Creating Livable and Attractive Urban Spaces
An example of an organized city but UNLIVABLE

Creating Livable and Attractive Urban Spaces

My Blueprint for Urban Excellence

A few weeks back, a young City in Africa was celebrated as one of the most futuristic urban spaces in Africa. That new kid-on-global stage is none other than Kigali City in Rwanda.

During the span of my international tour, while stationed in Kigali Rwanda in the period nestled between 2000 and 2010, I have both witnessed and been involved directly with the actual process of 'place branding' of the Rwanda Nation and its place assets including Kigali City. The transformation did not just happen overnight but it took a deliberate effort unknowingly and knowingly for the Kigali-based leadership to transform Kigali from a broken and sad location to an attractive vibrant city favorable to visit, vacation, work, study, and live.

My first involvement working on the Rwanda Nation Brand was consulting for 'Umujyi' Wa Kigali as a project consultant for the COMESA Summit project in 2005. In this project, I discovered my gift in brand making and more particularly creating and nurturing places, communities, and organizations.

In this article, I share a few important pointers that can help those involved in place-making as well as destination development to become better.

My friend Irene K. and other urban developers agree that as our urban spaces continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, urban planners and policymakers face immense challenges in developing urban environments that are not only functional, but also uplifting places for people to live, work, and thrive.

In our quest to build more attractive and livable cities, it is essential that we strike a delicate balance between order and variety, embrace public spaces, promote social cohesion, limit building heights, and develop local character through architecture.

Guided by these core principles, we can transform urban areas into vibrant hubs of human activity that inspire and engage residents.

The Finer Details: Key Elements of Livable Cities

Building attractive cities is a complex balancing act.

  • Get the formula right, and you have beautiful, vibrant hubs where people flock.
  • Get it wrong, and you risk deterring residents with excessive order or chaos.

So what are the key details and finer elements that we must get right?

(1) Balancing Order and Variety

Paris stands out with its distinctive sense of order, exemplified by the long boulevards and uniform facades. But many cities lack this harmony and instead tend toward visual chaos. The ideal lies somewhere in between – finding the right balance between too much order and too much variety.

As Allan Jacobs notes in 'Great Streets,' diversity and variety are crucial, but require "a background of order and simplicity." Each city needs identifiable centers, edges, defined public spaces, and clear connections. But this order must blend with diversity in building ages, designs, and uses.

When executed well, cities can provide a visual cohesion through consistent urban textures, while embracing distinctiveness between neighborhoods. Citizens can experience order and orientation while still encountering the unexpected.

(2) Organized Complexity and Visible Life

Vibrant cities exhibit a phenomenon that Jacobs terms "organized complexity." A mix of order and diversity allows different uses, ages, and scales to fuse into a coherent whole. There is an intermingling of varying components, yet a structured framework ties everything together.

Cities should also exude a sense of "visible life," with active street life and public spaces full of human activity. Citizens going about their business in markets, cafes, and plazas bring the city to life. Urban policy expert Jan Gehl notes that visible life attracts more life – seeing others enjoy a city makes you want to do the same.

Public spaces should thus be designed for human interaction.

(3) Compact Urban Fabrics

Livable cities tend to have a compact physical footprint that brings people together. As Jane Jacobs proclaimed in "The Death and Life of Great American Cities", density fosters the diversity, thriving street life and social connections that characterize great urban areas. Urbanist Sara Jensen Carr argues that "the farther apart we live, the less we interact."

Compactness encourages walking and social connection. In contrast, car-centric sprawl often breeds isolation. Citizens live in silos, traveling rapidly on highways rather than engaging in city life.

Planners must therefore avoid urban sprawl and focus on density, bringing residents together in dynamic, engaging environments.

(4) The Importance of Public Squares

Well-designed public squares act as the heart of great cities. Urbanist Holly Whyte highlighted that clustered seating, sun, and trees attract people. Squares offer a shared outdoor environment where people watch, meet friends, or eat lunch. They provide reference points where communities congregate.

Cities should consist of sociable public spaces surrounded by lively mixed-use blocks. This old-fashioned model fosters the social bonds and community identity that modern cities lack. As Ray Oldenburg argues, great cities need “third places” – neither home nor work – where people interact and find emotional nourishment.

Interestingly, this flies against modern preferences for private space. People increasingly socialize online rather than in public squares. However, an uplifting city brings people together physically rather than keeping them isolated in private realms.

Public spaces nurture community and should form the core of urban design.

(5) Achieving Structured Variety: Urban Planning Principles

Our cities require a balanced mix of larger thoroughfares and intimate streets. Key urban planning principles related to street hierarchy, height limits, and architectural character can foster both order and variety.

(6) Balanced Street Hierarchy

Great cities feature a network of varied streets, from grand boulevards to tiny winding alleyways. Small streets provide an element of mystery and surprise. However, as Allan Jacobs laments, the car-centric planning of the 1950s favored wide streets and eschewed small lanes due to concerns about parking and traffic flow.

But small lanes lend character and intimacy. Citizens can duck into quiet side streets away from major roads. Tight alleyways with overhangs and greenery can provide shelter and shade. Planners must move away from car-dominated mindsets and restore small-scale street networks.

Citizens should be able to walk through a balanced hierarchy of street types.

(7) Capping Building Heights

Towers dominate many modern skylines, with dizzying heights aimed at maximizing real estate value. But does this benefit citizens? Urbanist Léon Krier argues that soaring towers rupture the fabric of communities. People become detached from human-scaled surroundings.

To foster livable cities, Krier proposes capping building heights at 5-6 stories. This maintains a coherent urban fabric where streets are lined by consistent facades. Key landmarks like churches or domed state buildings can pierce the skyline, but normal blocks suit the human scale.

Citizens can take in their surroundings easily, enjoying the urban texture.

(7) Reflecting Local Character in Architecture

Globalization has homogenized architecture, with generic skyscrapers and offices replicated worldwide. But citizens respond better to buildings reflecting local styles, materials and character. As Krier states, "The art of architecture is the art of making constructions speak."

Buildings must resonate with cultural meaning. Instead of inferior imitations of global icons, planners should survey regional assets – special stone deposits, types of wood, artisanal crafts. Local materials and construction methods can inform distinctive designs.

Citizens will appreciate the rootedness in place and craftsmanship.

(8) Turning Ideas into Reality: Policy and Regulations

So how can we transform these lofty principles into on-the-ground reality? Simply hoping developers will build beautiful cities is na?ve. As Darran Anderson argues, urban development is often driven by spreadsheets, not ideals of excellence.

Strong policy and strict regulations are essential to mandate livable city designs. As visionary leader Lee Kuan Yew demonstrated in Singapore, governments can cultivate superb cities if they have the right leadership and policy frameworks. Similarly, citizens can push local leaders to implement the right urban plans.

But as Doug Kelbaugh notes, while governments hold power, they tend to avoid risk and favor short-term gains over long-term excellence. Officials fear political backlash if ambitious urban reforms affect vested interests. Overcoming such hurdles will require tenacity.

The increasing privatization of public spaces also poses risks, as profit-driven interests don't necessarily serve citizens. Private outlets can restrict rights that public spaces guarantee.

We must ensure that civic voices are empowered to uphold the common good through urban design. As Kelbaugh states, democracy and urbanism should go hand in hand.

A Collective Urban Future

The design of cities affects millions of lives and multiple generations. We must move away from the current model where the wealthy elite shape urban environments based on personal visions. City building should be a collective effort, done for and by the people.

As Richard Sennett argues, good cities enable people from all walks of life to grow. Excellent design allows the wealthy, middle class and disadvantaged to benefit from the possibilities cities offer. This requires an ethical framework where the public interest guides decisions.

With livability as the goal rather than moneymaking, we can foster social equity and citizens' welfare through urban design. The common good must stay at the core. With the right balance of variety, public spaces, compact fabrics, human-centric design, and policy leadership, our cities can become truly uplifting places for all.

The path to urban excellence requires embracing complexity and finding the sweet spot between order and diversity. Public squares, small streets, limited heights, and regional architecture contribute immense character. But ideals must be backed by political will and strong regulations.

With collective efforts and smart policy, our cities can be reimagined into attractive, engaging, quintessentially livable spaces. The potential for urban vitality and beauty lies ahead of us.

________________________________________

The Author:

I am passionate about nurturing livable places that contribute to a higher quality of life beyond making money.

Looking to build your brand around places, people, communities, government agencies, and organizations, visit https://www.domainleadership.com/

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