Page 24 - Vertical City

24 The vertical city

More recently, the complementary rule L/B esta-
blishes the distance (L) between high-rise buildings
imposed according to their apparent width (B).

In a well-planned city, the natural need for orienta-
tion has also resulted in orthogonal streets following the
cardinal points and organized on a square or rectangu-
lar 1 plan that is articulated in four quarters along two
major north-south and east-west axis. The relief (topo-
graphy) or the presence of a curved water feature often
softens the rigor of this plan.

This traditional city, consisting of buildings in a princi-
pally rectangular 2 plan of 3 to 4 stories, sometimes sur-
rounded by walls, is also in harmony with the measure of
man, and the basic rules of architectural and urban com-
position is its expression. These rules are based on the
architectural theories of Vitruvius 3, which were widely

1 Sometimes the plan is also radial.

2 Grouping construction in a circular plan on one level has also been
experimented in our regions before the dominance of the Romans.
It seems though that it never enabled the concentration of popula-
tion necessary for the emergence of the city as we know it.

The Chinese city before “The Great Leap Forward” of Mao
Zedong, on an orthogonal plan with buildings of one level, even
when grouped in a compact manner, could not accommodate
its population except by sacrificing large territories. The irony of
history is that the vast suburban zones around American and Euro-
pean cities have taken over during the past several decades.

3 Vitruvius, De Architectura (first century B.C.) This concerns western
civilization. I am not familiar with corresponding fundamental theor-
etical texts for eastern civilizations, but it is surprising to note that,
de facto, they lead to the same rules.