On the 18th of May 13 people gathered
at the SAWCHU building.
As a continuation of our previous
discussion on 'mobility', Piero tonight presented the city-plan
of Hook, projected onto the south of London with a
population of one hundred thousand. The plan was made in the
sixties but due to a change of government the city has never
materialised.
It was a useful exercise to look at
the planning solutions for mobility, housing densities, shops
and light industries in neighborhoods of about 7000 residents.
In particular we noted:
-
how pedestrian streets and
motorised roads were kept apart with only cul-de-sac roads
for motor traffic in the residential areas,
-
how schools and services were
located not more than ten minutes walk from the door step,
with a distance of about 800 mtr from the peripheral roads
to the town centre. ( Equivalent to the distance in AV
between the inner and the outer ring roads).
-
that high priority was given to
children and youth by neighborhoods being characterised by
the evenly spread-out of schools, youth clubs, sports
grounds, kindergarten, playgrounds and health centres.
-
that the extensive system of
pedestrian streets uniting in the spine of the city centre
made a good example of permeability and accessibility for
people of all ages to move about in a safe manner.
-
however artificial it seemed, the
subterranean traffic system through the city centre
indicated a further effort to keep traffic off the streets
also in the downtown area.
At the coming session, Lalit will
present the plan of Mayapore in Bengal.
