My next write up from the “ History of Landscape ” class I’mauditing at the University of Marylandcovers something that landscape architects contemplate but is off the radar for garden blogger and their readers – urban purpose . But it was my favorite lecture by our brilliant teacherDr . Caren Yglesias , Ph.D. , AIA , Affil . ASLAso here ya go !
Caren select the iconic public spaces of London , Paris , Barcelona and Vienna to elucidate and I ask her why :
I call up they are all successful , and my hope was that student recognize that in effect urban open space does not have a undivided excogitation solution , but that the places and paths can all contribute in their own agency to an power to last in a metropolis .
The Rue de RIvoli, shown here in 1855, was the first boulevard built by Haussmann, and it served as the model for the others.
London ’s square
London is a metropolis that spread outward through sprawling , thanks to substructure build up during the Industrial Revolution that “ allow people to move off from the crowd , sordid , and disease - prone city with its pollute industries along the Thames to the healthier suburbia , ” quote Caren .
“ This mean that state estate owners who attend the city go toward them could evolve the land in front of their homes as square that were co - owned by the surround ground proprietor . These are now the London square , hand and glove - owned with private access , but still providing air and trees to all . ”
She notes that “ This is alike to Bryant Park in Manhattan , which is a public parking lot restored and maintained by a lowly revenue enhancement on the surrounding property owners . reinforcement by the ‘ flesh ’ around a park , property that gain the most by its proximity , is becoming the exemplar for funding urban public park . ”
That ’s one way for cities to have gullible infinite , I guess .
Wikinotes that some of the square are do it as city square toes because they ’re mostly hardscape while others contain communal gardens and are called garden squares . “ Some of these garden are now candid to the populace , while others , for exercise around Notting Hill , are still fenced and secret . ”
To glint inside these private spaces , go during the “ Open Garden Squares Weekend ” that take position on the 2d weekend in June . In 2013 over 200 gardens take in part , including the garden of the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street .
Paris ’s street
From 1853 to 1870 central Paris was transform by a Brobdingnagian public works program commission by Emperor Napoleon III and directed by George - Eugene Haussman . It included “ the demolition of medieval neck of the woods that were deemed overcrowded and unhealthy by functionary at the time ; the building of wide boulevard ; new parks and squares ; the appropriation of the suburban area border Paris ; and the construction of new sewers , fountains and aqueducts . ” ( Source : Wiki :)
According to Caren , “ All this take to Paris becoming a ‘ upright metropolis ’ with mixed commercial and residential uses , with sept of varied income sharing the same construction . ”
Which help Paris grow upward in concentration , rather than by sprawl .
The Rue de RIvoli , shown here in 1855 , was the first boulevard built by Haussmann , and it wait on as the model for the others .
And the answer obvious to even the most cursory tourer was the creation of a coherent , legible look for Paris , with wide , parkland - like street . ( provision matters ! )
Barcelona ’s Blocks
By the mid-19thCentury , not only was the metropolis center push but the metropolis ’s defense against invading force-out – the Medieval wall that surrounded it and the cleared plains beyond – were no longer need . So a design was develop to expand the city .
The plan by Ildefons Cerda created the Eixample District using “ straight blocks with court interiors and tilt corner at the crossway . The octagon - form Cartesian product keep the public blank more undecided with freely flow aura and the courtyards become what Lyn Lofland call up ‘ parochial space . ’ That is , neither private nor public , but shared by the community of each finical blockage . ” ( Quoting Caren . )
But at a site aboutfailed architectureI see the plan called a “ recede utopia . ”
What began as a utopian superior program defend publicly accessible green space has today become an enclosed and privatized neighbourhood specifically lacking this publicly approachable green blank .
The Rue de RIvoli, shown here in 1855, was the first boulevard built by Haussmann, and it served as the model for the others.
The majority of the auction block were soon build up on all four sides while far exceeding their originally plan acme . block were developed developed without wish to the plan . Later , under Franco ’s regime , the block were further built up , resembling something more akin to Soviet auction block - brutalism than a green , ventilate , publicly approachable neck of the woods . In complete contrast to Cerda ’s original visual modality , the fundamental courtyards were often closed off and are now commonly used as a gondola park .
Credit : FLICKR / GUIDO BERGES
rather , many reclaimed court seem as prescriptive , dusty , hardscaped undefended plazas with few users .
Vienna ’s Walls
Caren writes that “ Like Barcelona , late 19thcentury Vienna no longer needed its justificative walls , which were tear down and replaced by the Ringstrasse , a 500 - metre - wide street with lanes for automobile and light-headed - rail , dedicated threefold cycle paths , and walker sidewalks , all safely separated by generous Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree planters . ”
It ’s an example of a grand visual sense for pretend unexampled spaces in the respectable public interest . Now it admit bicycle path , trolley lane , et cetera furcate by mature tree and nontextual matter .
Photos by Caren
A vista on Citiesnotes that “ The boulevard is still as impressive now as it was during the crepuscle years of the Habsburg Empire , although heavy traffic has made it less enjoyable to take the air . ”
Thanks , Caren , for immensely broaden my whimsey of “ landscape painting ” and for making me want to shoot the breeze these cities again . I ’d appreciate them so much more now .
Credit: FLICKR/GUIDO BERGES
Photos by Caren
