[Week 3] Community Development Aspects of Housing

Elements of a Residential Development

1. Land Use

2. Circulation

3. Utilities

4. Landscape

Neighborhood

Geographic area within which residents conveniently share the common services and facilities needed in the vicinity of their dwellings. Physical boundaries are often defined by natural features, infrastructure, manmade barriers, and planned community elements.

The neighborhood has a center and an edge

A community’s social identity is shaped by a defined center and boundaries, with the center serving as a hub for public, social, and economic activities.

Edges may vary in character

Edges can be natural or manmade, often include low-density or recreational spaces, and help define boundaries between neighborhoods.

The optimal size of a neighborhood is a 400 meters from center to edge

A walkable neighborhood places daily needs within a five-minute walk, promoting accessibility and reducing reliance on vehicles.

A walkable neighborhood places daily needs within a five-minute walk, promoting accessibility and reducing reliance on vehicles.

dwelling, shopping, working, schooling, worshipping and recreating

The neighborhood gives priority to public space

appropriate location of civic buildings

District

appropriate location of civic buildings

Corridor

once the connector and the separator of neighborhoods and districts

Street

Not the dividing lines within the city, but communal rooms and passages.

Pattern

A well-connected street network with multiple routes ensures smooth movement and reduces traffic on any single street.

Hierarchy

A variety of streets with balanced pedestrian and vehicular access, along with well-spaced intersections and consistent building patterns, promotes walkability.

Figure

The architectural character of streets is to be based on their configuration in plan and section. Building heights are to be proportional to right-of-way widths

Detail

The design of streets shall favor their proper use by pedestrians. The governing principles are minimized block radii to slow cars at intersections, allowing easy crossing by pedestrian

Block

Streets serve as the setting for buildings and public spaces, enabling a balanced relationship between people and vehicles.

Size

Blocks vary in shape and size (250–600 feet), allowing efficient building placement and keeping parking away from sidewalks.

Configuration

City blocks should be designed to define public spaces, while varied lot sizes create diverse building types and densities.

Street ground

At its perimeter, each block is to be divided into parkway, sidewalk, and setback. Within each block, lobbies, major ground floor interior spaces and public gardens of all kinds and sizes are to be understood as an extension of the public space of the city

Street walls

A building’s height, width, setbacks, and design details shape its mass, rhythm, and interaction with the street, defining the visual character of the urban fabric.

Parking

To preserve urban vitality, pedestrians take priority while cars are accommodated underground, mid-block, or in garages with active street fronts, and parking lots should serve as public gardens when needed.

Landscape

Trees and thoughtfully designed public and semi-public spaces shape the street’s scale, enhance the urban experience, and bring life to city blocks.

Building

The smallest increment of growth in the city. Their proper configuration and placement relative to each other determines the character of each settlement.

Use

Modern architecture’s focus on functionality and flexibility has led to zoning and urban fragmentation, with building types organized around primary uses like housing, work, or institutions.

Density — Floor Area Ratio (FAR)

Zoning rules should shift from abstract building design to envelope guidelines that define public space, with density set independently of use or parking.

Fabric buildings

To conform to all street and block-related rules and are consistent in their form with all other buildings of their kind

Monumental buildings

To be free of all formal constraints. They can be unique and idiosyncratic, the points of concentrated social meaning in the city

Coding

Street, block, and building design rules should be presented as simple, illustrated codes that guide private and public developments, aligning individual actions to shape the public realm.

Streets

A community plan includes a street layout connecting neighborhoods to major highways, with internal streets designed based on multiple evaluative factors.

•Topography

•Soil and geologic conditions

•Drainage

•Future land uses

Open Space

Non-saleable areas of a development include infrastructure, natural features, pathways, parks, buffers, and environmentally sensitive spaces.

Private

land improved for use in a recreational capacity

Public

land that has been purchased or dedicated for public use

Common

Deeded to a community property owners’ (or homeowners’) association that the developer creates and operates for the benefit of owners of property within the development

Commercial Space

Neighborhood shopping center; retail shops for convenience goods and the supply of basic services

Public Space

Include schools, libraries, and facilities for public services like police protection, fire protection and emergency rescue