Urbanistics is ... Urbanistics and Urban Architecture

There is no precise definition of the term "urbanism" even in Europe. This term is usually referred to as different areas of professional activity, to some extent related to the city. Nevertheless, in Russia this concept has acquired more distinct semantic forms - it is another matter that its coverage itself is quite extensive. In the simplest sense of urbanism is a complex of knowledge about the urban structure that can be used by specialists from various fields. In particular, sociologists, cultural figures, designers and, of course, architects, are connected with urban planning in one way or another.

Traditional understanding of urbanism

If to disclose the term with a utilitarian approach, much will become clearer and become more distinct in the presentation of urbanistics. From this position it can be viewed as a complex area, including such areas as design and management of the urban environment. In other words, urban planning is a set of tools and methods that allow planning and implementing a project. That is, it is not at all necessary that the term should exist in relation to a specific city. The practical use of the meaning of this concept begins even when the concept of the future urban massif is developed.

But it is not necessary to simplify the activities of urbanists, which can continue after construction. The ready complex becomes a platform for the embodiment of the ideas of architects, engineers and artists. A separate place in this business is occupied also by designers, whose hands form urban urbanism in the form of aesthetic design. For example, the style of buildings, the design of parks, the configuration of infrastructure facilities - all of this is realized, including with the participation of design specialists.

Features of Applied Urbanistics

Specialists, whose professional activity is connected with urban studies, usually consider this concept as a scientific field. The point is that in practice this direction requires high accuracy in understanding its tasks. The planner, for example, should have an idea of the mathematical models for the implementation of transport lines, have the ability to calculate communications, do not forget about the shape of the city and take into account the sociological aspects. This will be applied urbanistics, which deals with real problems. Of course, first of all urban planning is associated with architecture and direct construction, but there are other aspects that complicate the tasks of planners. For example, even at the project development stage, urbanists calculate the possible conflicts of interested parties - among them there may be ordinary citizens, investors, representatives of administration and commercial organizations.

Architecture and Urbanistics

Still, the architectural component is the main one in the understanding of urbanism. Between the processes of developing the city plan and the construction of its facilities there is a rather crucial stage in which architects participate. They develop a stylistic concept, which further defines the appearance of the buildings of the urban massif. In our time, architecture and urban planning also mean accounting for the nuances of management. Such a multilateral approach to planning allows you to initially prepare for the optimization of social processes, thereby relieve tension and improve the quality of life. A competent specialist at the same time should equally approach the development of the architectural concept of business centers with offices and salons, as well as housing units for low-income families.

Urbanistics and Sociology

During the industrial era, specialists working on the urban structure found a number of contradictions between the technocratic approach to the arrangement of residential quarters and the standards of comfort with the concepts of humanism. Similar problems arise in post-industrial times, but today sociology is dealing with them. Specialists in this field help to design a less aggressive and at the same time well-equipped and technically advanced city. Urbanism seeks to minimize the harmful impact of industrial complexes, but at the same time not to worsen the situation with jobs. Apparently, sociology in urban planning is sometimes forced to solve contradictory tasks. Nevertheless, the output is in a variety of areas - including through improved infrastructure, more efficient organization of transport support and improved economic models.

New trends in urban planning

The modern appearance of cities is largely changing due to technological progress. The same innovations in the sphere of transport security promise to radically change the urban infrastructure. Urbanists can only rightly dispose of the fruits of progress. And yet in Russia, which has experienced a stagnation in the development of urbanism, the emergence of new creative concepts is delayed. On the one hand, modern urbanistics got rid of the typical approaches dictated by the state. For example, there are companies that offer original solutions in planning and architecture with a design. On the other hand, the introduction of new principles of urban planning still meets the skeptical attitude of conservative users themselves. At the same time in the West, a new direction is gaining strength, called "liberal urbanism".

What is liberal urbanism?

It can be said that this is the logical principle of the modern structure of the city. Or rather, the approaches to its organization. To understand this trend, one should turn to the meaning of democracy. This means that the formation of the urban environment is not a narrow group of authorized people, but all of its residents, including ordinary citizens and business representatives. It turns out that liberal urban planning is a general compromise achieved through an agreement between different groups of the population. But this is not a complete definition, since it also provides for the mandatory principles of such a device in the city. In particular, we are talking about the idea of humanism and comfort - this is how Western cities are first characterized, in accordance with liberal urbanism.

Conclusion

Ever since the organization of life in Greek policies, outstanding thinkers have been thinking about the principles of organizing a common space for life and work. For many centuries, these principles have changed and transformed many times. In the modern sense of urbanism is a set of rules, observance of which allows you to organize the most comfortable for a city life taking into account the interests of different categories of its inhabitants. It would seem that the task is rather simple, but in practice it is not always possible to implement it. Urbanists face a lot of problems, among them: the city's need for polluting plants, the complexity of organizing road networks and the need to preserve historical monuments that sometimes hinder the development of the city.