Masterplanning the Adaptive City: Computational Urbanism in the Twenty-First Century

311 Pages·2014·34.74 MB·English

by  Tom Verebes

MASTERPLANNING
THE ADAPTIVE CITY
Computational design has become widely accepted in mainstream architecture,
but this is the first book to advocate applying computational urbanism to
create adaptable masterplans for rapid urban growth, and urban heterogeneity.
Practitioners and researchers here discuss ideas from the fields of architecture,
urbanism, the natural sciences, computer science, economics, and mathematics
to find the means with which to manage urban change in Asia and developing
countries throughout the world. Divided into four parts—the historical and
theoretical background, our current situation,methodologies, and prototypical
practices—the book includes a series of essays, interviews, case studies, and
original research to accompany chapters by editor Tom Verebes, giving you the
most comprehensive overview of this approach.
Essays by Marina Lathouri, Jorge Fiori, Jonathan Solomon, Patrik
Schumacher, Peter Trummer, and David Jason Gerber.
Interviews with Dana Cuff,Xu Weiguo,Matthew Pryor, Tom Barker, Su
Yunsheng, and Brett Steele.
Case studies by Zaha Hadid Architects, James Corner Field Operations, XWG
Studio, MAD, OCEAN CN, Plasma Studio, Groundlab, Peter Trummer, Serie
Architects, dotA, and Rocker-Lange Architects.
Tom Verebesis Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty
of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong, and Director of OCEAN CN
Consultancy Network.
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EDITED BY
TOM VEREBES
MASTERPLANNING
THE ADAPTIVE
CITY
COMPUTATIONAL
URBANISM IN
THE TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY
First published 2014
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
©2014 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice:Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Verebes, Tom.
Masterplanning the adaptive city : computational urbanism in the
twenty-first century / Tom Verebes.
pages cm
Includes index.
1. City planning--Data processing. 2. Urbanization--History--21st
century. I. Title.
HT166.V463 2013
307.1'2160285—dc23 2012046308
ISBN: 978-0-415-53479-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-53480-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-42805-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Gothic
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
Acquisition Editor: Wendy Fuller
Editorial Assistant: Laura Williamson
Production Editor: Jennifer Birtill
Dedicated to Dean Ralph Lerner
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CONTENTS
xi FOREWORD >Mark Burry
xiii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS >Tom Verebes
1 INTRODUCTION >Tom Verebes
5 PART I >CONTEXT: ENDURANCE, OBSOLESCENCE, AND CHANGE—
ATHEORETICAL FOUNDATION
7 CHAPTER 1 >THE CITY AS CULTURAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL EXPRESSION
>Tom Verebes
7 1.1 Globalization and Networks
13 1.2 The Edge of Chaos
15 1.3 The Associative Logic of Urbanism
20 CHAPTER 2 >PROJECTIVE ARCHITECTURES: THE QUESTION OF BORDERS
IN A CONNECTED WORLD >Marina Lathouri
23 CHAPTER 3 >CONVERSATION 1 >Dana Cuff with Tom Verebes
28 CHAPTER 4 >THE NEW NEW >Tom Verebes
28 4.1 Ancient China and The New
30 4.2 Urban Europe: A Brief History of Its Industrialization and Planning
34 4.3 The Paradigm of the New World Instant City
36 4.4 The Dubai Mirage
40 CHAPTER 5 >INFORMAL CITY: DESIGN AS POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT >
Jorge Fiori
48 CHAPTER 6 >CONVERSATION 2 >Xu Weiguo, Xu Feng and Gao Yan
54 CHAPTER 7 >URBANIZATION AND ERASURE >Tom Verebes
54 7.1 The Trouble with Speed Freaks
57 7.2 Ghosts of the Past
60 7.3 An Ecological Model for Twenty-First Century Urbanism
62 7.4 The Problem of Functionality,Endurance, and Obsolescence
64 7.5 Time, Change, and Adaptation
68 CHAPTER 8 >PUBLIC-SPHERES: ATMOSPHERE AND ADAPTABLE SPACE
IN HONG KONG >Jonathan D. Solomon
69 Something in the Air
71 Hong Kong’s Public-Sphere
73 The City as Natural Artifice
75 CHAPTER 9 >CONVERSATION 3>Matthew Pryor with Tom Verebes
80 CASE STUDY >QIANHAI MASTERPLAN, SHENZEN, CHINA >James Corner
Field Operations
82 CASE STUDY >FLOWING GARDENS, INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL EXPO,
XI’AN, CHINA >Plasma Studio
viii
CONTENTS
85 PART II >CONCEPTS/PARADIGMS: NEW PARADIGMS AND PRACTICES
IN URBANISM
87 CHAPTER 10 >THE DEATH OF MASTERPLANNING IN THE AGE OF
INDETERMINACY >Tom Verebes
87 10.1 Planning and/or Emergence
92 10.2 Teleological Fallacies of the Masterplanner
95 10.3 Principles of Uncertainty: Planning after the Global Financial Crisis
99 10.4 Complex systems, Equilibrium, and Emergence
106 10.5 Parametric Patterns and Models of Evolutionary Urbanism
118 CHAPTER 11 >FREE-MARKET URBANISM: URBANISM BEYOND PLANNING
>Patrik Schumacher
123 CHAPTER 12 >Conversation 4 >Tom Barker and Tom Verebes
129 CASE STUDY >ONE NORTH SINGAPORE SCIENCE HUB, SINGAPORE >Zaha
Hadid Architects
132 CASE STUDY >URBAN CHINA RESEARCH >OCEAN CN
135 CASE STUDY >KAILI ETHNIC CULTURAL COMPOUND, GUIZHOU, CHINA >dotA
and Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute
139 PART III >METHODOLOGIES: TOOLS AND MOVING TARGETS
141 CHAPTER 13 >A NEW TOOLBOX FOR ADAPTABLE MASTERPLANNING >
Tom Verebes
141 13.1 Models as Information
144 13.2 Parameter Space, Solution Space, Urban Space
148 13.3 Simulation and Gaming Environments as Management Systems
153 CHAPTER 14 >MORPHOGENETIC URBANISM: TOWARD A MATERIALIST
APPROACH TO MASTERPLANNING >Peter Trummer
154 The Aggregated Figure
156 The Ground as Matter
158 CASE STUDY >PARAMETRIC PEARL RIVER DELTA >OCEAN CN
162 CASE STUDY>SERIAL SYSTEMS: REMODELING HONG KONG HOUSING
>OCEAN CN
165 CASE STUDY >DENSITY AND OPENNESS REVISITED: RECODING BUILDING
BULK IN HONG KONG >Rocker-Lange Architects
168 CHAPTER 15 >COMPUTATIONAL URBANISM >Tom Verebes
168 15.1 The Evolution of Computational Methodologies and Urbanism
175 15.2 Automation, Optioneering, and Optimization
180 15.3 Parametric Urbanism
186 CHAPTER 16 >PARAMETRIC URBANISM REDUX: URBAN DESIGN AND
COMPLEXITY IN AN AGE OF INFINITE COMPUTING >David Jason Gerber
193 CHAPTER 17 >CONVERSATION 5 >Su Yunsheng with Tom Verebes
ix
CONTENTS
198 CASE STUDY >YAN JIAO HUA RUN 4D CITY, HEBEI PROVINCE, CHINA >
dotA and OCEAN CN
205 CASE STUDY >MICA URBAN PICTURESQUE, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND >
Group8 Architects and Kaisersrot
209 CASE STUDY >THE MEGABLOCK AND ITS POPULATED FIELD, AND THE
AGGREGATION OF STREETS >Peter Trummer, Associative Design Program,
Berlage Institute
214 CASE STUDY >ENDURANCE AND OBSOLESCENCE TOOLBOX: STUDIES
OF ADAPTABLE MASTERPLANNING >The University of Hong Kong
221 PART IV >PROJECTIONS: PROTOTYPING MULTIPLE FUTURES
223 CHAPTER 18 >ENDURANCE, OBSOLESCENCE, AND THE ADAPTIVE CITY >
Tom Verebes
223 18.1 New Prototypical Practices
226 18.2 Typological Variants and Topological Transformations
230 18.3 Icons and Innovation
232 18.4 Control, Resilience, and Change
237 CASE STUDY >DEEP GROUND: REGENERATION MASTERPLAN FOR
LONGGANG CENTER AND LONGCHENG SQUARE, SHENZHEN, CHINA
>Groundlab
241 CASE STUDY >XIN TIAN DI FACTORY H, HANGZHOU, CHINA >Serie Architects
245 CASE STUDY>REGENERATION OF PHOENIX SHOPPING STREET,BEIJING,
CHINA >XWG Studio
248 CASE STUDY>ORDOS MUSEUM, ORDOS, INNER MONGOLIA, CHINA >MAD
253 CASE STUDY >LIANTANG/HEUNG YUEN WAI BOUNDARY CONTROL POINT
PASSENGER TERMINAL BUILDING, HONG KONG SAR/SHENZHEN, CHINA
>Hong Kong Parametric Design Association,dotA, and OCEAN CN
259 CASE STUDY >COUNTERPART CITIES: FUTUREPORT, HONG KONG SAR,
SHENZHEN, CHINA >The University of Hong Kong Research Team, Led by
Tom Verebes
266 CHAPTER 19 >CONVERSATION 6 >Brett Steele with Tom Verebes
273 CONCLUSION >Tom Verebes
275 BIBLIOGRAPHY
283 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
291 INDEX