City and Transportation Planning

An Integrated Approach

Akinori Morimoto

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000417432
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Transportation & Navigation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Many urban and transportation problems, such as traffic congestion, traffic accidents, and environmental burdens, result from poor integration of land use and transportation. This graduate-level textbook outlines strategies for sustainably integrating land use and transportation planning, addressing the impact on land use of advanced transport like light rail transit and autonomous cars, and the emerging focus on cyber space and the role of ICT and big data in city planning.

The text also explores how we can create sustainable cities for the future. In contrast to the "compact city", which has been proposed as an environmentally friendly urban model, recent years have seen an acceleration in the introduction of ICT-based "smart city". As people's lives are drastically changed by COVID-19, a new form of city is being explored. The new concept of a "smart sharing city" is introduced as an urban model that wisely integrates physical and cyber space, and presents a way to solve future urban issues with new technologies.

Chapter 1

History of cities and transportation

1.1How was the City Formed?

1.1.1What is a city?

The word “city” is often used casually, but it is difficult to find a common definition worldwide. This is also because the way of thinking of a city differs depending on the time and region. Therefore, various definitions have been proposed in literature. Some commonly agreed upon features include many people gathering in a certain area, dense buildings, and a place where secondary and tertiary industries are located. In addition, although it may be a core region regarding politics, economy, culture, and transportation, it has a low function in terms of food production. This means that a city cannot be self-sufficient and can be regarded as an area that is established only in cooperation with other areas.

According to Fujita (1993), the emergence of cities forced many agricultural villages, which had been living self-sufficiently, to change into rural areas that supplied the city with daily necessities. In other words, a city could only be established where there were rural areas that could support it. In these rural areas, surplus production became a necessity to support these newly emerging cities, and a complex political system between farmers and rulers was established. Arthur Korn (1967) also pointed out that before the emergence of full-fledged cities, there was a transitional stage such as village cities and castle cities, and that cities were formed through this transitional form throughout all periods of history.

It is said that the etymology of the word “city” comes from “Civitas”. Civitas is a Latin word for a political community of citizens (cīvis) such as a “city” or a “state”, or the citizenship granted by it. On the other hand, the etymology of urban is urbs, which means a set of buildings. The former is a concept of a city based on religious and political groups while the latter can be classified as a physical concept of a city.

Figure 1.1 Agricultural settlements, villages, conversion to cities.

Source: From Hiroo Fujita: The Logic of the City; Why Power Needs the City, Chuko Shinsho 1151, 1993 (in Japanese).

1.1.2Who created the city?

A city is built as a result of many people gathering together. It may have been created as a result of each individual being relatively free to choose a place of residence, or it may have been formed intentionally by someone for a purpose. The former is a commercial city formed in the market, which is the result of each person's actions to maximize the individual's interest within a certain rule, with the leading players being the citizens. The latter was constructed with political intentions, such as the control and defense of conquered territories. For this case, it is the rulers who determine the shape and function of the city.

In a democratic country where the people have sovereignty, cities are established because of the citizens’ free economic activities. Elected officials and government agencies are entrusted to work on the behalf of citizens to plan the city and develop public infrastructure. In this case, the people who create the city are its citizens.

On the other hand, in a monarchy governed by a specific ruler, political intention and power structure influence the city. In some cases, existing cities may be expanded or maintained, and in other places, newly planned cities may suddenly appear. Cities as symbols of authority often have a geometrical structure, which underpins the political system of the ruler.

In any case, when planning a city, the planning theory that serves as the basis is crucial, and a city planner who has the knowledge and skills is required. The first recorded city planner was Hippodamus, who was active in Miletus around the 5th century BC. Influenced by the politics of ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (BC 384–322), he actively adopted a grid pattern as an ideal city to preach the rational relationship between buildings and roads.

In addition, the theory of planning also has different perspectives depending on the underlying academic system. Among research on urban theory for industrial cities, urban sociologist L. Reissman (1966) divides urban experts into four types according to the two axes of problem type and data type. The problem type can be split into those who focus on solving practical problems compared to those who focus on solving more theoretical problems. The types of data can be classified into quantitative data, which can be objectively measured, and qualitative data, which is nonnumerical data. By combining these two axes, he describes four types of urban experts: Practitioners, who use quantitative data to improve specific situations; Visionaries, who use qualitative data; and Empiricists and Theorists, who explain cities theoretically and with quantitative and qualitative data, respectively, although not directly related to solving real problems.

1.1.3When was the city created?

Lewis Mumford (1895–1990) explains in the first part of his book “The City in History” that no single definition will apply to all manifestations of the city, and that the origins of the city are obscure, a large part of its past buried or effaced beyond recovery. Due to its long history, it is difficult to accurately pinpoint the first city created. However, some experts believe that the first cities were formed around 10,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period. The transition from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural societies allowed for the planned production of food, which increased efficiency creating a surplus of food. This allowed the first cities to form as the people living in them did not have to engage in the production of food. The timing of the formation of cities varies from region to region depending on climate, culture, industry, etc. of each region. However, according to Hibata (2008), the urbanization of the world can be divided into the following six time frames, and the names of cities are provided as examples.

1. 3000 BC–2000 BC: four major rivers (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus River, and Yellow River) civilization cities
   Ur, Babylon, Harappa, Mohenjo-daro
2. 8th century BC–4th century AD: Greece, Rome, China (Spring Autumn), Persian Empire
   Athens, Miletus, Priene, Olynthus, Pompeii, Pergamon, Alexandria
3. 7th–10th centuries: China (Tang), Japan (Asuka/Nara/Heian), Islamic cities
   Changan, Heijo-kyo, Heian-kyo, Fez
4. 11th–15th centuries: walled cities of medieval Europe, Japanese castle towns
   Turin, Florence, Carcassonne, Nordlingen, Palma Nova, Naarden, Edo
5. 18th century–early 20th century: Baroque city
   Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, Karlsruhe, Tokyo, New York
6. 19th century–early 20th century: modern cities of industrialized society

Looking back on the history of cities, we can see many that have risen and fallen, constantly changing as time goes on to cater to the needs of its residents. In particular, because of the increase in productivity due to technological innovation, the improvement of public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, sanitation, and facilities, has allowed cities to grow massively in scale compared to before.

For example, before the birth of the modern city, feudalism was prevalent for a long time. In these cities, industries were centered around agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, and the city developed as a base for commercial functions based on the sales. However, as industrialization occurred, productivity increased, improving the living standards for citizens leading to the rise in democracy, which lead to an acceleration in market-based principles. In modern times, many of these metropolitan areas expanded further to form a huge cluster of cities called a megalopolis.

1.1.4Where are cities formed?

If cities are usually born in the places where people gathered, where are cities formed? The first cities of the agricultural era were formed near fertile areas. The four major civilizations of that era were all located in downstream areas of rivers. The fertile land allowed for the production of food while the vicinity to the river and the coast allowed for convenient trade and logistics. In order to continue supplying food to the many people living in the city, various types of water transportation such as river boats and marine ships became an indispensable part of the city.

When war is prevalent, the ruler may elect to build a city in a strategic location to act as a defense against invading forces. Some cities were also formed in commercially strategic points along major trading routes in order to encourage and take advantage of trade. Alternatively, some cities were also formed due to religious significance or built around religious sites.

In ancient China, the position of cities and buildings was decided based on the Feng Shui thought, which controls the flow of energy by the position of objects. According to the Yin-Yang thought, a place suitable for the four gods (Vermilion Bird, Blue Dragon, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise) was considered a good terrain for building a city. It is a good place to “store wind and collect water”, with mountains behind it, sea and rivers in the front, and hills or land surrounded by low mountains on the left and right. For example, Chang’an in China, and Heijokyo and Heiankyo in Japan were surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the south was open in the city of the four gods.

1.1.5What kind of city was created?

Looking at the shape of the city, some cities are long and narrow, while some are circular. In addition, there are some small cities with a total length of several kilometers, while there are cities with lengths exceeding several tens of kilometers from the center to the suburb. The shape and scale of a city are defined not only by the demand for population concentration but also by the planning philosophy for topographical conditions and the development of urban infrastructure such as transportation.

The two main elements that make up a city are blocks and streets. A block is formed by a collection of residential areas, and the street connects the blocks. When a block is constructed along topographical features, its shape is naturally irregular. A rectangular block is created only by artificial planning, and a grid pattern is formed by continuous blocks.

It is said that the first known city to make use of the grid pattern was Mohenjo-daro (around BC 3000). In the next section, I will outline how the grid-like city division was adapted to cities.

Figure 1.2 The city of the four gods.

Many cities of Ancient Greece were based on grid blocks. In other words, the land was first used for buildings and plazas, and roads were arranged subordinately depending on the combination. Therefore, although it was easy to expand to the outside, it had a feature where it was difficult to balance the street structure in the city.

On the other hand, the city plan of Rome was based on straight streets and the blocks were arranged accordingly. When allocating a town, first, the layout of the street and the hierarchical structure according to the width of the street were determined. The city as a whole has a good balance, but when the city expanded, there was a problem with its consistency wi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 History of cities and transportation
• 2 Types of urban structure
• 3 Urban structure in the next generation
• 4 Land use and transportation
• 5 Consider transportation based on the city
• 6 Consider cities based on the transportation
• 7 Advanced transport
• 8 Cities and logistics systems
• 9 City planning in cyberspace
• 10 Management for future city planning
• Index