Preface

The current population growth is putting pressure on urban areas, resources, housing prices, and public services. Also, the increase in traffic volume results in poorer air quality and congestion-related problems. At the same time, there is also an increasing tendency to the social division between population groups in big cities. The development of sustainable cities is one of the biggest global challenges right now. Cities face a wide range of social, environmental, and economic challenges that need to be considered. Population influx raises new demands of physical infrastructures and management. Thus, there is a need to think across disciplines and sectors. All over the world, cities face major challenges that call for solid urban planning. There must be sustainable urban planning and design that captures the city as a whole and that delivers concrete, high-quality solutions. The requirement is to design cities that people like to look at and move to, cities that work, cities where you can easily get from place to place, and cities that are environmentally balanced and that are healthy and safe to live in. Our cities must have space for everyone and involve as many people as possible.

Sustainable Urban Planning and Design is a form of study that takes into consideration the active interaction between the built environment domain and social, economic, and influential forces. Urban planning in a sustainable framework represents a technical and political process that seeks to organize and design land use and built environments, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing to and from urban areas such as transport, communications, and distribution networks.

Usually, urban planning has followed a top-down approach to master planning for the physical location of settlements. The main concern was public welfare, which included considerations for efficiency, sanitation, environmental protection, and use, and the impact of master plans on social and economic performance. The environment has a strong interaction with human health. The health status of the population depends not only on the quality of the established care system but also on the living conditions, where an obvious reduction in harmful environmental exposures can improve population health and may contribute to health disparities. Urban planning and urban design are related but different in fundamental ways. Urban planning is the act of planning the structures of a city, including its policies, infrastructure, neighborhoods, building codes, and regulations. On the other hand, urban design is the creation of city features based on plans. Historically, city function and urban planning as an activity have been defined by architects and engineers in various shadows, but today there are also geographers, sociologists, and the like. Urban design originated from the multidisciplinary composition of urban planning, and it aims to provide a more holistic, practical approach to the solution for questions about urban planning and design that the classical disciplines could not individually provide. Frequently, there are situations when these strategies do not work, and some groups remain marginalized and socially excluded without fully benefiting from the advantages and resources offered by living in the urban environment. In turn, contemporary urban living presents several challenges for local administrations. Sometimes, the generally accepted social order is challenged within urban social movements, which propose their solutions to various unsolved urban problems and a new approach to the concept of social order. Different groups and places in the world have been studied by social researchers since the nineteenth century. In those studies, various methods, techniques, concepts, explanations,

and sub-disciplines have been developed, which help us to explore and gain more understanding about the complexity of urban life. Cities have very different and distant origins. The first cities appeared, apparently, in the more advanced countries in terms of technical rationality, in the regions that knew how to organize an irrigation system. A certain number of cities were formed somewhat spontaneously, responding to a need, and their installation took place around a predestined point or which offered favorable conditions (monasteries, medieval castles, garrisons, villages near a spread, coves). To make cohabitation possible, all such groups develop coexistence strategies and respect a particular social order. The concept of "design of the urban environment" replaced the term "small architectural forms", which was widespread in the second half of the last century and was familiar to all of us, and interpreted elements of street furniture and equipment only as separate architectural details of the city's public spaces. Many cities are due to external causes, which happened unexpectedly (mining, oil, gas deposits, factories, tourism development, or political expansion). The design of the urban environment is a complex topic, that is related to creating a positive space for humans and building a specific climate in the city, which is located at the level of the first floors of the building and ensuring the vital activity of the city.

The contraction was, through appropriate extension, to create a coherent hierarchy of squares, smaller squares, and street spaces where, at any level, the degree of public/private situation or locality could be ascertained. At the same time, the importance of adapting the visuals of the areas of the human scale and not passing vehicle traffic at full speed was emphasized. In another part, the topic of the urban design represents an interdisciplinary subject area that deals with the planning and design of the city as a whole, taking into account relevant functional, aesthetic, and societal conditions. Urban design is directly associated with several disciplines of planning–mainly architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. However, urban planning has a wider scope than "design". There are several methods of urban planning, with differences in intentions, scales, time, the nature of the interventions, and the actors. The urban design focuses on the location and design of major civic buildings (city hotels, operas, museums, etc.), and their relationship with the open space. At one point, there may be two very similar spaces that we can consider isotopic spaces, only that in the existence of the city something can happen to lead to modification. In another spirit, one or both so that they become heterotopic spaces; or two identical spaces, one remains empty. Also, there is a special activity generating agglomeration, which causes that, at that moment, its character as opposed to the character of the other space changes. This fact must be taken into account when obtaining spatial differentiation, in the sense that one space can be sufficiently well-differentiated from another space by introducing training elements related to the rhythm, activity, and movement of people within it.

Today's city is not an accident. It is the product of decisions made for single, separate purposes, whose interrelationships and side effects have not been fully considered. The future of our cities is dependent on the action of today. In particular, achieving sustainable cities is imperative in our rapidly urbanizing world. By definition, the city in a sustainability context represents a fascinating, complex, and very dynamic object of study, despite its great stability. This offer as a study laboratory aroused the interest of general fundamental sciences, such as physics, mathematics, and biology. On the one hand, it offers new elements that help these sciences to substantiate their basic theories, and on the other, it constitutes an ideal framework for validating other previously issued theories. For geographers, contact with the disciplines involved in the analysis of the city is beneficial to detect more clearly the niche of specific research, but also to know better the intimate processes that take place in the urban organisms. The urban

**VII**

compositions are determined by operations regarding the creation, extension, or replacement of some urban spaces, having very different conditions of conception and implantation. Urban forms may have stronger or more erased geometric compositions, continuous or discontinuous from the topological point of view. A composition, to be continued, must be not only strong or continuous but also interpretable and acceptable. Given the complexity of the challenges, there is a need for an overall urban policy framework for how they are addressed and the potentials are exploited. By thinking about social conditions, the environment, and the economy together, the probability of being able to implement coherent solutions is improved. Sustainable buildings must be economically viable, while taking into account climate adaptation, energy, and resource efficiency, the environment, architectural quality, and social security. The economy and the environment can thus generate added values when they think of holistic considerations. Urbanization can contribute to a more sustainable society, e.g. by linking different urban functions in urban development strategies. Urban planning and design in sustainable reading are, on a general level, about construction and in many cases, reconstructions of the city space. Where before, in old districts, smaller squares and squares emerged closely integrated into city life, especially during functionalism; they were watered down and surrounded by randomly placed moderniststyle buildings. It is important to become better at dealing with these contradictory interests so that they do not turn into regular variances. Therefore, the work of making big cities more sustainable also consists of developing the best tools for planning and

involving the various stakeholders so that there are constructive solutions.

and her cooperation at various phases of the book publication.

This book aims to present the reader with examples of the latest research into the reading of urban planning and design. This book goes behind the scenes and reveals the variety of tools in the metropolitan studies toolbox. A proper understanding of its application is vital to all those involved in city research. This book presents some of the diverse aspects that are inextricably bound up with, and strongly influence, the scope of urban planning and design. To end, I would like to express my sincere sense of appreciation and thankfulness to all the co-editors Dr. Asaad Almssad and Dr. Linh Truong Hong, and the authors for their valuable contributions. At the same time, I would like to thank Ms. Kristina Kardum from IntechOpen's Publishing Process Manager for her assistance and efficiency in the management of this book

> **Amjad Almusaed** Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

**Asaad Almssad** Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

Netherlands

**Dr. Linh Truong-Hong** 

Delft University of Technology,

Optical and Laser Remote Sensing Group, Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, compositions are determined by operations regarding the creation, extension, or replacement of some urban spaces, having very different conditions of conception and implantation. Urban forms may have stronger or more erased geometric compositions, continuous or discontinuous from the topological point of view. A composition, to be continued, must be not only strong or continuous but also interpretable and acceptable. Given the complexity of the challenges, there is a need for an overall urban policy framework for how they are addressed and the potentials are exploited. By thinking about social conditions, the environment, and the economy together, the probability of being able to implement coherent solutions is improved. Sustainable buildings must be economically viable, while taking into account climate adaptation, energy, and resource efficiency, the environment, architectural quality, and social security. The economy and the environment can thus generate added values when they think of holistic considerations. Urbanization can contribute to a more sustainable society, e.g. by linking different urban functions in urban development strategies. Urban planning and design in sustainable reading are, on a general level, about construction and in many cases, reconstructions of the city space. Where before, in old districts, smaller squares and squares emerged closely integrated into city life, especially during functionalism; they were watered down and surrounded by randomly placed moderniststyle buildings. It is important to become better at dealing with these contradictory interests so that they do not turn into regular variances. Therefore, the work of making big cities more sustainable also consists of developing the best tools for planning and involving the various stakeholders so that there are constructive solutions.

This book aims to present the reader with examples of the latest research into the reading of urban planning and design. This book goes behind the scenes and reveals the variety of tools in the metropolitan studies toolbox. A proper understanding of its application is vital to all those involved in city research. This book presents some of the diverse aspects that are inextricably bound up with, and strongly influence, the scope of urban planning and design. To end, I would like to express my sincere sense of appreciation and thankfulness to all the co-editors Dr. Asaad Almssad and Dr. Linh Truong Hong, and the authors for their valuable contributions. At the same time, I would like to thank Ms. Kristina Kardum from IntechOpen's Publishing Process Manager for her assistance and efficiency in the management of this book and her cooperation at various phases of the book publication.

> **Amjad Almusaed** Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

**Asaad Almssad** Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

#### **Dr. Linh Truong-Hong**

Optical and Laser Remote Sensing Group, Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

**1**

Section 1

Theories of Sustainable

Urban Planning

and Design

Section 1

Theories of Sustainable Urban Planning and Design

**3**

**Chapter 1**

**Abstract**

City Phenomenon between Urban

Cities are not just a sum of buildings, but especially a set of social relations that their inhabitants develop. Cities are characterized by a wide variety of social groups and lifestyles. An urban composition represents a form of the city in which it gets a formal order, so that the shape of any urban ensemble is not linked to a random phenomenon, but to an intervention mastered and understood as such. For the city, the urban composition represents what the architectural composition represents for a building. This concept regarding the composition is common both to the architecture and to the city. The main property of the composition is that it transforms a possibly dispersed ensemble into a whole, resolving the contradictions that arise when the requirements and conditions of the project are numerous. Spatial forms and urban compositions are built over time, longer than that of architectural composition. On the other hand, "design of the urban environment" is understood by us as a complex formation of public spaces of the city, located on the ground floor level of the city building and ensuring the vital activity of the urban community. This

Structure and Composition

*Amjad Almusaed and Asaad Almssad*

chapter will study the city phenomenon on a large scale.

public space, city image, city phenomenon

**1. Introduction**

**Keywords:** urban structure, urban composition, urban design, urban space,

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
