The Advantages Of Compact City
Compact City - Elimination Of Urban Sprawl - Flexible Construction - Automatic Deliveries - Airconditioning - Easy Recycling - Low / No Congestion

Flexible Construction

In the Book "Future Shock", Alvin Toffler expressed his opinion about the effect of the "accelerative thrust" of change in the socio-economic life of man. In the book, " The Death and Life of Great American Cities", Jane Jacobs discusses how lively streets, those that have many diverse uses, can contribute in an important way to the safety and well-being of a neighbourhood, particularly when there are some people in the neighbourhood who form a core of stability in an otherwise constantly changing scene. And an interesting, active street is the kind people wish to remain living near. The challenge is to design a city in such a way that it can economically adapt to changing functional needs. Compact City could be made flexible in its construction to meet this challenge. First and foremost, the various functions in Compact City must be separated. For example, residential areas are separated from work and commercial areas. This separation must sport several factors to avoid creating lonely places where people have no defenses against criminal attacks. First, there must be ready accessibility of any part of the city to any other part. Second, the internal structures must be made less permanent. They could be made to be re-arrangeable to suit changing needs. Thirdly, there need to be greater stability of populations within a neighbourhood because a change of jobs within the city would not require that a family move to another neighbourhood. For example, a family break-up would not mean a change in one's shopping patterns or schools. Fourthly, there must be, in the plan, considerable diversified use of interior open space. The good thing about Compact City is that it is even more conducive to diversified use of space.

Today's exterior construction materials, concrete, stone, bricks, or cement blocks, are bulky, rough, heavy, and clumsy to handle. Once the many individual building units of a conventional urban development are finished, they are rigid and expensive to alter or replace. Thus, whether we like it or not, what we build in a conventional city is what we are stuck with for several subsequent generations. By way of contrast, the only rigid part of Compact City would be its outer three-dimensional shell and the concrete slabs that form the "land" base for each level. The housing and work areas could be constructed upon these slabs and the terraces and parks could be planned in such a way as to permit easy modification and rearrangement. For example, lightweight, less sturdy materials could be used to build the interior units. These could be designed to be mounted rapidly with ease and also to be altered with effort that is small when compared with what is required to tear down or put up individual new building units in our current cities.

In brief, Compact City houses could be made to be assembled rather than constructed and disassembled rather than wrecked. Parts of houses could be designed so that they could literally plug into each other. The same is true for office space, schoolrooms, and other arrangements within a neighbourhood. The keynote of Compact City construction is its flexibility.

One of the saddest aspects of conventional building is its irreversible character. Irreversibility starts at the design stage. Changes in the blueprint involve work, and expense, so planners and clients tend to accept rather than modify them. Once bids are accepted on various systems of a house, for example, plumbing, tiling, lighting, appliances, painting, masonry, or flooring, it is costly to alter plans and changes create delays. When it actually begins, construction can be so rapid that an error can be committed before it is caught. The wrong kind of plumbing fixtures are uncrated and tiled in, or the wrong sized windows are framed and sealed. After the house is completed modification is costly. Replacement by a more suitable design requires a bulldozer and a wrecking ball.

This, the "Custom" housing is more of an illusion than a fact. Whether one buys a tract home, a used home, or a "custom" home, one is buying a home "off the shelf". After living in a house for a while, the needs of the family can change but the family finds it easier to make the old home do, for exchanges are not easily arranged. If, finally, one must sell his home and relocate, this involves high agent fees, delays, and location of temporary housing. The net result is that structures of a neighbourhood remain as they were constructed, slowly they deteriorate into rotting, unattractive slums. The same hold true for super-block projects. Cities are stuck for a generation or two with what is constructed. Society pays a high price for inflexible, rigid construction that is initially cheap.

The organization of the housing industry in Compact City, by way of contrast, could be built around the concept of change that could make it possible to redesign and rearrange homes, neighbourhoods, work areas, and various other functions easily into new patterns to suit individual taste and changing community needs.

A house-planning center could be set up in Compact City to help people learn about the design possibilities. A variety of model homes could be continuously on display. These could include different configurations of living rooms, kitchen displays, bathrooms, closets, lighting, stairs, lifts, built-ins, cabinets, hardwood fixtures, lighting fixtures, wall panels, flooring, window framing, and landscaping possibilities. Pictures of homes designed by various architects and designers could also be on display. The center could have guides, conduct classes, and have a training program to assist people in assembling their own homes from prefabricated parts. There could be special kits available for putting together a model of a preplanned home or a preplanned modification of an old one. If one pleases, one can also construct his home using his own creativity. This will definitely promote greater creativity for the dwellers of Compact City.

An illustrated way to achieve flexible construction in Compact City can be seen in the example of a house in the residential area which have its upper storey supported not by the walls of the floor below it but has its own independent support. This would permit walls to be used throughout both floors of the house that would not need to bear weight, and hence, these could be made of lightweight, fire-resistant panels. To build a house, a light frame for a lower storey might be put up first. These frames could be slotted so that wall panels could be easily inserted into a slot at the top of the frame and then allowed to drop into a slot in the bottom of the frame.

The roofs and exterior surfaces of houses could, if it is desired, be made of the same materials as the interior surfaces since there is no need for them to furnish protection against rain or cold. Present-day technology is constantly developing new building materials. Light, sturdy, colourful heat and sound insulating materials of plaster boards, plastic, or fiber glass would be particularly suitable for this purpose, if made fire-resistant. Such materials could be modeled in various sizes and shapes so as to fit together perfectly and sturdily, and they could be made more attractive than most materials in common use today. Indeed, panel surfaces, both exterior and interior, could be made in a great variety of styles just as wallpaper comes in various styles.

Among the many advantages of such materials is the ease with which they could be moved, assembled, disassembled, or put together in various ways to enclose space. Also, exciting designs, colours, and unusual shapes could be used to provide an aesthetically pleasing effect. Special surfaces could be used to deaden noise. Beside, the need for easily rearrangeable walls and ceilings, there would also be the need for easy installation and replacement of floor coverings, kitchens, bathrooms, nooks, and decorations. Indeed, all aspects of home construction would have to be designed to be completely flexible.

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