Circle in the list the words and expressions you know. Write down their translation in the table and calculate the percentage of your lexical competence.
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1
urban sprawl
a spillover
2
to cluster
a dormitory community
3
a stroll way
to advocate
4
waste disposal
an urban node
5
an equal access
to channel
6
to envision
to demarcate
7
hinterland
a greenfield setting
8
a holistic process
salient expression
Principle six: human scale
According to PIU proponents, the trend towards urban sprawl can be overcome by developing pedestrian circulation networks along streets and open spaces that link local destinations. Shops, amenities, vegetable markets and basic social services should be clustered around public transport stops and at a walkable distance from work places, public institutions, and residential areas. Public spaces should be integrated into residential, work, entertainment and commercial areas.
Danish architect Jan Gehl, one of the world's preeminent urban planners, says that innovative architecture, such as a revolving tower in Dubai or the Guggenheim Museum, might be interesting, intriguing but it is not people friendly. His concepts of human-scale design and the importance he places on public spaces have led city planners the world over to rethink the way they design. Jan Gehl urges architects and urban planners to consider not only the buildings, but the space between buildings.
A
n
abiding axiom of urban planning, urban design and city planning has
been the promotion of people friendly places, pedestrian walkways and
public domains where people can meet freely. These can be parks,
gardens, glass-covered gallerias, courtyards, street side cafes,
river- and hill-side stroll ways, and a variety of semi-covered
spaces. Human scale can be achieved by using arcades and pavilions as
buffers to large masses; by intermixing open spaces and built masses
sensitively; by using anthropometric proportions and natural
materials.
Principle seven: opportunity matrix
The PIU envisions the city as a vehicle for personal, social, and economic development, through access to a range of organizations, services, facilities and information providing a variety of opportunities for employment, economic engagement, education, and recreation. The city is an engine of economic growth. Moreover, cities are places where individuals can increase their knowledge, skills and sensitivities. Cities provide access to health care and preventive medicine.
The city provides a range of services and facilities, whose realization in villages are the all-consuming struggle for survival of rural inhabitants. Running water; sewerage management; energy for cooking, heat and lighting are all piped and wired in; solid waste disposal and storm water drainage are taken for granted. The peace and security provided by effective policing systems, and the courts of law, are just assumed to be there in the city. If the city is an institution, which generates opportunities, intelligent urbanism promotes the concept of equal access to opportunities within the urban system.
Urbanites will face a variety of problems and they need a variety of opportunity channels for their resolution. If there are problem areas where people are facing stresses, like economic engagement, health, shelter, food, education, recreation, transport, etc., there must be a variety of opportunities through which individuals and households can resolve each of these stresses. If this opportunity matrix is understood and responded to, the city is truly functioning as an opportunity matrix. For example, opportunities for shelter could be through the channels of lodges, rented rooms, studio apartments, bedroom apartments and houses. Intelligent urbanism sees an urban plan, not only as a physical plan, but also as a social plan and as an economic plan.