AshehougAgency

Archetypes of Urbanism

Archetypes of Urbanism examines urban design which has been dictated by technical and functional demands in the post war period. However, over the last decade there has been an increasing awareness of the human consequences of the destruction of the aesthetic quality of the urban environment. This perspective has given rise to the evolution of the new Urban Design Theory.

This book presents an holistic approach to the aesthetic renewal of the urban environment. The author emphasises the importance of the existing city structure as a basis for aesthetic planning and a visual quality control for new buildings. The development of a method of structural urban analysis is imperative and should include historical, social and functional plans in order to avoid empty formalism.

Research shows that the form and function of urban space is a variation of certain basic forms and principles repeated and combined throughout history. Our physical response is the closest we come to a "universal architectural experience" which in turn arouses "visual excitement". Therefore the spatial elements of a city, such as streets, squares and buildings can be related to human scale.

Bearing this in mind, urban spatial organisation can be interpreted, its design potential analysed and deliberate choices made to preserve the inherent urban structure, whilst enriching the environment with bold, creative interjections.The method of the author is by no means a blueprint for good or bad urban design, but rather a starting point for historical and aesthetic analysis.

Thomas Thiis-Evensen is Professor of Architecture at the Oslo School of Architecture and the University of Lund, Sweden. In this work, Thiis-Evensen has collaborated with Kolbjørn Nybø who is a practising architect and a teacher at the Oslo School of Architecture.

Publisher: Universitetsforlaget AS 1992
ISBN 82-00-21703-5
Illustrated 358pp