Shelter design: The correlation of two
dimensional areas and three dimensional building mass to protect human activity
in a single project area.
Urban design: The correlation of land use
allocation and shelter design within a limited aggregation of project areas.
City design: The correlation of land use
allocation and urban design within a jurisdiction.
Built Domain: A collection of jurisdictions
that shelter and serve human activity.
Natural Domain: The source of life for all
activity
The Goal: To shelter growing human populations
within a limited Built Domain that protects their quality and source of life –
the Natural Domain.
The Policy: To establish a symbiotic
relationship with the planet.
Design: The definition
of a problem and an exploration of potential solutions with instinct,
observation, education, anticipation, comparison, evaluation, correlation,
measurement, logic, talent, and perseverance. In many cases, the result is
failure. In some cases, the result is knowledge. Darwin called it evolution and
adaptation. Others have called it chaos.
Intelligence: The
ability to memorize, retain, and apply both information and knowledge.
Fine Art: A category
of successful and unsuccessful design solutions established by aesthetic
opinion.
Design
can be considered fine art and fail as a solution to a problem based on the two
definitions I’ve written. Design involves the use of logic. When that
fails, the result may still be considered fine art but is not a successful answer
to the problem. This is the paradox we face. Design and fine art are separate
issues. When the priority is form, appearance, and fine art, design can suffer
and the solution can be compromised; not to mention the education provided. The
goal is to correlate priorities. The policy is symbiotic survival.
PROLOGUE
If you had one acre of land and were asked to find its ideal
gross building area potential, you would first ask if parking were
required; and identify the parking system to be provided.
If you were given a gross building area objective and were
asked to find the buildable land area required, you would first ask if
parking were required; and identify the parking system to be provided.
These two sentences represent two questions:
1)
What gross building area options can be produced
on a given gross land area, and what are the intensity implications when floor
quantity is an option?
2)
What land acquisition options can accommodate a
given gross building area objective, and what are the intensity implications when
floor quantity is an option?
Our ability to accurately and consistently answer these two
questions will determine our ability to shelter the activities of growing
populations, and to protect their quality of life, within a limited Built Domain
that does not sprawl to threaten their source of life: The Natural Domain.
This goal cannot be achieved until we create a reliable
leadership language to:
1)
Consistently measure existing physical
conditions with a vocabulary that can be used to compare, evaluate, and correlate
the social, psychological, environmental, and economic implications of these
measurements.
2)
Consistently forecast future options with the same
vocabulary, and an increasing store of measured knowledge, for comparative
evaluation.
The objective of this book is to provide a conceptual
foundation supported by a vocabulary and language that can be used to build a
Science of City Design. We cannot lead until we learn how to speak. This is the
message from those who could not speak and pondered the cave paintings of
Lascaux, Altamira, and Font-de-Gaumme 17,300 years ago. The scientific language
and cellular awareness of Biology is one result.
INTRODUCTION
Unlimited urban growth is sprawl. It continues to expand
over the face of a planet that is our source of life. It is encouraged by a
primitive definition of “growth”, and a leadership language based on emotion
and opinion that does not fear what it cannot see. We could solve climate
change and still suffocate the Earth with this expanding blanket.
There are now two worlds on a single planet. The plant and
animal kingdoms of Linnaeus have been superseded by the Built and Natural
Domains of the 21st century; and the inhabitants of the Built Domain
are threatening to consume their indispensable host.
Zoning ordinances are not written to address the issue. They
contain conflicting design requirements that encourage arbitrary results within
an expanding Built Domain. As a consequence, we have not had a leadership
language capable of consistently measuring problems, predicting options,
evaluating solutions, accumulating knowledge, and creating a design strategy:
To shelter growing
populations within a limited Built Domain that protects their quality and
source of life.
This book will propose a scientific language of city design
based on a shelter classification vocabulary, architectural algorithms, and
master equations. It will introduce six universal shelter design categories,
three residential activity groups, design specification templates, and forecast
models for each category. Architectural algorithms will calculate topic
quantities from specification value decisions; and they will correlate results
for use by a category master equation. Master equations and subordinate
equations will predict the shelter capacity and intensity options implied by a
collection of category specifications. A change to any specification value will
produce a new shelter capacity and intensity forecast for evaluation. The
topics and equations in a forecast model will clearly demonstrate why density
is a social measure that cannot lead shelter design toward physical objectives,
strategic plans, or policy goals.
Shelter design categories are occupied by activity groups.
Activities add a social and economic dimension to physical capacity, intensity,
location, and condition. Design categories, activity groups, specification
templates, architectural algorithms, master equations, and planning forecast
panels introduce a quantitative, comprehensive method of measuring and
predicting the shelter capacity of land, and the intensity of the options
predicted. The vocabulary and equations to be introduced will represent a city
design language that can correlate capacity and intensity with activity on any
land area to achieve pre-determined physical, social, psychological,
environmental, and economic objectives.
I should add that the compatibility of land use allocation
is compromised when the shelter capacity, intensity, and activity planned or
present is not correlated with the municipal revenue required to meet expense
per acre over time. The mathematical language and forecasting ability of city
design makes this strategic correlation feasible.
The classification system and mathematical language of city
design is a means to an end. It makes the accumulation and evaluation of
comparative knowledge feasible. Success will be symbolized by the form and
appearance of shelter that emerges from symbiotic solutions correlated by the
science of city design within a limited Built Domain.
THE SHELTER QUESTION
The satellite images of sprawl and one image of Earth from the
Moon tell us there is no world without end. It’s time to imagine the threat,
the relevant detail, the relationships, and the language that can lead us
toward solutions that meet the challenge to survive.
We should all be concerned with the answer to a single
question.
How do we shelter the
activities of growing populations within a geographically limited Built Domain
that does not threaten their quality of life with excessive intensity and their
source of life with sprawl?
The answer depends on the information available, and this
creates two subordinate questions that will be addressed throughout this book.
When gross land area is given, the question becomes:
What maximum gross
building area can be accommodated on a given gross land area without excessive
intensity?
When a gross building area objective is given, the question
becomes:
What minimum buildable
land area is needed to accommodate a given gross building area objective
without excessive intensity?
Answers depend on the shelter design category chosen and the
specification decisions adopted. The shelter capacity of land will determine
our ability to protect growing populations within a geographically limited
Built Domain; but solutions cannot threaten their quality of life with
excessive intensity. This means that we must be able to accurately measure,
evaluate, and forecast shelter capacity and intensity options.
ANSWERS
The answer to each preceding question depends on the shelter
design category chosen. A design category is gross building area classified by its
primary parking system, except for combinations of surface and structure
parking that are classified by the parking structure configuration employed.
There are six building design categories within the Shelter Division of the
Built Domain.
1)
G1: Buildings
surrounded by a surface parking lot
2)
G2: Buildings
above a surface parking lot
3)
S1: Buildings
adjacent to a parking garage
4)
S2: Buildings
above an underground parking garage
5)
S3: Buildings
above a parking garage at grade
6)
NP: Buildings
with no parking requirement
A design category may be occupied by any permitted activity
group. This distinction separates two-dimensional land use planning from
three-dimensional city design, and the two must be correlated to create
sustainable cities and a desirable quality of life within limited geographic
areas.
The remainder of the book is devoted to the generic design
categories that may contain any permitted activity group. These categories represent
our source of shelter within the Built Domain. They are customized to suit a
particular occupant activity. Their capacity, intensity, location, and
condition combine with land use allocation to determine a city’s economic
stability and quality of life.
SUMMARY
The city design language you will encounter offers the
opportunity to evaluate shelter capacity, intensity, activity, economy, and
quality of life options on a quantitative basis in a very brief period of time.
We have been handicapped by an inability to measure, evaluate and predict the
consequences of shelter design decisions in a precise language that is capable
of repeating success and avoiding failure. This has led to a Ponzi scheme of
land use misallocation and consumption that we call annexation for growth and
economic development. It continues to grow in rings from an expanding core of
decay to consume our source of life because we do not speak in terms that can
make a difference.
We survive in the nucleus of a cell we have artificially
created with property lines on a planet that does not recognize ownership.
These property cells multiply as populations grow. They are part of a Built
Domain that is sprawling to threaten the Natural Domain with its concept of
property rights, but the planet and the universe do not bestow rights. They
demand compliance with commands that must be anticipated. Knowledge follows.
We have produced sprawl and pollution on the face of a gift
we have had the temerity to challenge with theories of freedom and concepts of
power. The planet and the universe have not given us freedom or power. They
have given us responsibility. Acceptance of this responsibility will begin when we use
the mathematical language of city design to understand a property cell and organize
its aggregation to protect our quality and source of life. This
organization will produce an anatomy that is not a gift. It is a challenge to
our creative ability, and the price for our presence on a planet that is losing
its patience.
The preceding has been an excerpt from my book,
The Science of City Design. The book can be found on Amazon.com and
CreateSpace.com. 
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