Introduction
Man intervenes on the natural environment through the use of
forms, ingeniously limiting and distributing the space through
which he moves. The architectural phenomenon reflects the
harmonization of material possibilities and architecture, both
practically and theoretically, is a document of human civilization.
This visible documentation can only intrigue us into its history:
how did the urban space evolve and what were the factors that
influenced its transformation?
But the role of architecture is not limited to this, it also
proposes premises of thought. In recent years there have been
radical mutations without precedent: from the dogmatism of modern
movement to a pluralistic ideology that embraces the high tech. How
can architecture cope with the intricacies of human activity?
Mass transit, tourism and e-commerce are three of the most
important factors that determined the evolution of cities. In the
chronological order of their emergence. These factors will be
discussed, taking into account their influence on the development
of the city, the changes they brought to the urban landscape, how
they each contributed to the urban transformation and how they are
interconnected.
Mass TransitThe history of architecture shows us that each new
era rejects its predecessor in the name of modernity and Joseph
Belmont argues that, over time, these cycles become shorter while
the space becomes vaster. Pedestrian and vehicle circulation
arteries can be compared to the arteries of a heart in the way they
give life to the city and its communities. These arteries appeared
either chaotically due to economic or technological booms, or as a
product of an architectural plan, resulting in a mix of classic
geometry and chaos.
The city of Ancient Rome (second century CE) perfectly
illustrates the possibilities of the architectural plan. The two
primary roads intersecting in the Forum, together with the bridges
aqueducts, and traffic mediation laws demonstrate the extent at
which the Roman Empire developed and maintained their cities,
facilitating, among others, efficient transportation throughout
their cities.
This example leads us to urban morphology, the study of the form
of human settlements and the process of their formation and
transformation. From historical data, the importance of these forms
as created by previous generations was studied. However, scientists
try to see beyond these forms, and explore how and why these
organizations, processes and personalities were promoted,
implemented or even imposed. Renaissance thinkers, for example,
believed that the ideal town should be structured like in the
following images. Images: Baity, Michael & Longley, Paul
FRACTAL CITIES A Geometry of Form and Function, pg 23This structure
allowed for workers to live, with their families, at a distance of
up to a 10-15 minutes walk or donkey ride from their workplace.
However, this maximum distance grew with the invention of rail
vehicles - initially pulled by horses, later convening into
electric trams and even later taking the form of buses. The
development of transportation involves the territorial expansion of
the city, and helped the development of clearly defined city zones:
residential, commercial and industrial. Furthermore, when the
dependence on water transportation, which was more efficient in
terms of cost, time, safety and quality during a pre-mechanized
era, lessened, cities that were not located on navigable river
banks were able to grow and reach the levels of already established
cities.
Today, transportation faces another problem, the modern city
needs to address efficiently the commuters needs. For the first
5000 years of their existence, cities were static and would have
stayed so had it not been for the invention of the train. From
there on, cities developed at a quicker pace, eventually merging
into megalopolises. Commuting is in fact one of the characteristics
defining and creating the megalopolis. When the train was the main
means of transportation, traffic was bearable, but the new
mechanized city is unable to support the number of vehicles on the
road, causing constant traffic jams. The by-product, pollution,
initially created by the locomotives thick clouds of smoke, is now
caused by the means of personal transportation. Furthermore, people
earning their living in the mechanized city spend more time and
money to get out of the very city providing their income, either
because they live in the suburbs or because they own a second house
in the country. Nowadays, commuting mainly takes place between the
cities and their suburbs, but what will become of the planet in a
few years if we take into consideration the development of
aeronautics? There are already weekly flights between London and
Craiova, a city in Romania, that serve British commuters who work
at a Ford car factory in the Romanian city.
In this case, the development of transportation has caused
several repercussions and solutions for traffic decongestion, for
example, went from being innovative to being radical. Venice has
become the Occidental pioneer in excluding the mechanized vehicles
from the city, reminding us of Ancient Rome where traffic was
prohibited for half of the day. But even so, other projects prove
that radical decisions are not required. If some bridges in Italy
support shops and even residencies, why couldnt we make bridges to
run on top of streets? This was the idea behind a public
transportation vehicle proposed by Song Youzhou, a Chinese
researcher, which would be connected to the side of the road and
move above the cars, creating a leveled traffic flow.Song Youzhou's
invention, www.gizmag.cm/straddling-bus-headed-forus/16762/This
brings us back to the urban morphology. Ever since the cities have
become mechanized and began to expand, they suffered because of
following a standard model dating 5000 years back. Concentrating
the activities in a single commercial centre creates pressure in
the modern city and therefore, expansion is done through the
addition of rings - in the same way a tree trunk grows in
nature.
New challenges can be foreseen in the rapid and intense growth
of urban population, with cities already exceeding 20 million
inhabitants (Tokio 34m, New York 22m, Beijing 16m). The BBC
documentary "Welcome to Lagos," portrays some of the problems
encountered by the megaregions created by the poor population
migrating to the big cities. By migrating they don't move into a
city to have a decent life, but live at the margins of the city,
near the dumps in improvised tents. And still, they seem to be very
happy.
This picture is a shot from the documentary presenting the
conditions in which they live.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/apr/16/welcome-to-lagos-sam-wollastonOur
image upon the various types of our future is important, but, they
have to be organized in a structural form. The essence of
creativity is to play along with the absurd and only afterwards
introduce the rigorous critical analysis of these new
ideas.Tourism
The role of the modes of communication and transportation
increased in the twentieth century, especially in the second half
of the century when the explosion of demographics, urban spaces,
economics and tourism appeared. Trapped in a mechanized and
monotonous city, its dwellers want more space, more freedom of
movement, and the release of the narrow space can be obtained by
exploring other areas dominated by human architecture.
The relationship between tourism and architecture is complex.
Since ancient times, holy places attracted tourists. Whether it was
the Oracle of Delphi, or the more tangible architectural monuments
such as the world of the Renaissance, architectural monuments have
always brought a large influx of visitors.The Oracle of Delphi,
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-photo/alifebeinglived/3/1243309200/the-oracle-of-delphi.jpg/tpod.htmlOn
the other hand, the desire to attract tourists, to improve local
economy, nearly realized an audacious project to promote the area
across the individualistic preferences of a wide audience. For
modern planners the city is not designed as a simple collection of
houses and streets or as a monument but as a set of human beings,
based on their needs: housing, work, travel, leisure, etc.
The relationship between architecture and the creation of
tourism activity is also defined by shifting tourism routes and
objectives established by the routes and areas whose cultural,
architectural and touristic potential have been neglected. This
shift has multiple effects: relieving well-known sights of the
aggression of intensive tourism, presentation of new tourism areas
whether natural or man-made and socio-economic development of the
respective localities.Architectural structures that match the city
that hosts them, become the emblem of the city, some examples being
the Eiffel Tower for Paris or Sydneys Opera House. Sometimes, the
buildings give the city a new life, turning a small town in a star
of international tourism, such is the case of The Guggenheim Museum
in Bilbao, designed by architect Frank Gehry - one of the most
esteemed and admired contemporary architects, working with the
deconstructivist style. The economic success achieved has even
generated a new terminology in the field of architecture, we speak
of the "Bilbao effect 'or' wow-factor. Guggenheim Museum In Bilbao
Spain
http://thebesttraveldestinations.com/guggenheim-museum-bilbao-spain/Developing
a certain area in a city with the intention to attract
international tourists also puts pressure onto local authorities to
improve the adjacent areas. This happened in Bucharest, where the
Old Town was redeveloped, and as a result, by the summer of 2011,
the streets were teeming with foreign languages, causing the
redevelopment works in the entire city centre to be accelerated.
This proves that it takes only one small step in order for tourism
to work its way onto the city and its architecture.
Bucharest shot of Old Town in the city centre
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=303931&page=90In
the same manner, a small artistic intervention, meant to remedy the
effects of a huge touristic trend can have a strong impact onto the
city and its community. An example is The NYC Tourist Lane by
Improv Everywhere which puts a line on the sidewalk separating the
tourists from the New Yorkers in order to ease the residents
journey.
http://popupcity.net/2010/06/the-nyc-tourist-lane/"Architourism:
Authentic, Escapist, Exotic, Spectacular" is a buildings guide that
has fixed the coordinates of international tourism, from Mont Saint
Michel and the Taj Mahal to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and
Building Blurin in Lake Neuchatel, Switzerland. It is written by
Joan Oackman, Director of the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the
Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, who
enshrines a new term that describes a phenomena of the modern world
"Architourism". The author believes that the desire to create
reference buildings is not new, the difference "lies in the number
of tourist-magnet buildings underway, as well as the global
marketing considerations going into all aspects of project
planning, design including."
E-Commerce
"We are standing at the threshold on a New World. It is as if we
had just invented printing or the steam engine" Matthew Barrett,
Chairman of the Bank of Montreal.
It all began in 1995 when amazon.com was launched in the USA.
The enormous success had caused the phenomenon to spread throughout
the world in just a few years, strongly impacting commerce and
society.
http://avondaleassetmanagement.blogspot.com/2011/09/is-best-buy-losing-market-share.htmlAnd
why not shopping online? From the consumers point of view, there
are the advantages of not having any temporal or geographical
barrier. At the same time, there is the avalanche of promotional
offers from online stores, which grows interest into this kind of
commerce to the detriment of the traditional one. Today, consumers
are still skeptical when facing payment before acquisition, or
quality control, even though this has been severely remedied by
Paypal.com and return policies. From the companys point of view,
there are only advantages, especially from an economic perspective.
The maintenance costs of an online store are incomparable to the
costs of a physical one, taking into consideration rent and staff
hired. In both cases there is a problem of deposit space and
shipping to the shop or to the customer, but in the case of the
online store, these expenses are often times covered by the
consumer.
When analyzing the specifics of the situation, everything seems
perfect, there are only advantages, but if we analyze it on a macro
social level, from a drastic perspective - when e-commerce would
develop according to statistics and become the most common form of
shopping - we would end up with a malfunctioned society where all
"brick 'n' mortar" shops would disappear. Even so, this does not
sound that dramatic either, if we do not take into consideration
the importance of shops in a city. Their disappearance would have a
strong aesthetic, social and even emotional impact with effects in
the architectural space and with consequences in the psychology at
an individual level.
The activity of shopping is more than just the acquisition of a
new product, it is a social and recreational act within the
community. This idea contains the basis of marketing strategies for
shopping centers, promoting the experience of this activity through
pictures of happy families or a group of friends that are having
fun whilst shopping. Same idea is being implemented in the design
of shopping malls, in a manner in which there is little natural
light so that the consumer loses the sense of time, and the more
time, the more money he spends. A similar debate has been going on
in regards to the digitization of the print medium, with many
believers that the printed newspaper or even the book would
disappear. So far, this has not been the case, and one reason for
this is the social aspect, whether it is the newspaper you are
reading whilst on the metro, or the act of flipping through the
pages of the book. Yes, the digitization of the print medium has
made reading more convenient, but, holding a piece of technology is
not the same thing as holding a book.Commercial For Fremlin Walk
Shopping Centre,
Kenthttp://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/fremlin-walk-shopping-centreBuying
online has indeed had a very strong impact and will attract more
and more followers, but it is only addressing to a particular
category of people, the ones who do not have time. No matter how
much technology advances, there will never be a way to replicate
the experience of being there, retailtainment being based on this
ideology. George Ritzer, in his 1999 book Enchanting a Disenchanted
World, Revolutionising The Means of Consumption, defined
"retailtainment" as "the use of sound, ambience, emotion and
activity to get customers interested in the merchandise and in the
mood to buy".
One example could be the futuristic fashion shop Cyberdog in
Camden, London. The loud music makes the passerby curios, while the
phosphorescent light draws attention onto the products and the club
atmosphere causes a prolonged stay in the shop. "Bright colours,
flashing lights and hard house pounding from the speakers - it
seems like half of Camden is given over to cyber clothes shops"
http://pinup.punkrockelite.org/2011/06/cyberdog-where-rave-never-ends.htmlAnother
example is toy stores. A very important category in the field of
retailtainment represents the children, where the experience of
shopping can be compared to the one of visiting Disneyland. Here
their heroes can become real and the intensity of the experience
cannot be surpassed by any website or even computer game. Peter
Cross, business partner of Mary Portas,a retail expert, said:
"Retail theatre is not a new thing, but the sheer power of the
internet and its efficiency means that so much transactional
retailing can happen online, so shops have to up their game."
Imagination and creativity led to finding a middle ground
between the two ways of commerce, where you can enjoy the
advantages of online buying, without neglecting the physical space.
The Apple Company is using such a strategy, their stores taking the
form of showrooms where you can test their products, even though
the majority of their customers prefer buying the products online.
Another strategy, that combines the two spaces, has been
implemented by Tesco in a subway station from South Korea, through
pictures of real size supermarket shelves. Whilst waiting for the
metro, one can scan the QR code in order to purchase a product that
is delivered within the day. Therefore, customers enjoy the
advantages of e-commerce, such as time saving and the home
delivery, but can also enjoy the physical space. Tesco (Homeplus)
virtual shop in a subway
stationhttp://www.littledoremi.com/tesco-homeplus-subway-virtual-store-in-south-korea/In
the end, e-commerce can have a positive impact onto the city and
its architecture through the competition it creates between the
virtual and the physical space, competition which can be won by the
traditional shop only by implementing a strategic design. Thus,
higher standards would be set and only the stores that can face the
competition will survive.
Conclusion
In a world transformed by technology, internet, demographic
explosion and globalization, everything is in a strong connection
and mutual dependence just as the science of complexity highlights.
Accelerated speed of transformation involves an analysis of
phenomena and their consequences. Addressing the issues of
transport, tourism, e-commerce and architectural space, the natural
conclusion is their interdependence and the historical evolution of
the community is largely determined by these three aspects.
There is a time of virtual experiences, but there is a time of
physical living as well.
In order to reach the various destination, whether for a
touristic or commercial purpose, a means of transport is required.
The car, train, ship, plane or helicopter are the modern means of
transportation, but, we should not neglect the bicycle or even the
carriage used in touristic purposes. Transport, of any form, can be
procured through the use of the internet, method chosen by more and
more people. Virtually one can obtain information regarding tourist
destinations, but this would not diminish the number of visitors,
on the contrary, it would increase the attraction of the area. The
desire to buy products from another country can be fulfilled by
tourism with the purpose of shopping but, now, it can also be
fulfilled through e-commerce.
A question that always arises in front of new phenomena is
whether it will be viable, or just an experience of moment. The
natural dilemma is if e-commerce will ever replace the classic
commerce or if it will become just an alternative for some buyers.
Leaning towards the latter idea, the emphasis lies on the
transformation of traditional shops within the urban planning and
the marketing plan policies.
The typical 21st century city, with its dominant functions
regarding industry, services, trade, housing and recreation gives
way to its new urban system, in which the basic components
(universities, malls, industrial districts, scientific parks,
recreational areas, etc) operate on two levels: the
three-dimensional nature of the world and the cyberspace of the
Internet. Merging the two innovative environments, the real and the
digital, creates a new dimension of cities, where the tasks of
urban planners is to facilitate the emergence, development and
proper maintenance of innovative islands by meeting the challenges
of technological changes.
Idea extracted from the book "L'Architecture, cration
collective, d. ouvrires," Paris, 1970
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum I,2,593, line
56,57:C.G.Bruns,Fontes, Juris Romani Antiquied 7. Tubingen,1909,
Mohr,pg 105
Idea extracted from Toynbee, Arnold: Orasele in miscare (Cities
on the move) pg 240.
as Arnold Toynbee suggests in Orasele in miscare (Cities on the
Move).
Idea extracted from Michael de Kare-Silver: E-shock the new
rules, pg1.
In 2011, 85% of people that have internet are buying online
comparing to 13% in 1999 HYPERLINK
"http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/3440.html"
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/3440.html
Idea extracted from N. Bandyo-padhyay E-commerce context,
concepts and consequences, McGraw-Hill Education, 2002.
www.camdenguide.co.uk
21