Page 34 - Vertical City
P. 34
34 The vertical city
1.000.000 m² of the ground or one third of the surface
of the city.
This configuration leads to a net density of dwellings
that can locally reach 400 to 500 h/ha with buildings not
built above 4 stories 16.
This model remains valid for cities with a high density
of cultural heritage 17 or those that are sparsely industria-
lized, therefore the majority of humanity.
Numerous projects and sites for small cities are thus
created, and for the moment, along these principles:
Masdar, already mentioned, but also, for example,
Aspern-Die-Seestadt 18 (Donaustadt district of Vienna).
This latter is in the process of construction and will be
finished in 2028: inspired by the thinking of Ch. Alexan-
der, it will welcome 20.000 inhabitants and as many jobs,
on a 240 hectare site (a total density of 83h/ha) with
most buildings from 4 to 6 stories high.
If the occupation of the ground is put aside, the rea-
sonable character of this small city is confirmed, for the
same theoretical model, by the volume of the network
(see Chapter II) required for the flows between and
in the buildings themselves, whether it be sewers and
16 Philippe Samyn, “La petite ville possible de trente mille habitants”, in
Bulletin de la Classe des Beaux-Arts, Académie royale de Belgique, 6th
series, Volumes VII, 1-6, 1996, pp. 131-137.
17 Most historical cities, to only cite Rome, being the juxtaposition,
even a piling up of previous epochs, there would be no reasons to
object to construction of towers.
18 www.aspern-seestadt.at.
