18 de enero de 2006

"Leyes fundamentales de la estupidez humana", por Carlo Cipolla

PRIMERA LEY. "Siempre, e inevitablemente, cada uno de nosotros subestimamos el número de individuos estúpidos en circulación".

SEGUNDA LEY. "La probabilidad de que una persona determinada sea estúpida es independiente de cualquier otra característica de la misma persona".

TERCERA LEY. "Una persona estúpida es una persona que causa un daño a otra persona o grupo de personas sin obtener, al mismo tiempo, un provecho para sí, o incluso obteniendo un perjuicio".

CUARTA LEY. "Las personas no estúpidas subestiman siempre el potencial nocivo de las personas estúpidas. Los no estúpidos, en especial, olvidan constantemente que en cualquier momento y lugar, y en cualquier circunstancia, tratar y/o asociarse con individuos estúpidos se manifiesta infaliblemente como costosísimo error".

QUINTA LEY. "La persona estúpida es el tipo de persona más peligrosa que existe. El estúpido es más peligroso que el malvado".
Primera Ley Fundamental: Siempre, e inevitablemente, cada uno de nosotros subestimamos el número de individuos estúpidos en circulación

A primera vista esta afirmación puede parecer trivial, o más bien obvia, o poco generosa; o quizás las tres cosas a la vez. Sin embargo, un examen más atento revela de lleno la rotunda veracidad de esta afirmación. Cipolla considera que por muy alta que sea la estimación cuantitativa que se haga de la estupidez humana, siempre quedaremos sorprendidos de forma repetida y recurrente por el hecho de que personas que uno ha considerado racionales e inteligentes en el pasado resultan ser inequívocamente estúpidas. Día tras día, con una monotonía incesante, vemos cómo entorpecen y obstaculizan nuestra actividad individuos obstinadamente estúpidos, que aparecen de improviso e inesperadamente en los lugares y en los momentos menos oportunos.

La Primera Ley Fundamental impide la atribución de un valor numérico a la fracción de personas estúpidas respecto del total de la población. Cualquier estimación numérica resultaría ser una subestimación. Por ello en las líneas que siguen se designará la proporción de personas estúpidas en el seno de una población con el símbolo σ.

Segunda Ley Fundamental: La probabilidad de que cierta persona sea estúpida es independiente de cualquier otra característica de esa persona.

No todos los humanos son iguales ya que unos son más estúpidos que otros. Según Cipolla, el grado de estupidez viene determinado genéticamente por la naturaleza, pero no está asociado a ninguna otra característica de raza, sexo, nacionalidad o profesión.

El profesor Cipolla realizó amplios estudios demográficos con muy diversos sectores de la población. Inicialmente afirma haber comprobado que entre los trabajadores "de cuello azul" existía una fracción σ de estúpidos y que esa fracción era mayor de lo que esperaba, con lo que se confirmaba la primera Ley. Sospechando que podía deberse a falta de cultura o a marginalidad social estudió muestras de trabajadores "de cuello blanco" y a estudiantes, comprobando que entre ellos se mantenía la misma proporción. Más sorprendido aún quedó al medir el mismo parámetro entre los profesores de universidad. Decidió por tanto expandir sus estudios hasta la élite de la sociedad, los laureados con el Premio Nobel. El resultado confirmó el poder supremo de la naturaleza: una proporción σ de laureados con el Nobel son estúpidos.

Tercera Ley Fundamental (o de Oro): una persona estúpida es aquella que causa pérdidas a otra persona o grupo de personas sin obtener ninguna ganancia para sí mismo e incluso incurriendo en pérdidas.

El análisis de costes y beneficios de Carlo M. Cipolla permite clasificar a los seres humanos en cuatro tipos de personas, cada uno de los cuales ocupa un cuadrante en un sistema de coordenadas. Si representamos en el eje de abcisas el beneficio, positivo o negativo, que obtiene el individuo y en el eje de ordenadas el beneficio (+) o coste (-) que causa a los demás, podemos definir y estimar las coordenadas de los siguientes tipos:

Desgraciado (D) Aquel que se causa un perjuicio a sí mismo, beneficiando a los demás.
Inteligente (I) Aquel que se beneficia a sí mismo, beneficiando a los demás.
Bandido (B) Aquel que obtiene beneficios para sí mismo, perjudicando a los demás.
Estúpido (E) Aquel que causa pérdidas a otros, perjudicándose a la vez a sí mismo.

Distribución de Frecuencia

La mayoría de los individuos no actúa consistentemente. Bajo ciertas circunstancias una persona puede actuar inteligentemente y en otras actuar como desgraciado. La única importante excepción a esta regla es la de las personas estúpidas que normalmente muestran una fuerte tendencia hacia un comportamiento estúpido en cualquier actividad o empresa. Para los demás, podremos calcular su posición en el eje de coordenadas del gráfico 1 como una media de los resultados de sus acciones en términos de costes y beneficios causados sobre sí mismos y sobre los demás. Esta posibilidad nos permite hacer la siguiente digresión:

Consideraremos un "bandido perfecto" aquel que mediante sus acciones obtiene para sí mismo un beneficio igual al coste que origina en los demás. Es el caso del ladrón que roba a otro cien euros sin causarle ningún coste adicional. Esta situación puede ser definida como un "juego de suma cero" en el que el conjunto de la sociedad ni gana ni pierde. El "bandido perfecto" quedaría representado en el eje de coordenadas del gráfico 2 sobre la línea OM que bisecta el cuadrante B.

Sin embargo los "bandidos perfectos" son relativamente escasos. Es más frecuente que haya "bandidos inteligentes" (Bi) que obtienen más beneficios que los costes que causan, o "bandidos estúpidos" (Be), que para obtener algún beneficio causan un coste alto a los demás. Desgraciadamente los bandidos que permanecen por encima de la línea OM son relativamente poco numerosos. Es mucho más frecuente el individuo Be. Ejemplo de este último puede ser el ladrón que destroza los cristales de un coche para robar su radio o el que asesina a alguien para irse con su mujer a pasar un fin de semana en Montecarlo.

El poder de la estupidez

Los estúpidos son peligrosos y funestos porque a las personas razonables les resulta difícil imaginar y entender un comportamiento estúpido. Una persona inteligente puede entender la lógica de un bandido. Las acciones de un bandido siguen un modelo de racionalidad. El bandido quiere obtener beneficios. Puesto que no es suficientemente inteligente como para imaginar métodos con que obtener beneficios para sí procurando también beneficios a los demás, deberá obtener su beneficio causando pérdidas a su prójimo. Ciertamente, esto no es justo, pero es racional, y siendo racional, puede preverse. En definitiva, las relaciones con un bandido son posibles puesto que sus sucias maniobras y sus deplorables aspiraciones pueden preverse y, en la mayoría de los casos, se puede preparar la oportuna defensa.

Con una persona estúpida todo esto es absolutamente imposible. Tal como está implícito en la Tercera Ley Fundamental, una criatura estúpida nos perseguirá sin razón, sin un plan preciso, en los momentos y lugares más improbables y más impensables. No existe modo racional de prever si, cuando, cómo y por qué, una criatura estúpida llevará a cabo su ataque. Frente a un individuo estúpido, uno está completamente desarmado.

Puesto que las acciones de una persona estúpida no se ajustan a las reglas de la racionalidad, es lógico pensar que tienen todas las de ganar porque generalmente el ataque nos coge por sorpresa. Incluso cuando se tiene conocimiento del ataque, no es posible organizar una defensa racional porque el ataque, en sí mismo, carece de cualquier tipo de estructura racional.

El hecho de que la actividad y los movimientos de una criatura estúpida sean absolutamente erráticos e irracionales, no sólo hace problemática la defensa, sino que hace extremadamente difícil cualquier contraataque. Y hay que tener en cuenta también otra circunstancia: la persona inteligente sabe que es inteligente; el bandido es consciente de que es un bandido y el desgraciado incauto está penosamente imbuido del sentido de su propia candidez. Pero al contrario que todos estos personajes, el estúpido no sabe que es estúpido y esto contribuye en gran medida a dar mayor fuerza, incidencia y eficacia a su poder devastador.

Cuarta Ley Fundamental: Las personas no estúpidas subestiman siempre el potencial nocivo de las personas estúpidas. Los no estúpidos, en especial, olvidan constantemente que en cualquier momento, lugar y circunstancia, tratar y/o asociarse con individuos estúpidos se manifiesta infaliblemente como un costosísimo error.

No hay que asombrarse de que las personas desgraciadas e incautas, es decir, las que en los gráficos 1 y 2 se sitúan en el cuadrante D, no reconozcan la peligrosidad de las personas estúpidas. El hecho no representa sino una manifestación más de su falta de previsión. Pero lo que resulta verdaderamente sorprendente es que tampoco las personas inteligentes ni los bandidos consiguen muchas veces reconocer el poder devastador y destructor de la estupidez. Es extremadamente difícil explicar por qué sucede esto. Se puede tan sólo formular la hipótesis de que, a menudo, tanto los inteligentes como los bandidos, cuando son abordados por individuos estúpidos, cometen el error de abandonarse a sentimientos de autocomplacencia y desprecio en lugar de preparar la defensa y segregar inmediatamente cantidades ingentes de adrenalina ante tamaña situación de peligro.

Uno de los errores más comunes es llegar a creer que una persona estúpida sólo se hace daño a sí misma, pero esto no es más que confundir la estupidez por la candidez de los desgraciados.

A veces hasta se puede caer en la tentación de asociarse con un individuo estúpido con el objeto de utilizarlo en provecho propio. Tal maniobra no puede tener más que efectos desastrosos porque:

a) Está basada en la total incomprensión de la naturaleza esencial de la estupidez y
b) Da a la persona estúpida la oportunidad de desarrollar sus capacidades aún más allá de lo originalmente supuesto. Uno puede hacerse la ilusión de que está manipulando a una persona estúpida y, hasta cierto punto, puede que incluso lo consiga, pero debido al comportamiento errático del estúpido, no se pueden prever todas sus acciones y reacciones y muy pronto uno se verá arruinado y destruido sin remedio.

A lo largo de los siglos, en la vida pública y privada, innumerables personas no han tenido en cuenta la Cuarta Ley Fundamental y esto ha ocasionado pérdidas incalculables.

Macroanálisis y Quinta Ley Fundamental: La persona estúpida es el tipo de persona más peligrosa que existe.

Las consideraciones finales de la Ley cuarta nos conducen a un análisis de tipo "macro", según el cual, en lugar del bienestar individual, se toma en consideración el bienestar de la sociedad, definido, en este contexto, como la suma algebraica de las condiciones del bienestar individual. Es esencial para efectuar este análisis una completa comprensión de la Quinta Ley Fundamental. No obstante, es preciso añadir que de las cinco leyes fundamentales, la Quinta es, de largo, las más conocida.

El corolario de la ley dice así: "El estúpido es más peligroso que el bandido".

La formulación de la ley y el corolario son aún del tipo "micro". Sin embargo, tal como hemos anunciado anteriormente, la ley y su corolario tienen profundas implicaciones de naturaleza "macro". Si todos los miembros de una sociedad fuesen bandidos perfectos, la sociedad quedaría en una situación estancada pero no se producirían grandes desastres. Todo quedaría reducido a transferencias masivas de riqueza y bienestar. Pero cuando los estúpidos entran en acción las cosas cambian completamente. La personas estúpidas ocasionan pérdidas a otras personas sin obtener ningún beneficio para ellas mismas y, por consiguiente, la sociedad entera se empobrece.

El gráfico 3 muestra un sistema de clasificación simple entre las acciones que causan beneficio o perjuicio a la sociedad como un todo. Toda actividad representable a la derecha de la línea NOM implica una redistribución con beneficio social neto, mientras que las actividades que caen a la izquierda o debajo de dicha línea implican pérdidas sociales netas.

El profesor Carlo M. Cipolla, erudito historiador que ha investigado intensamente la sociedad clásica romana, la sociedad medieval y muchas otras de la antigüedad, está perfectamente cualificado para afirmar, como hace, que el coeficiente σ es una constante histórica. ¿Por qué entonces unas sociedades prosperan y otras entran en decadencia? Depende exclusivamente de la capacidad de los individuos inteligentes para mantener a raya a los estúpidos.

Más aún: en las sociedades en decadencia, el porcentaje de individuos estúpidos sigue siendo igual a σ; sin embargo, en el resto de la población Cipolla observa, sobre todo entre los individuos que están en el poder, una alarmante proliferación de bandidos con un elevado porcentaje de estupidez. Y entre los que no están en el poder, un igualmente alarmante crecimiento del número de los desgraciados incautos. Tal cambio en la composición de la población de los no estúpidos es el que refuerza inevitablemente el poder destructivo de la fracción σ y conduce al país a la ruina.

14 de enero de 2006

Patologías de la periferia (II): El imbécil del spray



Una nueva especie parásita amenaza el hormigón y el ladrillo madrileños: el imbécil del spray.

El imbécil del spray ha descubierto que la mejor contribución a la convivencia urbana pasa por cubrir cualquier espacio de muro con pintadas de vivos colores.

El imbécil del spray tiene como hábitat natural las grandes obras públicas, pues goza dejando su sello en el hormigón húmedo. No resulta extraño que la M-30 y los nuevos barrios se hayan convertido en su ecosistema favorito.

El imbécil del spray actúa en grupo, pertrechado bajo un seudónimo que debe esconder bastante frustración (a mayor frustración, mayor tamaño de la firma, y mayor número de pintadas).

El imbécil del spray es persistente, pues suele andar sobre sus propios pasos. Basta que se decida por el ayuntamiento o la propiedad limpiar una firma, para que el imbécil decida hacerla brotar de nuevo de sus cenizas.

El imbécil suele ser bajito, lo que le obliga a doblar en dos cualquier elemento de mobiliario urbano, como farolas o señalizaciones. No le hace falta saber de mecánica para comprender que cualquier señal o farola se puede plegar, quedando al alcance del spray, si se propina un buen puntapié en su encuentro con el suelo.

Al imbécil le importa un carajo que la ciudad parezca una pocilga, es más, parece sentirse feliz entre pinturas que no son expresiones artísticas, sino una acumulación de mierda y una falta de respeto hacia los demás.

Entre todos los imbéciles, el más notable por su estupidez es aquel capaz de hacer pintadas en su propio edificio, comenzando por el lugar más recogido, el ascensor. Constatando la extensión de la plaga, es fácil de comprobar que habita en prácticamente todos los edificios de la ciudad.

El ex alcalde de Nueva York, Rudolf Giuliani, baso sú éxito metropolitano, entre otras cosas, en la "política de tolerancia cero" frente al pequeño delito. Lo cuenta en su libro Leadership (Miramax Books), donde relata que decidió tomar tal medida al descubrir que buena parte de esos pequeños delitos eran cometidos por un pequeño número de personas reincidentes, amplificando la percepción del problema y la molestia de los demás ciudadanos.

No sé si Derom, Kame, Farlopa y los demás imbéciles que ensucian el nuevo Madrid son capaces siquiera de leer, pero espero que algún día alguien, defendiendo el bien común, ponga precio legal a tan monumental falta de respeto. No sería demasiado difícil seguirles la pista, teniendo google al alcance de los dedos...

Patologías de la periferia (I): El nuevo Madrid


Durante los primeros días de 2006 he podido alejarme de la frenética rutina que imponen el coche y el trabajo, para dedicarme, entre otras cosas, a caminar por el nuevo Madrid que crece cerca de mi casa, tras la delgada línea que separa Alcobendas de la capital. Un Madrid que retrata muy bien Emilio López-Galiacho en http://www.emiliogaliacho.com

Una de las ventajas o defectos que tiene vivir en la periferia, es que puedes ejercer de funambulista, intentando mantener el equilibrio entre aceras a medio construir, autovías infinitas, gruas que se pierden entre la polución, y árboles que parecen inclinarse para reclamar la atención de los muy estresados conductores. Imagino, en definitiva, que algo muy similar a lo que ocurre cada día en la periferia de cualquier gran ciudad.

Lo que hoy es una ciudad a medio hacer, fue, hace años, un espacio privilegiado, rodeado de centenarias encinas y magníficas vistas de la provinciana capital y de la sierra. No es casual que Fisac llegara muchos años antes que el Plan General y El Corte Inglés, aunque por desgracia, estos últimos hayan terminado conquistando el territorio junto a una arquitectura estandarizada y mediocre.

Me considero urbanita, y estoy muy lejos de verme entre los seguidores del Principe de Gales que propugnan una vuelta a la producción artesanal y a la vida campestre. Pero la ciudad que estamos haciendo parece estar muy lejos de la mejor de las posibles.

La primera impresión al caminar por el nuevo Madrid es que se ha perdido una grandísima oportunidad de hacer algo verdaderamente importante. Los dos nuevos barrios del norte van a albergar una población similar a la de ciudades como Soria, y, aún comenzando su andadura, ya parecen viejos. Paseando por Sanchinarro uno recuerda con envidia operaciones urbanas como las de Berlín o la Barcelona post-olímpica, en los que la sutura urbana se vio acompañada de arquitectura de calidad, con sentido urbano. No es, por desgracia, el caso de Madrid.

Hay excepciones a la regla: El colegio de la Asunción Cuestablanca, la Iglesia de los Dominicos de Alcobendas, la casa y el estudio en el Cerro del Aire del pionero Fisac; el archicriticado edificio Mirador de MVRDV, los conjuntos de viviendas de Rafael de la Hoz, y Gonzalez Gallegos y Aranguren, en El Encinar de los Reyes; son algunos ejemplos de magnífica arquitectura, que invitan a soñar sobre lo que pudo ser y no será.

Paseando por la periferia de Madrid queda de manifiesto que la ciudad nace enferma, y que la responsabilidad es compartida por quienes la ideamos, hacemos y vivimos.

Hay, en primer lugar, evidentes problemas de planificación política. Parece cuando menos estúpido que se puedan tardar más de 20 años desde que un plan urbanístico sale de un estudio hasta que se empieza a materializar. El daño que hicieron a Madrid ideas como la del "crecimiento cero" fue atroz, al limitar el mercado de suelo disponible, pero no es menor el daño que provoca un urbanismo que se limita a decidir por dónde pasan los coches y definir el sota-caballo-rey de lo que no se puede hacer, dejando la arquitectura a expensas de los crematísticos deseos de los promotores. La arquitectura se ha convertido hoy en algo simplemente necesario para poder poner un suelo cuadrado construído en el mercado.

En la medida en que la arquitectura condiciona la ciudad y la vida de los ciudadanos, creo las administraciones deberían, en lugar de establecer límites a la libertad, apostar por la liberalización, ejerciendo el "derecho de tanteo" a la hora de proponer proyectos alternativos a los que se acompañan la licencia. Pero eso es soñar con una ciudad hecha con criterios arquitectónicos...

En los siguientes post me referiré a otras cosas que me indignan de la nueva ciudad de Madrid, como la proliferación de imbéciles con spray, los cutrecarteles publicitarios, la estandarización de la arquitectura de la vivienda, los tontos al volante y demás especies de esta ciudad a la que, en el fondo, queremos.

13 de enero de 2006

"Compact City Replaces Sprawl", por Nikos A. Salingaros

The compact, geometrically integrated city can and should replace suburban sprawl as the dominant development pattern in the future. This approach to urban planning and design is well established among proponents of the New Urbanist and Smart Growth movements. However, the more radical scenario I propose in this paper is that the compact city should also replace the high-rise, ultra-high-density megacity model. I will present arguments for the compact city from both directions, criticizing both conventional suburbia and the hyper-intensity of the urban core. A radical intervention is required on the part of concerned urbanists. We need to rethink the positioning of individual buildings to form a coherent urban fabric, as well as the role of thoroughfares, parking, and urban spaces. New zoning codes based on the rural-to-urban Transect and the form of the built environment are now available to assure predictable densities and mixed use for the compact city.

1. INTRODUCTION.

Sprawl is a remorseless phenomenon. We see it covering more and more of the earth's surface, whether it is in the form of favelas invading the countryside in the developing world, or as monotonous subdivisions in the United States. Nevertheless, the city of tomorrow (actually, in many parts of the world, the city of today) has a low-rise, compact human scale. If the government does not forbid it (or cannot control it), favelas eventually condense to define compact urban regions, but the same organizing process cannot occur in subdivisions because of anti-urban zoning. A favela can become living urban fabric, whereas its high-priced US analog remains dead. The difference is in the connectivity.

Suburban sprawl has become a self-generating, self-fulfilling machine that produces an enormous amount of mechanical movement, but is not conducive to natural human actions and needs. Sprawl persists because vehicles define a now-familiar self-perpetuating entity: the auto-dependent landscape. Cars enable sprawl, and sprawl needs cars. This suburban machine now circumvents its human creators and feeds in directly to the globalized economy. Yet it wastes untold amounts of time and resources, while trapping those without cars in their homes.

High-rise apartment and office towers are equally unsustainable. The serious threat of high energy costs makes both ultra-high-density environments based on skyscrapers, and low-density suburban sprawl no longer feasible. Ultra-high-density urbanism creates more problems than it solves, in the form of energy reliance that draws on the resources of an enormous surrounding region and shortsightedly depends on an uninterrupted supply of cheap oil. Our only alternative is the smaller-scale, compact city, ideally surrounded by and close to agricultural lands for local food supply. We should produce viable settlements at optimal densities for the human scale, just as body tissue has a compact structure at an optimal density. This can be achieved through thoughtful planning and the appropriate codes.

Urbanism once meant dense city living for humans, but anti-urban forces have (literally) driven people out to the opposite condition: low-density suburban sprawl. The correct solution is not formless sprawl, however, but an intermediate density low-rise compact city that is geometrically integrated. The huge commercial success of postwar suburban growth (a low-density phenomenon) took place because it harnessed genuine and powerful socio-economic forces. It also generated and fed some of those forces by means of clever media manipulation and advertising. Those same forces can be channeled to build a better environment for human beings ”the compact, geometrically integrated city” so as to make an urban environment adaptable as much as possible. Suggestions for achieving that on a theoretical level are offered in (Salingaros, 2005a).

There is nothing wrong with either high density or low density per se, as long as it is well integrated with other densities and is in the right place (not too much of the same thing). People in the past several decades seem to have bought into the false notion of geometrical uniformity, which goes back to the now discredited 1933 Charter of Athens (Salingaros, 2005b). That document introduced notions that turned out to be catastrophic for cities, such as separating functions into single-use zoning, the false economy of scale, and also seductive but toxic images of ultra-high-density skyscrapers, vast open plazas, and uniform housing developments. It gave planners the idea of disintegrating the city into non-interacting components, or at best, ones that interact with each other only at tremendous cost and inconvenience; the opposite of a geometrically integrated city.

2. DUANY AND THE TRANSECT.

Even the best theoretical urbanism is close to useless without changes in our zoning codes, however. The existing codes, more than anything, determine the pattern of urbanism. The planner-architect Andreas Duany and his partner Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk are at the forefront of efforts to reform these codes. They coded and designed the highly successful New Urbanist community of Seaside, Florida in the mid 1980s. The momentum from Seaside propelled traditional town planning again into the mainstream of planning options (Duany & Plater-Zyberk, 2005; Duany et. al., 2000). Duany and his colleagues have built numerous New Urbanist projects around the world, and in each case they work closely with the local government to adopt codes based on urban form instead of the separation of uses. Without a form-based code, one cannot predictably plan a human-scale community. Duany will not work for a community that wants to rebuild itself, but which stubbornly retains its postwar anti-urban codes. He has found out from experience that it leads to time-consuming and irresolvable conflicts.

Using a very pragmatic approach to urban form, Duany classifies different zones according to a Transect (i.e. a cross-section of a continuum) of the built environment, according to intensity and density of urban components. He then proposes that communities ensure their desired urban character by adopting written codes that prescribe it. In Transect planning there are six zones, but the three zones T3 (Sub-Urban), T4 (Urban General), and T5 (Urban Center) (Duany & Plater-Zyberk, 2005) contain the areas that we would identify with a compact, walkable, mixed-use village or city neighborhood. Unfortunately, the single-use zoning of the past sixty years has made such compact patterns illegal. (Note that, as explained below, Sub-Urban is not the same thing as suburban).

I propose that a compact T3/T4/T5 city or town begin to substitute for suburban sprawl everywhere around the world. The compact city is sustainable, whereas both sprawl and the high-rise megacity are not. The Transect codes are ready for immediate use, and should therefore be adopted by government agencies. The β€œlow-density city” we now see erasing farmland is not a city: it feeds off and depletes a vast region that it keeps at a distance, so the functioning city is much larger, has a higher net density than first appears, and is ultimately unsustainable.


3. THE THREE URBAN TRANSECT ZONES OF THE COMPACT CITY.

Transect Zone T3 allows single houses on large lots, with a looser road network than in the higher zones. A Transect-based code limits the density to maintain a relatively rural character. Still, there would be walkable street connectivity to the denser Zones, so that residents are not isolated and forced to use cars for all their daily needs. Thus, T3 is part of the compact city, not estranged from it. (Country houses, on the other hand, would be part of T2, the Rural Zone, which is by definition outside the city). The T3 Zone may be the same density as the dreary suburban tract houses we see in sprawl ”technically referred to as Conventional Suburban Development (CSD)” but other key design elements in the new codes ensure much more housing diversity, walkability, and connectivity.

Transect Zone T4 is the denser Urban General Zone, with houses closer to each other and to the sidewalk. More mixed use is permitted, with corner stores and restaurants within walking distance of most houses. As soon as the density permits, therefore, the mixing of functions is actively encouraged by the Transect-based codes.

Finally, Transect Zone T5 is the Urban Center, thoroughly mixing commercial uses with housing. This is analogous to the neighborhood center or small-town Main Street in early twentieth-century America, as well as the traditional European village. Transect-based zoning supports the compact city from both of the critical standpoints identified earlier, for it also prevents the erection of high-rise buildings and vast parking lots, whose expanse and density destroy the desired human-scaled character of T5. (The height limit in the Duany Plater-Zyberk Transect-based Smart Code is three storeys for T3, four for T4, and six for T5). Other important details, such as sharp curb radii and narrow streets, help to calm traffic.

The urban geometry in these Transect Zones is entirely different from that of sprawl (Conventional Suburban Development): roads and buildings correspond more to the compact small town found at the turn of the last century. Suburban sprawl, on the other hand, is neither a low-density CITY nor true country living; in pretending to be both, it accomplishes neither. The correct Transect codes ensure that the complex urban morphology necessary to support the city for people will not disintegrate into disconnected sprawl.

One crucial point of the Transect is that the three zones T3, T4, and T5 connect to and adjoin each other. Each one is kept by its own code from changing wildly, yet each one needs the other two next to it. Suburbia without an urban center requires constant driving, while a downtown without a healthy mix of uses is dead after business hours (Salingaros, 2005b). The codes prevent the repetition of one single zone over a wide area, thus preventing the monoculture of sprawl.

Theoretical work (Salingaros, 2005a) based upon earlier work by Christopher Alexander (Alexander et. al., 1977) supports Duany and Plater-Zyberk´s practical prescriptions with fundamental arguments about urban form and structure. New Urbanist solutions also draw upon the neo-traditional notions of Leon Krier (Krier, 1998). The same approaches will, of course, also work for the Urban Core (T6), as well as for Natural and Rural Zones (T1 and T2), and the appropriate Transect-based codes apply to those densities as well. Nevertheless, here my topic is the compact city, a human-scaled city to replace both sprawl and the high-rise megacity. The compact city, therefore, involves only the medium-density zones of T3, T4, and T5.


4. SPRAWL IS DRIVEN BY THE CAR.

Sprawl exists only because it is an outgrowth of car activities. In turn, this automobile dependence generates urban geometries that accommodate cars first and pedestrians second. These are the wrong priorities for a healthy life, especially for those who cannot drive: the young, the old, and the poor. The sustainable compact city must be designed for the pedestrian first.

People have been encouraged by the automobile industry and by government agencies promoting the automobile industry to indulge in an impossible and destructive fantasy of inappropriate urban types. In practical terms, sprawl comes about from misunderstanding urban morphology. The needs of the car automatically generate an urban morphology appropriate to the car. Sprawl relies totally on the automobile, and thus follows the dendritic (treelike) geometry of roads. A dendritic geometry is good for the automobile, but is inappropriate for human beings. Sprawl occurs when buildings are erected with no regard or understanding of which connective geometries encourage walking. Suburban sprawl grows uncontrollably, generated by anti-urban zoning codes that achieve the opposite geometry to what human beings need.

Complex urban fabric means condensation, connectivity, and mixing; the opposite of homogeneity (Salingaros, 2005a). And yet, most postwar planning has deliberately spread a homogeneous, amorphous structure over the earth, replacing healthy urban fabric in existing compact cities. Monoculture displaces and stretches its vital connections to complementary nodes, making the functioning city (a much larger entity that encompasses the entire commuting distance) tremendously wasteful of both time and energy.

With the wrong codes in place almost everywhere today, roads in fact determine the geometry of urban settlements. Let’s examine what happens when the government builds a road to connect two towns. A road in the countryside attracts new buildings along its length, thus linking each building with that particular road and with nothing else. But human beings do not link to a road: they link to work, school, church, medical facilities, etc. Clustering is supposed to occur among linked human activities, and not strictly between houses and a road. It’s the wrong linking, and it destroys the meaning of a city.

The solution is obvious to some of us. Zoning codes should prevent the dendritic growth of buildings along roads, and instead promote an urban geometry that concentrates human connections inward to focus on local urban nodes. Transect-based zoning has the correct zoning codes that do this, replacing anti-urban zoning codes that allow the unrestrained growth of the auto-dependent landscape.


5. LAWS, REGULATIONS, AND THE DEMOCRATIC IDEAL.

I have proposed Transect-based zoning to regulate the development of urban areas of different density. It may appear to a reader that this represents a rather strict set of regulations. The notion of regulations runs counter to our utopian conception of civic freedom, and may cause strong protests if not revolution. In the case of Transect zoning, however, I am simply advocating a REPLACEMENT of very rigid zoning codes that already exist, governing the geometry of buildings and roads. Most people are woefully unaware of how tightly the built environment is now controlled by existing codes on planner's books. They have been sold the false image of suburban freedom. In fact, Transect-based zoning provides MORE choices for development than does current single-use zoning.

Another misconception about Transect zoning and the New Urbanism is that it places severe restrictions on cars. It merely changes the geometry of how they move and where they park. True, in the compact city, the movement of cars is calmed, and parking is no longer dominant and obvious in front of buildings. But cars are not banned, and parking is adequate.

Still, for a variety of reasons, including energy costs and population growth, car use must be curtailed over time. Unfortunately, the immensely powerful car industry has successfully coupled the idea of personal β€œfreedom” with a car purchase, and it has been almost impossible to convince people to reduce car use. They don’t see that giving unlimited β€œfreedom” to the car has to be paid for by the destruction of a city, and of their own human environment. One’s car today represents something almost inviolate β€” a right of ownership and object of fetish all at the same time. It is going to be very difficult to educate people on this point.

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6. THE AUTO-DEPENDENT LANDSCAPE SELF-GENERATES.

The auto-dependent landscape consists of the road surface, parking, and all areas devoted to the care and feeding of vehicles, such as gasoline stations, garages, muffler shops, tire stores, hubcap stores, car dealerships, parts stores, car washes, automotive junkyards, etc. Shopping areas and restaurants take the form of drive-ins or malls set back in a sea of parking. In this way sprawl is a self-generating system with mechanisms for spreading and enlarging itself. In the auto-dependent landscape β€” occupying more than half the urban surface in many regions β€” vehicles no longer serve simply as a means of human transportation, but as ends in themselves.

Since the auto-dependent landscape feeds on and generates much of the world’s economy, it is not feasible to simply eliminate it. Many countries’ industries and economic base depend on producing cars and parts, or petroleum and petroleum products. Global wars are fought over the petroleum supply. At the same time, the auto-dependent landscape is changing the earth and human civilization, so it has to be contained. What is good for General Motors is no longer good for America, to turn around an old American slogan. Car-related activities within a city are still essential for our economies, but they must be kept on the proper geographic scale. The great planning fallacy in our times is trying to mix up (instead of carefully interface) the auto-dependent landscape with the city for people: all that happens is that the former takes over the latter.

Most important, vehicular speed must be calmed. The highways of the auto-dependent landscape are designed to maximize a smooth and fast flow of traffic, without any consideration of human beings outside a car. Those same principles of speed maximization at the expense of pedestrian physical and psychological well-being have been automatically applied to all roads inside the urban fabric, making it anti-urban in the process. My book β€œPrinciples of Urban Structure” (Salingaros, 2005a) offers rules that reestablish the city for people by giving pedestrians priority over cars. Those rules rely on earlier work by Christopher Alexander, published as β€œA Pattern Language” more than twenty-five years ago (Alexander et. al., 1977).

Despite numerous, well-documented presentations of energy/oil depletion issues, people remain blissfully unconcerned about their car-dependent lifestyle. They trust the transnational oil companies to continue providing them with affordable gasoline until the end of time. Gasoline will certainly be available β€” at market price, whatever that may be in the future. I do not add my voice to the doomsayers predicting the end of petroleum, but unsustainable urban and suburban morphologies will simply become too expensive to survive. The compact, small-scale city is sustainable, whereas ultra-high-density skyscrapers and suburban sprawl are not.

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7. SPRAWL IS ALSO DRIVEN BY COMMERCIAL FORCES.

The dream of owning an isolated country villa surrounded by forest draws people out to suburbia, and cheap land draws developers there. At the same time, lower rents and taxes draw business there, following residential growth. But because the form of suburbia is already established by single-use zoning, businesses must locate away from residential areas, and they must locate where there is enough drive-by traffic to sustain them. Since developers and builders have made fortunes out of selling this defective geometry, they simply keep building what they have done for decades. Government perpetuates sprawl by building roads and infrastructure in an anti-urban pattern.

Because business in sprawl depends on attracting the drive-by customer, then, it must announce to all drivers that there is ample free parking everywhere. Thus we have the shopping mall surrounded by a vast parking lot; the office tower in the middle of farmland surrounded by its parking lot; the university campus in the middle of nowhere surrounded by its parking lots, and so on. Urban morphology is determined in most places by highways and parking lots. Again, the priorities are exactly backwards. Thoroughfares and parking lots should conform to a compact urban structure, not the other way around.

The geometry of commercial nodes is generally oriented outwards toward high-speed arterials to attract drivers. Current zoning makes sure that it cannot be oriented toward residential neighborhoods. That must change with new Transect-based zoning. When a community adopts such a zoning code, there will be assigned Transect zones as described above and structured so that stores, schools, churches, and parks are within walking distance of homes. Density increases as T-Zones get higher, but never to the extent of the high-rise megacity that depends precariously upon a vast energy grid. In a Transect-based code, mixed use is allowed in all T-Zones, and the design of streets favors the pedestrian. The first priority is to get rid of the parking lot in front of a store, narrow the streets, and provide a wide sidewalk (Sucher, 2003). On-street parking is fine; as is parking behind, below, and above the store (Sucher, 2003). Parking garages must have liner stores with windows, so that the pedestrian does not walk past blank walls or rows of cars. People are more likely to walk if there are pleasant things to look at on the way.

Sustainable compact cities in place all around the world are now being destroyed by the introduction of anti-urban components. Not only are skyscrapers proliferating as symbols of modernity, but so are more modest typologies that profit one person while slowly degrading the entire city. In Latin America and Europe, for example, a new corner store typology copied from the United States erases the sidewalk and gives it over to parking. If this goes on (along with adopting other similar typologies from the auto-dependent landscape), that will unbalance societies that have depended on a human-scale urban morphology for so long.

Transect-based zoning codes limit the number of storeys in the compact city to three in zone T3, four in zone T4, and six in zone T5. This places a ceiling that protects the urban fabric from the negative consequences of high-rise construction. These problems include: the office tower (which generates traffic congestion for the entire region during rush hour); the residential tower (which generates strongly negative social forces as discussed in (Alexander et. al., 1977; Salingaros 2005a)); and the giant parking lot that comes as part of either of these (and which erases the human environment precisely where it ought to be intensified). High-rise buildings don’t belong in a compact city. Genuine high-density, high-rise city centers do exist, as coded for in Transect Zone T6, the Urban Core. Examples include the downtown Loop in Chicago, Manhattan, Hong Kong, and Sydney. But I do not foresee a future for new T6 Cores, so I have confined the compact city to a T5 maximum density and six-story height limit.

It is a great pity to see cities in the developing world self-destruct as they try to imitate the images of dysfunctional western cities (to them, symbols of power and progress). Cities in southeast Asia and China that had been working fairly well up until recently, such as Bangkok and Shanghai, have in one bold step ruined their traditional connective geometry. Their mistakes include building megatowers, then widening streets and building a maze of expressways to serve the new ultra-high-density nodes. For their entire future, those cities are condemned to be choked by traffic.

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8. LOW SPEED ENCOURAGES URBAN LIFE.

The compact city is a LOW-SPEED city. This feature has to be guaranteed by narrow streets and a special low-speed geometry. Planning has for several decades concentrated upon increasing vehicular traffic flow. This has diminished the livability of cities and urban regions. To rebuild a living environment for people, we need to reverse almost all the traffic-boosting planning measures implemented since the end of World War II β€” that is, rewrite the traffic codes. Roads inside the compact city should not be built to accommodate fast vehicular traffic. Cars should go slowly inside this region. The physical road surface and width will force them to. Transect-based planning calls for thoroughfare design to respond to the context of the T-Zone, not the other way around.

The key is to permit internal access everywhere for large vehicles such as fire trucks, delivery trucks, and ambulances, but in the immediate vicinity of a house cluster around an urban space, all the roads should be woonerven, the Dutch model of very low-speed roads shared with pedestrians (Gehl, 1996). Here we may use narrow roads with occasionally semifinished surfaces. We have forever confused ACCESS with SPEED. Today, fire departments refuse to cooperate with urbanists, insisting on an overwide paved thoroughfare everywhere. The reason is that fire chiefs want to be able to make a U-turn in one of their giant fire engines anywhere along any road.

The compact city mixes shared civic spaces with concentrated arrangements of structures. It defines a highly-organized complex system, in which each component supports and is connected to the whole. A city for people consists of buildings of local character and specific function that contribute to the immersive context of their Transect Zone. This is the opposite of modern β€œgeneric” building types, which are strictly utilitarian and connect only to the parking lot. Fixated on fast speed, governments or developers spend much of their money on paving wide roads and vast parking lots, neglecting the design of urban space. When building a low-speed parking ribbon (described in the following Section), parking costs should be the last priority, thus permitting gravel, and brick/grass surfaces. Such surfaces slow cars down.

Urban space is supported by the geometry of surrounding buildings (Salingaros, 2005a). Buildings should attach themselves to those spaces, and not to the road. A compact city is defined by internal cohesion achieved via a centripetal (center-supporting) arrangement, versus a centrifugal (directing away from the center) arrangement. Buildings are connected via a network of paths into clusters. A number of buildings should define a cluster perceived by a pedestrian as accessible (a low-speed setting). By contrast, buildings in suburban sprawl are outward-looking and connect to nodes in the far distance, but not to each other (a high-speed setting). There are rarely any local connections in a monofunctional region.

Sidewalks and all pedestrian paths must be protected from unnecessary changes of level, and any other discontinuities (Gehl, 1996). Cars on the other hand, don’t get tired, so their path can easily go around people and pedestrian nodes. Again, that slows them down (anathema to today’s traffic engineers!). Pedestrian paths should be laid out to connect urban nodes, and to reinforce a connected complex of urban spaces (Salingaros, 2005a). A parking ribbon can be designed to snake around buildings and pedestrian urban spaces — not the other way around.

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9. CAR-PEDESTRIAN INTERACTIONS AND THE PARKING RIBBON.

The compact city is a city for people, but it still accommodates cars and trucks. However, surface parking lots interrupt the urban structure and sense of an outdoor β€œroom”; they are dangerous and exhausting for pedestrians, and visually destroy any pleasant walking. They also create runoff from impervious surface, encouraging flooding.

Instead of taking over a vast open area, parking should occur in a ribbon of intentionally constrained road: I am proposing a radically different parking geometry, to be generated by new zoning codes. A parking β€œlot,” then, is just another road, not an open space. These long and narrow parking ribbons will branch into each other, assuming a networked form just like urban streets. A maximum dimension of about two car lengths will be stipulated for the width of any parking ribbon, accommodating only one side of head-in or diagonal parking. Parking ribbons don’t need to be straight, but can be made to fill up otherwise useless narrow spaces.

Furthermore, pedestrians should be given priority when crossing an existing large parking lot. This means building a raised footpath, sometimes covered by a canopy, and also giving it a distinct color coding for visual separation. Giant, uniform parking lots are hostile to human beings and essentially anti-urban. They can be reformatted into parking ribbons by building other structures inside them. Inserting sections of water-permeable surface into giant parking lots will also solve the serious problem of flooding from storm run-off. Such infill solutions can be written into a new code.

On-street curbside parking (either parallel, or diagonal) should be encouraged in the public frontage, but banned from the private frontage, between the sidewalk and building face (Sucher, 2003). On-street parking actually helps pedestrians feel safer on the sidewalk by providing a buffer between them and moving traffic. Sidewalks are not used if there exists a psychological fear from nearby cars and trucks; vehicular traffic parallel to pedestrian flow can be tolerated only if it flows at a certain distance from people. Adjusting the maximum speed of a road (not by speed limit signs, but by its narrowness and road surface) to tolerable limits also achieves this symbiosis. For slightly faster urban traffic, an excellent thoroughfare type to accommodate both car traffic and safe sidewalks is the boulevard, traditionally designed with low-speed β€œslip roads” and parking on the sides.

Parking ribbons already exist in traditional urbanism: as curbside parking on slow-moving roads; and on the sides of a fast-moving boulevard. Most parking garages are indeed wound-up parking ribbons. What I’m suggesting is that ALL parking should conform to the ribbon geometry. A parking lot should never again be confused with an urban space, and cars should never be allowed to take over an urban space.

Another solution is to have orthogonal flow for pedestrians and vehicles (working simultaneously with protected parallel flow). Their intersection must be non-threatening. The two distinct flows cross frequently at places that are protected for pedestrians. In this way, the two flows do not compete except at crossing points. Introducing a row of bollards saves many situations where pedestrians are physically threatened by vehicles. An amalgamation of pedestrian paths defines a usable urban space. This must be strongly protected from vehicular traffic. Any paved space that children might use for play must be absolutely safe from traffic. I discuss all these points at length in (Salingaros, 2005a; 2005b).


10. BEYOND THE TRANSECT WITH CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER.

Where do the Transect-based codes come from? They are a result of thinking how to create an environment conducive to human life, obtained by comparing present-day with older successful environments the world over. They ultimately depend on traditional solutions, such as those collected in Christopher Alexander’s β€œA Pattern Language” (Alexander et. al., 1977). The Transect’s value lies in structuring a proven form of compact, traditional urbanism in a way that can be used within the existing planning bureaucracy. As AndrΓ©s Duany has so often expressed, he wants to use the system to introduce radical changes without waiting to change the system itself. He calls the Transect-based Smart Code a β€œplug” into the existing power grid used to working in terms of zoning.

There is another approach. Alexander’s new book β€œThe Nature of Order” (Alexander, 2005) is the most important analysis of architecture and urbanism published in the last several decades. Alexander advocates a complete replacement of current planning philosophy, because the existing manner of doing things is so fundamentally antihuman. That may be difficult to implement immediately, but the future of cities does depend upon ultimately applying Alexander’s understanding on how urban form is generated, and how it evolves by adapting to human needs. My own work (Salingaros, 2005a; 2005b) has been profoundly influenced by Alexander’s.

Alexander describes his adaptive design process, giving examples to show urbanists how to tailor it to their own particular project (Alexander, 2005). I will not attempt to summarize his extensive results here, but only wish to point out a key finding. Living urban regions have a certain rough percentage of areas devoted to pedestrians-green-buildings-cars as 17%-29%-27%-27%. Contrast this to a majority of today’s urban regions, which typically have the percentage distribution as 2%-28%-23%-47%. Alexander describes in great detail the succession of geometrical steps that can be taken to convert one type of urban region into another. His approach is to do this one step at a time, and it is eminently practical.

The result is what all of us (Alexander, Duany, Krier, Plater-Zyberk, and myself) want: a human-oriented urban environment. At the same time, Alexander presents a theory of urban evolution, which could be steered either towards a living city, or towards an anti-urban landscape for cars. The point is to recognize the fundamental mechanisms and forces that push towards either goal, and to channel them to what we want. Most important, we should recognize what we really want, since many people (including prominent urbanists) really do want to sacrifice urban life to the auto-dependent landscape, even though they may not openly admit it.

Alexander’s understanding of urban processes probes far deeper than the Transect. Duany and Plater-Zyberk have learned from Alexander, but want to affect immediate improvements. The simplest expedient is a change in zoning codes, such as the Transect-based Smart Code. Today’s urban environment is so fragmented, degraded, and antihuman that such code reform is urgently needed. Once healthy urban fabric begins to grow again, then people can see the advantages of a human-scale built environment. They could apply Alexander’s ideas to generate vital urban regions once again. Anyone who dismisses the New Urbanism as superficial, or as simply a β€œstyle”, needs to read Alexander to really understand urban form.

And yet, I must point out a fundamental difference. Alexander is convinced that genuine urban unfolding β€” the process of sequential adaptation that generates living environments β€” is not possible within current planning practice. He fears that the system is not only misaligned, but is also too rigid to accommodate living processes. The new Transect-based codes, significant as they are in improving an abysmal situation, are not flexible enough, according to Alexander, precisely because they work within the present planning system. Since changing a vast and established bureaucracy is next to impossible, Alexander proposes going around the system. These points raise serious tactical questions.

Defining urban character as inherent in the Transect has begun to reestablish an urban structure that can engender a new urban citizen. The Transect, however, is just a beginning: in addition to these sectional prescriptive codes, urbanists must extend their logic to multiple scales and work through a knowledge of urban adaptive processes (Alexander, 2005; Salingaros, 2005a).

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11. SOME CONTRADICTIONS.

There are several contradictions I feel I need to discuss. First, the limitations of working with a system of permits and construction that is deeply flawed, threaten to neutralize any code-based way of building cities. Alexander (2005) emphasizes that living cities can only come about from an adaptive PROCESS, i.e., building and adjusting urban form step-by-step. This is not easily reconcilable with the present mainstream professional culture. It is, however, the way that traditional building and self-built settlements arose for millennia.

Alexander’s fear is that any system that builds cities without a truly adaptive process will never achieve the intense degree of life seen and felt in cities of the past. That is not the aim of the present code-based system, which instead uses the existing bureaucracy to limit such an evolution of urban form. The gradual evolution of cities, akin to the evolution of individual organisms and ecosystems, is now illegal. What is allowed is a large-scale intervention, regardless if it is catastrophic or nearly so (planners cling to the myth of an β€œeconomy of scale”) (Salingaros, 2005a).

The second contradiction is that a majority of people go along with anti-urban sprawl and high-rise construction without complaining. It is hardly possible to discuss issues of urban form with a contemporary society that has become desensitized through its addiction to technology. Growing up in suburbia with the false notion of unlimited freedom has distanced people from truly human environments. People who enjoy eating junk food in their parked car; who love the ear-damaging loudness of commercial movie theaters and rock concerts; who own a β€œHome Entertainment System” (a monster television/stereo with subwoofer) and another subwoofer in their car, are not going to value the pleasures of a traditional environment β€” it only reminds them of a pre-technological past.

In the present atmosphere, I see Transect-based codes as the best entry-point for bringing a human environment back to our cities. I have discussed these issues with commercial developers, who insist that they are not setting urban typologies: they are only providing what the market wants, working within the existing codes. Clearly, our society has to learn to appreciate good urbanism before Alexander’s work and my own can begin to be applied to cities. The Transect will certainly help to move society in that direction.

Alexander would prefer for codes to be optional and voluntary: accepted by ordinary people on the basis of understanding and sensitivity, and not imposed by law. Duany, on the other hand, is suspicious of media-induced fear and manipulative marketing; those forces push people to reject connectivity and to want to live in monocultures.

The third contradiction is that human-scaled cities must be market-driven and implemented by legislation, but people don’t seem to be ready to do what is required. Any hope for a positive change must come from an educated society that demands good urbanism instead of its β€œjunk food equivalent”. Enough popular support has to build up to pressure elected officials to make the necessary changes in urban codes. Those who need it the most β€” the young, the old, and the poor β€” are either not educated about city form, or have no influence. New Urbanist ideas have been embraced by upper-income groups simply because of their higher level of education. That is not because of any particular attraction between the compact city and any particular socioeconomic class.

Ultimately, the most disadvantaged classes of society can least afford the expense of sprawl, yet only those who are better educated see the reality of a human-scale urban environment.

The fourth contradiction is the institutionalization of sprawl. In addition to planning codes, sprawl has been adopted as an unshakeable standard by insurance companies and financial institutions. They are reluctant to finance or insure the compact city, but will automatically help to build sprawl because all their offices and agents have been doing this for decades. That mindset is permanently fixed to the extent that even when natural disasters wipe out vast areas of sprawl, the bureaucracy does not permit them being rebuilt as compact city. An opportunity to finally get rid of anti-urban patterns and to reconfigure our cities is thus missed. All the discussion about wasting time in commuting, and wasting one’s salary on gasoline seems to be for nothing, if it will not influence rebuilding when an opportunity presents itself. This may be interpreted alternately as the bureaucracy doing the β€œsafe” thing; or as criminal willfulness.

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12. CONCLUSION.

This essay put forward a radical idea shared by many urbanists today: that the ultra-high-density city is outdated. There are essential differences with other authors, however. Unlike some of my colleagues who abandon any urban principles out of frustration, I condemn suburban sprawl and high-rise buildings as equally unworkable. Supporting AndrΓ©s Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, I proposed a β€œnew” ordered urban form: the compact city. This new urban typology looks remarkably like the old geometry of small-town and village living, so it is really a return to traditional urbanism. Where it is radical is that it requires a complete rewriting of the zoning codes. That is essential, since theoretical urbanism is ineffective if the present anti-urban codes remain unchanged.

This essay also contained an implicit condemnation of planners and designers who refuse to distinguish between good and bad urbanism, or to offer any workable solutions. That is the equivalent of doctors refusing to diagnose and cure patients, deciding to give an equal chance to the microbes. Prominent designers talk about the urban condition, labeling the disconnection of our cities (and civilization) as a new, exciting phenomenon: a natural evolution (instead of extinction) of the city. They also accept, without question, the massive destruction of traditional urbanism taking place in China and the developing world as β€œinevitable progress”. Urbanists have a responsibility to intervene; they cannot be neutral observers. From now on, the world can only rely on pragmatic urbanists who are willing to tackle practical issues to create compact cities for humans.

"The Fractal Nature of the Architectural Orders", por Daniele Capo

A discussion of architecture and fractals can lead to ambiguous territory [Ostwald 2001; Balmond 1997; Jencks 1997a; Jencks 1997b; Eisenman 1986]. The aim of the present paper is to test with regards to architectural elements certain concepts that are proper to fractal geometry. The purpose is not to show that the architectural orders are true fractal objects, but rather that how fractal "instruments" can be used to approach certain objects and what kinds of information can be gleaned by such an approach. It is worthwhile mentioning that an architectural element is only approximately fractal, since it cannot have details that are infinitely small; thus, in this regard, I prefer not to speak of "fractal architecture," but rather of architecture "with a fractal nature."

As a guide, we can take the definition of fractal sets F laid out by Flaconer [1990: xx-xxi]:

i. F has a fine structure, that is, details at an arbitrarily small scale;
ii. F is too irregular to be described in a traditional geometric language, both locally and globally;
iii.F often has some form of self-similarity, perhaps approximate or statistical.
iv. Usually the "fractal dimension" of F (defined in one way or another) is greater than its topological dimension;
v. In the most part of the cases, F can be defined in a very simple way, perhaps recursively.

In the field of architecture, Carl Bovill [1996] performed a fractal analysis by measuring, by means of the method of box-counting, the fractal dimension of some works of Wright and Corbusier. In the present paper I would like to make some observations on the implications of an architecture with a fractal nature, and in particular, to demonstrate how a discussion of this kind is well suited to the architectural orders (it appears that thus far the architectural orders have never been subject to a fractal interpretation).

The architectural orders can be taken as meaningful case studies for several reasons. In the first place, the object of study is easily defined; secondly, the analysis can be limited only to vertical successions of elements that are clearly disparate; through focussing on only one dimension, an analysis can be perfomed in a systematic and precise fashion.

In spite of its simplicity, or perhaps because of it, the example of the architectural orders furnishes a very clear image of how fractal analysis can be applied to architecture in general and contributes to the resolution of the ambivalence concerning the meaning of the term "fractal" in the field of architecture.

A DEFINITION OF THE OBJECT UNDER EXAMINATION
The architectural orders taken into consideration are those defined by Palladio in his treatise on architecture (Fig. 1) [Palladio 1992: 30-67]. The analysis will focus on the succession of vertical elements. In essence, one takes the intersection between a straight line and the segments that separate one element from another, and this set of points is considered to be the element in question. This may appear to be an over-simplification, but it is also true that in this way a complete analysis is made possible. Further, the error that might be due to this abstraction can, at the most, result in the de-fractalization of the order. Thus, if we are able to demonstrate a coherence between our abstraction and the fractal hypothesis, then we are justified in saying that the actual order also possesses a fractal nature, perhaps even greater than that which we hypothesized. For now, however, let us accept the idea of investigating the way in which the surface is structured in one dimension.

METHODOLOGY
There are two methods by which the investigation is carried out. The first consists in measuring the box-counting dimension of the set of points defined above. The second consists in an analysis of the relationship between number and dimension of the intervals between the points (that is, of the elements that form the architectural order).

With the first method (Fig. 2), we count the number of small squares that are "occupied" by some point of the set being investigated, and at each successive passage, we divide the side of the square by two. Rather than using the classic method of box-counting, we will use a slightly modified version, "the information dimension" [1], which takes into consideration the number of points that fall in each square. The values obtained are placed on a graph so that the number of squares occupied are laid out on the x-axis, and the logarithm of the inverse of the side of the square are laid out on the y-axis.[2] By means of a statistical analysis the straight line is obtained that best approximates the distribution of points and the coefficient of correlation, which tells how valid it is. The slant of the line represents the fractal dimension of the set of points for the architectural order. In order to obtain the dimension of the architectural order (that is, the dimension of the original drawing, taking into account only the horizontal rows), it is sufficient to add 1 to the result obtained.[3]

The second method (Fig. 3) consists in counting the number of spaces with a length greater than length u, which is varied by halving it. The result is placed on a logarithmic graph in which the number of spaces is laid out on the x-axis, and the value of u on the y-axis. This system derives from the kind of analysis suggested by Nikos Salingaros.[4] In this case as well it is necessary to determine the slant of the line that best approximates the data and the degree of correlation between the two.

It should be observed that the advantage of undertaking an analysis of only one dimension is that the trend of the data can be immediately visualized. Given that we are talking about a set of points and not of a true fractal, it can be expected that, when the investigation is refined, the result tends to zero;[5] what counts is how slowly it does so (that is, how much more it tends towards an authentic fractal). This is easily verified from the point where the curve formed by the data flattens out to the point of becoming horizontal. The fractal coherence can be estimated, then, by means of a simple visual comparison of the data, which is not so automatic if the investigation is extended into the plane. In this case we have the values of the dimensions tending towards one, which is more difficult to perceive with the naked eye.[6]

COMPARISION
The analysis thus conducted leads to a set of results, but it is important that they be compared with a control situation purposely constructed to possess given fractal characteristics. Analyzing our "artificial" order provides us with a kind of litmus paper which allows us to verify the investigation. The limit that we imposed of treating only the succession of vertical elements once again works to our advantage in that we can easily construct a similar paragon. We can imagine reading the succession of elements typical of the architectural orders as a Cantor set. In fact, in the former as in the latter, we find large spaces surrounded by small spaces that are, in their turn, surrounded by still smaller spaces. At this point we must define a model based on a modification of the traditional Cantor set and subject it to analysis (Fig. 4). A first check can be effected by a direct visual comparison, drawing an architectural order and putting it next to a real one. When a certain plausibility of the hypothsis on the basis of the model is observed, we go to the same investigation discussed earlier in the section on methodology, and the results are compared.

RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION
The fractal analysis conducted on three orders of Palladio, the Corinthian, the Doric, and the Composite, and on the control model, showed a fundamental coherence with a fractal interpretation.

The "information dimension" method shows that all three of Palladio's orders maintain a certain consistency of the data up to the eighth level, indicating that the value of the dimension is demolished only when the count is based on squares with a small side that is equal to 1/256 of the height of the entire order. If we consider a total height of 10 meters, we can conclude that the fractal coherence is maintained down to a detail of 4 centimeters, which is not surprising considering that, in the architectural orders, that are mouldings that are exceedingly small.

The second method validates the results of the first, showing how the number of elements continues to increase as their height gradually diminishes, a characteristic that is essential to fractal objects. In this case, as above, the most important result is the large interval on which the fractal interpretation has been effected. The trend not being perfectly linear would seem to deny that this is true, even though the coefficient of correlation is still very high, but if the form of the graph is carefully considered, it can be discerned that the most important element is the tendency of the details to grow as their height decreases.

The "control" order, explicitly constructed with a fractal recursion, furnishes results that are very similar to those obtained from the analysis of Palladio's orders, reinforcing still more this interpretation. This helps us to understand that the jumps present in the graph relative to the second method are inevitable.[7]

The fractal dimension measured is not fixed, as can be easily verified in the graphs, but oscillates. The important thing is to notice that it also oscillates for the control order, and is greater than than the theoretical one that is known in this case. The problem therefore reduces down to two facts: the first is that the method itself has limits, as was noted above; the second is that we must not consider the orders as "simple" fractals, but rather as examples of multi-fractals in which diverse dimensions coexist.[8] Even taking into account these limits, it can be brought out in any case that the dimension runs between 0.6 and 0.7.[9] Knowing that these values are approximate by excess, we can in any case affirm that the dimension can be collocated in a position that tends to mediate between 0 and 1, where 0 represents the null set (a total absence of any element of interest) and 1 the completely full set (visual chaos, where every part is filled) (Fig. 5). The geometry of these architectural objects strike a balance between the two extremes, a fact that is held to be extremely important by both Mandelbrot [1981: 45-47] and Eglash [1999: 171].

Understanding the orders, which for centuries have provided the basis for Western architecture, in light of the analysis presented above, brings us to certain considerations. The first is that it allows us to observe, through the analysis of numerical data, how small elements are inserted in a continuous and coherent whole. If we interpret this structure fractally we do not distinguish between the essential and the inessential; everything is essential and so creates in this way a greater (fractal) coherence. It could be said, in this light, that the general form is not what counts the most, but rather, what is really important is the way in which parts hold together. For example, by means of this analysis it could be said that the "abstractions" that reduced the architectural orders to their principal elements (as in certain architectures of totalitarian regimes of the first half of the last century) did not grasp this fact, while an architect like Wright [10], even while not replicating the form of the orders, realized an architecture which, from the point of view of fractals, came very close to them.

The second observation is that the Cantor set constitutes an approximate yet realistic model of the kind of fractal geometry exemplified by the architectural orders. This idea could be carried forward by hypothesizing a simple process of "budding out" which gives rise to structural architectural systems of a similar nature (Fig. 6). Starting with few elements, a pier on a plinth, experiments could be undertaken to see what would happen when a greater number of elements was distinguished, introducing others above and beneath, and continuing this operation a certain number of times. It can be readily observed that this means of proceeding, based on a simple logic, is capable of generating a very high level of differentiation, giving rise in the end to something that comes very close to the actual forms taken by the architectural orders through history. The kind of structuring that we have seen presents us then with a peculiarity from the point of view of perception. In fact, we can affirm that structures with fractal natures are visually very robust. We can observe this by comparing two drawings, one representing Sierpinski's carpet, the other a square subdivided into smaller squares (Fig. 7). By slightly modifying the two drawings it can be seen that the second reflects the effects of modification in an accentuated way, while the first seems effected to a lesser degree. This characteristic of fractal figures could account for the fact that the architectural orders, even while subject to modifications in the parts of which they are constituted, maintain their "order;" if their geometry was not of the fractal nature discussed in this paper, the order would diminish.

NOTES
[1] The "information dimension" consists in keeping a count of the greater or lesser probability that a square will be "filled" by some part of the figure. For the definition, see [Peitgen, et al. 1998]. return to text

[2] For our purposes we consider the height of the entire architectural order, from the ground to the uppermost moulding, to be one unit. return to text

[3] This problem can be taken back to that of the multiplication of two sets with different fractal dimensions, the dimension of which is equal to the sum of the dimensions. Cf. [Falconer 1990]. return to text

[4] For a discussion of Salingaros's position on "fractal" architecture, see [Salingaros and West 1999]. The method that we suggest can also be extracted from the analysis of Mandelbrot [1987] of the Cantor set. The links between the architectural orders and the Cantor set will become evident later in the text. return to text

[5] A fractal object such as the Cantor set will never tend to zero but, in the case of real objects, we cannot ever arrive at this level of abstraction. For this reason we have introduced the definition of architecture as having a "fractal nature," to indicate that architecture which, within certain limits, behaves in a way that is similar to a fractal. return to text

[6] It is possible to propose a different means of representation which would still present the same advantages given above. return to text

[7] In essence, the form of the graph is effected by the fact that the length u has been halved each time. The jumps represent the fact that in those points the height of the elements "jumped" in a more rapid manner. return to text

[8] We are unable to find actual examples of applications of methods of multi-fractal analysis to architecture. Within the limits of this brief paper we can only advance the hypothesis that a similar approach can furnish new information about the geometry of architecture. return to text

[9] 0.6 and 0.7 are the dimensions of the set of points that has been found with our analysis. The dimension of the succession of mouldings varies therefore between 1.6 and 1.7. return to text

[10] For studies of Wright's architecture with regards to fractals, see [Bovill 1996] and [Eaton 1998]. return to text


Daniele Capo, "The Fractal Nature of the Architectural Orders", Nexus Network Journal, vol. 6 no. 1 (Spring 2004), http://www.nexusjournal.com/Capo.html

4 de enero de 2006

Rafael Moneo abre 2006 en el podcast de SCALAE


Mi lugar favorito para compras compulsivas es la librería de la Escuela de Arquitectura de Madrid, que recomiendo como alternativa a las habitualmente huecas estanterías TASCHEN de los VIPS...

Afortunadamente para mi bolsillo, a las 19:00 horas cierra sus puertas, con lo que no me suele quedar otro remedio que pasar la vista por el escaparate, con la tienda ya cerrada, para codiciar lo expuesto tras el cristal.

En mi última visita a tienda abierta, me hice con una preciosa edición retro del Modulor de Le Corbusier (Ed. Apóstrofe), "Inchoate, an experiment in architectural education", de Marc Angelil (Actar), y "KM3, excursions on capacities", megalibro y DVD de MVRDV (también de Actar). En otros post iré comentando mi impresión a estas lecturas.

A última hora, incluí instintivamente una pequeña publicación desplegable, atraido por la entrevista, anunciada en portada, con Tuñón y Mansilla.

De ese modo di con los Pliegos SCALAE, y tirando de la madeja, con su blog, sus podcast y su acuario. Me divirtió bastante la visita, y me inspiró para hacer un divertimento sobre peces fractales. En mi bloqueado disco duro descansaban todos los podcast, que ahora estoy volviendo a descargar.

Recomiendo vivamente una visita a , aunque me consta que muchos lo conoceis, porque habeis hecho el camino inverso, gracias al pez que Felix Arranz ha tenido la gentileza de incluir en su acuario.

Espero que disfruteis como yo lo he hecho, con las conversaciones con nuevos arquitectos, o con consagrados de la talla de Guallart o Llinás. Como regalo de año nuevo, SCALAE nos ha traido, como avance de lo que será 2006, nada menos que una conversación con Rafael Moneo...

2006 y la conjura de los aparatos

El año ha comenzado con una extraña conjura de aparatos eléctricos... Porque no puede ser casual -no, no puede serlo- que un lavavajillas, un disco duro portátil, un cepillo de dientes eléctrico, y una conexión a Internet, se hayan estropeado a la vez. Podría haber ocurrido en el cambio de milenio, pero estamos en 2006, y cada una de las averías responde, al parecer, a motivos diferentes...

El lavavajillas se estropeó, a decir del técnico, por una sobrecarga de tensión (entiendo que achacable a la compañía eléctrica). El infarto electrónico hizo que el cerebro del aparato se negara a pedir agua de la toma, como el nuestro se puede negar a que las piernas intenten caminar... Y como la placa viene sellada con una capa de silicona, lo que antes se arreglaba cambiando un componente o un fusible, exige hoy un trasplante completo. Quizás el lavavajillas se ha automutilado, en un gesto de rebeldía contra la sobredosis de detergente que acompaña a estas fechas.

Lo de la memoria portátil es más grave, en la medida en que muchos ingenuos aprovechamos estas fechas para formatear el disco duro interno, para hacer limpieza de archivos obsoletos o corruptos. De modo que hoy me encuentro huérfano de miles de bytes (im)prescindibles, que se resisten a salir de sus sectores tras la resaca de fin de año... Se da la paradoja adicional de que, mientras se anuncian discos duros portátiles con 160 Gb por menos de 200 €, el servicio técnico me amenaza con una factura estratosférica si quiero recuperar mis 30 Gb de vivencias varias. Está claro que, en este caso, se trata de una venganza del disco auxiliar, en respuesta a la ejecución de los archivos homónimos del disco interno.

El cepillo de dientes ha pasado a mejor vida sin más, negándose a recargar, tras una rutinaria vida de dos años. Curiosamente, se va, como llegó, cerca del día de Reyes... ¿Estarán programados para su autodestrucción y reposición?

Por último, Telefónica ha tenido a bien felicitar el nuevo año a algunos usuarios de tarifa plana, con la suspensión del servicio durante un par de días. Sin duda lo ha hecho por nuestro bien, para que nos dediquemos intensamente a la vida familiar... Pero me angustia comprobar, cuando no la tienes, la dependencia que causa la información que llega cada día a través de Internet.

En definitiva, el año ha comenzado con extrañas coincidencias. Es decir, como cualquier otro año...