CONTRIBUTING KNOWLEDGE

 

I have recently self-published The Equations of Urban Design: Leading the Evolution of Shelter Capacity, Context and Intensity within Cities, 2020. It has taken me three books to arrive at the final building design classification system, architectural algorithms, and master equations that make the prediction of shelter capacity for any given land area mathematically predictable and scientifically consistent in my fourth. (Shelter capacity is gross building area in sq. ft. divided by the acres of buildable land occupied.) This is significant for two reasons: (1) Every acre we consume to expand the shelter, movement, open space, and life support divisions of the Built Domain is an acre we remove from our source of life; and (2) The scope of activity on every acre we consume must produce revenue that combines to produce an average yield per acre equal to a city’s average expense per acre to provide a desired quality of life.

The percentage of each activity sheltered within a city determines its economic potential to support a desired quality of life, but excessive building mass, pavement and movement can compromise the pedestrian spaces remaining with oppressive intensity. Economically stable proportions of shelter for activity can now be measured and predicted at the cellular level of the urban anatomy. This means we can write our own DNA for the sustainable urban aggregations we must form with the equations of urban design.

I’ve added a second book entitled, Symbiotic Architecture: Collected Essays on Architecture, Urban Design and Development Capacity Evaluation, to contain essays that have been stepping stones on my path to the completion of “Equations”. It contains 63 of the 178 essays that have appeared on my blog. Some have also appeared at various other receptive sites such as Linked-In and Facebook. The essays in this book have been left along the path I have traveled. I hope they stimulate the work we need to undertake. Both books are available from Amazon.com.