Urbanism: Networks, Boundaries, and Contemporary Approaches

All flashcards

Urbanism

The study of how urban inhabitants interact with the built environment; it can also address placemaking and city identity.

Urban planning

A profession concerned with designing and managing urban areas.

Splintering urbanism

An account of how networks can connect some places while separating or bypassing others, fragmenting urban life.

Gigacity

A networked urban form characterized by very large three-dimensional scale, dense networks, and increasingly blurred city boundaries.

New Contextualism

Mohammad Habib Reza’s approach, grounding urban and architectural design in layered contexts while promoting equity, belonging, and sustainability.

Quiz questions

1. Which description best distinguishes urban planning from urbanism?Answer: Urban planning is a profession focused on designing and managing urban areas.
2. What did Gabriel Dupuy emphasize in applying network theory to urbanism?Answer: Networks are a defining feature of modern urban life.
3. According to Manuel Castells, how can networks operate in a network society?Answer: They can selectively connect favored users and places while bypassing others.
4. Which set of paradigms did Douglas Kelbaugh identify in urbanism?Answer: New Urbanism, Everyday Urbanism, and Post-Urbanism.
5. What concern did Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin raise about responses to infrastructure problems?Answer: Responses often focus on crises rather than sustained links between infrastructure and urban life.