Urban Design of a City - Essay Example

Urban Design and the ‘Image’ of a Introduction: The renovation of the structural design of any is inevitable. The designs of the cities keep on changing with the changing environment. Each and every city portrays its historical and cultural heritage through its structural design. As per the needs of the people and for the financial and business advancement the city changes its looks. The image of the city lies in the mind of the people who are living in the city. A city in a village has a different look than a city in town but both of them are beautiful from their own characteristics. The beautiful and joyful environment in a city is a strong expectation from each and everyone from the city and it is possible by a perfect design of the city, but for some people it is an impossible fact to deliver, as each individual has different image about his or her city. It should be kept in mind that the image of the city doesn’t depend only on the structural representation of the city it also depend on some intangible factors like sound, smell, polarization of light etc. Structuring and identifying the environmental factors are very important to present the perfect image of the city. Many kinds of factors can be identified to get the proper image. Some of the important factors are visual sensation of colour. Shape, smell, motion, polarity of light as well as other feelings about the smell, sound and perhaps the sense of gravity and the magnetic field. (Lynch, 3). There are many elements which are very important for a city to look beautiful. Some of these elements are paths, edges, districts, nodes, landmark etc. Paths: Paths are the channels along which the people move. These can be streets, walkways, canals, road lines etc. Edges: Edges are the linear elements not used by the observer; they are basically the boundaries between two phases. Shores, railroad cuts, walls are the example of edges. Districts: Districts are the small or medium size section within the city. Each district has different identifiable characters. Nodes: Nodes are points or the strategic points or some spots by which the observer can enter and which are helpful while traveling. They are primarily junctions, crossing places of a break in transportation. In most of the places the nodes are found and in some cases they are very dominant character for the city. Landmark: Land marks are special kind of point of reference, these landmarks are physical characters, such as building, store, signboards, statue, and mountain etc. landmark caries rich heritage related to the city and sometimes they are the most prominent visual presentation for identifying the city. (Lynch, 47-48). However other architectural representation of the city is also very important for the perfect design. Each city has its own physical characteristics and they may include the rivers, mountains, sea, forest, etc, and the architectural representation, that is the design of the city should be at par with these physical entities. It should be always remembered that, the historical heritage value of the city should not be forgotten the juxtaposition of rich cultural values and the modern design should be maintained. Urban design: the urban design of a city is much more different than a city in a village; urban designs are made at par with the advancement of the city. The urban design includes highways, flyovers, sky high glass buildings, stations, airport etc. The design of the urban cities is always on the changing mood. They change accordingly towards the need. Lille: Lille city is a large city in a northern France. It basically a large urban region. Lille has the influence of both France and Belgium as it extends over the space of France and Belgium. The design of Lille is bit different than the other large cities, where city center is a small busy area and the city center is surrounded by the suburban, in Lille the city center is comparatively a large section and numerous small surrounding centers are prominent.( The Urban Regeneration of Metropolitan Lille. Nd). There are many landmarks are structural marvels are there in Lille which can be classified in two sections one is the Historical landmarks and another one is the modern structural designs. Some of the historical heritages are “Column of the Goddess”, the entrance to the Vauban Citadel etc. Some of the modern designs are also very promising. The elevated access route to the town which looks like a parabolic metallic arch; this elevated route gives marvelous visual effects for the city. The Lille Europe Tower, it is a state of art infrastructure, it has a greenish blue colour and a very surprising shape, which is like a boot. The park, which is having the reversal of traditional French Garden design. The Hotel Lille- Europe is another work of art, it has a lobby which is of a size of a walnut but its rooms are having all kinds of amenities required for any world traveled business person (Yaari, 147-149). Few other architectural wonders are Triangle Des Gares, Port De Lille, Euratechnologies, and Lille chamber of Commerce building. There are many buildings which are made of brown-red bricks which gives a different stylish look to the city. The Lille station is also an example of architectural wonder. Advantages of the Urban Design of Lille: The urban design of the Lille has shown a great importance in attracting business opportunities. The quality of place in central Lille has improved; the transport systems have shown promising advancements. As a traditional industrial city the Lille faced the pinch due to the industrial decline and the economic transformation was required and the new design has worked as a stimulator to transform the city. (Trip, 98). Disadvantages of the Urban Design of Lille: Changes are always accepted for the betterment of the present status for any matter. It is very hard to find the disadvantages of the new design of the Lille, but few disadvantages can be pointed out. Three main disadvantages are. One: The large scale infrastructures near the historical heritages have lower down the heritage values of the old buildings. Two: The new dynamic design brought many big retailers which has given a big challenge to the small retailers in the inner city. It had given a financial crunch to the small shop owners. However later, most of the small shop owners were given opportunity to open new store in the new and advanced Lille. Three: there were many municipalities feared the negative effect of the new project and received compensation. The SNCF had to be compensated for not locating the station as it was originally planned. (Trip. 97). Conclusion: For any project the positive and some negative aspects will be there but the privilege of the new design had given tremendous opportunity to Lille and the new state of art design had given the Lille the international standard. Work Sited. Lynch, K. The image of the city. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1960. Trip,Jacob,J, What makes a city?: planning for "quality of place" : the case of high-speed train station area redevelopment. Amsterdam: IOS Press. 2007. Yaari, M. Rethinking the French city: architecture, dwelling, and display after 1968. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. Nd. “The Urban Regeneration of Metropolitan Lille” Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Available at: http://www.hermeslab.it/o2k/contents/eng_pdf/1.7.pdf. Accessed on July, 27. 2010. Read More