques and using the space created by the motorway as a positive element of it’s footprint on the City.

Group Members:

Barbara Le Fort (Exchange)
Felicia Lee (AAD)
Maria Siti (MSc)
Martina Donatova (Exchange)
Pei Ei Sin (AAD)

Boulevard

Jacob — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:54:15 +0000

Following the example of cities like San Francisco and Seoul, this group explored the options of converting the M8 into an Urban Boulevard. Running the same course as the existing M8, the new boulevard is an option that maintains and improves on the existing connectivity benefits of the M8, but is actually quite accommodating within the greater Urban Fabric.

Group Members:

Afton Montgomery (AAD)
Amily Voon Ting (AAD)
Hui Lih (AAD)
Ioannis Bourlakis (AAD)
Eghosa A. (MSc)

Articles 2012: Elementary processes on Nature SR!

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:24:40 +0000

Ref: Strano, E. Nicosia, V. Latora, V. Porta, S. Barthelemy, M. (2012), Elementary processes governing the evolution of road networks, Nature Scientific Report, in print online.

Link to the paper on Nature SR.

Nature Asia-Pacific.

EurekAlert.

Urbanisation is a fundamental phenomenon whose quantitative characterisation is still inadequate. We report here the empirical analysis of a unique data set regarding almost 200 years of evolution of the road network in a large area located north of Milan (Italy). We find that urbanisation is characterised by the homogenisation of cell shapes, and by the stability throughout time of high–centrality roads which constitute the backbone of the urban structure, confirming the importance of historical paths. We show quantitatively that the growth of the network is governed by two elementary processes: (i) ‘densification’, corresponding to an increase in the local density of roads around existing urban centres and (ii) ‘exploration’, whereby new roads trigger the spatial evolution of the urbanisation front. The empirical identification of such simple elementary mechanisms suggests the existence of general, simple properties of urbanisation and opens new directions for its modelling and quantitative description.

Weaving the Broken Fabric – Jak Hui Ho, Edmund Lieu, Pei Ei Sin

Maty — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 20:28:44 +0000

This project delas with broken urban fabric nortwards from City Centre. It starts with tunneling the existing motorway as adopted explored scenario from Strategic phase and recreating the urban fabric on new free land above it. The wide study area covers many areas different in nature, which requires different approach. Firstly it is Cowcaddens, which will be revitalised in terms of socio-economics and environmental quations. Secondly, Townhead where new Student Village is proposed, further more Sighthill, where the park revitalisation is proposed and new urban structure introduced to create a residential community-oriented area. Fourthly Port Dundas and Clyde Canal, which would become a new leisure centre surrounded by mixed use and light industry areas. Fifthly it is an area of Spier Locks, which should become new cultural centre with reviving the Opera house and National Theatre, and finally new Chinatown which will also provide a cultural awarness and vibrant experiences.