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A Collection of Essays relating to the 1956 Conference held at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design
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| Edited by: |
Alex Krieger and William S. Saunders
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| Publisher: |
University of Minnesota Press and Harvard Design Magazine, 2009
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| Paperback: |
320 pages
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| Language: |
English
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| ISBN: |
978-0-8166-5638-7
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| Reviewer: |
Robert Lau, CTBUH Journal Associate Editor
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Jose Sert’s 1956 Conference
In 1956, Harvard University hosted a conference on Urban Design. It was organized by Jose Louis Sert, Dean of the Graduate School of Design. His reason for organizing such a conference was to highlight the current state of urbanization across the globe. He was from Barcelona and had seen the affects of war across Europe. Now in North America, he wanted to share the European model of urban spaces to an American audience. At this time, the automobile, vast oil reserves and rolling farmlands ripe for development were presenting a suburban lifestyle to most Americans. While his ideas remain with us today, its impact at that time did not spread past the intellectual level. Participants at this conference included Charles Abrams, Edmund Bacon, Jane Jacobs, and Lewis Mumford, among others.
This book is a collection of essays. Some of them relate to the 1956 conference in particular and others discuss the current state of urbanization in our time. The contributors are international and include academics and practitioners. Fumihiko Maki is based in Tokyo. Wouter Vanstiphout is based in Rotterdam. Charles Waldheim is based in Toronto. Denise Scott Brown and John Kaliski provide an American viewpoint. Each of these and the many other contributors provide an insight into what is Urban Design.
Urbanization in 1956
In 1956, most would agree that a city had a Central Business District and surrounding residential neighborhoods. Suburbs would ring this central city for commuters and industrial zones. Many cities around the world followed this basic pattern. Many people at that time would call this Urban Planning. The term Urban Design was not well understood. Throughout this book is a continuing discussion of what constitutes Urban Design. The focus that Mr. Sert wished to impress was that Urban Design includes many aspects of landscaping, planning, infrastructure, zoning, and building heights. This all-inclusive awareness of the physical form of urban spaces was a new and not well-understood concept back in 1956. It may not be a well-understood concept even today. Planners tend to see the big picture of the city and region. Architects tend to design one building at a time. City engineers design streets and transportation systems within their own framework. While the concept of a city was understood in the 1950s America, the concept of Urban Design as an all-inclusive discipline for urbanization was not. In many ways, it relates to Lynn Beedle’s concept of a Tall Building and Urban Habitat. The two are inseparable.
Urbanization in the 21st century
We are in a much different world now than we were in 1956. The concept of the city center has changed as much as the acceptance of Western ideas in East Asian cities. While the traditional CBD-neighborhoods-suburbs model has survived in many cities, we now have other examples of multi-node city centers. European historic city centers have been able to expand with new, outlying urban areas. London has expanded into the Docklands/Canary Wharf high-rise district. Paris remains a midrise city center with high-rises planned on its fringes. Various other examples exist that suggest multiple nodes of density can form cities. As many contributors express, urban planning is not an exact science and each urban area is unique. The Western model of the 1950s cannot always be applied to South America, Asia or the Middle East. Besides having their own identity, cities have unique histories, cultures, and established urban patterns. Each city must find its own solutions. The slums and haphazard planning that we see today are problems inherited from the past. Urban Design aims to see beyond quick-fix solutions and find lasting urban relationships. People are drawn to cities for the opportunities they offer. They wish to live in them for a better way of life from the rural lifestyle. This is a dream for many. It has also turned into disappointment for those who have not found jobs or fulfillment in the urban world. These realities are what we face today. Our cities hold potential for all but not everyone experiences it.
Urbanization will continue on our planet at an unprecedented rate. More people are living in urban cities instead of rural farms for the first time ever. The problems of our cities today will only become more pronounced in the future. Sustainability issues present us with an opportunity for our cities. In order to live together and preserve our resources, Urban Design can be a driving force of the future. Cities like Mumbai can benefit from investing in planning, landscaping, infrastructure, and zoning. These and other urban issues constitute Urban Design. They are progressive and forecasting, creating a quality of life. Predicting the future is difficult, but planning for the future’s needs is imperative. Cities will survive because they must. How well they survive depends upon their leadership. It is important that each must find its own solutions to its own problems. While this collection of essays may not seem to agree on most issues, including the definition of Urban Design, they provide valuable insights for our urban future.