浅谈建筑中的具象性与抽象性——两座新区中的高层建筑设计体会

本文以连云港移动通信大楼与太仓传媒中心两个建成项目的设计为例,阐述了高层建筑设计中的具象性与抽象性。对于前者而言,即建筑如何与城市发生积极的关联与回应;对于后者,则为建筑的抽象人文价值如何在设计中体现。     

世界遗产武当山的文化景观价值

武当山是中国重要的道教圣地,园林营建活动历史悠久、空间广袤、建造技术精湛,达到了皇家所要求的宏伟、威严和道教所追求的玄妙、超然,是人文美与自然美的高度统一。本文通过对世界遗产武当山文化景观的概述,认为武当山是人类文化的见证和古代科学技术的典范,也是我们建设山地人居环境的生动教材。     

我国城市水土保持几个问题的讨论

我国城市水土保持经过近20年的发展,已经成为水土保持的一个重要领域。在当前城市化高速发展的情况下,新时期的城市水土保持应在内涵和外延上进一步拓展,充分发挥城市水土保持的生态服务功能、景观与游憩功能、防灾避险功能。以生态学理论为指导、城市水土保持资源化、城市水土保持与城市生态文明建设密切结合,将是城市水土保持发展的必然趋势。     

关于城镇绿道选线与建设分析—以宜兴龙池山自行车绿道规划为例

随着生态环境问题的出现,旨在减轻生态问题的综合发展规划与各类专项规划相继出现,绿道规划建设就是其一。本文结合宜兴龙池山自行车绿道规划的案例,详细探讨了城镇绿道选线与规划建设的要点。     

The unintended consequences of government policies and programmes for public open spaces in inner-urban Sydney

Sport is important internationally; but in Australia, it is part of the national identity. The enjoyment of public open space for sport is, therefore, an assumed community right. We interviewed key staff from inner Sydney councils about management issues associated with public open space. The greatest concern was sporting fields – formal and informal – which were considered to have exceeded carrying capacity mainly because of the unintended outcomes of government programmes/policies spanning; (1) ‘healthy lifestyles’ which increased public open space use; (2) ‘urban consolidation’ increased inner-city population density with associated increased usage and loss of open space; (3) ‘temporal water restriction’ during drought (not ‘water budgets’) which intensify management issues; and (4) ‘building the education revolution’, meaning that public open space lost from schools results in increased pressure on public open space. Consequences have increased human pressure on public open space without commensurate consideration for the management and/or expansion of these areas.     

Growth and degradation in the Orient’s ‘Las Vegas’: issues of environment in Macau

This paper argues that the rapid growth of gambling‐related tourism and urban construction in Macau has given rise to serious environmental degradation. The major environmental issues include air quality, water supply, solid waste disposal, noise prevention, heritage conservation and environmental management. The author suggests that the government in Macau should refocus this city’s development direction and commit itself to sustainable development. At the policy‐making level, there are such urgent issues as integration of environmental, economic and urban planning with community participation in decision‐making; enhancement of environmental legislation and institutions; implementing vital measures to control of the numbers of visitors; developing a mass transport system; and protecting the city’s cultural heritage.     

Stormwater quality associated with a silt trap (empty and full) discharging into an urban watercourse in Scotland

The aim was to assess the influence of a full silt trap at the end of a stormwater drainage pipe on the water quality of stormwater discharged into a semi‐natural urban watercourse. For approximately eleven weeks, the water qualities of the preliminarily treated stormwater and of the receiving watercourse (Braid Burn) were studied. The mean outflow concentrations of suspended solids were 2.0 mg/l and 34.1 mg/l during dry and wet weather conditions, respectively. Suspended solids concentrations of up to 141.6 mg/l were recorded during storm events. Suspended solids values for treated stormwater were often too high compared to international secondary wastewater treatment standards of around 30 mg/l. Pollutants including heavy metals (e.g., zinc, copper and nickel) accumulated in the silt trap. However, high outflow velocities during heavy rainfall events did not result in clearly defined sediment layers due to sediment re‐suspension. Metals did not accumulate in the receiving watercourse.     

Australia's housing choices: Retrospect and prospect

This article identifies issues around the Auckland Region's strategy for urban intensification and discusses the ensuing policy implications. Medium density housing forms an important element of the strategy for growth management. Implications for its success are primarily drawn from research into a major housing development in Waitakere City. It is argued that for ideological, political and technical reasons the strategy could be easily undermined. The article also suggests that something of a paradigm shift is underway in urban planning.     

A case study in early urban design: Toronto, 1966–1978

ABSTRACT

This is a study in the practice of postwar urban design in Toronto, Canada, based on archival documents and interviews with participants. The narrative begins with the hiring of one British-trained architect/urban designer, Raymond Spaxman, by the City of Toronto Planning Board in 1966. Spaxman then set up a new division of staff that he filled with five or six other architect/urban designers of various national and institutional origins. The study describes the work carried out by these urban designers, identifies the principle themes apparent in it, and relates this to published literature on the founding principles of postwar urban design. In most ways, the study's findings fit the current understanding of the early discipline – concern for pedestrians, sympathy for historical preservation – but in others not – it was different from but not antagonistic towards planning. The findings are then considered as an example of the international transfer of postwar planning ideas. The process of idea transfer in this case looks to have been more chaotic, and less definable, than existing paradigms suggest, but this might have been fairly common in second-rank, immigrant-receiving cities.     

The history of urban growth management in South Africa: tracking the origin and current status of urban edge policies in three metropolitan municipalities

ABSTRACT

For many cities in the Global South, colonialism played a dominant role in shaping their urban form. The historical objective of planning in colonial mother-cities was dealing with poor health and living conditions, therefore a planning approach similar to that followed in post-war Britain would appear beneficial in post-colonial cities, characterized by environmental and physical infrastructure unable to cope with massive population growth. Urban growth management is a discourse born in an attempt to control the growing industrial city in the early twentieth century, and in recent years applied through instruments such as urban edges or growth boundaries to limit urban sprawl and encourage higher density urban development. In South Africa, the principles of compaction and urban growth management formed part of the post-apartheid planning agenda towards transforming the inefficient and fragmented landscape inherited from separate spatial development. Consequently, urban edges and urban growth boundaries formed key components of municipal spatial planning frameworks since the early 2000s. The purpose of this paper is to explore the origin and status of urban edges in three metropolitan municipalities in South Africa to aid in understanding of these spatial instruments in the south.