Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (former Departments)

Permanent URI for this community

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/3917

Browse

Browsing Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (former Departments) by Subject "City planning -- Management"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The influence of control mechanisms on urban form : some urban design implications
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-03) Schutte, Corli; Welch, T. C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Sustainable Development Planning & Management.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The urban designer works within an environment characterized by constraints. Control mechanisms are part of these constraints. They were created out of necessity because the control of the urban environment became strained as cities grew in size. In the beginning control mechanisms regulated the urban environment to create better public safety. This objective evolved to include aesthetics and sustainability of the environment. Controls, however, tended to become standardized and were often blindly applied irrespective of changed circumstances and contexts. Control mechanisms include inter alia height, density, bulk, and aesthetic controls, which can be applied to regulate form, space and behavioural or activity patterns. These control mechanisms generally embrace a system of codes embodied in legislation enforceable in law. Urban designers should realize and take full advantage of the potential of the law as an urban design control element. This study examines the nature of control mechanisms as applied to town planning in general and urban design in particular and their efficacy in achieving and maintaining a range of human and social objectives. To this end, attention is paid to examining historical precedent, examples reflecting different cultures and approaches and resultant urban forms. On the basis of the aforementioned this study aims to identify a range of urban design principles and to propose suggestions as to how control mechanisms as part of a system of law can best be applied. A case study of central business district sites in Durbanville, Western Cape is researched.