**1. Introduction**

Cities cannot be defined only by their administrative boundaries, and urban policies can no longer target only administrative units at the city level. The importance of multilevel governance has been strongly emphasized by the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions. This is in full accordance with the conclusions of this report: policies at European, national, regional, and local levels must be correlated with each other [1]. In any urban development and expansion plan, it must be taken into account that natural systems have a limited capacity to respond and adjust to changes produced by man. From the perspective of urban sustainable development, any impact of urban activities on the environment must be minimized. The idea of sustainable urban development was born in the 1970s, as a result of deep concern about a development model that threatened the environment and the vitality of the planet. There is a strong belief that, apart from government programs and the private sector initiative, local communities need to be actively involved in this process. This concept is at the basis of formulating sustainable policies, which try to harmonize the relationship between population, environment, and industrial development. Controlled urban expansion is also known as smart growth. The experience of the states of the European Union shows that metropolitan areas, well managed, reach economic competitiveness quickly (economic policies can effectively attract funds and investors and can energize the construction, services, and tourism sectors), and their future development is sustainable (economic, cultural, social, ecological, and policies are harmonized). Such a project aims at decongesting large cities, establishing unitary architectural development, accessing European funds for regional development, and, thereby, creating civilized living conditions for all inhabitants of metropolitan areas. More than two-thirds of Europe's population lives in urban areas [2]. Cities are places where problems arise and solutions are found. They represent a fertile ground for science and technology, for culture and innovation, for individual and collective creativity, as well as for mitigating the effects of climate change. However, cities are also places where problems such as unemployment, discrimination, and poverty are concentrated [3].

The objective of the Thematic Strategy for the urban environment, adopted in 2006, at European level, "to contribute to a better quality of life through an integrated approach to urban areas," in conjunction with the effort to contribute to "a higher level of quality of life and social well-being of citizens, by ensuring an environment in which the level of pollution does not generate harmful effects on human health and the environment and by encouraging the sustainable urban development," defined, for the next years, the priorities, the direction, and the means by which this strategy to be applied [4]. It follows from this strategy that most cities face a common set of basic problems, such as those related to air quality, heavy traffic, high noise levels, low-quality construction, abandoned land, greenhouse gas emissions, non-systematic areas, generation of waste and wastewater, and providing public services to the population. Among the causes of these problems is the increase in the use of resources per inhabitant, the increase in the number of individual households, the demographic changes, and the increase in the number of personal property machines. The solutions must be forward-looking, taking into account aspects of risk prevention, the anticipation of climate change, or the progressive reduction of dependence on fossil fuels. The activities in the urban environment are sources of pollution for all environmental factors. Therefore, they must be controlled and managed to minimize the impact on the environment.

#### *– What are the five challenges for urban planning theory?*

Urban planning deals with the design of building groups, settlements, neighborhoods, and in particular public spaces. Urban design can be understood as a term for the visible and creative aspects of urban planning. According to a broader understanding, the concept of urban planning encompasses the totality of planning and construction measures for urban and rural spatial planning aimed at creating the prerequisites for the coexistence of people in an environment appropriate to them in the pursuit of sociopolitical goals. In conclusion, urban design is a product of the collaboration on site of elements of the urban framework, determined functionally within the configuration spatial structure. It can be understood as a term for the visible and creative aspects of urban planning. Traditionally it has been referred to a discipline within urban planning, landscape architecture, or more simultaneously linked to emerging disciplines such as landscape urbanism.

#### **2. The urban phenomenon and city morphology**

The form of the urban process is a form of evolutionary procedure, which is connected directly to the concept of urban society. It takes dynamic

**5**

*City Phenomenon between Urban Structure and Composition*

contradictions from the inside to the outside of urban phenomena. The phenomenon takes an evolutionary process which means that the urban form is the concretization in time and space of the urban phenomenon. The definition of urban phenomenon performs clear in support on highlighting of urban functions, urban growth, and urban shape/image. Another area which must be clearly defined is determining the urban phenomenon which starts from the corroboration of internal and external functions of the city [5]. The urban phenomenon is in a continuous transformation process. There are several directions of structural

The urban phenomenon is different from the form it dresses in the city because the shape and structure can be viewed from several points of view (plastic, mathe-

1.Centrality, where it manifests itself through a grouping of objects, actions, and

3.Simultaneity, where all these elements associated with the urban phenomenon

A clear example for this case is a street, which represents the place of manifestation of the urban phenomenon in time and space; it reveals it on a certain plane of its complexity, because 1, 2, and 3 are expressed on several levels of specialty and several directions of interest (economic, social, political, material, spiritual). The urban phenomenon reflects the same signification of global reality. An urban exist-

2.Conflictuality, where it associates with consumption and production

matical-geometric, topological). It is embodied in three typescripts:

• Material and spiritual expression of the urban phenomenon.

discontinuity. The urban phenomenon has a double reference:

• Resembles: built frame, people there at one point, cars, and plantations.

In conclusion, the urban phenomenon has a continuous and infinite development through the typological, spatial, and temporal multitude of its phenomenological successions. However, the urban form has moments of stagnation and

a.A reference to the logic of the form, which refers to all quantifiable aspects of the urban phenomenon (population growth, surface area, stretches, openings of space, densities). It is a form of the geometrical logic, which refers to specialist-spatial configuration, topology, the form of the built volumes, and

b.A reference to the dialectic of content—the so diverse components of the

neighbors). There is certain independence between form and content.

urban phenomenon are the result of a conflict or lead to conflict (e.g., with the

• It is a complex, obvious concretization of a certain urban structure.

phenomena in a more or less delimited space

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

• Morphological-functional structure

• Volumetric spatial structure

take place simultaneously

ing is presented by:

directions of interest.

determination:

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

contradictions from the inside to the outside of urban phenomena. The phenomenon takes an evolutionary process which means that the urban form is the concretization in time and space of the urban phenomenon. The definition of urban phenomenon performs clear in support on highlighting of urban functions, urban growth, and urban shape/image. Another area which must be clearly defined is determining the urban phenomenon which starts from the corroboration of internal and external functions of the city [5]. The urban phenomenon is in a continuous transformation process. There are several directions of structural determination:


*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

concentrated [3].

that metropolitan areas, well managed, reach economic competitiveness quickly (economic policies can effectively attract funds and investors and can energize the construction, services, and tourism sectors), and their future development is sustainable (economic, cultural, social, ecological, and policies are harmonized). Such a project aims at decongesting large cities, establishing unitary architectural development, accessing European funds for regional development, and, thereby, creating civilized living conditions for all inhabitants of metropolitan areas. More than two-thirds of Europe's population lives in urban areas [2]. Cities are places where problems arise and solutions are found. They represent a fertile ground for science and technology, for culture and innovation, for individual and collective creativity, as well as for mitigating the effects of climate change. However, cities are also places where problems such as unemployment, discrimination, and poverty are

The objective of the Thematic Strategy for the urban environment, adopted in 2006, at European level, "to contribute to a better quality of life through an integrated approach to urban areas," in conjunction with the effort to contribute to "a higher level of quality of life and social well-being of citizens, by ensuring an environment in which the level of pollution does not generate harmful effects on human health and the environment and by encouraging the sustainable urban development," defined, for the next years, the priorities, the direction, and the means by which this strategy to be applied [4]. It follows from this strategy that most cities face a common set of basic problems, such as those related to air quality, heavy traffic, high noise levels, low-quality construction, abandoned land, greenhouse gas emissions, non-systematic areas, generation of waste and wastewater, and providing public services to the population. Among the causes of these problems is the increase in the use of resources per inhabitant, the increase in the number of individual households, the demographic changes, and the increase in the number of personal property machines. The solutions must be forward-looking, taking into account aspects of risk prevention, the anticipation of climate change, or the progressive reduction of dependence on fossil fuels. The activities in the urban environment are sources of pollution for all environmental factors. Therefore, they must be controlled and managed to minimize the impact on the environment.

Urban planning deals with the design of building groups, settlements, neighborhoods, and in particular public spaces. Urban design can be understood as a term for the visible and creative aspects of urban planning. According to a broader understanding, the concept of urban planning encompasses the totality of planning and construction measures for urban and rural spatial planning aimed at creating the prerequisites for the coexistence of people in an environment appropriate to them in the pursuit of sociopolitical goals. In conclusion, urban design is a product of the collaboration on site of elements of the urban framework, determined functionally within the configuration spatial structure. It can be understood as a term for the visible and creative aspects of urban planning. Traditionally it has been referred to a discipline within urban planning, landscape architecture, or more simultaneously

*– What are the five challenges for urban planning theory?*

linked to emerging disciplines such as landscape urbanism.

The form of the urban process is a form of evolutionary procedure, which is connected directly to the concept of urban society. It takes dynamic

**2. The urban phenomenon and city morphology**

**4**

The urban phenomenon is different from the form it dresses in the city because the shape and structure can be viewed from several points of view (plastic, mathematical-geometric, topological). It is embodied in three typescripts:


A clear example for this case is a street, which represents the place of manifestation of the urban phenomenon in time and space; it reveals it on a certain plane of its complexity, because 1, 2, and 3 are expressed on several levels of specialty and several directions of interest (economic, social, political, material, spiritual). The urban phenomenon reflects the same signification of global reality. An urban existing is presented by:


In conclusion, the urban phenomenon has a continuous and infinite development through the typological, spatial, and temporal multitude of its phenomenological successions. However, the urban form has moments of stagnation and discontinuity. The urban phenomenon has a double reference:

