Running Head: URBANISM AND THE CITY
URBANISM AND THE CITY
Student’s name
Institutional Affiliation
URBANISM AND THE CITY
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URBANISM AND THE CITY
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Abstract
Throughout the 19th century, there were outposts who made plans for totally new forms
of settlements in the future. These plans consisted of several enormous buildings with communal
housing just as in a rural setup. Their aim was to expand their towns from the ideas they had in
mind. This paper seeks to discuss Cerda’s plan for the Extension of Barcelona and the Garden
City Movement and their comparison. It will also highlight examples of the Utopists and their
plans for the future of their cities. These plans emerged in the late 19th century and were initially
seen as theoretical and unrealistic. This article will look at their designs and arguments for the
new ways of being in the city.
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Introduction
Urban planning mainly concerns itself with the use of land and design which takes place
in the urban areas of a certain environment. This type of planning can also be refered to as city or
town planning. This type of planning the architects mainly plan for necessities like water,
electricity, air per person, infrastructure, and networks. Urban planning is always necessary
mainly because it directs and makes sure there is an orderly manner in which settlements are
developed and there is proper sharing of resources for both people who live in and out of the
proposed urban area. Normally, there is intense research, analysis, critical thinking and the
public is evenly consulted (Choay 1997). The planners have to also consider recommended
policies and proper management. Proper planning methods have to be considered. This paper
will highlight two main methods of urban planning, namely Cerda’s plan for the Extension of
Barcelona, and the diagrams of the Garden City.
An overview of plan Cerda and diagrams of the Garden City Movement
Plan Cerda was first designed by a catalan civil engineer known as IIdefons Cerda. Cerda
was highly interested in how a city could easily accommodate a low number of people and how
these people will enjoy immense hygiene, eased up mobility and transportation. He designed his
city in a grid like manner (Cerda 1859,p.61). He was successful in maintaining hygiene in his
city because he used various hygienist theories and every city block had an allowance for
extensions of about 113.3 by 113.3. He also considered a 6m2 volume of air to be consumed by
each individual in that city. To carter for easy mobility and transportation, he cut every corner in
a chamfer or in a rounded manner and he ensured that every street was wide (35m).
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The proposed city also had enomous avenues of about 50-80m. One street was for the
vehicles while the other was for pedestrians. Green spaces and gardens were also included in the
blocks to enhance hygiene and ease of movement. This type of city planning was mainly
motivated by immense need for decent homes for town dwellers and industrialization which
needed easy movement of raw materials and finished products from one point to another.
Economy and bylaws of Plan Cerda
According Cerda (1859), inorder for cerda’s plan to be implemented he made sure that he
maintained an affordable economic plan for his project and observed all the bylaws. The wide
streets he suggested in his plan would involve the use of expropriations which were to be
compensated. The whole process of urbanizing and building the city was to be done by a private
firm. The bylaws he observed were to make sure that the inhabitants lived to the required
standard. Some of these bylaws included buildings using less than 50% of the allocated surface.
The rest of the surface was to be used as gardens so that he could achieve the mobility and the
required volume of fresh air per inhabitant.
Criticism
Even though this was an impressive achievement, cerda faced immense criticism mainly
from his architect collegues and other conservative people. They saw his gridlike plan as boring
and monotonous therefore lacking creativity. Some of these architects like Antonio Rovira
suggested that the extension should be developed in a concentric manner for the sake of class in
the society as it existed by then. Antonio wanted the extension to be hierarchial according to the
society. The use of large expropriations to develop wide streets in Cerda’s plan was also another
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point to be criticized. They compared it with Antonio’s plan which used atleast 10 to 15m streets
and it reduced the number of expropriations. The existing city council in Barcelona at that time
also feared that cerda’s project which was to be managed by a private firm would grow stronger
than them and this will make it impossible to keep them under control(Aibar & Bijker 1997) .
A history of Barcelona and the Cedar’s urban planning method
Barcelona was an old city with its streets less than 6 meters wide. According to Aibar &
Bijker (1997), it was surrounded by the medieval wall which was built to maintain the city
against political insecurities. Cerda, a son of wealthy rural parents discovered technological
innovations applied to industry and to the means of communication on his trip to Europe. He had
his background as an army engineer and had knowledge of mathematics1.On his return to
Barcelona, He began by studying the living conditions of the people. He sought to understand
how movement, technology and communication would be the basis of the new city.
Fig 4: Cerda’s plan for Barcelona
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In addition to engineering, he developed military and political careers, both in Madrid and Barcelona. In 1851, he
was elected progressive deputy for Barcelona’s San Pedro district.
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He started his work as an urban designer in 1848. He based his proposal for urban
expansion on improving the living conditions of the people. He planned for the location of
schools, market places and hospitals in order to meet these basic needs of the population (Aibar
& Bijker 1997).
His plan was conceived in a unique way.His work was majorly directed toward the
organization, use and regulation.
He designed a grid that would result to perpendicular
intersections in the streets.
Fig 5: a) Block with housing built on two of the sides;
b) Corners, squares and octagonal forms
His aim in forming the grid was to differentiate social zones and to achieve hygienic
density. He wanted to achieve living standards for 40 square meters per person within the town.
“In the recent days, a person needs an environment of 6 cubic meters to breathe right. Therefore,
within towns, one would need to live 40 square meters, compound”(Cerda 1859, p. 64). He
introduced the word ‘urbanization’ which stuck in many languages in the world. He would say
that urban designing should be under engineering. Hygiene and health were two important
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considerations in Cerda’s work. He aimed at more green and lower densities in the city. This was
to be achieved by large gardens in the building blocks, several parks and trees in the streets. His
plan was executed and was the largest plan in Europe2.
Cerda studied the origin of urban forms and wrote the results in two volumes
(Cerda1849). He developed a theory about scientific and urban organization of urban form. His
model included new technology such as; the railway, street lights, telegraph and sewers. Cerda
based the possibility of urban improvement on several questions; the financing the building of
new roads, sanitary infrastructure and municipal equipment; different pricing the houses in the
city (Soria y Puig 1991). The three concepts were used to determine the length of the blocks, the
number of inhabitants per house, the width of the streets and the number of persons per square
meter.
His plan proposed an addition of 1969 hectares to the medieval core which was only 192
hectares. That meant that the surrounding villages had to be incorporated. The grid had 1000
blocks, witha length and width of 113.3 meters each. The streets measured 20-30 meters wide.
The grid had two parallel buildings on each bock (10-30 meters) deep. There were yards and
green spaces in between each block. Intertwined were pedestrian paths that linked the inner open
space together.The corners of each block were angled 45 degrees, 20meters to create small
squares between the octagonal blocks.
The model contained 33 schools, three hospitals, which were located on the edge of the
city for hygiene. There were 8 parks and 10markets and 12 administrative buildings. Cerda’s
2
See more in benevolo, l. (1980), The History of the City, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
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inspiration for the growth of the territory made him redefine the urban strategies and adjusted
them to scale.
Diagrams of the Garden City Movement
The garden city movement is also one of the urban planning method introduced in the
1898 by Ebenezer Howard. According to this architect, garden cities were to have well planned
buildings surrounded by green belts. Inside these cities, there should be well proportioned
residential areas, industrial areas and adequate space for agricultural practices. Howards works
were immensely inspired by Henry George. He started by writing two successful urban planning
books which did exobiantly well in the market. This drove him to make his work more realistic.
Howard saw overcrowding in towns as the main concern of the people who lived there.
His plan included both town and country setups. This was because he wanted to provide the
working class a chance to experience life in the farms. His main agenda in his idea of the garden
city was to produce settlements which were highly affordable, easy to commute, and keep the
country side alive. In 1899, he came up with the Garden city association and two garden cities,
namely Letchwoth garden city and Welsyn garden city were built. Fredrick Osbon extended
Howard’s works in regional planning. Howard’s works were highly appreciated in England after
the Second World War by the New Towns Act. It was also adopted in the United States Of
America and is very evident in most states like Newyork and Ottawa. These houses were
comfortable, affordable, and provided work for its inhabitants. The principles of this the Garden
City urban planning method influenced the designs of most cities during both colonial and after
the colonial period in the beginning of the 20th century.
A history of Garden city movement in regard to sir Howard
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Sir Ebenezer Howard in 1898 wrote:The peaceful path to real reform, known by the title
Garden Cities of Tomorrow. In the book, he proposed a solution to the problem of urbanism that
was as a result of growth in population (Howard 1962). The garden city was laid out in a circular
plan divided in to six wards and six main streets.
Fig5: Circular plan for the garden city
The space in the center contained a garden surrounded by public buildingslike the town
hall, concert and lecture hall, theatre, library and hospital.It was followed by a central park of 6
hectares. Around the central park was the crystal palace, a wide arcade with shops divided by
radial boulevards.
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Beyond this was the residential area containing 5500 house lots which allowed for a
density of about 17 houses an acre. Each house had a small garden that was owned by the
individual.The circular avenues around gave definition to the plan. Some of the avenues
contained sites for schools and churches. The outer ring of the town was a permanent cultural
greenbelt of 5000 acres devoted to small farms3.
The main idea for the garden city was to merge the country and the town. Howard felt
that the advantages of expanding the city were more than the disadvantages. He cited that when
merged, the city would provide social and economic opportunities. He illustrated these with the
three magnet metaphor.
Fig6: Three magnet illustration
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A man is a primarily social animal, the earliest nomadic societies organized their shelter
grouping around protected common space fostering first pre-urban settlements
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The garden city model was opposed by many architects arguing that it was anti-urban.
They could notmake any distinction between the layers of the garden city concept.They also
mention that this concept encouraged individualism which would limit the growth of the city.
Their works were highly inspired by other works done by various Utopist and is explained
below.
Examples ofUtopists and Plans
Robert Owen 1817
In his book ‘A new view of society’, Robert Owen built a New Lanark for his factory
workers. This settlement had all kinds of captivating living conditions that would attract interest
of the workers. His ideal village would consist of 1200 inhabitants who would restore
manufacturing and agriculture rather than the cheap mechanical work4. School,library, place of
worship among others would be in the center while the gardens and the manufacturing buildings
on the outside.
Fig1: A new view of the society
Reihard Baumeister 1876
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See The site of Robert Owen's utopian experiment - www.usi.edu/outreach/historic-newharmon for more information about the Roberts plan for the new society.
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Reihard, a professor in engineering wrote a book on urban planning that contained hardly
any illustrations. The book explained the need of catering for population growth and traffic
problems. He insisted about hygiene, streets, roads and water. He compared the flow of traffic in
the streets with the flow of water in pipes. According to him, there should be a difference in
structure and design between the inner city center and the suburbs5. The inner city center should
look urban, when the streets are straight and building blocks are close.
Camillo Sitte, 1889
Camillo published a book on his plan for the future called City Design. It is arguably the
most famous publication in the history. His plan was fiercely debated because the people felt
uneasy about it.He, however explained the importance of the program of making pleasant spaces.
Sitte had an idea of a picturesque of the basis of the design of the public space 6. The diagram
below shows that Sitte was concerned about the 3D appearance of the public space.
Fig2:3D appearance of the public space
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Textbook at the first urban planning course in Germany, at the college of technology in
Aachen in 1880 explains more.
Despite being written over 120 years ago, Camillo Sitte’s most famous work is still seen
as relevant today as it was when published in 1889
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Joseph Stubben 1890
According to Joseph, Beauty was an important factor in locating public buildings. He
preferred streets which formed the shape of an axle. This would allow for flow of traffic.
Fig3: Axle of a street
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Other examples of utopists in England were; Akroydon 1859, Copley 1847, and Saltaire
1850 while those of the Netherlands were; Agnetapark, Delft 1884 and Snouck van Loosenpark,
Enkhuizen.They both still exist as monuments7.
Comparison of the Cerda’s plan for the Extension of Barcelona and the Garden City
Movement
There are a number of difference and similarities between the two urban plans: These
include Regional setting, Type of streets and Urbanization strategies. The two, however, (Cerda
and Howard) were engineers who had the zeal for urban planning.
Regional setting
According to (Cerda 1859), Cerda’s aim was to have small and large settlements that
depended on each other while the Garden City movement aimed at swallowing the small
settlement and creating large settlements in the city. He would integrate the advantage of the city
with that of the country. This idea brought arguments from people and therefore disapproved the
idea of Howard.
Streets
Ildefonso Cerda plan involved integration of the whole agglomeration with a steady grid
system within the streets. It would allow easy networking in the city. The grids took care of the
traffic of our days. Howard thought of a circular plan divided into six paths streets. This
agricultural belt was the last in the circular plan.
Urbanization
E.Howard’s plan allowed private ownership of land within the city. The idea would be
the main obstacle for growth since the agricultural parcels would become valuable when in need
Read more on history of urbanization in The Rule and the Model (CHOAY 1997.)
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for expansion. The city would lack means to control growth. This is as opposed to Cerda’s plan
for Barcelona .The individual did not own the land. The Howard plan was integrated all over the
world up to the First World War.
An overview of how these plans have transformed urban plnning in the current era
The two urban planning methods, that is the Cerda’s urban planning method and the
diagrams of the green city, have widely been reproduced by today’s architects. these works have
become iconic and have inspired a lot of creativity among today’s architects as their works are
evidently a result of impressive ideas, conservation of values and observation of policies.
Conclusion
Cerda and Howard constructed theories of how persons should live based on their study
on the social working class statistics. They had major achievement which are admired to date.
For instance, Cerda’s main achievement was the construction of the via laitana, a big avenue that
connects the port and the city gates. This avenue divided one of the most populated area in the
city and and increased street widths which adversely helped to avoid blockading during strikes
(Cerda 1859). The two architects evaluated the living conditions of the entire population and
found the need to establish modern cities. Trees on the side walks, building blocks, the wide
streets, and chamfers still exist in Barcelona, meaning that their work is still appreciated to date.
This paper assessed the foundation of their science and found that their proposals changed the
thinking of people on urban space. As much as their work was majorly utopic, their objectives on
the well being of the people were clear. Their ideas were later implemented in the 20th century.
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References
.
Aibar, E. & Bijker, W. E. (1997) Constructing a city: The Cerda plan for the extension of
Barcelona. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 22(1), pp. 3–30. DOI:
10.1177/016224399702200101
Benevolo, l. (1980), The History of the City, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
CHOAY, F. 1997. The Rule and the Model. On the Theory of Architecture and Urbanism,
Massachusetts,
Carruthers, J. I. & Ulfarsson, G. F. (2003) Urban sprawl and the cost of public services.
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 30(4), pp. 503–522. DOI:
10.1068/b12847
DAL CO, F 1980, From Parks to the Region: Progressive ideology and the Reform of the
American City
HOWARD, S. E. 1962 (1902). Garden Cities of Tomorrow the Town and Country
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PANERAI, P., CASTEX, J., DEPAULE, J. C. & SAMUELS, I. 2004. Urban Forms: The
Death and Life of the Urban Block, Ch.2 London, the Garden City.