Walking city concepts and urban design

Walking City

This work will discuss the makeup of the Walking City and how the development of modern transportation caused that type of city to disappear and helped created the Industrial City including aspects such as mass transit, urban sprawl, spatial segregation and how the rise of industrialization changed the face of the city forever. Finally, this work will describe how the Suburban City developed and will provide a depiction of how life in the city is in this future time and what major differences are seen in relation to the original city structure.

The cities of today's world are in desperate need of redesign however, there is a problem insofar as the structures already in place that must be within the redesign configuration. Not only are the cities of today's world overcrowded but as well, these cities are generally not environmentally friendly or even safe. The work of Philip Bess (2003) entitled: "The City and the Good Life" states that the rise of the industrial city caused problems in the cities because "with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the urban setting became known as the site of disease, pollution, crime squalor and ugliness."

I. Description of the 'Walking City'

The walking city is described as being a city that is designed so that all necessary functions of government and living are within walking distance. For example, the size of the components may vary however, "The concept of the walking city relates to the scale-size of its components and the relationship of this scale-size to man, and its effects upon man the biological organism. If our future cities are to be livable, greater emphasis will have to be placed on establishing a viable biological community in those areas where people spend most of their time. The essential feature of the walking city is that it be a complete human ecological community capable of providing the services necessary to sustain itself, as well as providing for the comfort, well-being, and security of those who live there." (Ecology of the Walking City, 2003)

II. Transportation's Impact upon the Industrial City

Since the automobile was introduced: "...the city has been slowly transformed to accommodate it." (Ecology of the Walking City, 2003) Furthermore, expansion of the suburban areas "was made possible largely through the development of mass transit trains..." (Ibid) in fact, it is stated that "the car has distorted the man-city relationship." (Ibid) the automobile became integral to involvement in activities in and around the cities and the mobility of the automobile became a requisite for participation in many of these activities. Furthermore, mass transit affected the cities in that the terminals for trains and subways further crowded the cities and added to the pollution in cities.

The mass transit system emerged during the industrial world around the year of 1850 "with the advent of new transport technologies, namely the revolutionary steam train and electric tram." (Kenworthy, 2002) Development in cities due to the much greater speed of the automobile grew but the density of the development of cities "dropped dramatically." (Kenworthy, 2002) According to Kenworthy:

Through the exercise of modern town planning principles, land uses became segregated into zones and travel distances for all trip purposes increased dramatically. The car began to displace public transport and non-motorized modes and today achieves modal shares for all daily trips in the range of 80% to 95% in automobile cities in North America and Australia...this type of city became the dominant form in the U.S. And Australia." (2002)

III. Industrialization's Impact on the City

Industrialization grew during the 19th Century and greatly impacted life in the city as it is stated to have brought "...overcrowding, pollution, and disease in urban areas." (Ellis, nd) Upon making the connection between water impurity and disease the cities in America and Europe began installation of sewer and water systems and "since the late nineteenth century, cities have also been laced with wires and conduits carrying electricity, gas and communication signals." (Ellis, nd)

IV. Development of the Suburban City

The suburban developments were an answer to alleviation of living in overcrowded cities and the pollution that had become a reality with the industrial revolution. Many moved their families to the suburbs and while the suburbs were a nice escape from the city, this move increased the requirements for each family to own an automobile thereby increasing the traffic flowing into and out of the cities each day. According to Philip Bess,

The ubiquity of suburban sprawl has come to constitute a serious physical, intellectual and cultural problem of its own. Suburban sprawl fosters disinvestment in historic city centers; excessive separation of people by age, race and income; extreme inequality of educational opportunity; pollution and the loss of agricultural lands and wilderness; record rates of obesity; and sheer ugliness. The very physical structure of suburban sprawl makes it virtually impossible for people of different generations and different incomes to live in close proximity to one another -- and not only live close together but also work, shop, play, learn and worship in the same neighborhood." (2003)

Further, the dependency upon the automobile "effectively demobilizes and disenfranchises those without cars..." (Bess, 2003) Suburban sprawl consumes the land and is self-contradictory in its very nature. Sim Van der Ryn in Ecological Design (Island Press, 1995) wrote that: "In many ways the environmental crisis is a design crisis a consequence of how things are made, buildings are constructed, and landscapes are used." (Lynn, 1997) Sim Van der Ryn holds that decisions concerning city design have become "so severed from their ecological consequences" that over the past five decades: "we have reduced a complex and diverse landscape into an asphalt network stitched together from coast to coast out of a dozen or so crude design 'templates'" (as cited in Lynn, 1997)

V. City of the Future Compared to Original City Structure

Older, pre-automobile cities were inherently far more ecological, in more ways than are obvious. Compact and dense, they allowed for greater efficiency, better use of space, and more diverse housing types and income levels." (Lynn, 1997) Furthermore, these cities contained agricultural areas with a potential for growing foods locally for those living in the local area. The city of the future will be much the same as the cities of yesterday in terms of their density and will allow for the residents of the city to walk in gaining access for conduction of business, shopping, entertainment, recreation, exercise and other necessary functions of living. The work entitled: "12 Gates to the City" states that according to Fred Kent, director of the Project for Public Spaces, "we need to consider the ecologically sound aspects of density and street life. Many cities are learning that compactness promotes efficiency, creativity, and walking, and are working to revive old main streets and neighborhood centers." (Lynn, 1997)