BASIC ELEMENTS OF CITY,

CONCEPT OF SPACE, TIME

AND SCALE OF CITIES
CONTENTS

• BASIC ELEMENTS OF CITY

• CONCEPT OF SPACE, TIME AND SCALE OF CITIES
• SCALE OF CITIES
 EDGES
PATHS

LANDMARKS

NODES DISTRICTS
1 PATHS – the streets ,sidewalks , trails and other channels in which
people travel

STREETS SIDEWALKS SIDEWALKS

• PATHS are the channels along which the
observer customarily , potentially or
occasionally moves . They may be streets ,
walkways ,transit lines , canals , railroads. For
many people, these are predominant
elements in their image. People observe the
city while moving through it and along these
paths the other environmental elements are
arranged and related.
• Paths with clear and well known origins and
destinations have stronger identities and help
tie the city together . STREETS
2 EDGES – perceived boundaries such as walls ,buildings and
shorelines .

SHORELINES WALLS BUILDINGS

• Edges are the linear elements not used or
considered as paths by the observer . They
are the boundaries between two phases ,
linear breaks in continuity shores, railroads
cuts ,edges of development, walls.
• They are lateral references rather than
coordinate axes. Such edges may be barriers
, more or less penetrable, which close one
region off from another or they may lines
along which two regions are related or joined
together. Edges play an important role in BUILDINGS
marking the outline of the city by wall or water
3. DISTRICTS –relatively large sections of the city distinguished by
some identity or character.

• Districts are the medium to large sections

of the city conceived of as having two
dimensional extent , which the observer
mentally enters inside of and which are
recognizable as having some common
identifying character .
• Always identifiable from the inside ,they
are also used for exterior reference if
visible from the outside . Most people
structure their city to some extent in this
way ,with individual differences as to
whether paths or districts are the
dominant elements . It seems to depend
not only upon the individual but also
upon the given city.
4. NODES –focal points , intersections etc.

 Nodes are points, the strategic spots in

a city into which an observer can
enter, and which are the intensive foci
to and from which he is traveling.
 They may be primarily junctions,
places of a break in transportation, a
crossing or convergence of paths
,moments of shift from one structure to
another . Or the nodes may be simply
concentrations , which gain their
importance from being the
condensation of some use or physical
character, as a street-corner hangout
or an enclosed square.
 Some of these concentration nodes
are the focus and epitome of a
district, over which their influence
radiates and of which they stand as a
symbol. They may be called cores .
5. LANDMARKS –readily identifiable objects which serve as external
reference points.
• Landmarks are another type of point
reference, but in this case the observer
does not enter with in them, they are
external.
• They are usually a rather simply defined
physical object. Building ,sign ,store , or
mountain. Some landmarks are distant
ones typically seen from many angles
and distances , over the tops of smaller
elements, and used as radial
references.
• They may be within the city or at such a
distance that for all practical purposes
they symbolize a constant direction.
• Landmarks are frequently used clues of
identity and even of structure ,and
seen to be increasingly and even of
structure ,and seem to be increasingly
relied upon as a journey becomes
more and more familiar.
FIVE ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL FOR AN
INCLUSIVE APPROACH TO HUMAN
SETTLEMENTS: Man
(Anthropos)

Network Society

Shells Nature
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES WHILE BUILDING
HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
•These principles are
Maximum combined with desirability and
Minimum Effort
Contacts
feasibility of the economic,
social, political, technological
and cultural aspects to form
Optimum Quality of The the model of satisfaction.
Space Environment
•These efforts lead to time
allocation studies and time
management in urban
Optimum in
The Synthesis activities as for instance the
of All Principles optimization of travel time.
THE DIMENSION OF TIME

•
 •We are witnessing an
unprecedented growth of
population, an
unprecedented influx of
population into urban areas,
which is leading to a much
greater growth of their
population than in the past, an
unprecedented
mechanization of the means
of transportation which means
an explosion of our cities into
space and furthermore, a
change in social structure, a
change in economy, a
change in technology.

•The solution lies in reorienting

the existing settlements spatial
structure to accommodate
the formation of multiple
scales and speeds.
Source: CA Doxiadis; Science of Human Settlements
 •One major problem of the rapid
dynamic growth of settlements is the
typical growth of their centers,
expanding concentrically into their
surrounding areas and having an
impact on each subsequent
concentric ring.

•The slum areas surrounding the

downtowns are a typical result of the
forces of transition from housing to
office use and from lower to higher
densities.

•Growth is achieved by adding units

of a constant size rather than
enlarging the units themselves.

•As the human city becomes bigger

and bigger, it will consist of:
the cells or building blocks and
the networks organizing and
Source: CA Doxiadis; Science of Human Settlements
serving them
Cities expanding along a single axis
emanating from the center, allowing growth
by addition and leading to a unidirectional
linear arrangement
 INTERRELATIONSHIP OF SCALE AND ELEMENTS

Elements Goals Polices Programmes Plans

Man
Society
Nature
Shells
Networks
Human
Settlement
SCALE OF CITIES
Community 1 2 3 I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII
Scale

Small Megalopolis
Small Metropolis

Small Eperopolis
Neighbourhood

Neighbourhood

Ecumenopolis
Megalopolis
Metropolis
Anthropos

Eperopolis
Small Polis
Housing
House
Room
Units

Small

Polis
Elements

Antropos
Nature
Society
Shells
Networks
Human settlements are so numerous and so different from each other that
any attempt to study or understand them is meaningless unless we classify
them in an orderly way.. –CA DOXIADIS
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SCALING PROPERTIES
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