Compact Urban Design
Promenades lined with cafes, shops, and bars are common especially in fair-weathered parts of the world. Under the mid-day shade of an alley of trees or the deepening evening sky, people intuitively love to casually stroll amongst family, friends, and neighbors.
Compact places can have a lot of space devoted to foliage and flowers. Arranged by residents ad-hoc in pots or gaps in the brick paving, next to their entrances and street-side windows.
Communities with housing built into all parts of the urban fabric are more convenient and lively–with homes easily mixing within areas of commerce, institutions, and industry.
Old local streets feel like series of spaces to stay and be instead of just speeding through. They bulge in areas, twist a bit, have places to loiter, and offer mysteries to explore that you can just barely see around the bend.
While in-character in the ruins of antiquity, cobbled paving provides benefits in modern times, too. Water drips through the cracks, and repairs are effortless due to the reusability of the stones and bricks.
Pedestrian-scale shopping streets are the oldest, most tried-and-true form of retail design. The concentration of customers looking for various things, or even people just out for a walk, makes for an exciting public place.
Street cafes provide a place to relax, see and be seen, and watch the world go by. You can feel safe to sit and read by yourself or talk to friends old and new. They present an opportunity for spontaneity and are the glue of any community.
There’s a special magic inside enclosed public passageways. They invite you to slow down, amble, and ponder fancy visions. These spaces seem to activate a primeval sense of comfort imprinted on us since antiquity.
Public squares are perfect for gatherings, celebrations, meeting friends, and just hanging out. Smaller ones, situated throughout the community, are well-used and loved because people naturally feel comfortable there.
Well-loved streets and plazas take on the characteristics of large outdoor rooms. The ambiance and features encourage spontaneity and fun, whether it’s musicians and dancing or kids playing casual games.
Market halls made up of many different stalls under one roof are a nice local complement to supermarkets. Each stall has a history and special expertise in their niche, whether local products, international delicacies, or hot food prepared on the spot.
Land that is good for farming is also attractive for building on. However, historically-scaled, ultra-compact places use only a tiny amount of the terrain compared to sprawl. The precious, fertile countryside is protected rather than consumed.
Everyone benefits if old folks are integrated and celebrated rather than isolated and segregated. Ultra-compact living makes ageing in place stress-free and simple. Slow and narrow streets are perfect for a rich social life, with walking, e-trikes and mobility scooters.
Helping pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists to mix easily and automatically at larger intersections reduces stress and makes them safe.
Instead of exclusively relying on signs, stripes, and traffic lights, design it into the streetscape with islands, height differences, and varied surface colors and textures–asphalt smooth for faster, brick cobbled for slower.
Memories are treasured and indelibly seared through vivid impressions. The atmospherics of a place–all misty and backlit with bokeh–are one of the recurring catalysts that help people experience their lives with immediacy and intensity.
Under the coastal equatorial sun, Lamu Island, Kenya’s 3-6 story coralstone townhomes front shady, alley-like streets. Traditional Swahili neighborliness prescribes public vestibules with benches at entrances to their homes, where all are welcome to sit and chill.
The everyday use of bicycles is a great indicator of successful places. Among other things, they act as a speed buffer between slow pedestrians and fast motorized vehicles. Cobblestone and brick-paved streets are the best surface for slow-speed multimodal zones.
Hamlets, the smallest urban form, can be situated in challenging circumstances, like clinging to a rock face deep in the forested mountains. And well-designed compact hamlets can even have all the charm and dynamism of larger villages, towns, or cities.
The cantilever roof of this shaded veranda allows for an unobstructed view. Our motivation for shelter is not only protection from from the wind, rain and cold, but also to find relief from the intense sun.
These terrace houses front a brick-paved quay, where the cars are naturally slow due to the compact street and the risk of driving into the canal. This place is a multimodal powerhouse with historic canal boats and the pedestrian-bike-scooter friendly street.