VISION, PLAN and REALITY. urban design between conceptualization and realization

Transcription

1 VISION, PLAN and REALITY urban design between conceptualization and realization PhD thesis NICOLAI STEINØ Aarhus School of Architecture August 2003 I

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4 VISION, PLAN and REALITY urban design between conceptualization and realization PhD thesis by Nicolai Steinø Submitted to the Aarhus School of Architecture August 2003 Supervisor: Niels Albertsen, Ma. Pol. Sci., Aarhus School of Architecture An electronic version (pdf-format) of this PhD thesis is obtainable at Cover illustration: Helle Thorell IV

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 1 Introduction 1 2 Skejbygård and Seden Syd: Two Visions of the Suburb 21 3 Visions of Urban Form 45 4 Normative Theories of Urban Planning 77 5 Views and Visions of the City Skejbygård and Seden Syd: The Urban Development Process The Process of Urban Design The Processes of the City Conclusion 211 Illustrations 227 Literature 233 III

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7 The preface is usually the space where the author mentions all the people who have influenced his or her work in some way. I would like to mention the author. Although many people have influenced my work in many ways, making it into what it has become, would not have been possible without me. This me, however, is not the same as it was, when it all started. With a Master s degree from the Aarhus School of Architecture in the early 1990s, my professional skills lay primarily with drafting and PREFACE designing. With a focus on project oriented design studio work during my studies, my theoretical insights were limited. And my later experiences from architectural practice did not change that. When I embarked on my PhD study, I had never written anything longer than a high school essay. And I had hardly written anything more intellectually challenging than shopping lists since high school. So, when I was facing the new challenge of performing a PhD study, I was almost completely unprepared for the task. Not only did I lack important knowledge, skills, and experience, necessary to perform a PhD study, but all of a sudden, all I knew and felt good at, seemed useless in this new situation. Therefore, the first many months of my PhD study were uphill. It was a time of professional and personal crisis, and more than once, I was seriously considering to throw in the towel. Only slowly, the situation started to change, and it was not until I went to the USA to be a visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York, that I began to feel comfortable with my new academic identity. Since then, everything has been different. As the realm of academic research started to unfold, my perspectives changed. What I had previously conceived as a temporary excursion in my professional life, before returning to architectural practice, now became a new direction for it. Therefore, while I will leave it to others to judge the importance of my contribution to the world of research, it is beyond question that research has made an important contribution to my world. But making my world into what it has become, would not have been possible without all the people friends, colleagues, and others who have supported me along the way. Well knowing that I take the risk of missing someone out, I would therefore like to thank some of the people who have supported me personally, professionally, and practically, in becoming who I have become, and in doing what I have done. I would like to thank my interviewees in Odense, Aarhus, and elsewhere, for lending me their time and insights in relation to my case study; the City Administrations of the Cities of Aarhus and Odense for giving me access to archival information concerning my two cases; Jakob and Hanne Dalsgaard for triggering the idea of going to the USA, by coming over for tea; my friends and neighbors Marianne Justesen and Hans Christian Jensen, Peter and Kristina Berg, Anette Kristiansen and Muhammad Hosseini, and all their many children the supper club for making me remember that there is more to life than books and word processors; my colleagues at the Welfare City Project, Aarhus School of Architecture, for inspiring talks and discussions during seminars and other activities; Bent Flyvbjerg and Petter Næss, Aalborg University, for their courses on case study research and narratology, and planning theory, respectively Figure 0.1 V

8 both of which have had decisive impact on my work; the Knud Højgaard and Margot & Thorvald Dreyer Foundations for their financial support of my stay in the USA; Henrik W. Jensen for supporting my attempts to find a sponsor for my stay in the USA; Grahame Shane for sponsoring my stay at Columbia University, for offering his friendship, hospitality, and practical help, and as a valuable discussion partner and commentator on parts my writing; Paul Gold and Allison Taylor for offering their cross-atlantic help without ever having met me and my family; Antje Hübner and Anja Olbrisch for turning up at our house warming party in the New York apartment, and for making New York a great social experience, together with David Paul, Tim Baldenius, Katrin Dieckmann, Shaun Myles and many others; Cynthia Mullins-Simmons and Wanda Boines-Miller at PS 36 in Harlem for making our son Anton s first year in school a good experience for him and his parents; Peter Marcuse for his valuable comments on parts of my writing, and for inviting me, together with Tom Vietoritz, to take part in the PhD planning colloquium at Columbia University; my fellow PhD students at the colloquium for their interest in my research and their eagerness to discuss; Kitty Chibnik at the Avery Library for helping me find my way at the library, which was my place of work for eight months; the faculty, staff and students at the Aalborg University, School of Architecture and Design, for providing an inspiring research and teaching environment, and to René Qvist Jensen and Trine Skammelsen in particular, for their practical assistance on putting this thesis together. A very special thank to my girlfriend and wife, Helle Thorell, for her patience and perseverance all the way through, for taking care of our sons, Anton and Carl, for making it meaningful at all to speak of us all as a family, and for marrying me without hesitation, in order to be eligible for a spouse visa to the USA. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my long time friend and former fellow student, Bülent Diken, the first scholar I ever knew personally, for talking me into pursuing a PhD in the first place. Nic Aalborg August 2003 VI