{"id":2305,"date":"2009-07-18T15:59:21","date_gmt":"2009-07-18T20:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=2305"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:46:12","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:46:12","slug":"big-bang-planning-vs-emergent-urbanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/07\/18\/big-bang-planning-vs-emergent-urbanism\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Bang Planning vs Emergent Urbanism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mixed<\/p>\n

Architect and urban planner William Galloway recently wrote an op-ed piece at Archinet<\/em> entitled “Big Bangs, Slums, and Suburbia<\/a>” <\/span>(via Planitizen) which sums up some of my discomfort with developments like the Griffintown project and the Quadrilat\u00e8re Saint-Laurent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Galloway criticizes architects and\u00a0 planners, a group in which he includes himself, as being:<\/p>\n

“entranced with the possibility of using our arts to magically sweep aside – all at once – every wrong that we see before us; replacing entire cities and neighborhoods with little mini-novas of creative destruction. The Big Bang model of urban planning \u2013 where existing matter is rubbed out, the new stuff is all good, everything is pre-decided, and the outcome inexorable.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While I question his view the traditional suburban form can become sustainable with a few technological tweaks, I wholeheartedly agree with his statement that, within the built environment, “Flexibility is not a luxury it is a necessity…”<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps the opposite of “Big Bang planning,” would be “Emergent Ubanism,” a theory elaborated by local urban theorist Mathieu H\u00e9lie on his website<\/a> by the same name.<\/p>\n

His dense, academic tone can challenge a blogger’s attention span, but his articles have fascinating implications. Drawing on theories of emergence, complexity, and fractal geometry to explain the urban form, H\u00e9lie elaborates his theory in a series of 3 posts: The Journey to Emergence<\/a>, The Fundamentals of Urban Complexity<\/a>, and The Cultivation of a Spontaneous City<\/a>. (Its also worth reading his definitions<\/a> of these concepts).<\/p>\n

In one post<\/a>, H\u00e9lie nails down some of the problems with “Big Bang” planning:<\/p>\n

To someone focused on a single large-scale goal, small-scale problems like a complicated permitting process or bad street design are irrelevant. Someone focused on a single large-scale goal does not see any drawbacks to using repression to realize the plan, like zoning and urban growth boundaries. The city they envision does not have a small scale, and this is now the reality of our landscape: urbanization at enormous scale, with no concern for details and no sustainability.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In contrast, complexity theory deals with problems that exist at different scales simultaneously. The science of complexity focuses on the process <\/em>by which a system is generated rather than the final outcome, which, H\u00e9lie says, is generally too complicated to wrap one’s head around anyways.<\/p>\n

In emergent systems, individuals’ actions are governed by simple rules determined by their present state and their immediate surroundings. Over time, a number of actors can generate a complex, yet ordered structure. One example of emergence in nature is a termite mound. H\u00e9lie proposes that older cities like Serafos, Greece (pictured above), and modern-day squatter settlements are also emergent systems.<\/p>\n

Very attractive spontaneous cities have a specific pattern of the urban tissue. It consists of similar vernacular buildings that appear very simple when considered individually, but produce a visually fascinating landscape when considered as a whole. This is a form of fractal geometry.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In another post, H\u00e9lie describes single-developer, mixed-use developments as “fake complexity<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Mixed-used neighborhoods work because they provide a marketplace for mixed people. Each person brings along his own specialized economic know-how, and so knows how best to provide in details the building program for his specific economic activity. A neighborhood, in that sense, becomes mixed-used because it is the product of mixed users all contributing their part to its complexity. What speculative mixed-used development does is force the developer to control and predict every building program in the neighborhood, then finance the entire development as one investment…<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

H\u00e9lie’s proposition, which resonates well with my intuitive feelings about the city, is to have very few rules and to Make Little Plans<\/a>. Millions of little plans.<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts?<\/p>\n

Image: urban form evolved over millenia in Serifos in Greece (from Emergent Urbanism blog) and mixed use development planned for Montreal.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Architect and urban planner William Galloway recently wrote an op-ed piece at Archinet entitled “Big Bangs, Slums, and Suburbia” (via Planitizen) which sums up some of my discomfort with developments like the Griffintown project and the Quadrilat\u00e8re Saint-Laurent. Galloway criticizes architects and\u00a0 planners, a group in which he includes himself, as being: “entranced with theContinue reading “Big Bang Planning vs Emergent Urbanism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7831,7842],"tags":[3869,3870,3871,3876,1540,36,823,3873,125,5,3875,69,3874,3872],"class_list":["post-2305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-urban-design","tag-bang-model-of-urban-planning","tag-bang-planning-vs-emergent-urbanism-architect-and-urban-planner","tag-big-bang-planning-vs-emergent-urbanism-architect-and-urban-planner","tag-emergent-systems","tag-greece","tag-griffintown","tag-head","tag-mathieu-helie","tag-montreal","tag-planning","tag-serafos","tag-social-trends","tag-the-big-bang","tag-william-galloway"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBig Bang Planning vs Emergent Urbanism - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/07\/18\/big-bang-planning-vs-emergent-urbanism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Big Bang Planning vs Emergent Urbanism - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Architect and urban planner William Galloway recently wrote an op-ed piece at Archinet entitled “Big Bangs, Slums, and Suburbia” (via Planitizen) which sums up some of my discomfort with developments like the Griffintown project and the Quadrilat\u00e8re Saint-Laurent. 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