DOI: 10.4467/25438700SM.19.041.11672 TIJANA TUFEK-MEMISEVIC*, EWA STACHURA** combating causes that deteriorate living for inhabitants. sier unloading of goods. A significant feature of A few of the features presented in these concepts alrea- the plan was designs for hydraulic plants to create dy exist in certain urban areas, and some contemporary the artificial canals which were regulated by locks answers to urban conditions consist of similar appro- and basins making it easier for boats to navigate in Linear megastructures. aches. It points to the question: In the era of big data, them. Although there is an unfortunate social se- accelerated urban growth, unprecedented engineering gregation within the designated spaces, whether achievements, realistic plans of “Hyperloop” transpor- due to plague prevention or simply a characteristic An eccentric pursuit in tackling tation and colonialization of another planet, whether of the times, the concept aims to provide cleaner a concept of linear megastructure is still a completely and organized urban spaces altogether. unrealistic one?! However, the scope of execution of Da Vinci’s un- conventional vision of the ideal city was too broad, urban sustainability challenges Precedent concepts of multilevel transit-oriented cities since it would have required entirely rebuilding The 15th century black plague outbreak in Milan, Italy existing cities or forming completely new ones which took tens of thousands of lives, motivated Leo- along rivers. This is the main reason the vision re- Abstract nardo Da Vinci- one of the greatest Homo Universalis mained unrealized. Linear megastructures, apart from megastructures in general, are one of several types of concepts in context of linear urban of the Renaissance, to seek an answer in city planning One of the most prominent names in French town development. The term refers to various compact architectural, infrastructural and transportation plans in linear form. With in dealing with the epidemic. Da Vinci understood that planning of the last century Eugène Hénard pre- their daunting massive scale these concepts are often attributed to utopian attempts of pursuing an ideal city and therefore the narrow, crowded and dirty medieval streets of Mi- sented a vision of future cities based on the streets doomed to remain unrealized. This paper examines several models created throughout the course of history in terms of their lan with their hard to navigate layout contributed to the of Paris at the Royal Institute of British Architects, emergence motivation, socio-economic circumstances and relation to urban sustainability. Through the analysis, it is argued spread of the disease, so he proposed a plan for the Town Planning Conference in London in 1910. that linear megastructures are often unjustly rejected without acknowledgement of their underlying beneficial features in terms of mitigating challenges to sustainable urban development. reconstruction of the city consistent with Renaissance Hénard’s critique of the existing city streets was ideas yet innovative and extravagant at the time. The se- largely focused on infrastructural problems that Key words: linear, megastructure, utopia, transit-oriented ries of drawings, notes and ingenious thoughts around became hardly sustainable within their existing fra- this city plan can be found in the largest assembled col- mework and longed for a revisionist solution to the lection of Da Vinci’s papers called “The Paris Manuscript challenges. Problems that arose as technological B” and “Code Atlanticus.” advancements are made, such as distribution of The reconstruction plan Da Vinci proposed was desig- electrical and telephone lines that were intertwi- 1. Definition of linear megastructure -economically driven forms of planned, multimo- ned around Ticino River and consisted of a multi-level ned with sewers initially constructed only for wa- Linear megastructures in terms of urbanism is a term dal, compact linear development concepts with vertical division of the city in terms of functionality or stewater removal, became harder to maintain and coined as part of a broader research on linear urban a directly proportional ratio of size to transportation “zoning” and a network of canals for commerce and sa- continuous interventions on them disturbed street planning titled “Contemporary linear city development. mode. nitation (Ill. 1). By placing vertical communication on the circulation, pedestrian movement and supply of A case of spatial interventions in Sarajevo, BiH” aiming Linear megastructures are therefore defined as outside of building walls an undisturbed circulation of goods. Waste, smoke and ash disposal from the to highlight the diversity of approaches to the idea of “a compact form of linear urban development in pedestrians was made possible between the upper level buildings contributed to city pollution and lower linearity in urban planning, indicate their similarities, es- a continuous built structure. Zoning of functions elegant streets and palaces. This area was reserved for quality of living for inhabitants. tablish a distinction of linear concepts on different scale is usually vertically distributed below or above the gentiluomini, while the lower levels were dedica- Most of Hénard’s proposed vision is based on dea- levels, historical context, design approach, spatial cha- a transportation spine, different from other linear ted to the poveraglia, service, transportation and trade. ling with the issue of infrastructure through imple- racteristics and feasibility in tackling urban sustainability development concepts where form and structure (Kostof, 1992, 237). The underground level consisted mentation of new technologies for the purpose of challenges on a given case study. are arranged in planar configuration.” (Tufek-Me- of canals linked directly to building basements for ea- sustainable and healthier living conditions. Nevert- In general scope, the research provides a categoriza- misevic, 2018, 62) tion of several types of linear urban development within This research, nonetheless, provides a more deta- Ill. 1. Leonardo Da Vinci Sheme for a multilevel circulation system for Milan ca 1490 (Source: Kostof, 1992) theory of urban planning in accordance with the follo- iled historical overview of such precedents empha- Ill. 2. Eugène Hénard, Scheme of a multilevel heavy traffic street in “Streets of the Future” 1910 (Source: http://urbanplanning.library.cornell. wing characteristics: sizing their disadvantages and advantages in po- edu/DOCS/henard.htm) 1. Concept – whether existing or only theoretical tentially providing an answer to future sustainable 2. Control of development – planned or unplanned growth of urban spaces. Ideas of compact linear 3. Form inducing factors – urban growth, topography, urban structures are often disregarded in literature socio-economic drive and attributed to utopian planning ideology or vie- 4. Organization – a single compact urban setting or part wed as a product of utilitarian uniformity of moder- of another one nist thinking. The daunting massive scale of such 5. Transportation – ratio of transportation mode to size concepts makes them unappealing and living in of development, transportation system (single or them seemingly unrealistic, inhumane even -” me- multi-modal) gastructures... would be landmarks to the mental The recognized types of linear developments specified fossilization of humankind.” (Cathacart, 1996) by these characteristics are: In other instances they are regarded as “heroic am- 1. Coincidental linear urban forms, bition” of creating environments that serve as mo- 2. Linear villages, del cities (Lin, 2007, 74) However, the idea of mul- 3. Linear cities, tilevel cities following a certain transportation route 4. Linear megastructures, is one suggested by some of the greatest minds in 5. Transit-oriented developments (TOD) and history and dates long before Modernism. Further- 6. Infrastructure corridors. more, most of the linear megastructure concepts In accordance to the aforementioned characteristics mainly arose from the motivation of mitigating linear megastructures in general are theoretical, socio- challenges to sustainable urban development and * Tijana Tufek-Memisevic, Ph.D. Eng. Arch. Candarc LLC, Chicago metropolitan area, [email protected], ORCID: 0000-0001-9916-8257 54 ** Ewa Stachura, Ph.D. DSc. Eng. Arch., State University of Applied Sciences in Raciborz. Institute of Architectur, [email protected], 55 ORCID: 0000-0002-0870-5887 heless, the peculiarity of this multi-level design for hea- ry and triggered by various ideologies and socio- vy-traffic streets lays out a precedent for significant fea- -economic circumstances. tures of the linear megastructure concepts yet to come. First to introduce the idea of an infinite inhabited li- The expansion of his plan shows a four-level subter- near structure connected to transportation systems ranean division. The first underground level would be was visionary Edgar Chambless with his proposal dedicated to pedestrians and carriages, second for for Roadtown in 1910. tramways, third for various pipes and infrastructure and While contemplating on the issue of land value and fourth for transportation of different goods. The plans its dependency on transportation vicinity, Cham- futuristic ambition is also reflected in the proposition of bless, who also worked as a patent investigator using roof terraces as landing platforms for airplanes. dealing with new inventions, came up with a new