#ciam x

[archiveofaffinities]

James Stirling, Rural Housing Project for CIAM X, 1955

[amritseera]

HABITAT - LESSONS FROM ECOSYSTEMS [12/20]

Can Ecosystem models be applied to Modern Cities?

Patrick Geddes created an ecosystem model for a valley section in Scotland based on a habitat system similar to those used in the animal kingdom. In this valley section he explores how human settlements should be analysed in the context of its natural region by finding the right places for each sort of place determined by the nature of the work which then determined the familial organisation of society. For example miners would work in mountainous zones and farmers in the plains of the valley, there would be a progression of isolated huts in the mountains to small villages eventually metropolis' at the coast.

This is a rather historical model and cannot really be applied to a modern situation which is why in 1954 CIAM X created a modern hierarchy which involved a village, neighbourhood, town, city and metropolis. Alison and Peter Smitherson argued architecture should respond to its surroundings according to the site of the particular architectural project within the geography of the valley area. In today's modern society the housing types and occupational buildings would be as follows: detached farm houses, villages, towns of various sorts (industrial/admin/special) and cities which are now multi-functional.

Cities, that are large enough, even have their our 'valley section' including outer suburbs, inner suburbs, outer city, inner city and the core of the city, this will determine those occupations as many factory works will be in the inner city and most of those in the outer or inner suburbs will most likely commute to jobs within the inner city or the core of the city. Patrick Geddes' model can be very loosely interpreted and used to apply to a modern day situation, by changing occupations and landscapes it can be determined what types of architecture should be practiced in which surroundings. 

REFERENCES:

Team 10 Primer, MIT Press second edition 1974 (first edition 1968) Available from: http://www.team10online.org/team10/text/doorn-manifesto.htm [Accessed 06/03/2012]

 Volker M. Welte, [DATE UNKNOWN] Post–war CIAM, Team X, and the Influence of Patrick Geddes  Available from: http://www.team10online.org/research/papers/delft1/welter.pdf [Accessed 06/03/2012]