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Urban Archictecture In America
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Urban Architecture in America

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The future of Urban Architecture is unclear. The current trend in the design of cities is one of Urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is the tendency of a city to continually grow outward, continuously increasing the circumference of a city. Urban Sprawl is best seen in cities like Los Angeles, CA which has a land area of 128 square miles, and a population of 1,711,000. This can be compared to cities like New York, NY, which has a land area of 22 square miles, and a population of 1,488,000. These figures are as 1990, and are from demographia.com. Los Angeles has only 223,000 more people than New York, but takes up 5.8 times the space. In different terms, if New York were the same size as Los Angeles, and had its current population density, it would hold 8,630,000 people!

What's wrong with that, you might ask.

As a city grows in land area, it leads to the increased destruction of the natural enviroment. The city grows larger, so more waterways are damed, more trees cut down, more wild life displaced, etc. Also, the effeciency efficiency of public transportation decreases for several reasons. Busses, trains, and sub ways become less feasible because they have to travel greater and greater distances which requires a much larger infrastructure. New York City has a sub way system that transports millions of people each year, which greatly cuts down on pollution and congrestion. A city the size of LA, can not have a sub way system because it would require 5.8 times the number a trains, it would have to cover 5.8 times the area, and cost 5.8 times as much, and yet only service the same number of people.

What's the answer?

The key is for cities to grow UP, rather than OUT. This idea is embodied in the theory of Arcology, by Paolo Soleri. Arocoloy is the concept of cities which embody the fusion of architecture with ecology, according to the Arocology web site. The idea is for cities to become self contained centers which expand far higher into the sky than current sky scrapers. Within one giant building people would live, work, and go out to a restaurant. This city would contain the same nubmer of people as an average city does today, but in for less land area.

The Hyper Building from Arcosanti.org

This design of veritcal cities would increase the amount of land that reamins intact and full of wildlife. It would also reduce pollution because cars wouldn't be needed within the city because the entire city would be designed for pedistrians.

Useful Links

  1. American Urban Architecture
  2. University of Florida's Urban Planning Resources