How do we design public spaces and the environment that we live in? Do we perceive ourselves as a part of such a design process and how can we integrate our needs into it? Are cities designed in an accessible and inclusive way? And what about the playfulness and attractiveness? Those and many more questions came into my mind when reading The Urban Design Process by Philip Black and Taki Eddin Sonbli. (2019)
In this book the authors outline the complex topic of the urban design process, presenting a compelling exploration of the principles and practices that contribute to the creation of vibrant, quality and sustainable places. When talking about the public space within the urban context, they mention that spaces “(…) should be playful and encourage relationships.” (Black a Sonbli 2019) From the very outset, the book establishes the essence of urban design as an effort to create contextual spaces that resonate with the needs of the communities and people who live in the area.
“Character of place should reflect its community and its history, providing a richness and even beauty.” (Black a Sonbli 2019) The authors propose this at the beginning of the book. As the narrative unfolds, it becomes evident that the author’s perspective is rooted in a deep understanding of the symbiotic relationship between spaces, communities, and the historical context in which they evolve. The authors use the symbolic metaphor of Jane Jacobs which conceives the city as a living organism in which the streets serve as life bloods. This metaphor is used for the introduction of the conceptual and contextual perception of urban spaces and the power of urban design that can foster social interactions and ignite activity. Or when designed poorly, to stop the life flowing through the streets and put various barriers, both physical and metaphorical, in the users’ way.
Throughout the book, the authors delve deeper into the theoretical urbanistic concepts. They outline basic terms, concepts, blocks and design layers that are most commonly used in urban design. The authors also talk about why they divide the space into these layers, how they can be arranged within the public space, and present activities that are connected to individual parts of the space and their specifics.
One of the concepts the authors mention is Nolli map – a method which dates back to 18th century. Itallian architect Giambattista Nolli came up with a new way of mapping space – orienting the map to the magnetic north and establishing the figure-ground term. I read a bit more about it in other sources, e.g. Mapping urban public spaces based on the Nolli map method (Ji a Ding 2021) and Learning from the Nolli Map: Representing the Landscape through Figure-Ground (Torres Bustamante 2020). Those findings were certainly crucial for cartography as well as for urbanists, however, I was interested in one much smaller point the authors of The Urban Design Process mention. Nolli approached the public space as a system of interconnected outdoor rooms, in which each room serves its purpose. I find this idea fascinating for academic exploration and also for possible mental exercise that each of us could do on a daily basis. Just look at the spaces we pass through on our way to school or work. What would we call the different parts – or as Nolli might say – rooms of public space? And why? How are they interconnected and what purpose do they serve in our city? I believe that this tiny thought experiment could ignite a more conscious perception of the city in its inhabitants.
Back to the book. In the realm of urban design, a significant part of the discourse is dedicated to the technical specifications and delivery requirements that urban designers must follow along. This extends beyond the aesthetic considerations and delves into UX design, perception and cognition of the customer to whom the plans will be presented as well as to final execution of changes implemented into public space. At the same time, the inhabitants or general users of such spaces are mentioned as the ones who will spend their lives within it.
Close collaboration between urban designers and architects is crucial for fostering mutual understanding throughout the design process – and the authors dedicate one part of the book to a description of what that means in practice. They try to show the different perspectives of all the participants in the urban design process and to show how tightly connected some of the roles are. Urban designers guide architects through various stages of the design process, help with the analysis, and testing of multiple options, as well as with the defining of the final technical details and design. In the delivery phase of the urban design process, many more other actors come into play, such as civic engineers who can comment on the routes and infrastructure plan, landscape architects, planning departments and urban planners. With a certain mischievousness and at the same time lived experience, the authors remind us that, last but not least, the real world in which the newly designed space will be located has a fundamental role to play.
To show the meaning behind their words, later on, the authors use a lot of specific examples of different urban designs that have already been implemented in practice. They compare those examples to show different approaches to phenomenons and list possibilities of ways that designers can take. Because the authors of the book are urban designers themselves, they use many examples from their own design practice, so they often refer to projects and interventions in Manchester. But they also use examples from other cities and areas, such as USA, Portugal and Brasilia and point out other designers’ works and projects. This space and perspective diversity was one of the most important and intriguing contributions of this book for me.
At the end of the book, the final chapters are dedicated to the topic of future of the urban design, which focuses on the topic of environmental changes as well as other global problems connected to that. The authors open with an intriguing idea: people in public spaces began to lack ownership and are thus disconnected from public and shared places. They do not feel the need and necessity to take care of them and make any interventions. They also mention the generic city look as a new trend which started to occur around the world in recent years. The faces of the cities are losing the unique influence of the communities that live there and starting to look alike. The authors of the book draw attention to this issue and briefly outline possible solutions, such as restorative urbanism, but in my opinion, a greater part of the book could be dedicated to this issue. As cities face strong globalisation, a discussion of the tangible impacts, possible mitigations and the necessary role of urban design in preserving the character of the community and the face of the city could offer valuable insights for researchers and practitioners alike.
Other problems that the authors mention are tightly connected to environmental changes, carbon emissions and consequences of that, blue-green infrastructure of the cities and more. They connect those issues with digital futures and the digitalisation of the cities. They bring up also the idea of datafication or data-based online communication with the citizens. This topic is often brought up by Nina Valkanova and Andrew Vande Moere, who specialise in the field of the design of data visualization within public space. They mention it for example in Public visualization displays of citizen data: Design, impact and implications. (Valkanova et al. 2015) Thinking about this, the question of technological adaptation of our cities to the unstoppably fast-changing climate comes up. However, the authors only raise this question but do not answer it much. Nevertheless, they point out the importance of walkability, the problem of car emissions and the possible replacement of cars by public transport and its better infrastructure.
In conclusion, urban design emerges as a dynamic and diverse narrative to me. The local and global perspectives come together in it as well as different roles of people and their perception of one space. The book helped me to gain basic knowledge as well as open some topics and questions for my future research and education. I think that in the future I will be able to rely on the insights from this book, for example in terms of the connection between environmental consciousness and urban planning, usage of data, research and participation of the inhabitants in the design process of urban spaces and recognition of local contexts.
I would like to close with one quote from the authors which deeply resonates with me on more levels: “The neighbourhood is the operational scale at which the city is regularly developed; it is the microcosm of everyday life.” (Black a Sonbli 2019) May we all pay more attention to our everyday microcosms that are at our fingertips and the life that can be discovered within.
Bibliography
BLACK, Philip a Taki Eddin SONBLI, 2019. The urban design process. London: Lund Humphries. Concise guides to planning. ISBN 978-1-84822-289-2.
JI, Huimin a Wowo DING, 2021. Mapping urban public spaces based on the Nolli map method. Frontiers of Architectural Research [online]. 10(3), 540–554 [vid. 2024-01-06]. ISSN 20952635. Dostupné z: doi:10.1016/j.foar.2021.04.001
TORRES BUSTAMANTE, César, 2020. Learning from the Nolli Map: Representing the Landscape through Figure-Ground. Landscape Journal. 39(1), 39–53. ISSN 02772426.
VALKANOVA, Nina, Sergi JORDA a Andrew VANDE MOERE, 2015. Public visualization displays of citizen data: Design, impact and implications. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies [online]. 81, 4–16 [vid. 2023-02-21]. ISSN 10715819. Dostupné z: doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2015.02.005
Magdaléna Bohuslavová 