Letter to Dr. Mohammed ouda, Ph.D
I have spent many years attempting to correlate two-dimensional urban patterns with their three-dimensional implications using mathematics. These patterns grow one cell at a time to produce the urban form we inhabit. Some results have been referred to as sprawl and others as excessive intensity. Neither has had an adequate leadership definition preventing us from repeating these results. (These cells are more commonly referred to as lots, parcels, projects, and so on.)
My effort has focused on the characteristics and growth
options for an individual shelter cell since it combines with others to form a
Shelter Division served by the Movement, Open Space, and Life Support Divisions
of its Built Domain anatomy. The effort has involved a new building design
classification format, new design specification templates related to each
building design category (BDC), template algorithms that distill the values entered
to produce the values needed by a BDC master equation, and gross building area
options predicted by the equation based on the floor quantity alternatives
entered in the template after all other relevant two-dimensional site plan
design value percentages are entered.
The result is a prediction of gross building area
alternatives related to the floor quantity options entered. When these gross
building area options are divided by the buildable acres identified, the result
is a series of shelter capacity alternatives that have physical intensity,
intrusion, and dominance implications that be calculated.
The design specification values related to existing projects
can also be measured for evaluation. The implication calculations will form a
new language based on measurement and evaluation that we can call the science
of city design. It is perfectly suited to landscape architecture, urban design,
and city planning. It requires no architectural prerequisites to address the
form and pattern of an urban anatomy that cannot continue to grow and
indefinitely consume its source of life with sprawl and excessive intensity.
I have written four books and over 200 essays on this
subject. The essay list can be found on my blog at www.wmhosack.blogspot.com. My last
book is entitled, “The Equations of Urban Design” and is available from
Amazon.com at a very nominal price. It contains my attempt to correlate
two-dimensional patterns with their three-dimensional physical implications
using a new scientific language based on the persuasive vocabulary of
mathematics as its foundation. I have made the effort because I believe we need
the language to speak in more credible and convincing terms based on
measurement, evaluation, and accumulation of lasting knowledge to support ephemeral
design talent.
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