The urban landscape: planning for housing and other use

As a specific type of settlement, town and city have always known specific uses. Like the rural homestead -which is basically a grouping of agricultural functions under a single roof or in a cluster of buildings- buildings in towns and cities have specific functions and therefore a differentiated appearance. Again like rural buildings, these buildings are mostly used for economic activities and for housing, but other uses can be very prominent in cities. The economic use can differ quite widely within a town or city, and is also often very different from typical rural use. In historic times these differences were most pronounced, nowadays with urbanites relocating to the countryside and farmers diversifying their business the pattern is more mixed.

The emergence of towns and cities stems from a specialisation of settlements towards a certain (mix of) type of use and the related provision of specific facilities. Some towns and cities were set up, or given special rights to better facilitate this. Thus market towns came into being as well as trading posts, cities on a -road or river- toll, fortified strongholds and pilgrim destinations. Some specific functionality is linked to the location (e.g. a castle, a mountain pass, a river ford, a natural harbour, a natural spring, a stone quarry or a mine), but most is linked to specific human intervention as most features within the urban environment are man-made to serve specific functions. Such man made features can vary from quay walls, dams and sluices, to (water and wind) mills, market places and parade grounds to buildings with a specific function within that urban context (e.g. town hall, covered market, cloth hall, prison, city gate, defensive walls and towers, shops, workshops, factory, residence of a ruler, guild house, hospital, hotel, church, abbey or convent and beguinage). All these mane made structures serving a specific -economic or social- function are known as facilities.

Windmill De Put (the Well) in Leiden is a replica of the 1619 wall mill that stood on the outer wall of this once fortified water city. It is still a working grain mill. It stands on the corner of the Galgewater (Gallows Water) and the Morssingel (Moor Circle Moat). The circle moat surrounded the large fortifications, the Oude Vest (Old Fort Moat), shown on the right, demarcates the first and smaller fortifications.

Besides the important economic use of cities as a centre for very diverse trade, production of finer goods, warehousing, shipping and other transport, banking and other services, the city was also a place of residence. As a place with often more freedom and more opportunities to make a living cities attracted many residents. Equally the city has always been a more dangerous and less healthy place to live (this was very true of ancient cities, but one only has to think of greater air-pollution or modern slums to know this is still the case). To improve conditions specific use was planned within cities. In planned ancient colonies the -economic, civil, religious and residential- functions were distributed based on a spatial model. All medieval cities had ordinances prohibiting the use of flammable materials near bakeries or ordered water polluting activities -e.g. wool dying- to be located outside of the city limits. Other activities chose to be beyond the city walls, for instance beer breweries, as the water supply was of better quality and -also important- the taxes levied on the beer produced were much lower. Residential quarters were also often planned, as well as public spaces, commercial facilities such as markets, quays and harbours, and civic structures.

The Morspoort (Moorgate) in Leiden (1669) in mannerist brick renaissance style, one of the two remaining city gates of the eight that once secured the access into the city. The Mors was drained moorland used for pasture located outside the city near this gate.

Many of these ordinances -or bylaws- had a limited scope and could be easily avoided. Also there was little regulation of building quality or quality of housing. Where cities where spatially confined this would lead to the subdivision of existing buildings, mixed use of structures without proper adaptation, and development of any available open space behind or around existing buildings and structures. In ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a convent was built across a canal by construction a long stone bridge. In many cities alleys and blind alleys were carved out of the existing urban fabric to give access to dwellings and small shops and workshops. Unhygienic living conditions and low quality buildings lead to the spread of pests and diseases. As a reaction religious institutions built small housing on the edge of their landholdings, for instance the one-room houses built for young widows against the wall of a cemetery or convent and wealthy individuals created almshouses, beguinages and poorhouses. Not that people were always better off in one of these institutions, mind you.

Here the Oude Singel in Leiden. The canal scene is similar to other water cities in Holland like Amsterdam, Dordrecht or Gouda. The canals in a water city serve a purpose not only for trade and transport, but they are also very important for managing urbanisation in a delta; Leiden grew around a castle keep on a low mount near the Rhine.

Improving standards became even more acute during the industrial revolution when living conditions deteriorated so fast that economic production was hampered. It was then that people started to campaign for social reform, out of religious and philanthropic conviction or simply commercial self-interest. At the same time efforts were made to better streamline development (mainly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Low Countries) to counteract urban sprawl and pollution. During the 19^th century these efforts were largely uncoordinated and local in character, but by the end of that century a planning system that allocates space according to function emerges in Germany. Improving housing and providing affordable quality dwellings had been an individual philanthropic or paternalistic pursuit in most countries until it was formalised in German (Baugenossen - 1867) and Dutch (Woningwet - 1901) law. Housing in various categories were as a result planned as part of urban expansion plans (mandatory after about 1900 in both countries for settlement above a certain threshold of residents).

The so-called Armada Estate is a post-modern redevelopment of a former industrial area in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The apartment buildings resembling bulging sails stand along a large expanse of water underneath which a parking garage was constructed. The whole Wolfsdonken Development includes a mix of residential, offices, schools and a new Palace of Justice (Court of Appeal) and was linked to a redevelopment of the train station. This is a good example of contemporary urban planning.

The most famous planning model -the garden city- is not the first mode of spatial planning reliant on functional division and improving infrastructure. It proved to be the easily communicable spatial model that was appropriated and adapted to fit local need and custom (only think of the spatial and functional difference between the Garden City in England, the Gartenstadt in Germany, the Tuindorp in the Netherlands and the Tuinwijk in Flanders). The Garden City Movement resulted in suburban housing for workers and the middle class and lead to planning with suburban satellites on radial roads, arterial roads and train lines and lead to the New Towns Movement. The ideas, fixed in the 1920, are still the bases for planning in Great Britain, Germany, France and the Low Countries, although technological advances have meant an expansion of ideas and measures taken. Most cities are now functionally mostly laid out for housing with some areas set aside for industrial activities, economic production, retail, civic use, collective use, transport. Each function allocated its space and neatly sorted by category.

Public Art: murals and more

Strijp-S is a former Philips industrial site located near the city centre of Eindhoven right next to the company housing of Philipsdorp. The company left the site in 2000 and in 2002 an agreement was reached over the redevelopment of this hitherto barred area. Old factory buildings and offices are redeveloped for the creative industry and other functions like restaurants, exhibition space, leisure activities and large gatherings (pop concerts, exhibitions and conferences). The idea was to create a vibrant new urban quarter of high density with a mix of uses and many new apartments, partly in concerted factory buildings, partly in new high rise towers. The area is still in flux, but is slowly changing into a “proper neighbourhood” since the first people took up residence here in 2012. Many buildings that were given temporary use were adorned with murals by graffiti artists; injecting some colour in this very stony and windswept environment.

Along the new central infrastructure -Philitelaan- a temporary structure in front of a former office block has a colourful mural that reads CHANGE. The murals were commissioned by the local authority with and resident entrepreneurs to make the place more lively and entice people to visit this “hidden beauty”. At the central event square the word HIER (which means here) emphasises that you have arrived in a specific place: Strijp-S.

The skate boarding centre is located in a former industrial hall as a type of temporary use. The success of this Area 51 has meant the plans have changed and the social housing society is now planning to build affordable houses over the existing building. The walls show several murals.

Another temporary resident was a climbing centre. They recently moved to a former car mechanics school and the old building will be demolished soon. This will also mean that the lovely mural of a Quetzalcoatl bird in a verdant tropical setting will disappear.

The mural with all its green tones with the central blotch of red of the birds belly and flanks is a good example of a skilful use of the spray-paint can. Around the corner of the scene in green is a wall of panels decorated by school children as part of an art project on identity dubbed “I Am”. Each panel represents an attribute (like strong, confident, creative, joyful, etcetera) with an image that matches.

The urban landscape: planned versus organic growth

There are two ways for -the component parts of- the urban landscape to come into being: planned or via organic growth. Organic growth can be incremental whereby buildings streets and alleys are built as the need arises over time, but it can also take place in stages. It is sometimes suggested that the oldest cities are characterised by organic patterns, whilst the most recent urban areas are always planned. This is not the case! One only needs to think of the highly organised garrison towns of the Romans or the Greek colonies around the Mediterranean. Such planned settlements are not dissimilar to French medieval bastide towns, Italian fortified towns (Palmanova for instance), Dutch baroque fortified towns (Naarden, Bourtange, Coevorden), classicist new towns in Germany (Hanau-Neustadt, Erlangen, Neu-Isenburg, Maxvorstadt and Friedrichstadt to name a few), colonies in the Americas, the parallel streets of model dwellings housing (Shaftsbury, Noel Park and Leigham Court Estates) or mining colonies laid out on a grid (Kronenberg and Dorplein).

Two examples of German planned ideal cities. On the left Freudenstadt in the Black Forrest designs as a regular rectangular fortified city. On the right the Huguenot town of Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt with its regular layout resembling a hunting star or garden bosquet.

At the core of many urban settlements we can find some sort of human intervention. Many urban settlements actually find their origins in human intervention. Only in rare cases can the origins of a settlement be traced back to a favourable natural situation (natural harbour, location on a ford or the availability of precious metals or coal); most urban settlements centre(d) on a specific human intervention (a castle or stronghold, residence of a ruler, religious site, administrative centre, military barracks, market place, bridge, dam, sluice, watermill, artificial harbour, polder, factory, railway stop, docks and wharfs, new land in water (artificial island), motorway junction or airport).

This means that many urban landscapes have a planned intervention at their core. The distinction between planned and unplanned urban development is sometimes difficult. Urban sprawl is characterised as incremental urban growth based on pre-existing boundaries and infrastructure. The component parts of the resulting urban landscape can however be distinct in design and layout, even when the overall entity lacks structure. In contrast historic cities that look organic at first glance can be for the most part planned, but as the planned spatial structure follows the natural terrain or pre-existing boundaries it is less recognisable as planned. Only think of the regular radiating streets of Lierre or the new market square laid out in Vught. Urban development and especially densification can also lead to planned patterns becoming obscured by alleys, blind alleys and new streets that cut across the underlying pattern. For that reason the underlying regular Roman grid of many cities has become obscured in later centuries (examples are Regensburg, Maastricht and Utrecht).

The fort at Bourtange replaced a village and was built on a star layout with bastions and many moats (left). The city of Maastricht (right) was also fortified. The original Roman settlement (in orange) has become obscured by later streets. The first medieval city wall (in yellow) encloses both the original settlement but also a church freedom (C) and a village of fishermen (F) beyond. The second medieval wall (in red) also enclosed the suburbs with the many abbeys and convents. The new market (m) was constructed across the former border behind the town hall.

Changing ideas on urban design and planning in combination with changing fashions and technical advances have resulted in widely varying urban structures and layouts. In some large cities and urban landscapes these changes can be easily understood as distinct sections with specific characteristics. In some cases urban development has resulted in outward additions around an older core (Amsterdam is a good example). In other cities the development was guided by other factors; only think of the influence royal parks have had on the development of London. In some places an older fortified city is still at the core of a larger urban entity (‘s-Hertogenbosch) but in most cases the fortifications were dismantled and replaced by either a ring structure improving access (the Ringstrasse of Vienna is famous but similar structures with sections of park and civic buildings exist in Amsterdam, Arnhem, Breda, Brussels, Cologne, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Paris). Another option is to eradicate the former fortifications and replace them with a planned -series of- suburb(s). These suburbs can also feature civic buildings (Maxvorstadt Munich, Neustadt Darmstadt and Lípotváros Budapest) or feature axial interventions to bind them to the older urban core (Dorotheenstadt – Friedrichstadt Berlin, Isarvorstadt Munich, Brussels, Porto). In Paris, most famous for its axial interventions by Haussmann, the aim was not to structure urban expansion but rather to restructure the medieval urban core to create a more grandiose city that could be better policed and would have better communications.

The city of Arnhem was one of the strongholds of the Dukes of Guelders. When the fortifications (in red) of this city on the Rhine were taken down, after the fortress was decommissioned in 1808, the area was transformed into a ring road with parks as a Parisian Boulevard. By creating this green seem the older central city was married with the new urban quarters around it. The station (S) was located beyond the former fortifications.

Beautification of a city has been an important reason for additions and changes with the city from the time cities first appeared. Beautification often created insular interventions, although there are some exceptions (for instance Rome). An excellent example of insular urbanisation and beautification are the Garden Squares of Paris and London or the “Beautiful Streets” of German residential cities. The park walks on the former fortifications or the insertion of new squares and parks also fall into this category. With the growth of the cities and the development of the urban landscape even large planned sections have become insular entities. In some cases former insular developments (e.g. mining colonies) have become imbedded in later urban sprawl. On a larger scale, the planned suburban satellites -Garden Cities and New Towns form insular entities within the total of the urban landscape.

In conclusion one can safely say that most urban places and yes even the urbanised landscape as a whole, is planned, whereby the ideas on use, beauty and society as well as advances in construction, drainage, sewerage, land reclamation, transport and industry have created differences between the various component parts.