IMPACT OF SPATIAL CONFIGURATION TO SPATIAL QUALITY: VENICE AND ISTANBUL

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between spatial configuration and spatial quality, and how they affect each other. Spatial quality is a sophisticated concept and encompasses physical, social, economic, cultural and environmental components. Urban squares reflect these parameters and also play a decisive role in urban identity as areas of apparent urban culture and collective memory. Spatial configuration also determines the character of the squares as a result of morphological feature of cities. In the study, qualitative and quantitative methods are used together. Initially, the case study was conducted on two pier squares, San Marco Square (Venice) and Beşiktaş Square (Istanbul) according to fifty public space quality parameters. Secondly, morphological analysis was performed through space syntax method. It has been investigated whether there is a connection between spatial configuration and the factors determining the quality of space or not. As a result, it has been revealed that the spatial configuration is one of the determining factors being assessed the quality of the space, however, it does not provide sufficient data alone. The importance of this article is that it proposes an analytical approach that includes both quantitative and qualitative components of spatial quality.

AN EVALUATION OF HOUSING FLEXIBILITY AFTER SEVEN YEARS OF HABITATION: IBA HAMBURG 2013

Flexibility in housing has been used for a long time to meet the changing needs of inhabitants. After a century of vicissitude, flexibility became a means for architects to deal with social changes in the new millennium. The International Building Exhibition (IBA) 2013, which took place in Hamburg, Germany, is an example of how the concept of flexibility is being adopted. Housing, in particular, the post-occupancy phase, has not been studied, despite the urban-level aspects of the IBA Hamburg having been extensively written about. Seven years after its construction, nothing is known about what happened regarding these new approaches. The purpose of this study is to investigate the number of households in the IBA Hamburg housing projects that have used the promoted concept of flexibility, particularly in the “Building Exhibition within the Building Exhibition.” As a result, this article aims to shed light on this issue by presenting data from a field survey regarding whether floor plan flexibility was used, and if so, to what extent and what were the reasons. As a result, the author utilized an administered and self-administered open and closed-ended survey questionnaire research approach to collect necessary data for the execution of this investigation. The survey was conducted in twenty-two apartments, with four residential buildings chosen as a case selection for this investigation. The results of this study revealed that, despite being considered during the initial planning phase, flexibility was not commonly applied in the housing projects of IBA Hamburg 2013. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the extent of use of flexibility in these case studies is closely linked with the occupation status of the inhabitants.

FROM PADDY FIELDS TO SUSTAINABLE TOWN IN FOUR DECADES: TIGHT INTEGRATION OF URBAN PLANNING AND PLACE MANAGEMENT IN YUKARIGAOKA, JAPAN

Private real estate developers disproportionately focus on spatial planning and short-term returns, often forgetting the crucial role played by place management toward the achievement of sustainable communities. This research presents an alternative model of privately initiated urban development: Yukarigaoka, a new town in the eastern outskirts of Tokyo founded in the late 1970s. The case study has been analyzed through field research, assessments of local media, interviews and literature review, focusing on urban planning strategies and place management practices. Yukarigaoka is a non-speculative model entailing the developer’s long-term commitment to the creation of a community sustained by unique planning features and innovative, award-winning place management practices. As a result, the development avoided the demographic imbalance of many Japanese public new towns of the same period. Population has been constantly growing and the town has been attracting families, strengthening local engagement and a defined identity. Despite a degree of paternalism in approach and the mediocre design quality of the built environment, Yukarigaoka confirms that livable communities result from the tight integration of planning and management. It provides an important planning and management precedent for new and existing communities in other Asia-Pacific cities toward establishing a synergistic relationship between built and natural components and in advocating for long-term profit different from a predominantly neoliberal developmental model that maximizes immediate returns.

MEASURING PLACE ATTACHMENT, IDENTITY, AND MEMORY IN URBAN SPACES: CASE OF THE WALLED CITY OF LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Public spaces are essential for any city as they define place character; they are the meeting point for social and cultural actions. Place attachment is moulded by the tie between individuals and places. The research examines the historic streets, which are remainders of their period when the pedestrian flow was predominant and had exceptional qualities that supported social action. The changed settings nowadays might have changed people’s views and the investigation was made to question and check individual’s common memory and their sensitive ties to the historic streets. The four streets from the Walled City of Lahore were selected upon their significance of history and usage. The questionnaires were prepared and the fieldwork analysis was conducted face to face and selected streets were investigated in the terms of, place attachment, identity, and memory. The outcome proved that there is a promising feeling of attachment towards the selected streets and lacking qualities of a street can be improved if look closely at the worthy streets. The study addressed an important issue of marginalization and the results from the Shah-Almi street shows that their act will create the walled city streets to lose their identity as it is formed by its users.

DEVELOPING PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE AS A TOOL FOR PROPAGATION WITHIN CITIES

The term ‘parasitic architecture’ is an overused, and misunderstood buzzword within the architectural and urban planning community. By breaking down, through case study, how a space is developed and evolves, reclassification of architectural parasites is possible. Focusing on how parasitic architecture has produced urban growth and development of community within Tokyo as the primary case study, the reclassification is based in pre-existing architectural development and the nature of actual, living parasites. This reclassification of architectural parasite produces three separate types of parasite; the ‘structured,’ ‘symbiotic’ and the ‘hyper transient.’ Through the use of redefinition and reclassification, parasites in an architectural or urban planning context are then able to be manipulated as a tool for propagation within the existing built environment. Space within cities and megacities are becoming more of a commodity, so by utilising these new parasitic tools, it is possible to manipulate space to allow for an increase in urban growth, whilst still being flexible enough to fit into pre-existing planning legislation globally.

A NEW MODEL OF URBAN REGENERATION AND ECONOMIC REVITALISATION: THE I.D.E.A. DISTRICT, SAN DIEGO

In the 21st century globalized economy, innovation is a crucial factor within strategies targeted at growing and sustaining competitiveness of regions and cities. The emerging trend of innovation-led urban planning initiatives provides strong evidence of how cities are implementing strategies to promote innovation mainstreaming. Hence, these innovationoriented policies are currently translated into the creation of innovation districts, becoming part of the urban settlement dynamics towards regeneration processes. This paper intends to explore the new paradigm of urban development initiatives driven by the increasing demand of innovation. Accordingly, innovation districts will be investigated by identifying the role, as well as the influence, of the different actors who nurture and accelerate the innovation process at urban level. The I.D.E.A. District case study will be examined, by pointing out the policies and planning initiatives undertaken in Downtown San Diego. Findings from this research will evaluate the effectiveness of the new generation of urban planning initiatives in supporting urban growth strategies. Additionally, the level of public private partnership effectiveness in supporting the development of innovation districts will be highlighted. Useful lessons can be drawn in encouraging planners and policymakers towards implementing these new innovation-oriented urban regeneration initiatives within urban growth strategies, important for enhancing competitiveness and for improving liveability by providing solutions for a more efficient land use.

HISTORIC AND CONSTRUCTIONAL ASPECTS OF STONE SCHOOLS IN GREECE: THE CASE OF THE ARISTOTLE MUNICIPALITY IN CHALKIDIKI

Historic schools, built during the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, were evolved according to the wider socio-economic changes that took place at regional, national and international level. Their construction usually followed specific principles, governed by their functional role and structural safety requirements. In this study, the historical background of school buildings in Greece is given, in an effort to assess their evolution and physiognomy. To this direction, 14 historic school buildings, located in the Aristotle Municipality of Chalkidiki, N. Greece, were studied, taking into account their architectural and constructional characteristics. These buildings were erected from 1871 up to 1958 and are nowadays mostly used as elementary schools. In some cases, they are in second use or abandoned. They concerned 1 up to 3 storeys buildings, with rectangular ground plan, symmetrically organized around a main corridor. Their size and dimensions varied according to their capacity. From the beginning of the 30’s, supplementary elements of reinforced concrete (slabs, beams) were added, in combination with the existing building techniques. Nowadays, they are generally preserved in good state, due to the consecutive interventions taken place during their service life. However, their documentation and identification as heritage structures should be further assessed, in order to convey the tangible and intangible values they incorporate in the next generations.

DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM THE SPINE, DESIGNING A PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE [SPINE-INSPIRED DESIGN OF A PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE]

Natural structures are known to be the source of inspiration for numerous architectural and structural rules in the fields of aesthetics, function, and structure; therefore, the application of the principals governing them could be used for appropriate and optimal design. The present paper was conducted to model the natural structure of load transfer in order to design the structure of a pedestrian bridge with a span of 100 meters. This bridge is located in a mountain park in the tourist area of Kashan, 230 km south of Tehran. For this purpose, by examining the patterns in the nature, which provides a relevant answer to the problem, the spine of animals was identified as the bearing skeleton of the body, the best option for patterning. Inspired by it, a stable structure was designed as a skeleton of a bridge without a middle pillar. Based on a form inspired by the spine of a four-legged animal, the bridge structure was designed. To control the stability of the bridge structure against the loads, the initial design idea was analysed employing the Karamba plugin in Grasshopper software to identify its weaknesses and the final design was obtained. The final design was analysed with SAP2000 structural finite element software to ensure the stability and control of permissible deformations. Additionally, attention to the modular structure of the spine was the source of inspiration for the design of prefabricated elements of the bridge parts, which in addition to reducing the cost of execution, increases the speed of construction of the project. The final design of the pedestrian bridge, which acts similar to a suspension bridge in terms of load transfer and was inspired by the structure of a four-legged vertebrate, is a combination of truss and tensegrity structure and in addition to visual aesthetic, has optimal structural performance.

THE TRADITIONAL ARAB ISLAMIC CITY: THE STRUCTURE OF NEIGHBORHOOD QUARTERS

This paper is concerned with the structure of quarters in traditional Arab Islamic cities. Previous studies have stressed the idea of an urban structure that corresponds to social groupings, in that it is seen as a collection of neighborhood quarters. This spatial model has often provided the rationale for the design of new housing layouts. The purpose of this study is to examine this issue and to argue that the structure of these cities presents a global whole. To achieve this purpose a general and a specific question are addressed. The general question is about the physically sub-areas within the city, and the specific question is about the issue of social groupings and the kind of relation that space has to society. The proposition thus invokes the idea of a physical structure which appears to correspond to a social pattern. The city of Damascus is used as a model of analysis in which the urban structure is described and characterised. The argument is advanced that the traditional Arab Islamic city has a sub-area structure which is historically generated, but whose morphological combination is fine-tuned and adjusted so that the whole comes to dominate and unify the parts.

EXPANDING DEPTH AND MEANING WITHIN URBAN DESIGN PROCESSES THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF COMPLEXITY AND EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES

Previous research has established the value of regarding cities as complex systems, and as systems which will evolve over time. The research reported in this paper concerns the development of an approach to urban design and management which recognises the complexities of change resulting from design-led urban interventions. The research commenced with a study of urban design and urban management processes, and the manner in which they have been studied in an academic context. The system aims to guide the processes of urban design so that it can be implemented within a cyclical process of evaluation and application. The system aids communication across design teams and improves clarity within the design process for the designers themselves. The specific system also aspires to interconnect theory with practice, while supporting designers to be inclusive and holistic. The paper describes a case study where the framework was applied within an academic setting, related to real urban environments in Singapore. It validates the model’s ability to guide students through the design process, give depth to their analysis of urban systems and meaning to their designs. Action research was implemented, to reflect the need for a “practice-changing practice” methodology, that supports a greater understanding of the relationship between theory and practice.