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Abstract
A controversy remains among planners and urban designers about the proper location of the non-residential core (nucleus) of a neighborhood in relation to thoroughfares. One school of thought suggests that the nucleus should be located along the busiest thoroughfares; a second school holds that it must be some distance away from them - which, because of their disruptiveness, should form the edge of the neighborhood; and a third school proposes that it should be somewhere between the two as an 'eccentric nucleus'. The three schools may be overlooking the underlying variables that govern this problem under different conditions, and so we propose a model for establishing the best location and distribution of urban nuclei as these conditions vary. This requires firstly, a redefinition of the 'neighborhood' as distinguished from a 'pedestrian shed'. We argue that a 'neighborhood' can either emerge within a 'sanctuary area' between thoroughfares, or span across both 'sanctuary areas' and thoroughfares, if the latter are properly designed; a 'pedestrian shed', by contrast, can overlap with neighborhoods and with other pedestrian sheds. We propose a '400 meter rule', a surprisingly small maximum spacing of main thoroughfares that empirical observation shows that traditional, pedestrian-governed urban fabric has always tended to obey, for reasons that are likely to have to do with the self-organizing logic of pedestrian movement and social activity. In so doing, we advance a more fine-grained, permeable, potentially lower-carbon model and illustrate its advantages with several historic and modern examples.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 22-46 |
Number of pages | 25 |
Journal | Urban Design International |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 |
Keywords
- urban nucleus
- thoroughfare
- neighborhood
- urban morphology
- urban model
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Dive into the research topics of 'Urban nuclei and the geometry of streets: the 'emergent neighborhoods' model'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Impacts
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Spatial research for improved community engagement and rationalisation of urban resources.
Romice, O. (Participant) & Porta, S. (Participant)
Impact: Impact - for External Portal › Professional practice, training and standards, Environment and sustainability - natural world and built environment
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Activities
- 1 Organiser of major conference
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Evolution of Complex Transportation Networks
Porta, S. (Organiser)
29 Aug 2011 → 30 Aug 2011Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organiser of major conference