The Densest Cities with the Largest User-Friendly Spaces

It is evident that the newest trend of urban site design is to provide dense cities with the largest green, generous, and user-friendly public spaces, very necessary for any urban development. The quality of urban life benefits from opportunities to create and experience open public spaces. Their elements are situated to become main circulation routes and programmed with basic and mixed-use services, natural landscapes, walkways, fountains, and many other amenities. But this trend is directly faced with different difficult situations of redevelopment, community issues, different concepts of urban living patterns, and transportation impacts. All of these are among several demanding problems that require our consideration. Our paper addresses the importance of different approaches to design practices and its' reflectance on the needs of both natural and human communities. A better balance of transportation means and user-friendly spaces would help urban sites to function interactively. Giving priority to public transportation to reduce congestion and pollution, facilitating access to basic services, creating shared spaces, and providing passive or active recreation opportunities including pocket parks, accessible green roofs, plazas, and courtyards, would invigorate and sustain naturally enriched spaces. The user would benefit from this balance, which provides him/her with a better quality of life, comfort, and security. The urban life would have more user-friendly spaces where all ways of transportation and activities find their own place. The environment would benefit greatly from a reduced number of cars, fewer toxins, more open space, and more pleasing landscaping complementing the architecture

IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE SITE PLANNING AND DESIGN PRINCIPLES IN URBAN DESIGN

In my article, I have explored a concern for the relationship between the implementation of sustainable site planning and design principles and the integration of building location, in the context of achieving a state of coexistence between the two: first, the encouragement of new developments and renovation of existing ones and second, the limitation of the environmental impact of buildings on regional ecosystems. This concern originated from the trend of modern society's constant separation from the natural environment and the resulting negative impacts on human health and well-being. As inhabitants, we are constantly influenced by as well as continuously influencing the prevailing urban conditions. Reduction of open space areas and landscape site conditions, increasing impervious surfaces and the resulting runoff water volume, heat absorbed from paved surfaces, unnecessary light pollution to the night sky, distances from public transportation, automobile fuel consumption and emission contributing to pollution, are among several pressing environmental conditions that require our attention. In response, the importance of a study of inclusion of environmentally sensitive elements into the project is evident. The outcomes of the study are to include the sustainable principles with the education process and to inform the practice of urban design with the knowledge of viewing sustainability as a different approach that purifies the urban design process further. A detailed analysis of the benefits of sustainable design will make the design potential of these concepts understandable. Implementations of sustainable site planning and design principles allow buildings to take advantage of natural systems such as climate, topography, sun, wind, rain, and groundwater. In addition, they contribute to the design of naturally enriched spaces where the buildings and designed interstitial spaces serve as the link between the person and natural environment. A link that is crucial in the future of our cities and of our well-being