The Problem of Urban Design, Roger Trancik

Lost Space

Lost space is the leftover unstructured landscape at the base of high-rise towers or the unused sunken plaza away from the flow of pedestrian activity in the city. Lost spaces are the surface parking lost that ring the urban core of almost all American cities and sever the connection between the commercial center and residential areas. Lost spaces are also the abandoned waterfronts, train yards, vacated military sites, and industrial complexes that have moved out to the suburbs for easier access and perhaps lower taxes.

The Causes

There are five major factors that have contributed to lost space in our cities: (1) an increased dependence on the automobile; (2) the attitude of architects of the Modern Movement toward open space; (3) zoning and land-use policies of the urban-renewal period that divided the city; (4) anunwillingness on the part of contemporary institutions–public and private–to assume responsibility for the public urban environment; and (5) an abandonment of industrial, military, or transportation sites in the inner core of the city.

Hard Space

One of the most important factors in hard space is the creation of enclosure. A review of precedents reveals three important components of successful hard urban space: (1) the three-dimensional frame; (2) the two-dimensional pattern; and (3) the placement of objects in space.

Soft Space

Although the architectural approach of a continuous void with hard walls is one approach to urban design, we must also explore natural, soft space in the central city for what it can offer as a contrast to the dense urban environment. As a means of understanding the nature of space and the physical and psychological dimensions of the exterior void, we must expand the discourse into areas beyond specific urban spaces to include the larger context within which they exist. In order to evaluate space in this broader context, two factors must be considered: (1) the meaning of a space based on its use and purpose as defined by the psychological and social needs of the individual; and (2) the relationship between a particular space or group of spaces and their regional characteristics, including history and local traditions.

From the book “ Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design “ (Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated, 1986)