Urban planning is a science that has existed since ancient times, and each nation has its own unique knowledge composition.
Urban planning, also called urban planning or urban planning, refers to the advance consideration of the space and development of the city. The object is focused on the physical form of the city, involving the regional layout of industries in the city, the regional layout of buildings, the setting of roads and transportation facilities, the arrangement of urban projects, etc.
The knowledge base of ancient Chinese urban planning is ancient philosophy, which combines the thoughts of Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism. The most distinctive point is that it emphasizes the unity of nature and man, and Tao follows nature.
Cities are the product of human socio-economic and cultural development to a certain stage. The academic community has not yet concluded the cause and time of the origin of cities and their role. It is generally believed that the basic condition for the emergence of a city is that social productivity can not only meet people's basic survival needs, but also have surplus products. Cities are the social, political, economic and cultural centers within a certain geographical scope. The formation of cities is a leap in the history of human civilization.
The development of cities is a process in which the human living environment continues to evolve, and it is also a process in which humans consciously and unconsciously plan and arrange the living environment. At the Jiangzhai site, a Neolithic settlement in the north of Lintong County, Shaanxi Province, China, our ancestors used it in village site selection, land use, building layout and orientation, development of public space, and construction of defensive facilities. Primitive technical conditions and clever management created a living environment suitable for the social structure of the time. It can be considered that this is the germ of residential environment planning.
The development history of urban planning
With the development of social economy, the emergence of cities, and the complexity of human living environment, urban planning ideas have been produced and continuously developed. Especially in periods of social change, when the old urban structure cannot adapt to the new requirements of social life, urban planning theory and practice often make leaps forward.
The theory of urban planning in ancient China can be found scattered in classics such as "Kao Gong Ji", "Shang Jun Shu", "Guan Zi", and "Mo Zi". "Kaogongji" determines the three-level city system of "capital", "royal city" and "vassal city", functional zoning of land and road system; "Shang Junshu" discusses the hills, valleys, hills and valleys in a certain area, The appropriate proportion of urban roads and farmland land distribution, as well as corresponding conditions for city construction, war preparation, population, food, land, etc.
City planning in ancient China emphasized strategic thinking and overall concepts, the integration of city and nature, and strict hierarchical concepts. These urban planning ideas and the achievements of urban planning in various historical periods of ancient China are concentrated in the construction of the capital city as the "pole of the four directions" and the "most good area".
During the Warring States Period, the capitals of various countries adopted the large and small city system, which reflected the requirement of "building cities to protect the emperor and building turrets to protect the people." Chang'an City in the Western Han Dynasty integrated palaces and squares; Ye City in the Cao and Wei Dynasties during the Three Kingdoms period adopted the planning method of urban functional zoning; Luoyang City in the Southern and Northern Dynasties strengthened comprehensive planning, all of which were the peak of urban construction in early ancient China - the construction of Chang'an City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties Played a leading role.
The construction achievements of Chang'an City were an important part of the splendid culture of the Tang Dynasty, and influenced the construction of capitals in Japan, Korea and other countries. The importance of Kaifeng City in the Song Dynasty in the history of Chinese capital construction lies in its planned expansion in accordance with the edict issued by Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of Zhou Dynasty in the Five Dynasties. Later, the development of the commodity economy gradually abolished the urban village system that had lasted for thousands of years. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng City moved towards a relatively open street and alley system, forming the urban structure of the late feudal society in China.
The planning of Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty drew on the planning ideas of the ideal capital during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, but also adapted measures to local conditions. The city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, which evolved from a large capital city, can be said to have gathered the culmination of urban planning in ancient Chinese capitals. The Qing Dynasty vigorously operated gardens and villas in the far and near suburbs of Beijing, making Beijing the most glorious example of capital planning and construction in China's feudal era.
In the West, the Hippodam planning model appeared during the ancient Greek city-state period. The "Ten Books on Architecture" written by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius expounded the basic principles of urban site selection, environmental sanitation, inter-city construction, public building layout, etc., and proposed the "ideal" urban model at that time. In the Middle Ages, society developed slowly, and cities were mostly centered on churches. During the Renaissance, architects Alberti, Palladio, Scarmosier and others also proposed some urban theories and urban models that reflected the prosperity of business and the diversity of urban life at that time.
European cities before the Industrial Revolution, with the exception of a few cities such as Rome, were generally smaller in scale. Most cities are naturally formed, with relatively simple urban functions and infrastructure, and poor sanitary conditions. Urban planning mostly focuses on defense functions and political needs, and is highly closed. The content of urban planning mainly focuses on the arrangement of road networks and building groups, and is therefore an integral part of architecture.
The industrial revolution led to worldwide urbanization. The establishment of large-scale industry and the concentration of rural populations in cities prompted the expansion of urban scale. The blind development of cities, slums and chaotic social order have caused the deterioration of the urban living environment and seriously affected residents' lives. People began to study countermeasures from various aspects, and it was under this circumstance that the discipline of modern urban planning was formed.
The modern urban planning discipline mainly consists of three parts: urban planning theory, urban planning practice, and urban construction legislation.
Modern urban planning theory began from people's various explorations to solve urban problems from the perspective of social reform. In the first half of the 19th century, some Utopian socialists, following Moore and others, the founder of Utopian socialism, put forward various ideas, including improving housing and urban planning as one of the measures to treat urban social diseases. Their theories and practices had a great influence on later urban planning theory.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Howard advocated "garden cities". In 1915, Geddes proposed the regional principle and advocated the theory of combining urban planning with regional planning. Their academic thoughts had a profound influence on the development of urban planning thought. The book "Urban Planning Practice - Concept of Urban and Suburban Design Art" written by Enwen at the same time summarized the historical examples of urban development and his own planning practice experience, which can be regarded as the architect's development of the field of urban planning. Subsequently, more and more architects, sociologists, geographers, economists, etc. have invested in the research of urban planning theory.
In the 19th century, the most influential urban planning practice was the Paris plan initiated by French official Haussmann in 1853. Although the reconstruction of Paris had the political purpose of suppressing urban uprisings and showing off the majesty and power of those in power, the Paris reconstruction plan made comprehensive arrangements for roads, housing, municipal construction, land management, etc., making useful explorations for urban reconstruction. As a result, cities such as Cologne and Vienna have followed suit.
Another construction practice also emerged during this period: some advanced British industrialists built new workers' towns while building factories. For example, in 1851, the industrialist Salter built the workers' town of Sartel, and in 1887, Levi built the workers' town of Sunlight Port, forming the so-called "enterprise town". These practices undoubtedly contributed to the formation of urban planning theories such as Howard's "Garden City". So far, urban planning still takes the two basic forms of old city reconstruction and new city construction mentioned above. In the 1890s, Western European countries had gradually formed the concept of urban development strategies that combined public investment to improve municipal construction with control of private land. There is a tradition of urban development planning in Germany, and there are also rudimentary zoning planning methods. These provide useful experience for urban planning work.
The original purpose of formulating urban construction regulations is to maintain a neat, clean, and stable urban environment to protect the health of residents. The United Kingdom enacted the "Public Sanitary Act" in 1848, which stipulated the sanitary standards of residential buildings. In 1906, the "Residential and Urban Planning Act" was promulgated. Sweden enacted laws on urban planning and land use in 1907. New York in the United States promulgated zoning regulations to control land use and building height in 1916. It was later modified into a zoning resolution in 1961 to adapt to the new situation. Practice has proved that urban construction and management must have a corresponding legal system, and strict urban construction regulations can improve the quality of urban planning and construction.
Since the 20th century, mankind has experienced two world wars. The international political, economic, and social structures have undergone tremendous changes. Science and technology have developed rapidly, the humanities have made progress, and values ??have changed. All of this has had a profound impact on the world. Urban planning has a profound impact. The 1933 "Athens Charter" outlined the problems faced by modern cities and proposed the measures that should be taken and the tasks of urban planning. It was a milestone in the development of modern urban planning theory.
After World War II, urban planners did not abandon the basic principles of the "Athens Charter", but updated and supplemented some major issues. This led to the 1977 "Machu Picchu" Charter". These two charters are the summary of urban planning theories from two different historical periods and have considerable influence on urban planning around the world.
After the industrial revolution, the internal structure of cities has undergone fundamental changes, prompting people to theoretically study the structure and form of cities and seek the best model.
Some people think that cities should be concentrated in construction. In "The City of Tomorrow" in 1922, French architect Le Corbusier advocated making full use of technological achievements to build high-rise and high-density building groups to centralize the development of the city in order to obtain the best living environment and highest work efficiency. , this idea is called urban centralism. Some people advocate that cities should be decentralized. The "Broad Acre City" proposed by American architect Wright believes that the city should be integrated with the surrounding countryside, with an average of 2.5 people living per hectare. It is called urban decentralization. These two urban models have a wide influence.
In addition, some people have proposed various urban layout forms based on urban functional requirements, such as "ribbon cities", concentric ring cities, wedge-shaped structure cities, multi-core cities, etc.; some people have proposed various urban layout forms based on urban functional requirements. Starting from the organization of various systems in the city, they study the relationship between the spatial structure and urban form of the area where the city is located at a macro level; others analyze the unit cells that make up the city at a micro level to study the form of the city. In recent years, an increasing number of scholars have studied urban structure and form from the perspective of systems.
The main content of urban planning
Residential and environmental issues are one of the basic issues of the city. By studying neighborhood issues, American sociologist Perry proposed in the 1920s that residential areas should have green spaces, primary schools, public transportation centers and shops, and that the transportation system in the area should be well arranged. He first proposed the concept of "neighborhood unit" and is known as the pioneer of community planning theory.
Later, architect Stein designed the Redburn residential neighborhood near New York based on the neighborhood unit theory and achieved great success. Redburn-style neighborhoods were seen as the "basic cells" of urban structure in the automobile age. After World War II, Western countries adopted neighborhood units as a criterion for postwar residential construction and urban reconstruction.
Neighborhood unit theory is originally a product of the combination of sociology and architecture. Starting in the 1960s, some sociologists believed that it did not fully meet the requirements of real social life, because urban life is diverse and people's activities are not limited to neighborhoods. Neighborhood unit theory gradually developed into community planning theory
The increase in people's freedom of movement reflects social progress. Urban planners should consider changing transportation requirements. After the industrial revolution, the scale of cities has become larger and larger, and intra-city transportation problems have become one of the biggest problems in urban development. The contradiction between the advancement of transportation technology and the old urban structure has become increasingly obvious.
The book "Urban Planning and Road Traffic" by British Police Commissioner Tripp puts forward many practical insights. His planning idea of ??"districting" is to establish a secondary transportation system within the section to reduce the interference of local branch roads. This traffic planning idea was later combined with the neighborhood unit planning idea and developed into the concept of "expanding neighbourhoods", which was tried out in Coventry and directly influenced the planning of Greater London after the Second World War.
Since then, scholars have proposed various urban transportation network models such as dendritic road systems and hierarchical road systems. The principle of developing public transport is now widely accepted. Urban transportation planning is closely related to urban structure and other urban planning issues, and has become a basic content in urban planning. People's understanding of transportation also begins with understanding its simple transportation function, then recognizing its significance in spatial organization and spatial connection, and understanding that urban transportation is a function of land use. Research on urban transportation has also developed to discuss transportation based on the various requirements of the urban environment.
In the 19th century, due to the filth of the city, the issue of improving the city appearance was raised. In 1893, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America, the World's Fair was held in Chicago. Magnificent classical buildings, wide boulevards and beautiful recreational areas were built on the Chicago lakefront, allowing people to see the role of grand planning in beautifying the urban landscape. Its influence has triggered the "City Beautification Movement" in the United States.
Saarinen proposed the "urban design theory" based on the analysis and research of urban image by the Austrian architect Schidi, requiring the design of the physical environment. Consider social, economic, cultural, technological and natural conditions to create a good environment that meets the basic living needs of residents. In view of the formalism trend at that time, he also put forward some basic principles such as free and flexible design, coordination between individual buildings, spatial composition of building groups, and coordination between architecture and nature. In this way, the beautification of the city is organically combined with the functional requirements of the city, further deepening the urban planning thinking.
Since the 1950s, in addition to continuing to explore urban design issues from the perspective of visual art, deeper and broader theories have also been conducted from the perspectives of psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, etc. research and applied research. The theory and practice of urban design have evolved from the pursuit of beautiful cities to the pursuit of efficient cities - cities that are more suitable for people to work and live healthily and happily.
Linked with urban design is the planning and construction of urban parks. American landscape architect Olmsted designed New York's Central Park in 1858, and later designed parks in Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, and Boston. This was the beginning of the planned construction of urban garden green space systems. Practice has proven that urban garden green space system planning should be included in urban planning from the very beginning.
The rapid development of cities and the destruction of the natural environment by artificial buildings have prompted people to pay increasing attention to maintaining the balance between the natural and artificial environments and the coordinated development of cities and villages. The concept of "landscape" began to attract people's attention. Some urban planning scholars have systematically elaborated on this and extended the concept of treating large urban areas as an integral part of the human ecosystem. Nowadays, urban planning work in various countries considers the protection of the natural environment.
Historical monuments are not only the cultural treasures of a country or a nation, but also the unique cultural wealth of all mankind. Since ancient times, far-sighted people have attached great importance to the protection of cultural heritage. However, due to the rapid development of cities in modern times, many ancient buildings and historical cities have not only been eroded by nature, but also suffered more man-made damage. The 1933 Athens Charter earlier raised the issue of protecting ancient buildings from the perspective of urban planning.
Due to the development of these works, people have deeply realized the long-term practical, economic and artistic value of old buildings and old residential areas, and began to study the old cities, old districts and old buildings from a new perspective. transformation problem. Through comprehensive investigation and careful planning, old cities, old districts, and old buildings can be rationally utilized so that they can not only adapt to new needs, but also maintain the cultural characteristics of the city and the continuity of local culture, thereby integrating the concepts of urban planning with Programs have also changed accordingly.
The development of cities and the increasingly serious urban problems have made people gradually realize that we cannot just talk about cities, but must study city-related issues from a larger scope - regional or even territorial scope.
Since Geddes proposed the regional principle, the practice of regional planning and territorial planning has been most outstanding with the regional planning of Tennessee in the United States, which was implemented in 1933; the regional planning work of large urban areas was early in the planning of New York and its surrounding areas, and also More representative. The Greater London Plan formulated in the 1940s was a creative development in this regard. Later, some cities began to study the areas affected by large cities from the aspects of commerce, transportation, etc., and regional science emerged.
Planning industrial and mining areas from a regional perspective is an integral part of regional planning work. Typical examples include Doncaster City Planning in the UK and Donbas Mining Area Planning in the Soviet Union. The planning of scenic spots and rest and recuperation areas also belongs to the field of regional planning. Examples include regional planning for the Soviet Black Sea coastal areas and the Caucasus mineral springs.
Another component of regional planning work is the study of rural areas. "Social Analysis of Rural Communities" by Gergan in the United States is the earliest result of research in this area. In 1933, the German geographer Christaler analyzed the market center and service scope of the rural areas in the region in his book "Regional Centers in Southern Germany" and proposed the famous "Central Place Theory". Based on this theory, he explored the distribution of rural centers, the distribution of urban commerce and service industries, and the urban system in regional planning.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Geddes proposed the "life schema" to comprehensively analyze cities from the perspectives of geography, economics, and anthropology in terms of the relationship between people, place, and work. His famous saying "Investigation precedes planning, diagnosis precedes treatment" has become the motto of urban planning work. This investigation-analysis-planning work procedure has been widely adopted.
The methods of urban planning vary from country to country, such as the development plan in the United Kingdom, the land use plan (also called master plan) and regional detailed planning in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the overall plan, recent construction plan and detailed regional plan in the Soviet Union. planning. Since the 1950s, China has basically adopted the methods popular abroad before and after the Second World War in formulating urban planning: first, it demonstrates the nature of urban development and estimates the population size; then determines the land use pattern, organizes the building space structure, determines the road transportation system and other Main municipal engineering systems, etc.; and then prepare the city master plan and city detailed plan. This kind of planning is basically a physical environment plan, which arranges the spatial structure for various future activities of a city. It is a blueprint for the state of the city's physical environment to be realized within a specified period of time (such as 20 to 30 years). Guide city construction.
After years of practice, people have increasingly realized that the above planning methods cannot adapt to the rapid development of society and economy. Based on the understanding of urban openness and the never-ending development and renewal of cities, the urban planning community has put forward the planning ideas of "continuous planning" and "rolling development", that is, focusing mainly on recent development and construction, and focusing on long-term goals. It is constantly revised, supplemented and adjusted to achieve a dynamic balance, thus abandoning the old concept of urban planning as the "future ultimate state" of the city. Under this understanding, radical urban planning methods emerged. For example, in 1968, the United Kingdom replaced the original development plan or master plan with a two-stage planning method of new structural planning and local planning. In addition to physical environmental planning, economic planning and social planning are also added to the planning content to achieve the city's socio-economic goals, making it a more comprehensive plan with multiple goals and aspects. This planning approach is still evolving.
The development trend of urban planning
In different eras and different regions, the development level and construction requirements of cities are different. Therefore, the research focus of urban planning is not consistent and changes with the times. Development and transformation.
Multi-disciplinary participation in urban research has a history since ancient times, and has become more active recently, ranging from geography, sociology, economics, environmental engineering, ecology, behavioral psychology, history, archaeology, etc. The results achieved in studying urban issues have greatly enriched market planning theory. This trend will continue, and more disciplines will penetrate into and expand the research field of urban issues in the future.
The application of mathematical methods such as systems engineering and engineering cybernetics and new technological methods such as computer remote sensing in the field of market planning is gradually promoting the methods they provide in data collection, processing, and prediction and evaluation. and means to help improve the quality of urban planning work.
The understanding of cities and urban planning work continues to deepen. Based on the fact that cities are comprehensive and dynamic systems, urban planning research not only focuses on the division of land use on the plane, nor is it limited to the layout of three-dimensional space, but also introduces "coherent comprehensive research" on various requirements of time, economy, and society. ". In urban planning work, we will consider the foreseeable and unforeseen circumstances to the greatest extent possible, provide as much freedom of choice as possible, and leave sufficient room and multiple possibilities for future development.
Because urban problems are all-encompassing, some people have proposed to establish urban studies based on relevant subject groups for the purpose of studying the nature of cities, urban models, urban systems and development strategies; others have proposed to establish urban studies to systematically study rural areas. Human settlement studies for the purpose of various human settlements in cities, towns, and cities. The achievements of this new discipline may help deepen the macro-understanding of cities, but its progress needs to be based on the completion of a large amount of research work on urban issues.
The tasks of urban research are arduous and complex, which also illustrates its rich vitality.
Cities are always developing, and urban problems are always accompanying them. However, human beings will more consciously use extensive knowledge and rich imagination and creativity to develop the science of urban environment planning, construction and management. Urban planning starts from the initial strategic research on social and economic development, and finally implements it into physical construction to form a physical environment for people to live and work.
Urban planning is the prerequisite for architectural and garden construction and prepares the required space. The progress of urban planning research has also provided an unprecedented broad space for the development of architecture and gardening. Planners have the same goals as architects and landscape designers. With the development of human society, the organic combination and collaborative creation of these three disciplines will inevitably push the construction of body environment to a higher level.