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Conference proceedings by Margaret Crawford

New Urban Configurations, Apr 2014

In Europe, the beautiful old city, with its compact morphological structure, seems to have no rel... more In Europe, the beautiful old city, with its compact morphological structure, seems to have no relation to the suburban environment sprawling outside the perimeter of recognizable urban values. For many, the inner city still serves as the dominant centre where the whole suburban area converges, a stage for community life and cultural identity. However, the liveability of old cities has been transformed during recent decades. To preserve the historical values of buildings and public spaces, municipalities have conserved, sometimes obsessively, their physical elements, freezing their function for daily life. This has turned many old cities into open-air museums, with decreasing opportunities for public and social interactions. Pedestrianised zones attract shoppers and profits, bringing chains of luxury shops that replace everyday needs with boutiques for clothing, jewellery and gifts. Museums and palaces become cultural anchors in historic centres, resembling theme parks for tourists. This process is most visible in Italian cities such as Venice, Florence and Rome. To preserve a physically coherent environment, cities expel to the periphery any function or architectural style that doesn’t fit their model of coherence. As a result, the historical European city appears to be disconnected from the development of contemporary society, leading to a decline in the social significance of its public spaces.
Meanwhile, the vast land of suburbia has become a complex and multifunctional environment. Its sprawling morphology accommodates new functions and typologies in new spaces and territories, often independent of the historic centre. During a single century, fast growing suburbs in Europe have produced forms, building types, and urban patterns completely different from historic morphologies. Exurban development produces phenomena as different as gated communities, ethno burbs, lifestyle centres, shopping malls and entertainment complexes, and restructured rural towns. Far from the centre, they are singular episodes in an “in between” zone, neither city nor country. Every development constitutes a new piece of a broader puzzle, still to be completed.

New Urban Configurations, Apr 2014

In Europe, the beautiful old city, with its compact morphological structure, seems to have no rel... more In Europe, the beautiful old city, with its compact morphological structure, seems to have no relation to the suburban environment sprawling outside the perimeter of recognizable urban values. For many, the inner city still serves as the dominant centre where the whole suburban area converges, a stage for community life and cultural identity. However, the liveability of old cities has been transformed during recent decades. To preserve the historical values of buildings and public spaces, municipalities have conserved, sometimes obsessively, their physical elements, freezing their function for daily life. This has turned many old cities into open-air museums, with decreasing opportunities for public and social interactions. Pedestrianised zones attract shoppers and profits, bringing chains of luxury shops that replace everyday needs with boutiques for clothing, jewellery and gifts. Museums and palaces become cultural anchors in historic centres, resembling theme parks for tourists. This process is most visible in Italian cities such as Venice, Florence and Rome. To preserve a physically coherent environment, cities expel to the periphery any function or architectural style that doesn’t fit their model of coherence. As a result, the historical European city appears to be disconnected from the development of contemporary society, leading to a decline in the social significance of its public spaces.
Meanwhile, the vast land of suburbia has become a complex and multifunctional environment. Its sprawling morphology accommodates new functions and typologies in new spaces and territories, often independent of the historic centre. During a single century, fast growing suburbs in Europe have produced forms, building types, and urban patterns completely different from historic morphologies. Exurban development produces phenomena as different as gated communities, ethno burbs, lifestyle centres, shopping malls and entertainment complexes, and restructured rural towns. Far from the centre, they are singular episodes in an “in between” zone, neither city nor country. Every development constitutes a new piece of a broader puzzle, still to be completed.