| Over the post war period the urban public realm has increasingly become unstructured and fragmented. Its historic role as a multi-functional resource - a setting for social interaction, politics, sporting and cultural events, as well as a means of movement and communication - has been reduced over time as urban professionals have separated and segregated the components of everyday life. A broad degree of consensus has emerged in post-modern urbanism around the guiding principles necessary to achieve a renaissance of the public realm. The new urbanist vision of an integrated, well-connected public realm comprising accessible spaces, defined, enclosed and animated by architecture and landscape design is shared on both sides of the Atlantic. This thesis sets out to investigate the issues surrounding implementation of the new urbanist concept for the public realm. It aims to explore how new urbanist design principles are translated into detailed design solutions, the barriers encountered and how these are overcome. The research is approached by means of a three-level investigation: firstly, an overview of current practice in England; secondly, an in-depth examination of four English case studies of implementation; and thirdly, a comparative North American sample study. The research reveals that the new urbanist vision for the public realm is being translated into very different detailed design solutions at the local level, reflecting local histories, cultures and building traditions. Yet despite the diversity which is evident across England, the USA and Canada, the problems encountered during the realisation process are remarkably similar, and those attempting to translate the theory of new urbanism into liveable solutions share similar concerns and dilemmas. There are obstacles to every aspect of the new urbanist concept for the public realm, making it incredibly difficult to achieve neo-traditional public realms that fiinction as successfully as those of the pre-modern or traditional city which practitioners are attempting to emulate. However, the study also highlights the many techniques and approaches used to overcome the barriers to implementation and create public realms with a degree of integration lacking in most post-war developments. |
