Street Design History > Connection to Theory, Particular Modernist Theory
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Copyright by Sylvia N. Leon Guerrero 2007 Planning Policy and Landscape Architecture: Street Design in Theory and Practice by Sylvia Nieves Leon Guerrero, BA, BSE, MLA Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning The University of Texas at Austin May 2007 Planning Policy and Landscape Architecture: Street Design in Theory and Practice Approved by Supervising Committee: Anne Beamish Lynn Osgood Abstract Planning Policy and Landscape Architecture: Street Design in Theory and Practice Sylvia Nieves Leon Guerrero, MSCRP The University of Texas at Austin, 2007 Supervisor: Anne Beamish Recent trends in planning and landscape architecture are moving the two disciplines closer together, yet there persists a lack of awareness of each discipline to the other. Planning’s roots in street design and landscape architecture’s new theory of landscape urbanism, which focuses on infrastructure, provide common ground for a fruitful dialogue between the two – a dialogue that could have particular significance given the historical influence of design theory on streets and urban form. To investigate these relationships, this report considers the history of street design, landscape urbanism, the planning framework, and the implementation of street design in two cities, Colorado Springs and Austin. This report explores how planning and the new ideas of landscape urbanism in landscape architecture can mutually inform each other to address street design. iv Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: History of Street Design ............................................................................... 4 Origins......................................................................................................................... 4 Public Meets Private ................................................................................................... 5 Communal Reflections................................................................................................ 6 Street Design Regulation ............................................................................................ 6 Theatre of the Street.................................................................................................... 7 Street and the Ideal State............................................................................................. 8 Baroque and the French Pleasure Park ....................................................................... 9 Tree-Lined Boulevards ............................................................................................. 10 Medical Metaphors ................................................................................................... 10 Return to the Countryside and Utopian Structures ................................................... 11 Revolt in the Streets.................................................................................................. 13 Haussmann’s Boulevards.......................................................................................... 13 Haussmann’s American Counterpart: The City Beautiful Movement..................... 15 The Garden City Movement and Modernism ........................................................... 16 Standardization ......................................................................................................... 19 New Urbanism .......................................................................................................... 19 Green Streets............................................................................................................. 20 Chapter Two: Landscape Urbanism.................................................................................. 22 History of theory....................................................................................................... 26 Ecology and Landscape Urbanism............................................................................ 26 Ecology and culture .................................................................................................. 27 Infrastructure in Landscape Urbanism...................................................................... 28 Bridging the Divide................................................................................................... 30 Room to grow ........................................................................................................... 31 Chapter Three: Planning Framework................................................................................ 35 Planning History ....................................................................................................... 37 Street Design and Planning History.......................................................................... 38 Tensions and Constraints in Planning....................................................................... 39 New Directions ......................................................................................................... 41 Sustainability Framework ......................................................................................... 44 Planning and Landscape Urbanism........................................................................... 46 Chapter Four: Street design elements ............................................................................... 49 Chapter Five: Colorado Springs Case Study .................................................................... 53 Introduction............................................................................................................... 53 Comprehensive Plan ................................................................................................. 55 Traditional Neighborhood Development Ordinance ................................................ 56 Small-lot PUD Ordinance......................................................................................... 58 v Mixed-Use Development Design Manual ................................................................ 60 Urban Renewal and Designated Redevelopment Corridor Areas............................. 63 Intermodal Transportation Plan and Complete Streets ............................................. 65 Downtown Streetscape Program............................................................................... 66 Comprehensive Plan Implementation....................................................................... 70 Analysis..................................................................................................................... 71 Chapter Six: Austin Case Study........................................................................................ 77 Introduction............................................................................................................... 77 Design Standards and Mixed Use Ordinance ........................................................... 78 Transit Oriented Development Ordinance................................................................ 83 Traditional Neighborhood Development Ordinance ................................................ 84 Corridor Planning...................................................................................................... 86 2222 Corridor Study ................................................................................................. 89 Great Streets and Downtown Projects ...................................................................... 90 Analysis..................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter Seven: Conclusion – theory and practice .......................................................... 102 References....................................................................................................................... 110 Vita.................................................................................................................................. 117 vi Introduction As a student of landscape architecture, I was often struck by the overlap between landscape architecture and planning and, perhaps even more so, by the lack of awareness of the two disciplines to each other, something I found particularly surprising as both are involved in shaping urban form. There is, however, increasing collaboration among practitioners, and emerging trends in both disciplines, may bring them closer together. Landscape architecture, previously focused primarily on site and form, is increasingly concerned with the process of city building, especially in the emerging trend of landscape urbanism. Meanwhile, planning, sometimes characterized as focused on issues of process, has developed a renewed interest in urban form, particularly one of the basic elements of urban form – the street. Both disciplines, in fact, have particular relevancy to street design. Planning began as a discipline centered on streets, using street design to address issues of public health, social equity, and economic development. In current practice, planning regulations establish the basic spatial structure of the street by setting requirements for width, building setback, building height and so on. Meanwhile, landscape urbanism specifically addresses infrastructure as a critical