New York High Line as Urban Catalyst: Impact to Neighbourhood

The High Line, an abandoned elevated railway structure on Lower Manhattan's West-side, converted into the public park is among the most innovative urban renovation projects. The meatpacking district with industrial taste, transformed to one of the most fashionable areas in New York would not be realized without the impact of this unique Urban Park, the high Line. The story of how it came to be is a remarkable one: two young citizens with no prior experience in planning and development collaborated with their neighbors, elected officials, artists, local business owners, and leaders of burgeoning movements in horticulture and landscape architecture to create a park celebrated worldwide as a model for creatively designed, socially vibrant, ecologically sound public space. 5 millions of visitors are counted annually. The research will clarify the process of the High Line’s execution, its mechanism of urban transform, and impact to the neighborhood chronologically, and will discuss and theorize this urban regeneration as an outcome of catalytic effect of Urban Green Space.

The exploration and application of urban profile in city analysis, illustrated by the case of Chongqing.

Based on the theory of urban morphology, traditional approahes usually focus on planar exploration, which have limitations and errors for mountainous cities. Began with urban profile, this essay aims to provide a new perspective in urbanization reinterpretation. As a case, a typical region in Chongqing, a famous mountainous city of China, from Shibati road to Hongyadong historical district is chosen for the urban profile line. Two aspects, including space construction and social humanistic environment are emphasized in prototype extraction in the urban profile. The final target is to provide some theoretical methods for urban design with regional features.

The industrial architecture of Mauro Lleó in the growth of the modern Valencia.

After the urban stagnation that supposed the autarchic stage, began the true urban "boom" that would double the urbanized area of ​​the city of Valencia. From the radio-concentric structural solution proposed by the PGOU of 1946, new urban and industrial development axes were established, the western one being Manises-Quart de Poblet-Aldaia, specialized in the metal industry. But the Plan was not feasible without a network of roads that would give the historic roads the right proportion to their new condition. This is the case of the Camí Reial de Castilla that in 1953 opened to traffic, becoming the new entrance of the road from Madrid to the city of Valencia and the connection with the airport of Manises. This created a great commercial and industrial axis along where large companies would be installed given their good communications with the state capital. This is the case of the Coca-Cola bottler (1958), the metal processing plant FLEX (1961) or the S.E.A.T. subsidiary (1965), all of which are the work of the same architect, Mauro Lleó Serret (1914-2001), who became pioneer in the construction of modern Valencia. It is important to know the architecture that has helped to configure part of our city, in this case the one that connects with its western metropolitan area, giving it a façade that will approach solutions already used by the great masters of architecture like Mies.

Extending the concept of the morphological frame: a case study of Tangshan old military airport

Extending the concept of the morphological frame: a case study of Tangshan old military airport Rongxi Peng, Zijiao Zhang, Yixi Li, Feng Song* College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University. 100871 Beijing E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]*(corresponding author)Telephone Number: +86 132-6990-0350, +86 139-1013-6101* Keywords: China, morphological frame, three-dimensional view, airport Conference topics and scale: Urban form and social use of space/ City transformations/ Stages in territorial configuration The concept of the morphological frame is important in urban morphology, but it has been discussed much less than other critical concepts, such as the fringe belt and the fixation line. Passing its features on as inherited outlines, the morphological frame contains not only the linear fixation line, but also ground plan and three-dimensional aspects. In this research, the linear, ground plan, and three-dimensional morphological frame of Tangshan old military airport during the expansion of the city after the removal of the airport is identified. The former boundary roads of the airport exert obvious influences on the division of plots. The former arterial roads also function as a linear morphological frame. In relation to the ground plan, property rights and plots containing important buildings have an impact on the consequent town plan. The distinct feature of the morphological frame of the airport is its three-dimensional constraint, i.e. the vertical clearance requirement, which restricted the height of surrounding buildings. The impact of this institutional limit can last a very long time owing to the high cost of demolishing the old surrounding buildings or adding extra storeys even if the limit ceased to exist with the removal of the airport. Based on this case study, this paper refines and extends the connotation of the concept of the morphological frame and further discusses the relationship between function and form. References Conzen, M. P. (2009) ‘How cities internalize their former urban fringes: a cross-cultural comparison’, Urban Morphology 13(1), 29. Conzen, M. R. G. (1969) Alnwick, Northumberland: a study in town-plan analysis (Institute of British Geographers, London). Lin, Y., De Meulder, B. and Wang, S. (2011) ‘From village to metropolis: a case of morphological transformation in Guangzhou, China’, Urban Morphology 15(1), 5-20. Whitehand, J. W. R. (2001) ‘British urban morphology: the Conzenion tradition’, Urban Morphology 5(2), 103-109. Whitehand, J. W. R., Conzen, M. P. and Gu, K. (2016) ‘Plan analysis of historical cities: a Sino-European comparison’, Urban Morphology 20(2), 139-158.

Redefining the Smart City concept: the importance of humanizing ‘Intelligent’ Cities

Within the context of the changes provoked by globalization and over-urbanization in recent decades, cities face the challenge of conceiving new and more competitive and sustainable development models. To this effect, the Smart City is proposed as a new model of urban development. However, the concept of Smart City has developed in such a way (in most cases completely alien to the area of Urbanism) that, in a way, cities have begun to face the risk of losing their soul. Clear examples of this are the new 'intelligent' cities created from scratch as mere efficient functional structures, without history and even without inhabitants, and lacking understanding of the very complexity and nature of cities, which are first and foremost dynamic places to be experienced. This is why, one of the main challenges with which Urbanism of the 21st century is confronted, is to work on redefining the concept of Smart City, redirecting its development to humanize and give soul back to these near future 'intelligent' cities. In this direction, the main objective of this research is to contribute as urban planners in this redefinition of the concept of Smart City as a new model of urban development. From the work carried out, the proposal of a model, sensitive to the environment (natural, cultural and urban) but above all a model focused on people, their preferences, opinions and needs is concluded.

Central Lancashire New Town: the hidden polycentric supercity

From 1962 Lancashire, in England, became the focus of a major renewal scheme: the creation of a ‘super-city’ for 500,000 people. The last and largest New Town designated under the 1965 Act, Central Lancashire New Town (CLNT) differed from other New Towns. Although influenced by the ideals and example of Garden City model, its master plan followed new and proposed infrastructure to connect the sub-region’s poly-centricity. By unifying and expanding existing towns and settlements it aimed to generate prosperity on a sub-regional scale using the New Towns Act, rather than creating a single new self-sufficient urban development. CLNT’s scale, poly-centricity and theoretical growth made it unique compared to other new town typologies and, although not realised, its planning can be traced across Lancashire’s urban and rural landscape by communication networks and city-scale public and civic buildings. With reference to diagrams for the British New Towns of Hook, Milton Keynes and Civilia, this paper will contextualize and evaluate CLNT’s theoretical layout and its proposed expansion based on interdependent townships, districts and ‘localities’. The paper will conclude by comparing CLNT’s theoretical diagram with its proposed application and adaptation to the sub-region’s topographical physical setting. Keywords (3-5): Lancashire, New Towns, urban centres and pattern Conference topics and scale: Reading and regenerating the informal city References (100 words) RMJM (1967) in Ministry of Housing and Local Government (1967). Central Lancashire: Study for a City: Consultants’ Proposals for Designation, HMSO. Ministry of Housing and Local Government (1967). Central Lancashire: Study for a City: Consultants’ Proposals for Designation, HMSO.

Visual Analysis as a tool for Urban Intervention Comparative Studies

In the past few years’ urban design development has been a topic that in some of Latin America cities such as Medellin, Mexico City and Córdoba, has been evolving under the shadow no longer far from concepts as social innovation and social urbanism, a situation that generates new perspectives and concerns about the impacts that this transformations bring to the cities and its communities. The aim of the collaborative research project was to acknowledge the impacts of urban transformations on five different cities and comparing them to find similarities and differences. A comparative analysis of multiple cases was proposed, along with a methodological triangulation that contained observation, photography analysis and the production of graphics accompanied by interviews in order to arouse an approach to the perceptions of the community residing the space and their affective bonds with it. Inquiring about this process and impacts, and the inhabitants’ relation with their newly transformed space, researchers used graphic research methods that allowed collecting, evaluating and establishing comparative criteria and identifying reiterating impacts caused by urban interventions. Different graphic and visual tools such as drawings, photography and graphic reconstruction were used as a tools to identify the urban and architectural strategies through which a connection between urban space and its inhabitants in each city in order to compare with the other four cities. These tools where used in order to define a recurrent method creating an effect of distance, which increases the effect of designation and shows urban dynamics to articulate submerged realities in opposition with the images created through the visual tools, so a closer relationship between research and representation is made.

Morphological analysis: to evaluate the pattern of Residential building based on wind performance

Yihui Yang, Wei You, Yunlong Peng, Wowo Ding*, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Nanjing University, No.22 Hankou Rd, Jiangsu 210093, P.R.China. E-mail:[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],Phone number:15850561165, 13852293251, +86 25 83593020, Keyword: Residential plot, Apartment pattern, performance evaluation, wind environment Conference topics and scale: Tools of analysis in urban morphology Residential morphological patterns are reflection of people's living habits and tradition, local climate and building regulations, so that one of those factors could be studied through in order to understand residential morphological patterns. Based upon our previous study, we do know that in China living habits and local climate mainly influence the shape of residential buildings and apartment patterns, but we do not know whether the pattern of residential plots determined by FAR and sunshine hours are suitable for wind environment related to residential environmental quality. Therefore, it is very significant to evaluate wind environment within residential plots based on the apartment pattern controlled by various building codes. Our study focuses on the pattern of Slab apartments in Nanjing, which are mainly used in China, and selects 40 residential slices with different plot shapes, plot FAR, building heights and sizes. Based upon MATLAB, we have got all geometrical data between buildings among these slices to identify the spatial pattern character of each residential plot. Through evaluating wind environment of these slices by simulation we can obtain wind speed, pressure and age of air and choose the pattern of age of air as the main evaluation factor of wind performance. Correlation analysis will be made between the apartment patterns and pattern of age of air, by doing so, each typical space between buildings will be evaluated. Our study will reveal the relevance of apartment pattern and wind environment, which can be used to support and improve design in the future. References（95 words） Oke. T. R (1988) ‘Street Design and Urban Canopy Layer Climate’, Energy and Buildings11, 103-113. Wowo Ding, Youpei Hu, Pingping Dou (2012) ‘Study on Interrelationship between Urban Pattern and Urban Microclimate’, Architectural Journal 527, 16-21. Edward Ng, Chao Yuan, Liang Chen, Chao Ren, Jimmy C.H. Fung (2011) ‘Improving the wind environment in high-density cities by understanding urban morphology and surface roughness: A study in Hong Kong’, Landscape and Urban Planning101, 59-74. Youpei Hu (2014) ‘A Performance-Oriented Study on the Morphological Optimization in a High Density Area Concerning Urban Heat Island Effect’, Architectural Journal 557, 23-29. *corresponding author

From Global to Local: spontaneous consciousness and artisanal attitude in the self-built city in Latin America - San Martin de las Flores-Mexico’s self-built fabric. A perspective and tools for contemporary design.

In a world stressed by a cultural crisis, carachterised by excessive abstraction and virtuality (ex: R.Reich’s Symbolic-analysts or/and R. Florida’s Creatives), observing self built city constitute not an escape but an exploration to change our point of view and find a new path of development. Self building involves at any scale, a practical attitude and return to an psychosomatic interaction among inhabitants and built environment. Focusing in self-building can become a Slowskij’s “estragement” to reactivate different sensibilities, for a new philosophy in contemporary design. Morphological reading of self-built environments has a double importance: for self-built cities themselves, to give response to the need of social cohesion, for a restructuring that traduces these needs into building and transforms the plural individual needs into a collective urban structure; for the enrichment that this reading can give to the architectural community culture, a new panorama where we can search new path to go over the crisis; The paper focuses on the scales that goes from building and construction material scale to urban fabric scale. Starting from the observation of a brick’s furnace, through the observation of an original constructive system, up to the aggregation of each built organism in the urban fabric it will be possible to read and interpret the formative process and to evaluate, through design experience cases, some new path for the contemporary design that come from this interpretation of self-built: design as a formative process re-activation, artisanal-not authorial sensorial design; References G. Caniggia, G.L. Maffei, Composizione architettonica e tipologia edilizia: 1. Lettura dell’edilizia di base, Marsilio, Venezia 1979; Gianfranco Caniggia, G.L. Maffei, Composizione architettonica e tipologia edilizia: 2. Il progetto nell’edilizia di base, Marsilio, Venezia 1987; L. Pareyson, Estetica : teoria della formatività, Bompiani, Milano 2005; G. Strappa, L’architettura come processo. Il mondo plastico murario in divenire, Franco Angeli, Milano 2014; V. B. Šklovskij, Teoria della prosa, Einaudi, Torino 1976; R. Sennet, L’uomo artigiano, Feltrinelli, Milano 2008; J. F. C. Turner, Abitare come Verbo, in J. F. C. Turner, R. Fitcher (a cura di), Libertà di costruire, Il Saggiatore, Milano 1979;

Arrival Cities: Refugees in Three German Cities

Since 2015, the authors have studied the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East. The intent of theproject is to not only study the refugee crisis in various spatial and architectural settings and aspectsbut also actively try to help refugees with their problems that they experience in the events fromstarting an escape and to settling in a given host country, city town or neighborhood.In this paper, the authors present three case studies in three different cities in Germany. Refugees areeverywhere in Germany, even in smaller towns and villages. The case study cities are at differentscales with Borken (15,000 people), Kassel, a mid-size city (200,000), and Essen a larger city(600,000) as part of the still larger Ruhr Area Megacity. In these cities we try to understand the life ofrefugees from their original escape country/city to their arrival in their new cities and new countries.Our work focuses on the social-spatial aspects of refugee experiences, and their impact on urbanmorphology and building typology.We also try to understand how refugees manage their new life in partial safety of place, shelter foodand financial support but also in uncertainty and insecurity until officially accepted as refugees.Beyond crisis we are looking at how refugees can and want to integrate into their host countries, citiesand neighborhoods and start a new life. Social activities and physical projects including urbanarchitecture projects for housing and work, that help the process of integration, are part of thispresentation.