Other Titles of Interest NEEDHAM, D. B. How Cities Work: An Introduction LASKA, S. & SPAIN, D. Back to the City PEDERSON, E. 0. Transportation in Cities SOEN, D. New Trends in Urban Planning VAN DEN BERG, L. etal. Urban Europe: A Study of Growth and Decline CENTRE DE CREATION INDUSTRIELLE World Design Sources Directory 1980 HEIGHT, F. & CRESSWELL, R. Design for Passenger Transport RAPOPORT, A. Human Aspects of Urban Form Journals of Interest Building and Environment Computers, Environment & Urban Systems Geoforum Habitat International Progress in Planning Transportation Research Full details of any Pergamon publication and a free specimen copy of any Pergamon journal available on request, from your nearest Pergamon office. LIVING CITIES A case for urbanism and guidelines for re-urbanization by Jan Tanghe, Sieg Vlaeminck and Jo Berghoef With contributions by Catherine Bruant, Jan Gehl, Lars Gemzjzre, Frans Hondius, Ulrich Keppler, MarinRlla Ottolenghi, Philippe Pannerai, Johan Van Dessel, Robert Walker and Alfred Wood Translated by RONALD SOUTHAM Translation edited by BARRY NEEDHAM PERGAMON PRESS OXFORD · NEW YORK ■ TORONTO ■ SYDNEY ■ PARIS ■ FRANKFURT U.K. Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall, Oxford 0X3 OBW, England U.S.A. Pergamon Press Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523, U.S.A. CANADA Pergamon Press Canada Ltd., Suite 104, 150 Consumers Road, Willowdale, Ontario M2J 1P9, Canada AUSTRALIA Pergamon Press (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., P.O. Box 544, Potts Point, N.S.W. 2011, Australia FRANCE Pergamon Press SARL, 24 rue des Ecoles, 75240 Paris, Cedex 05, France FEDERAL REPUBLIC Pergamon Press GmbH, Hammerweg 6, OF GERMANY D-6242 Kronberg-Taunus, Federal Republic of Germany Copyright ©1984 Jan Tanghe, Sieg Vlaeminck and Jo Berghoef All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers. First published in Dutch by CIAUD/ICASD, 1975, under the title Wonen of Wijken? First English edition 1984 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tanghe, Jan. Living Cities "Originally written in Dutch in 1975 under the title Wonen of Wijken?" — Pref. 1. Cities and towns—Europe. 2. Urbanization — Europe. 3. Man —Influence of environment. 4. Housing — Europe. 5. Quality of life —Europe. I. Vlaeminck, Sieg, 1933- . II. Berghoef, J. F. III. Title. HT131.T2913 1983 307.7'6'094 82-22283 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Tanghe, Jan Living Cities 1. Europe—History I. Title II. Vlaeminck, Sieg III. Berghoef, J. F. IV. Wonen of Wijken? English 363.5Ό94 HT169.E85/ ISBN 0-08-025238-9 (Hardcover) ISBN 0-08-025237-0 (Flexicover) Printed and bound in Great Britain by William Clowes Limited, Beccles and London DEDICATION This book is not dedicated in the traditional manner to our wives and children, but to the "unknown citizen", who can no longer dwell in the city, and to the politicians and planners who must bear the responsi bility for his plight. We have lost the feeling for quality in everything we do: we must win this feeling back and base our lives again on quality, which is the greatest enemy of all forms of vulgarization. Socially this means giving up the race for high office, refusing to subscribe to the cult of personality, accepting others without bias whether they are high or lowly-placed, especially in the choice of intimate friends with whom we share our innermost secrets, and it also means that we should have the courage to take part in public life. Culturally it means turning back from newspapers and the radio to reading books again, turning from feverish activity to leisure and tranquillity, from distraction to concentration, from sensationalism to reflection, from virtuosity to art, from snobbery to modesty, from extravagance to moderation. Quantities are competitive, qualities are complementary. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, 1942 From Verzet en Overgave, published by Ten Have, Baarn, 1978, 3rd edition, p. 18. Preface This book was originally written in Dutch in 1975, under the title "Wonen of Wijken?", at the request of the Belgian Minister of Public Works at that time, Mr A. Califice, who was responsible for an enquiry into the problems of life in Belgian housing estates, and for the investigation of new solutions to such problems. The authors rapidly concluded that the project ought to cover a much wider field. It occurred to them, for example, to question whether the inhuman aspect of our urban environment is due to our modern way of life. Can we still live in such an environment, and if so, how? How can people live in modern housing estates? The relationship between the inhabitant and his habitat, and that between our society and its cities was first examined. It was established that many city-dwellers felt dissatisfied with their immediate surroundings. The authors finally came to the conclusion that the "unlimited expansion" of our cities must be halted, and that we should strive instead for "inner growth", i.e. expansion not outwards but within urban centres, and for a more human approach to city development; the intention should be to encourage contact between towns­ people, thus reducing the isolation of those living in sprawling communities, and to remedy the evils resulting from the dispersion of urban functions. Our opinion is that the process of réintégration of the cities will be better achieved by what we have called "structure planning" methods (see Chapter 5 and 6) than by the classic "physical planning" approach. From these conclusions a number of planning and design criteria are proposed, by means of which the problems of housing and living conditions in cities might be solved more satisfactorily. The authors are aware that although the problems of living in cities in different European countries are determined by the particular history and culture of each country, the whole of Europe is in fact faced with the same problem, namely the loss of identity in cities and housing districts, the disintegration of established ways of life due to the influence of the media and of mobility, and the increase in scale of production and consumption. It was also noted that, since 1965, this decline in the quality of the habitat has provoked a great deal of reaction, resulting, amongst other things, in the formation of pressure groups and residents' action committees, and has led to the development of alternative urban planning approaches, in which the continuity of the existing urban fabric takes precedence over the demolition-and-expansion policy of functionalist city planning. "End-state planning" must be replaced by a continuous vn viii Preface planning process, which means that it can always be carried on where it has been left off, that it is never finalized, and that it exists for the benefit of users and residents. The authors later thought of using the ideas from "Wonen of Wijken?", which was written in relation to the situation existing in Belgium, and applying them to a broader European field. The book was therefore largely re-written, and we invited our Dutch friend Professor J. F. Berghoef to become the third author. His contribution has placed the evolution of the city and architecture in a wider European context. For practical reasons it was decided to use the English language, and a firm of English publishers was found. We have pleasure in thanking them for their great interest in the book and for their invaluable assistance. This edition aims to give an idea of the evolution of urban housing in present-day Europe, and it is thanks to the close co-operation of several European architects and town planners who responded to our invitation to contribute that this book has finally come into being. They are: Johan van Dessel and Ulrich Keppler for Belgium; Jan Gehl and Lars Gemz0e from Copenhagen, for Denmark; Catherine Bruant and Philippe Panerai for France; Ulrich Keppler for West Germany; Alfred Wood and Robert Walker, for Great Britain; Marinella Ottolenghi, for Italy; Frans Hondius, for Holland. We thank them all most sincerely for their contributions. This English edition of Living Cities aims to demonstrate the new awareness con­ cerning urban environments in Europe, and the direction in which the urban scene must, and can, develop. The angle from which the authors approach the problem of living in cities is social-spatial. Economic aspects are discussed less, as the authors are well aware that there are economists who - from their own specific standpoint - subscribe to the same objectives as ourselves. This book is written primarily for the intelligent layman rather than the specialist. It does not boast of its originality, nor that it develops new ideas or theories, and it is altogether without ambition to be labelled avant-garde. It is quite possible that it lags behind the latest co-called "scientific standpoint". We think that this may be all the better, for hindsight sometimes gives better insight. It does, however, intend to bridge the gulf between the specialists - urban designers, planners, sociologists, architects, etc. - and the man-in-the-street, or the politician who has to make the decisions. All too often we see how, on the one hand, those who are involved in everyday decision-making - the representative of the housing association or the local political figure - and on the other hand, those responsible for the people's education - the teacher, the social worker or the activist - are hopelessly remote from those who function in the ivory towers of science - the professor, the research worker, the specialized journalist or the chief engineer of the city engineer's department, all of whom have a tendency to regard the ordinary citizen with a certain disdain. If the city really is man's most important invention, it gives one hope to realize that many Europeans, living in an era of the advanced evolution of machines and technology, are again becoming aware that living in cities can have its own intrinsic value as a form of community life. Preface IX The future of mankind will ultimately be decided by the choice between the city, which contains the germs of man's salvation, and the machine which, as a substitute for happiness, may eventually be the cause of his complete destruction; and so this book seeks to point out the heavy responsibility of the politicians who must stimulate this awareness, and be capable of drawing the necessary conclusions from it. Human contact - and thus awareness - is the only thing of value which can compensate for man's self-destruction complex, and the city - in its historical form - is the only form of community which can stimulate this contact. Cities - like life itself- are never in the static "completed" condition. Perfection is sometimes described as the immutability of things, a status quo in which nothing can be added or changed. We wish to make it clear that in our opinion the ideal city is a living organism, which is continuously changing and adapting itself to the new demands of life. This is not to deny that each city, as indeed each person, has its own specific characteristics or identity. Men must not become stereotyped, and neither must their cities. In this sense our cities must strive to maintain a balance between identity and change. The proper aims of a policy for making the city worthwhile again, and for rebuilding it as a place for living, must therefore be to encourage a continuous metamorphosis whilst retaining the city's identity. The sort of attitude which is hostile to all change, and which is motivated solely by historical or aesthetic considerations of secondary importance, leads inevitably to nostalgia, to uninhabitable conditions and finally to the death of the city. This book seeks to stimulate mental awareness concerning the city and living in it, without which better town planning and social choices can never be made, with the result that the world will become less inhabitable. In this sense it comprise sa set of proposals, or perhaps even a salvage plan, for better living conditions in the city. It presents some ideas which seek to re-arouse an interest in this subject, and we hope that their evident incompleteness may help to stimulate further questions. JAN TANGHE 1 A Positive Choice in Favour of the City cannot be made without a change in our way of life "The ultimate outcome of the suburb's alienation from A. The choice between the city the city became visible only in the twentieth century, and the machine with the extension of the democratic ideal through the instrumentalities of manifolding and mass production. Urban development has evolved in a In the mass movement into suburban areas a new kind less than satisfactory manner since the be­ of community was produced, which caricatured both ginning of the 20th century. Too much the historic city and the archetypal suburban refuge: a attention has been paid to urban design in multitude of uniform, unidentifiable houses, lined up inflexibly, at uniform distances, on uniform roads, in terms of rationalism and functionalism a treeless communal waste, inhabited by people of the concepts, which has tended to neglect the same class, the same income, the same age group, wit real needs of the inhabitants and to con­ nessing the same television performances, eating the centrate instead on the functional aspects same tasteless prefabricated foods, from the same freezers, conforming in every outward and inward of the development of our environment. respect to a common mould, manufactured in the cen The application of such concepts has re­ tral metropolis. Thus the ultimate effect of the sub sulted in the disappearance of the street, urban escape in our time is, ironically, a low-grade traditionally an essential element in the uniform environment from which escape is impossible. city and a socio-environmental phenom­ What has happened to the suburban exodus in the United States now threatens, through the same mech enon of immense value. Its disappearance anical instrumentalities, to take place, at an equally has driven people apart and upset the accelerating rate, everywhere else - unless the most functioning of the city itself. vigorous counter-measures are taken. The scale of our habitat has changed But before we confront this final caricature of the from "living-side-by-side" in houses to unfettered suburban life, lived according to nature, for "existence" in layers, one above the other the sake of health and child nurture, let us consider in large-scale high-rise housing blocks more closely the actual development of the suburban container. For we shall see that out of this break-up of (Fig. 1). the old urban forms, out of the chaotic freedom and The concept of streets, city squares and spatial looseness of the suburban community, came the the entire traditional pattern of cities has first substantial changes in urban structure, which been scrapped, in exchange for a more matched, unconsciously, the changes that have been taking place in our whole conception of the cosmos. The "progressive" faith in the future of the open basket-work texture of the suburb bears little modern suburban life-style, and for the il­ resemblance to the solid stone container of late neolithic lusion that living in a suburban neigh­ culture. Though the suburb lacked many of the attri bourhood is the same as living in the pure butes of the ancient city, it has served as an experi air of the countryside. The unity, diver­ mental field for the development of a new type of open plan and a new distribution of urban functions. sity and liveliness to be found in cities, 1 2 Living Cities Thus the suburb has prepared the way for a better and also in city-dwellers, have been ex­ order of planning, not yet fully expressed or achievedc hanged for the soulless monotony of fea­ anywhere, in which both the static and dynamic func tureless housing units, awkwardly sited tions, those of the container and the magnet, would find fresh expression. Though the suburb, as such, amidst dreary streets, or strung along belongs to the past and has already been enveloped byh ighways in ribbon developments. People the conurbation, some of the lessons that modern living there seem to have become es­ planners first mastered in the suburb must be incor tranged robots, the slaves of the con­ porated into the new concept of the city. " sumer-society, rather than folks who still Lewis Mumford, The City in History, a Pelican Book, pp. 553-554, published by Penguin Books regard all men as brothers. ■ m ■ ■ ■ ■ » ■ · ■·;:;: : :■:!"::■■■■■ mm m * w ^-^*'W^l♦, Fig. 1. "Urban development has evolved in a less than satisfactory manner since the beginning of this century." From Children in the Town. Series 'Villes et Villages '80'. Fondation Roi Baudouin, Brussels, 1979.