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Urban Patch Dynamics and Resilience: Three London Urban Design Ecologies

2012; Springer International Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-94-007-5341-9_7

1876-0899

David Grahame Shane,

Urban and Rural Development Challenges

This chapter takes London as a case study of a mature global, estuarial city, focusing on urban patch dynamics over 400 years. It tests a proposed system of patch dimensions that moves from 1.6 acres (0.65 ha) for an average urban block, to an average super block size of 16 acres (6.5 ha), and then to an average megablock sizes of 160 acres (65 ha) or more. The chapter also examines the role of a network of public, metropolitan street armatures in stitching London together as a hygienic city with water supply, sewage systems, modern communications and electrical supplies. This complex system was later adapted as a legal and planning model for large commercial, industrial and residential developments worldwide. Finally the chapter charts the breakdown of the London megastructural patch system and its reformulation as a metacity framework for a system of micro-codes and small-scale, bottom-up innovations.