In India something like 90 cities have been declared smart cities, of these around half are prone to flooding, and there are problems with sanitation, drainage, power as well as clean water. Solving these problems is about getting the basics right. There is a role and place for smart cities, but we have to get the basics right first. The structural characteristics set out in the previous sections represent some of these basics.
However smart a city gets we will still occupy physical places and need to get those physical places right.
The structural characteristics can really be simplified into just a few rules, and if these rules are adhered to, any urban place will probably be a reasonably nice place.
1. Create a grid of connected streets, with some streets better connected than others
2. Ensure streets intersect with other streets creating blocks of no more than about 80-100m
3. Identify which are the most important streets and where the most important places are eg stations or other key nodes
4. Ensure the front of buildings face streets and to the fronts of other buildings
5. Ensure the backs of buildings face onto the backs of other buildings
6. Ensure than about 80% of the street frontage is activated to some degree
7. Provide a clear definition between the public and private space
8. Integrate the open spaces into the street and movement network, and don’t provide too much open space.
9. Cluster life-generating uses together
10. Add interest to the urban structure:
a. Offset junctions
b. Add curvature to streets
c. Vary building setbacks, generally within 1-5m unless creating open space.
d. Use density to create vibrancy- and do density well
11. Consider and adjust the height to width ratio of the buildings to the street to create the character of streets sought and mask the level of density you are trying to incorporate.
12. Only think about the appearance of the buildings or surfacing and finishing of the street once the rest is right.
13. Ensure context is understood along with the market characteristics. Think about how it is going to be delivered- make sure it is deliverable- for if it is not deliverable all you have is a set of pretty pictures.
You can watch a summary here:
Still sticking around? Section 16 is where you need to go next.
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