*2.1.1 Spatiotemporal of determination of the urban form*

The urban form is not indifferent to space–time, but not taken as such, because they are transformable elements, imprinting on the urban existence a succession of states. The spatiotemporal determination of the urban form lies between innovation and tradition. The urban form does not have to be shaped at any given moment by acquiring space, time, or a conventional model.

**7**

*City Phenomenon between Urban Structure and Composition*

The city represents a multifaceted structure of social organization, which involves a number of social institutions and a typical configuration of social relations. A sustainable city is organized so as to enable all its citizens to meet their own needs and to enhance their well-being without damaging the natural world or endangering the living conditions of other people, now or in the future [3, 7]. This makes the users of the city, the social relations they develop in cities, the ways in which they live, the problems they face, and the urban space in general the object of research of modern urban studies. A human being in urban composition means to get yourself on a doctrinal position. The composition in urban scale is based on both the structure and the doctrine (ideology). In urban composition, esthetics remains just one aspect, where the urban form is read as a static instance. It is a concrete land, inscribed in history, having a memory and therefore not completely subordinating to the needs or the will of a class, preserving morphological landmarks that illustrate this resistance. At the same time, the memory of the place, a notion determined historically and socially, plays an important role in the permanence of the significance of some urban spaces; it illustrates: "what one epoch finds worthy of attention in another." It is considered an artifact because it is the physical result of the aspirations of the urban society, created by its reference elements, the public buildings. Architecture always expresses and illustrates the social and cultural potential of an era. A city includes rights and freedoms for all its inhabitants, promotes social and political participation, informs its citizens, and makes democratic decisions. Economic inclusion refers to public policies to support the poor and to provide equal opportunities in business and equal access to the labor market. Cultural inclusion: an inclusive city promotes social integration and celebrates diversity. It respects the cultural rights of individuals, recognizes human capital in all segments of society and strives to increase it by promoting creative artistic expression and preservation of traditions. The concept of "the city for all" and "the right to the city" refers to the access of social and economic benefits by all the inhabitants, promoting social equality and access to the benefits of urban living, for each inhabitant. A city must dig even on the social, political, economic, and cultural levels, if no efforts are made in this respect, and then continue promoting the exclusive development and sharing of benefits, marginalization, and discrimination. The city administration must be well aware of the sociocultural realities that make up the social life of the respective city; they must strive to build and promote inclusive strategies and policies and then integrate these strategies into the daily lives of the population. The city has been and remains a land of negotiation between various social groups; harmonious cohabitation in cities is a difficult process, which is often punctuated by various urban social movements. In general, these movements challenge the social order and the existing public policies, fighting for visibility on the social scene and for a fair distribution of resources. Cities in their evolution have undergone a permanent territorial extension and intense remodeling. The forms of evolution and urban concentration are different from one area to another and from one region to another. They differ in both genesis and size. Depending on these two elements, several forms of urban concentration can be distinguished. Therefore, the city does not only mean buildings, roads, parks, fences, abandoned corners, water pipes, and cable networks, but especially interactions between citizens, contacts, social relations, and communication situations, direct and indirect [8]. All these make up the complexity of urban social life and give life to cities. In another view of this subject, the urban habitat expresses the synthesis of the conditions of human life, of the social-economic reality existing at one point. At the global scale, the

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90443*

**2.2 City as a social-human settlement**

### **2.2 City as a social-human settlement**

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

**2.1 The city as an urban phenomenon**

• Units/less unitary

• Dense/less dense

• Intense/less intense

and sound

three sides:

systems and subsystems. The urban phenomenon can be:

reflects the evolution of the urban phenomenon, it has:

post-existing urban existence

a.The ability to express itself very differently either:

References of the urban phenomenon to the logic of form and to the dialectic of content justify its understanding as a system. These references impose relationships between the components of the urban phenomenon, so that they are realized in

The urban phenomenon as a system is defined only through the urban form, the fact that leads us to the idea of knowing and directing the urban phenomenon (of its processes and acts) through careful, corroborated analysis of the manifestations of any kind of urban form [6]. The urban form has a dialectic character, which

○ In particular: within a certain urban existence, through image, movement,

○ In abstract: imaginative—within the representation of the pre-existing or

b.Graphically: by mathematical-geometric, technical, and plastic means

c.Verbally: by the psychosociological or mathematical-statistical concept

The urban form has the capacity to move from a logical, but an abstract manifestation (through a certain language), into a form of effective actions, which results in a certain urban existence. It had an active character which can highlight

• Selectivity with histories and character: any urban form, any urban existence, is the result of historical evolution. The urban form has the capacity to evolve, selecting over time the various values within the respective urban existence.

• A possibility to create an urban strategy at the conception and decision levels,

The urban form is not indifferent to space–time, but not taken as such, because they are transformable elements, imprinting on the urban existence a succession of states. The spatiotemporal determination of the urban form lies between innovation and tradition. The urban form does not have to be shaped at any given moment by

• A capacity of reunification: of old or new contents in a totality.

which represent a reflection for a certain city existence.

*2.1.1 Spatiotemporal of determination of the urban form*

acquiring space, time, or a conventional model.

**6**

The city represents a multifaceted structure of social organization, which involves a number of social institutions and a typical configuration of social relations. A sustainable city is organized so as to enable all its citizens to meet their own needs and to enhance their well-being without damaging the natural world or endangering the living conditions of other people, now or in the future [3, 7]. This makes the users of the city, the social relations they develop in cities, the ways in which they live, the problems they face, and the urban space in general the object of research of modern urban studies. A human being in urban composition means to get yourself on a doctrinal position. The composition in urban scale is based on both the structure and the doctrine (ideology). In urban composition, esthetics remains just one aspect, where the urban form is read as a static instance. It is a concrete land, inscribed in history, having a memory and therefore not completely subordinating to the needs or the will of a class, preserving morphological landmarks that illustrate this resistance. At the same time, the memory of the place, a notion determined historically and socially, plays an important role in the permanence of the significance of some urban spaces; it illustrates: "what one epoch finds worthy of attention in another." It is considered an artifact because it is the physical result of the aspirations of the urban society, created by its reference elements, the public buildings. Architecture always expresses and illustrates the social and cultural potential of an era. A city includes rights and freedoms for all its inhabitants, promotes social and political participation, informs its citizens, and makes democratic decisions. Economic inclusion refers to public policies to support the poor and to provide equal opportunities in business and equal access to the labor market. Cultural inclusion: an inclusive city promotes social integration and celebrates diversity. It respects the cultural rights of individuals, recognizes human capital in all segments of society and strives to increase it by promoting creative artistic expression and preservation of traditions. The concept of "the city for all" and "the right to the city" refers to the access of social and economic benefits by all the inhabitants, promoting social equality and access to the benefits of urban living, for each inhabitant. A city must dig even on the social, political, economic, and cultural levels, if no efforts are made in this respect, and then continue promoting the exclusive development and sharing of benefits, marginalization, and discrimination. The city administration must be well aware of the sociocultural realities that make up the social life of the respective city; they must strive to build and promote inclusive strategies and policies and then integrate these strategies into the daily lives of the population. The city has been and remains a land of negotiation between various social groups; harmonious cohabitation in cities is a difficult process, which is often punctuated by various urban social movements. In general, these movements challenge the social order and the existing public policies, fighting for visibility on the social scene and for a fair distribution of resources. Cities in their evolution have undergone a permanent territorial extension and intense remodeling. The forms of evolution and urban concentration are different from one area to another and from one region to another. They differ in both genesis and size. Depending on these two elements, several forms of urban concentration can be distinguished. Therefore, the city does not only mean buildings, roads, parks, fences, abandoned corners, water pipes, and cable networks, but especially interactions between citizens, contacts, social relations, and communication situations, direct and indirect [8]. All these make up the complexity of urban social life and give life to cities. In another view of this subject, the urban habitat expresses the synthesis of the conditions of human life, of the social-economic reality existing at one point. At the global scale, the

population is divided into two major types of habitat: rural and urban, between which there are similarities, but also fundamental differences. The urban habitat or the city is a form of human settlement superior of the village, which is distinguished by a higher density of population and constructions, superior technical-urban equipment, mainly secondary and tertiary economic activities, a specific way of life, and with a higher demographic potential. Although these criteria are clear enough to distinguish the village from the city, they are not necessarily the same for everyone. Depending on the region and the age, the idea we make about the city changes. Each civilization has a different conception of the city. Certain ancient cities, populated mostly by cultivators, cannot be considered cities in our view. Difficulties in differentiating the village and town arise from the lack of accuracy of the vocabulary. The city is a space that is defined by a series of metric properties, by dimensions, surfaces, and densities. It is an intensely populated space, with a high degree of concentration, production, and social and cultural organization, which develops under certain conditions of space and time, thanks to the convergence of the forces of production and in permanent opposition to the village. Urban social studies analyze urban life in all its complexity. Through explanations and information provided in urban studies, we can better understand the reality and social, cultural, and economic phenomena that are happening in the urban environment around us; we can understand the causes of these phenomena; we can understand the sociocultural diversity; and we can find new opportunities to live together and creatively use urban spaces.

### **2.3 City as a form of human life in the context of a complex dynamic system**

A city is not just a place to live, but a complex and dynamic system that unites a certain community of people and is called upon to ultimately improve the quality of life of every person. Urban spaces are formed under the influence of many factors and over long periods. When designing an urban environment, the designer must take into account the compositional. The idea that heterotopia does not inevitably mean a state of urban chaos can be retained here, that distant order can, in many cases, be particularly subtle. One of the most complicated and, at the same time, very topical issues regarding the urban form is that of spatial differentiation as a way of explaining the existence in any urban situation of different spaces between them. First, the aspect of understanding spatial differentiation appears in the sense of a dialectical result in the process of constituting the urban form, namely, in the sense that the urban form is the expression for the purpose of the urban phenomenon. However, this understanding must not be inclined toward the metaphysical, that is, it must not be considered in the sense that a certain expression of the urban form is completely and definitively recognized as a final expression, beyond which nothing can appear. It continues to evolve over a period of time greater or less, in which it remains in the same form (unitary or non-unitary), until, undergoing a new transformation process, it reaches another form, constituting itself as the new existence that can be considered as a new moment of finality [9]. This is why we can say that the urban form as a finality of the urban phenomenon is in the process of continuous perfection. It is noteworthy that precisely this process creates spatial differentiation, this differentiation occurring either within the same urban space (frame, element for an urban existence) from one moment to another of its evolution, or within the city, when an urban space arrives. At a time, a purpose that is different from that of other urban space at the same time. So, within the city, we have to deal with a spatial differentiation to be analyzed either in a horizontal temporal section (without neglecting the constitution overtime of the respective urban spaces) or in a vertical temporal section (insisting on the evolutionary character of the respective urban space). Although, at least in the first situation, the

**9**

*– What is urban empathy space?*

*City Phenomenon between Urban Structure and Composition*

the urban area, and even the urban furniture itself.

**2.4 City as an urban utopian and empathy space**

differentiation can be caught only through a structural analysis of urban spaces; it cannot ensure the depth of our conclusions, especially if, at the level of detail or, on the contrary, at the level of the whole, they are necessary for defining aspects which characterize the urban form in a certain area, in a certain time. The urban form concerns the morphological characteristics of the urban framework both in general, at the scale of the entire city (extension, perimeter, street network, watercourses, etc.), and in detail, the relation of a building with the surrounding urban framework, a group of buildings, ensemble, and neighborhood structure of the urban framework [9]. The transformation of the living environment, including the design of the urban environment, is one of the most urgent problems solved by the modern designer—an active participant in creating the environment of the environment, educator, and exponent of the culture and esthetic taste of society. The urban design is oriented to interpret the form and public space with physical-estheticfunctional criteria, seeking to meet the needs of urban communities or societies, within a consideration of collective benefit in an existing or future urban area, until reaching the conclusion of an urban structure to follow. Therefore, the urban design performs physical planning at analysis levels, such as the region, the urban center,

Utopian space has a special feature. It is defined as combining both the close order and the distant order, at the concept level, between urban isotope and heterotopy. But if these are characteristics that address the material existence, therefore exclusively to what is perceived (in volumetric, color, movement, noise), the space considered as utopian has a deep subjective potential, its appreciation being closely related to the psychic. Heterotopic spaces are spaces that reveal different places, each supported by different functional, spatial, and encompassing characteristics. But also within the same urban space—the more complex it is, the more obvious this observation is—we can also find isotopic states or heterotopic states, which gives the space a homogeneity or heterogeneity. Symbols are commonly applied to formal iconographic representations. Symbolism encompasses complex conceptual codes and pictorial representations of a worldview that operates on multiple levels and scales [10]. Differentiation in the sense of heterotopy isotope, in the context of an urban situation, is not fixed. Urban symbolism is commonly associated with the enhancement of formal urban figures, objects, or pieces of the collection and landmarks [11]. The utopian space is, in general, a symbolic space, and what the architects forget, a space with imaginary availability not for themselves, but for those who cross it as ignorant of a survey methodology of analysis, but directly and perhaps impressively primitive. For example, a utopian space can be, within the city, an organized market, but extremely wide, whose limits come out of the natural perception, the image retaining the volumetric, but also a passage of the outer space. Then our psyche, as well as our imaginary, intervenes in determining a certain environment, a certain impression at that moment and in that place. As a utopian space, any urban space may appear during the night, when a number of aspects of its configuration fade, even though during the day it may be an isotopic or heterotopic space. The significance of urban space, obviously determined by its functionality and geometrical-spatial appreciation, cannot be achieved except for a small but constructive, utopian value. The monumental, like the enchanting, are features that serve the significance of the urban space; however, there are traits that constitute a spatial approach/recognition/perception, at least in part utopian.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90443*

#### *City Phenomenon between Urban Structure and Composition DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90443*

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

population is divided into two major types of habitat: rural and urban, between which there are similarities, but also fundamental differences. The urban habitat or the city is a form of human settlement superior of the village, which is distinguished by a higher density of population and constructions, superior technical-urban equipment, mainly secondary and tertiary economic activities, a specific way of life, and with a higher demographic potential. Although these criteria are clear enough to distinguish the village from the city, they are not necessarily the same for everyone. Depending on the region and the age, the idea we make about the city changes. Each civilization has a different conception of the city. Certain ancient cities, populated mostly by cultivators, cannot be considered cities in our view. Difficulties in differentiating the village and town arise from the lack of accuracy of the vocabulary. The city is a space that is defined by a series of metric properties, by dimensions, surfaces, and densities. It is an intensely populated space, with a high degree of concentration, production, and social and cultural organization, which develops under certain conditions of space and time, thanks to the convergence of the forces of production and in permanent opposition to the village. Urban social studies analyze urban life in all its complexity. Through explanations and information provided in urban studies, we can better understand the reality and social, cultural, and economic phenomena that are happening in the urban environment around us; we can understand the causes of these phenomena; we can understand the sociocultural diversity; and we can find

new opportunities to live together and creatively use urban spaces.

**2.3 City as a form of human life in the context of a complex dynamic system**

A city is not just a place to live, but a complex and dynamic system that unites a certain community of people and is called upon to ultimately improve the quality of life of every person. Urban spaces are formed under the influence of many factors and over long periods. When designing an urban environment, the designer must take into account the compositional. The idea that heterotopia does not inevitably mean a state of urban chaos can be retained here, that distant order can, in many cases, be particularly subtle. One of the most complicated and, at the same time, very topical issues regarding the urban form is that of spatial differentiation as a way of explaining the existence in any urban situation of different spaces between them. First, the aspect of understanding spatial differentiation appears in the sense of a dialectical result in the process of constituting the urban form, namely, in the sense that the urban form is the expression for the purpose of the urban phenomenon. However, this understanding must not be inclined toward the metaphysical, that is, it must not be considered in the sense that a certain expression of the urban form is completely and definitively recognized as a final expression, beyond which nothing can appear. It continues to evolve over a period of time greater or less, in which it remains in the same form (unitary or non-unitary), until, undergoing a new transformation process, it reaches another form, constituting itself as the new existence that can be considered as a new moment of finality [9]. This is why we can say that the urban form as a finality of the urban phenomenon is in the process of continuous perfection. It is noteworthy that precisely this process creates spatial differentiation, this differentiation occurring either within the same urban space (frame, element for an urban existence) from one moment to another of its evolution, or within the city, when an urban space arrives. At a time, a purpose that is different from that of other urban space at the same time. So, within the city, we have to deal with a spatial differentiation to be analyzed either in a horizontal temporal section (without neglecting the constitution overtime of the respective urban spaces) or in a vertical temporal section (insisting on the evolutionary character of the respective urban space). Although, at least in the first situation, the

**8**

differentiation can be caught only through a structural analysis of urban spaces; it cannot ensure the depth of our conclusions, especially if, at the level of detail or, on the contrary, at the level of the whole, they are necessary for defining aspects which characterize the urban form in a certain area, in a certain time. The urban form concerns the morphological characteristics of the urban framework both in general, at the scale of the entire city (extension, perimeter, street network, watercourses, etc.), and in detail, the relation of a building with the surrounding urban framework, a group of buildings, ensemble, and neighborhood structure of the urban framework [9]. The transformation of the living environment, including the design of the urban environment, is one of the most urgent problems solved by the modern designer—an active participant in creating the environment of the environment, educator, and exponent of the culture and esthetic taste of society. The urban design is oriented to interpret the form and public space with physical-estheticfunctional criteria, seeking to meet the needs of urban communities or societies, within a consideration of collective benefit in an existing or future urban area, until reaching the conclusion of an urban structure to follow. Therefore, the urban design performs physical planning at analysis levels, such as the region, the urban center, the urban area, and even the urban furniture itself.
