ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship
between urban form and sustainable
development. In particular, it outlines a
typology of city forms. The three main
archetypal urban forms discussed are: the
linear city; the city set out in the form of a
grid; and the highly centralized or inward-
looking city. The form of each archetypal
plan may be modified by the prevailing
metaphor: the city as a replica or model of
the cosmos; the city as a machine; or finally
the city as an organism. The grid layout, for
example, has been used to express physically
both the cosmic and the machine city
metaphors (Lynch, 1981). More rarely, as in
Gracehill, it has also been used to express the
community needs of the settlement built
according to the organic metaphor. The
Chinese model city uses a grid to relate the
city to a cosmic structure (Boyd, 1962;
Wheatley, 1971). In Chinese culture the
city is designed as a microcosm of the
universe, but complete in itself. In contrast,
the grid, when used to give form to the city
as a machine, emphasizes the autonomous
parts, each having a distinct function. Devices such as size, scale or the imposing axis are used to give emphasis to the dominance of the motor car or the world of business: they are never used in this context to mirror the universe. This difference can be illustrated graphically by the contrast between a Roman encampment or the project for a contemporary city by Le Corbusier with the Mandala, which sets out the Indian ideal pattern for city structure (Figure 7.1; see also Figures 6.25 and 6.32).
