Principles of intelligent urbanism
Principles of intelligent urbanism is a theory of urban planning composed of a set of ten axioms intended to guide the formulation of city plans and urban designs. They are intended to reconcile and integrate diverse urban planning and management concerns. These axioms include environmental sustainability, heritage conservation, appropriate technology, infrastructure-efficiency, placemaking, social access, transit-oriented development, regional integration, human scale, and institutional integrity. The term was coined by Prof. Christopher Charles Benninger.
The PIU evolved from the city planning guidelines formulated by the International Congress of Modern Architecture, the urban design approaches developed at Harvard's pioneering Urban Design Department under the leadership of Josep Lluis Sert, and the concerns enunciated by Team Ten. It is most prominently seen in plans prepared by Christopher Charles Benninger and his numerous colleagues in the Asian context. They form the elements of the planning curriculum at the School of Planning, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, which Benninger founded in 1971. They were the basis for the new capital plan for Thimphu, Bhutan.
Axioms
Principle one: a balance with nature
According to proponents of intelligent urbanism, balance with nature emphasizes the distinction between utilizing resources and exploiting them. It focuses on the thresholds beyond which deforestation, soil erosion, aquifer depletion, siltation and flooding reinforce one another in urban development, saving or destroying life support systems. The principle promotes environmental assessments to identify fragile zones, threatened ecosystems and habitats that can be enhanced through conservation, density control, land use planning and open space design. This principle promotes life cycle building energy consumption and pollutant emission analysis.This principle states there is a level of human habitation intensity wherein the resources that are consumed will be replaced through the replenishing natural cycles of the seasons, creating environmental equilibrium. Embedded in the principle is contention that so long as nature can resurge each year; so long as the biomass can survive within its own eco-system; so long as the breeding grounds of fauna and avifauna are safe; so long as there is no erosion and the biomass is maintained, nature is only being utilized.
Underlying this principle is the supposition that there is a fragile line that is crossed when the fauna, which cross-fertilizes the flora, which sustains the soil, which supports the hillsides, is no longer there. Erosion, siltation of drainage networks and flooding result. After a point of no return, utilization of natural resources will outpace the natural ability of the eco-system to replenish itself. From there on degradation accelerates and amplifies. Deforestation, desertification, erosion, floods, fires and landslides all increase.
The principle states that blatant "acts against nature" include cutting of hillside trees, quarrying on slopes, dumping sewage and industrial waste into the natural drainage system, paving and plinthing excessively, and construction on steep slopes. This urban theory proposes that the urban ecological balance can be maintained when fragile areas are reserved, conservation of ecosystems is pursued, and low intensity habitation precincts are thoughtfully identified. Thus, the principles operate within the balance of nature, with a goal of protecting and conserving those elements of the ecology that nurture the environment. Therefore, the first principle of intelligent urbanism is that urbanization be in balance with nature.
Principle two: a balance with tradition
Balance with tradition is intended to integrate plan interventions with existing cultural assets, respecting traditional practices and precedents of style. This urban planning principle demands respect for the cultural heritage of a place. It seeks out traditional wisdom in the layout of human settlements, in the order of building plans, in the precedents of style, in the symbols and signs that transfer meanings through decoration and motifs. This principle respects the order engendered into building systems through years of adaptation to climate, to social circumstances, to available materials and to technology. It promotes architectural styles and motifs designed to communicate cultural values.This principle calls for orienting attention toward historic monuments and heritage structures, leaving space at the ends of visual axis to “frame" existing views and vistas. Natural views and vistas demand respect, assuring that buildings do not block major sight lines toward visual assets.
Embedded in the principle is the concern for unique cultural and societal iconography of regions, their signs and symbols. Their incorporation into the spatial order of urban settings is promoted. Adherents promote the orientation and structuring of urban plans using local knowledge and meaning systems, expressed through art, urban space and architecture.
Planning decisions must operate within the balance of tradition, aggressively protecting, promoting and conserving generic components and elements of the urban pattern.
Principle three: appropriate technology
emphasizes the employment of building materials, construction techniques, infrastructural systems and project management which are consistent with local contexts. People's capacities, geo-climatic conditions, locally available resources, and suitable capital investments all temper technology. Where there are abundant craftspeople, labour-intensive methods are appropriate. Where there is surplus savings, capital intensive methods are appropriate. For every problem there is a range of potential technologies, which can be applied, and an appropriate fit between technology and other resources must be established. Proponents argue that accountability and transparency are enhanced by overlaying the physical spread of urban utilities and services upon electoral constituencies, such that people's representatives are interlinked with the urban technical systems needed for a civil society. This principle is in sync with "small is beautiful" concepts and with the use of local resources.Principle four: conviviality
The fourth principle sponsors social interaction through public domains, in a hierarchy of places, devised for personal solace, companionship, romance, domesticity, "neighborliness," community and civic life. According to proponents of intelligent urbanism, vibrant societies are interactive, socially engaging and offer their members numerous opportunities for gathering and meeting one another. The PIU maintain that this can be achieved through design and that society operates within hierarchies of social relations which are space specific. The hierarchies can be conceptualized as a system of social tiers, with each tier having a corresponding physical place in the settlement structure.A place for the individual
A goal of intelligent urbanism is to create places of solitude. These may be in urban forests, along urban hills, beside quiet streams, in public gardens and in parks where one can escape to meditate and contemplate. According to proponents, these are the quiet places wherein the individual consciousness dialogues with the rational mind. Idle and random thought sorts out complexities of modern life and allows the obvious to emerge. It is in these natural settings that the wandering mind finds its measure and its balance. Using ceremonial gates, directional walls and other “silent devices" these spaces are denoted and divined. Places of the individual cultivate introspection. These spaces may also be the forecourts and interior courtyards of public buildings, or even the thoughtful reading rooms of libraries. Meditation focuses one's thought. Intelligent urbanism creates a domain for the individual to mature through self-analysis and self-realization.A place for friendship
The axiom insists that in city plans there must be spaces for “beautiful, intimate friendship" where unfettered dialogue can happen. This principle insists that such places will not exist naturally in a modern urban fabric. They must be a part of the conscientious design of the urban core, of the urban hubs, of urban villages and of neighborhoods, where people can meet with friends and talk out life's issues, sorrows, joys and dilemmas. This second tier is important for the emotional life of the populace. It sponsors strong mental health within the people, creating places where friendship can unfold and grow.A place for householders
There must be spaces for householders, which may be in the form of dwellings for families, or homes for intimate companions, and where young workmates can form a common kitchen. Whatever their compositions, there must be a unique domain for social groups, familiar or biological, which have organized themselves into households. These domestic precincts are where families live and carry out their day-to-day functions of life. This third tier of conviviality is where the individual socializes into a personality.Housing clusters planned according to this axiom create a variety of household possibilities, which respond to a range of household structures and situations. It recognizes that households transform through the years, requiring a variety of dwellings types that respond to a complex matrix of needs and abilities, which are provided for in city plans.
A place for the neighborhood
Smaller household domains must cluster into a higher social domain, the neighborhood social group.Good city planning practice sponsors, through design, such units of social space. It is in this fourth tier of social life that public conduct takes on new dimensions and groups learn to live peacefully among one another. It is through neighborhoods that the “social contract" amongst diverse households and individuals is sponsored. This social contract is the rational basis for social relations and negotiations within larger social groups. Within neighborhoods basic amenities like creches, early learning centers, preventive health care and rudimentary infrastructure are maintained by the community.