Garden Cities Of To-morrow
The reading from this week talks about London. In particular it focuses on the development and redevelopment of London and how it can effect the people that live there. It speaks of the money behind the factors of people staying or leaving London and how it could be best spent to keep them in the city.
What struck me most about the reading was that the text spoke of the number of ways in which money could be better used for the benefit of people. For example, taking control of water supplies and using that to generate profit and as such lower the prices of living in the city. It is a good point.
I think that reflecting on the text what I have picked up on the most is that in design, in this case urban design, what must be thought about goes past what we take in during our day to day lives. To create a well functioning design, all elements must be considered.
How will the design be funded?
Can it continue to function?
Can it do so on its own?
Will it need external influence?
For people to want to live in a place, it must provide them with a reason for doing so. More importantly it must provide more benefits for staying that it provides benefits for leaving. The text talks of people preferring to live in a cheaper rental area and be able to walk to work quickly in the fresh air. This is of course, for most, likely to be preferable to living in a high rent area where one must take a long journey across several modes of transport each day, just to cover the costs of living.
In short, the good use of location can provide the basis of a successful design.
Of course as the name of the reading suggests, the text does speak of garden cities. The ways in which the reading talks of developing is geared towards encouraging a nicer place to live. This is very much in the form of reintroducing nature to our cities and it is a view which I also hold.
I am very much interested in bringing nature into the built environment, not just through influence, but actually in physical presence. I think that it holds a key importance in the future of our cities. It is however, not easy to do, nor is it cheap, and this is where the clever use of money and the clever management of systems and people and locations comes into play.
In our Interdisciplinary Design Studio Module, we have an urban design project. The reflections from this reading will play a major part in the considerations that take place during that project. I will be thinking far more about the monetary values, the systems which keep the area running, who owns them and how they can help to fund the development.
This reading was an interesting and very useful one to bare in mind for both my architecture and urban design projects.
What struck me most about the reading was that the text spoke of the number of ways in which money could be better used for the benefit of people. For example, taking control of water supplies and using that to generate profit and as such lower the prices of living in the city. It is a good point.
I think that reflecting on the text what I have picked up on the most is that in design, in this case urban design, what must be thought about goes past what we take in during our day to day lives. To create a well functioning design, all elements must be considered.
How will the design be funded?
Can it continue to function?
Can it do so on its own?
Will it need external influence?
For people to want to live in a place, it must provide them with a reason for doing so. More importantly it must provide more benefits for staying that it provides benefits for leaving. The text talks of people preferring to live in a cheaper rental area and be able to walk to work quickly in the fresh air. This is of course, for most, likely to be preferable to living in a high rent area where one must take a long journey across several modes of transport each day, just to cover the costs of living.
In short, the good use of location can provide the basis of a successful design.
Of course as the name of the reading suggests, the text does speak of garden cities. The ways in which the reading talks of developing is geared towards encouraging a nicer place to live. This is very much in the form of reintroducing nature to our cities and it is a view which I also hold.
I am very much interested in bringing nature into the built environment, not just through influence, but actually in physical presence. I think that it holds a key importance in the future of our cities. It is however, not easy to do, nor is it cheap, and this is where the clever use of money and the clever management of systems and people and locations comes into play.
In our Interdisciplinary Design Studio Module, we have an urban design project. The reflections from this reading will play a major part in the considerations that take place during that project. I will be thinking far more about the monetary values, the systems which keep the area running, who owns them and how they can help to fund the development.
This reading was an interesting and very useful one to bare in mind for both my architecture and urban design projects.
Howard, E. (2007). Garden Cities Of To-morrow. Routledge.