02 Aug The most impressive urban layouts from an aerial view, by MykonosCerámica
On this post on urban architecture seen from the air, we gather some of the most remarkable city layouts, based on its planification, adaptability, or creativity.
Which are the most common or original urban layouts from an aerial view? How are some cities seen from the air?
ORTHOGONAL URBAN LAYOUTS.
Most modern cities are designed on an orthogonal structure, which has been used since ancient times. Crossing perpendicular streets, this is the structure that the majority of cities has been structured on, with avenues, streets, parks, among other spaces.
His way of building cities is common in the USA, and some cities like Buenos Aires or Barcelona.
Manhattan. NYC
We could also mention Manhattan, that although not strictly a city, it has this way of urban layout.
Streets go from East to West, and Avenues from North to South. In NYC, if your are supposed to go to a certain corner, given the exact Street and Avenue number, you will exactly know where you are going to.
This plan comes from the Plan of the Commissars of 1811, much criticized at that time for the excess of orthogonality (which gave a feeling of monotony). In that shot, by the way, Central Park was missing, which was not projected until 1853.
RADIOCENTRIC URBAN LAYOUT.
Streets are drown from a central point to the exterior.
Radiocentric layouts have been used since medieval ages, when a castle, a market, or a church were the center of the activity of the city.Main streets were drawn sin the central point to the wall gates. These kind of maps make it really easy to get to the city center.
Paris and Madrid are to be included on this king of city structure.
París, France
Besides that, radiocentric urban layout has been also used to design modern cities suburbs, or even a new built cities, such as Camberra, Australia.
IRREGULAR LAYOUT.
It has no prestablished order. It leads to irregular city structures, traditionally used by the muslim and on the Medieval European cities.
In Spain, for instance, Córdoba, Cáceres and Toledo are a clear example of that. They have short streets and lack open spaces in the city center.
Fuengirola, Spain.
LINEAL LAYOUT.
It leads to cities that are built along a route, old road, or train track.
In Argentina, for instance, many lineal little towns appeared with the expansion of railway expansion. Santa Rosa, La Pampa. Ciudad Lineal in Madrid is another example.
JUXTAPOSED LAYOUT
These kind of urban layout takes place where different forms of city structure were used in the same city, mainly from different ages.
PLANNED CITY LAYOUTS
Several cities planned with highly creative plants and adapted to the environment could not be missing in this compilation.
One of the best knowns is Brasilia, definitely one of the youngest capitals in the world and also one of the biggest planned cities in the XX Century.
Its airplane-shape was designed by Architect Lúcio Costa, and its most important buildings were created by Oscar Niemeyer.
Brasilia, Brazil.
Some urban structures are totaly unique, like some suburbs in Denmark, such as Brøndy Haveby. It’s a suburb of Copenhague.
That layout is taken from the old little towns where people used to meet on the water fountain in every town to chat and interchange news.
Brøndy Haveby, Denmark
El Salvador, Chile, is a little city in the middle of the desert of Atacama. It was built in the 50’s when a copper deposit was discovered in there.
El Salvador, Chile.
Palmanova, Italy, is a fortified city that was built by Venetian in 1593, structured as an fortified star with the purpose of making the city able to defend itself from the Ottomans.
Palmanova, Italy.
El Eixample, in Barcelona, is an example of octagonal layout, where blocks have 8 sides instead of the usual 4. It was designed by Ildefonso Cerdá in the 1850’s.
The plan was never liked by the bourgeoisie of the time, considering it a waste, but in 1860 the central government of Madrid approved it anyway by decree law.
El Eixample, Barcelona.