c. Colomès + f. Nomdedeu architectes with Michael Rousseau architecte and Adrian Maston have studied the evolution of cities and urban environments and have produced this research as to how one might design and create a sustainable urban development. This concept is based on a living condition that balances the urban environment with an agricultural environment.
Read on for more on this research after the break.
This project focuses on the intersection of today’s cities with self-sustaining agricultural institutions that produce the necessary resources for an urban population. The design of this proposal focuses on the mosaic of modern day living with a mixing of urban spaces with natural spaces, cultivated and uncultivated land and forests. In this proposal, the teams of architects suggest reusing existing networks to create new urban spaces. The roads, lanes and paths support the city that develop on the whole territory while protecting the production of energy, food, flowers and plants along these new spaces.
The Sustainable Urban Development is in favor of the intersections between the existing geography and city planning, focusing on bringing residents of a dense city closer to nature. It integrates all of the necessary urban functions : public equipments, housing, shops and activities , while preserving the landscape. New economic activities such as food producing, farming, essentially destined to feed the local population, recycling of waste and energy production could spring up thanks to the direct links between the town and the area.
The architects have outlined a list of steps that can be taken by these new establishments to develop this Sustainable Urban Center:
1. The project is born of existing networks.
2. Floors called urban jetties are put on the area perpendicular to the road. They develop according to the geography and the existing parcels (meadows, forest, agricultural fields) to create public space necessary to the development of the town.
3. The public urban spaces created by the urban jetties will become the foundations for housing, as it becomes necessary.
4. The substructure and the buildings form a whole integrating both the traffic and the pedestrian public spaces, the housing, business and other activities.
This urban system limits the depth of the parcels by affecting the existing lands as little as possible. All the spaces are public and shared. The area is colonized but the natural spaces, the meadows, the lands and the forests are preserved. New uses can develop (sport equipment, leisure, vegetable gardens…)
Urbanization is progressive and achieved in several steps: first the road, then the urban jetties and finally the buildings. The position of the jetties varies according to the existing territory (topography, parcels, sunshine). The position, the density, the morphology of the buildings evolves according to the needs. This structure will create a urban spaces while allowing the preservation and development of natural spaces, meadows and food producing culture.
