The Strata City- An Alternative Urban
Design Paradigm
Michael Burt
The urban habitat is claiming its place as the principal
living environment for most of humanity. Toward the end of 21st century, more
than 90% of world population will live in cities, tripling its present numbers.
With ‘more of the same’ approach we will witness wider
‘urban fields,’ collapsing infra-structures and unbridgeable conflicts between
the built and the natural environments.
The growing awareness to these future trends contributed to
the emergence of the ‘sustainable development’ doctrine which is preaching the
containment of urban sprawl and conquest of new ‘green lands,’ thus compelling us
to adopt much higher density solutions and induce a way of thinking and
perceiving in adverse to familiar historical precedents.
The emerging urban reality is in a rising conflict with some
of the most fundamental presuppositions, convictions and concepts of the
prevailing urban design paradigm, some rooted in immemorial times and some of a
more recent origin.
What is urgently required is a comprehensive framework of
principles which conforms with the ‘sustainable development doctrine’ and
amounts to no less than an alternative urban design paradigm, because ‘more of
the same’ practices will become inapplicable.
Today it is clear that humanity can and does endanger the
global nature, its ecology and resources. We must adopt an aggressive counter
policy and code of behavior and development.
·
Many
cities reached already their affordable expansion limits, and must be confined,
as much as possible, to their existing bounds, consequently implying far-reaching
urban densification, creatively generating additional building ground resources
on the expense of air-rights and subterranean development.
·
Urban
structures carry stark resemblance to evolving and functioning organisms, their
morphology and hierarchical nature, with physical growth and expansion
processes which are resolved to least of effort and energy consumption and
costs.
·
Of
critical importance are the dwindling, vanishing buildable land resources. A
new code of priorities for the utilization of the ground-level should be
adopted. A drastic revision of the prevailing land-ownership conception and
practice is required, aiming at substituting it with ownership and exploitation
right of volumes in space, thus leaving the public in control of the urban
development process, its priorities and timing.
·
In
this regard, transportation systems must not and should not enslave our densely
developed urban ground areas, but seek their solution, as a matter of
principle, in above or underground space.
·
In
order to facilitate the aspired density rates, while insisting on appropriate
urban quality levels, new urban morphology should be considered. With
innovative hitherto unfamiliar ways of space and ground area employment when
all the a.m. points are taken into consideration, a new conceptual urban design
approach is suggested, to be designated as The (multi-layered)
·
The
design morphology of the
The paper will elaborate on this approach, which is still in
its early evolutionary stages, and present the associated schematic
descriptions and imagery.