1.

GENERAL NOTIONS

Urban-planning means the unified development of cities and their

neighbourhoods. For most of its history, urban-planning delat primarily with the
regulation of land use and the physical arrangement of city structures, as guided by
architectural, engineering, and land-development criteria. In the mid-20th century it
broadened to include the comprehensive guidance to the physical, economic and
social environment of a community. Elements characteristics of modern urban-
planning include:
- general plans that summarize the objectives of (and restrains on) land
development;
- zoning and subdivision controls that specify permissible land uses, densities,
and requirements for streets, utility services and other improvements;
- plans for traffic flow and public transport;
- strategies for economic revitalization of depressed urban and rural areas;
- strategies for supportive action to help disadvantaged social groups;
- guidelines for environmental protection and preservation of resources.

The generic term of town has today a variety of forms: traditional town,
metropolis, urban area, and urban agglomeration. It is better to use a wider meaning
of the notion, which is urban phenomenon. This term covers all the urban forms,
whatever their size.
During the last decades the town-planning term suffered important changes
compared with the initial meaning. Even though this practice of organising the space
is very old, the town-planning is a recent discipline born at the end of the XIXth
century. Today town-planning includes a wide range in which are involved many
urban disciplines: sociology, urban economy, urban engineering, urban financial
administration, and urban low.
For the sociologist, the city is the physical expression of the inner social
relations; for the engineer, the city is a system of under structures of all kinds; for the
ecologist, it represents the condensation of human productions that disturbs the
natural order; for the economist, it is the ensemble of profitableness factors often
unequally distributed.
 The urban structure term reflects better the urban phenomenon on the whole
and offers a simple and effective model starting from the systems and structures
systems.
Town-planning is a spatial expression of politics such as: economics, social,
cultural, ecological.
It concerns all the aspects connected to:
- physical and spatial planning;
- arrangements ;
- financial administration
of the terrains at all levels (rural, urban, metropolitan, regional, national,
international).
 It requests an interdisciplinary approach for the integration of all aspects:
physical, social, cultural, economical, political.
 It requests a work in a team.
The town-planning methods include:
- the synthesis and analysis;
- the composition and creation;
- the financial administration of the territory.

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 Generally speaking, this science has in view some aspects like: history,
organisation, equipping, long term development, conservation and administration of a
town. The aim of planning is to efficiently transform the reality and change it in
accordance with the human aspirations. Planning means to settle the objectives and
the achievement ways of them. The followed steps are:
- the settlement of problems to solve;
- the definition of the goals;
- the evaluation of ways;
- the assessment of the efficiency;
- the fixing of the realistic goals, taking into account the problems
emergency;
- the searching of the priority order;
- the differentiation of the objectives in accordance with the priority list;
- the selection of the proper intervention ways;
- the insurance of the objectives achievement in the foreseen period of time.
The town-planning is the science that studies the arrangements of towns and
their surroundings using different ways for a better site of streets, buildings and public
services in a manner that can give to the inhabitants healthy, convenient and
agreeable conditions.
 The shape of a square, the site of a lighting post in a street, of a tree, the
combing manners of the drinking and used water, the colour, shape and sitting of
screen signs, street publicity, advertising the solving way of collective dwellings,
organisation of the building terrains, places for statues, all of them are town-planning
problems.
 The town-planning study analysis: how it originates the evolution in time, the
adoption of human requirements at the zone topography, hygiene aspects,
circulation, improving of life conditions of the community, arrangement and
embellishment of town through:
- protecting the inhabitants from difficulties due to climatic conditions and
cohabitation (living together);
- arranging the activities from urban agglomeration in order to obtain maximum
outputs and minimum expenses;
- creation of a harmonious and pleasant life frame considering aesthetics as
progress factor.
 The modern profession of town planning arose in response to the urban
problems caused by rapid industrialisation from the late 19th century. Social reformers
recognised the need for corrective intervention to deal with the growth forces
unleashed by modernisation.
The missions of the town-planner are:
1) the needs identification (present and future) of the collectivities and
emphasising: - the opportunities;
- risks;
- constraints;
- implications of actions.
2) the proposal of necessary actions for starting, organisation, protecting and
changes based on the study results in the form of: - politics
- arrangement plan

3) insurances needs
leading of plans / politics according to the evolution of
resources
changing objectives
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 4) evaluation and administration of effects
implications
of changes according to their appearances

5) it groups more activities:

- territory arrangement (at national and international level)
- urban and rural regional arrangement
- physical and spatial planification
6) it stimulates capitalizes and guides the continuous evolution, having in
view the general interests
7) it contributes to the harmoniously development of the urban communities
8) it stimulates the physical and social changes
9) indicates the better use of resources

10) prevents and attenuates the interests conflicts objectives:

- well-balanced social-economical development
- improving the life quality
- responsible administration of resources and environment protection
- rational use of territory.

 The basic town planning document is a comprehensive plan that is adopted

and maintained with regular revisions. The plan receives its day-to day expression in
a series of legal documents – town planning controls, subdivisions regulations and
building and housing codes – that establish standards of land use and quality of
construction. The comprehensive plan serves many purposes: it brings together the
analyses of the social, economic and physical characteristics (such as the distribution
of population, industry, businesses, open spaces and publicly built facilities) that led
to the plan; it examines special problems and opportunities within the city and
establishes community – development objectives; it coordinates land development
with transport, water supply, schools and other facilities; it proposes regulations,
policies and programmes to implement the plan. The comprehensive plan is to guide
to making daily development decisions in terms of their long-range consequences.

 Development controls are needed. Land is allocated and private activities

are coordinated with public facilities by means of zoning ordinances and subdivision
regulations. A planning regulation or zoning ordinance governs how the land may be
used and the size, type and number of structures that may be built on the land. All
land within a city is divided into districts, or zones. In these districts certain land uses
are allowed by right and general restrictions on buildings height, bulk and use are
specified. The regulations carry out the land allocations recommended in the
comprehensive plan. Specific locations are given for different types of residences,
industries and businesses. Specific numbers are given for allowable heights of
buildings, coverage of a lot, and density. Allowable land uses are specified for each
area, including special conditions such as required off – street parking. Most
regulations are termed “matter-of-right”; if the specified requirements are met a
permit will be given.
The conversion of raw land (construction on previously undeveloped land) is
controlled by subdivision regulations and by site-plan review. These ordinances
establish standards of land development by regulating such features as roadway
width, drainage requirements, traffic circulation and lot sizes.

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 Building and housing codes govern the quality and safety of construction of
new buildings, as well as subsequent maintenance. In most instances, the codes
specify the materials to be used, their minimum quality, and the building components
necessary in a structure that is suitable for human occupancy.

 In the town planning activities are involved social, economic, social and
environmental policies. Although the physical appearance and functioning of the city
are the traditional focus of the town planning, the city’s population, economic
resources and environmental issues are an important concern. Thus, contemporary
town planning continues to focus on physical design, but also addresses the many
long-range social and economic decisions that must be made.
A city has social and economic capital. The city government acts as a
purchasing agent for many services needed by residents and businesses- for
example, education, water supply, police and fire protection and recreation. The
quality, character and efficiency of these services require planning to fit needs and
desire with funding, with technological change, and with objectives for physical
development.
Town planning should be concern with providing decent housing ( and minimal
economic aid) to residents who cannot afford this basic amenity. When local housing
is deficient and economic resources permit its upgrading, the town planning
department may survey housing conditions and coordinate funding to finance its
development and rehabilitation.
The city’s economic development and redevelopment also fall with the scope
of town planning. Economic development plans make use of a mixture of incentives,
technical assistance and marketing to create jobs, establish new industry and
business, help existing enterprises, rehabilitate what is salvageable and redevelop
what cannot be saved.
Town planners today are becoming ever more involved with environmental
concerns. Environmental planning coordinates development to meet objectives for
clean air and water; removal of toxic and other wastes; recycling of resources;
energy conservation; protection of wetlands; hillsides, farmlands, forests and
floodplains; preservation of wildlife, natural reserves and rivers. Historic preservation
strives to keep important buildings and places as part of the permanent environment
and uses them to finance the maintenance costs.
Although town planners may report to mayors, city managers or other officials,
their true clients are the people and businesses of the city. Their plans must reflect
the interests and priorities of these two groups, and the programmes that are
implemented must help the city survive and maintain the quality of life that these
group desire.

I. Town-planning – political act

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II. Town-planning as an integrator process

III. Town-planning objectives

2.Fundamental concepts
The local development is a process that meets the local population
interests:
- the physical development with two types of investments:
• one connected to spatial planning and physic environment of the
town;
• one tied to the land use, by the possibilities of localization for
industrial companies;
- the industrial development, including the financial support and
consulting services;
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 - the human resources development, including training activities, and
encouraging the hiring the available work force;
- the town marketing, including actions for the attraction of the target
groups and for the promotion of the local image.

The economic development factors are:

- the infrastructure (streets, public utilities, air transport, water transport,
telecommunication, touristic infrastructure;
- the available buildings and terrains (free terrains for the location of
economic activities, available buildings programmes for the renovation
of the existent built environment);
- the human resources (specialized work force, recycling programmes
adapted to the market, permanent formation);
- the financial support (from the local level, regional, national, European);
- the management support, knowledge dissemination (consulting
services);
- the life environment (indoor environment quality, services, natural
environment);
- the regional and local marketing (price, image promoting);
- the organization capacity (structures, economic cooperation, private
sector involving).

The local economical development must use performant policies which

should involve much more investments and generate the economical increasing in
three ways:
1. by setting some strategies of economic development based on
the real, potential and on the existent opportunities of the
market at that moment;
2. by creating an efficient and flexible, capable to involve the
resources and to implement the objectives named in the
strategies;
3. by identifying some credible and strong partners, that can
support the development efforts.

The urban management is the process of the development, coordinating,

assessment, implementation of integrated strategies in concordance with the public
interest and private sector target in the frame of the national development policies, in
order to identify, to create and exploit the urban potential having in view the
sustainable development.

The urban marketing represents the adaptation of the urban policies from
the conceive moment till the implementation one, to the local economic factors and to
the hopes and expectations of the external factors that must be involved in order to
promote the local economy, considered to be the force of the town wellbeing.

The territory arrangement and town-planning activities consists in the

transposition at national level of strategies, policies and programmes concerning the
sustainable development and also the application of them in concordance with the
lawful documents of specialty.
The town-planning activities have as main targets:
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 • the searching and elaboration of studies, policies, strategies and
documents concerning the territory arrangement;
• the approval and notification of codes in the domain;
• the monitoring and controlling the adoption of strategies, policies,
programmes and operations of territory arrangement and town-
planning;
• the stimulation of the complex evolution of localities, by the strategies
achievement of short, mean and long term;
• the improveing the life conditions by eliminating the disfunctionalities,
ensuring the access to the infrastructures, public services and
convenient dwellings for all inhabitants;
• the creation of conditions for the meeting of all the children, old and
disabled people requests;
• the efficient use of lands, regarding the adequate urban-planning
functions, controlled development of the built areas;
• the protection and valuating of the built and natural patrimony;
• the quality insurance of the built and planted environment for all the
urban and rural localities;
• the localities protection against the natural disasters.
The town-planning activity includes all the localities on the base of the
hierarchy and balanced distribution of them in the territory.
The spatial development of localities has in view their potential and the
inhabitants aspirations.
The basic idea of the urban-planning activity is defined by its main target:
the care for man, for improving the work, life and rest conditions. The urban
population must work, rest and circulate in the best conditions, in a pleasant
environment.
In the same time, the town is a symbol of the highest technical and cultural
values; this is why it must be realized in an integrated and expressive way. The town
must have a dynamic structure. The urban-planning plans must be conceived in a
such away to correspond to the life needs for the time being, but also to anticipate
the future ones.
The town-planning is an activity:
- operational by describing in detail and by delimitation in terrain the
territory arrangement plans;
- integrator by synthesizing of the policies concerning the administration of
the localities territories;
- standardized by fixing the using the terrains , defining the destinations
and volumes of buildings including the infrastructures.
The town-planning is the science art of the town building. During its
development, the town reflected in its structure a high architectural and public utilities
organization.
In the localities structure, some antagonisms always has been formed:
- internal or between localities;
- between the outlying districts and the central ones;
- between the towns and the villages.
The main goal of the territory arrangement activity consist in the
harmonization at the entire level of economic, social and cultural policies, settled at
local and national level for the ensurance of balance in the different regions of the
country, following the increasing of the cohesion and efficiency of social and
economic relations.
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 The main objectives of the territory arrangement are:
• the balanced social and economic development of different regions,
respecting their specific;
• the improving the life quality;
• the responsible administration of natural environment;
• the rational utilization of the territory.

The town structure means its entire construction defined by the functional
and public utilities needs, by economic and esthetical requirements.
The town structure results from the setting way and by the relationships
settled between its elements: industries, dwellings, green areas, circulation ways, all
types of buildings for the population needs.
The main elements that characterize the town structure determine:
- the circulation ways;
- the buildings and green areas arrangement;
- the streets span;
- the buildings placement inside the streets network;
- the relations between the distances and the heights of buildings;
- the terrain occupation degree.
All these determine:
- the town texture;
- the town appearance;
- the volumetric expression.

Town – is a territorial formation of population settlement defined by a proper

way of life (urban life) characterised by:
- a diversity of unagricultural activities;
- a diversity of services and endowments;
- way of time using;
- organising the space;
- population behaviour.

Urban agglomeration – an urban area with a higher degree of endowment,

industrialisation and occupation which includes neighbouring localities, from which at
least one is a town. All these localities have a coordinated activity and the population
are doing unagricultural activities.
Conurbation – an urban area resulted from the fusion of more urban
agglomeration gradually formed around two or more neighbouring towns:
Boston – Washington – New Jersey – Baltimore
Tokyo – Osaka
San Francisco – San Diego
Urban tissue is the example of all manifestations which lead to the urban
features, including beside the built environment some elements placed in still rural
environment.
Urban composition is a component of the planning which concerns the
physical organisation of urban space, giving an identity of global images by the many
placements, elaboration and of buildings design. It is a result of the functional
aesthetical and morphological organisation or an urban space.

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The hierarchy of the human settlements organization

The The current The instruments The target of the The relations
structure name of physical physical planning and
level in the development determinations
hierarchy planning of the
hierarchical
systems
Territorial - continental - the arrangement -the it influences the
macro- - national plan of the harmonization of territorial
system European territory the sectorial systems of
- the arrangement policies of the inferior level
plan of the development and
national territory rehabilitation of
the human and
natural habitats
Territorial - the county - the arrangement -interrelations it determines
system of - the region plan of the county between the the systems
settlements - the arrangement settlements development of
plan of the inferior level
regional territory
System of - the town - the general - the ecologic - it limits the
human - the village town-planning balance of the districts;
habitat, plan ecosystem (urban - it solves the
urban and -the general or rural) circulation;
rural regulations of - own identity - it harmonizes
town-planning - functional the settlement
independence functions
Subsystem - the district - the regional - homogeneous - it limits the
town-planning morphological homogeneous
plan; structure; structures;
- the general -complementarity - it distributes
regulations of the inside the system the circulation;
town-planning - relative - it distributes
independence the public
utilities network
Micro- - the - the local plan of - original - it determines
system ensemble development; structure adapted the conditions
territorial -the particular to the specific for
unit of town-planning functions; authorization of
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 reference regulations - it settles the the building
location of
buildings
Element - the - the building - the insurance of - the building
building project the optimum and the town
conditions; are mutually
- the positive determined and
impact on the have equal
environment value

The assessment scheme of the policies and strategies for the urban areas
devepolment-rehabilitation

SCHEMA

3.History

The roots of the town

During history, the social, political, economic, cultural conditions created many
ways of understanding the space and arranging it.
Even though the term is quite recent, people had to arrange the space and life
frame long time ago.
Paradoxically, the agriculture explains the town roots. The first nomad tribes
became sedentary during the stone age, between 8000 and 5000 B.C. and began to
practice agriculture, on the second place being the hunting activity.
The region called the “The fertile horn” (today; Turkey, Israel, Liban, Egypt,
Iraq) was the first place where humans became sedentary and began to practice
agriculture.
Beginning with that time, using new techniques and irrigations, it resulted a big
production of food, more than it was necessary. This extra production was used to
feed people in limited spaces, more populated and practicing unagricultural activities.
This phenomenon was growing in Neolithic (5000 -2500 B.C.), when there were built
the lacustrian buildings in the Nil, Tiger and Euphrates valley, where the ground was
more fertile and near the navigable ways.
If the agricultural progresses allowed the towns development, the
unagricultural goods and the wealth created in towns, determined in its turn the
increasing of the demand of goods. In other words, the agriculture and urban
progresses are going hand in hand. After two thousands of years, the first urban
civilisation was born.
The antique towns were not the hazard result, but an aware practice, where
the shape, plan, placement were the results of military and religious preoccupations
of those societies.
Later, the agricultural, political, commercial, industrial preoccupations
determined other ways and techniques of space arrangement.
The origin of urban civilisation is attributed to the appearance of agricultural
excess. It is necessary to understand the reasons and means of spaces arrangement
in different societies. The agricultural excess allowed the appearance of some
unagricultural activities and later of some urban professions. The most important are
the administrative, religious, military, trade and transport activities.
The excess of goods created by different type of activity, must be changed for
some others to ensure for each man a variety of supplies. This is the root of the
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market. The trade became quickly an activity as important as the goods production
itself. It wasn’t possible that the same people to practice the production and trade
activity in the same time. The trade became itself a speciality that could encourage
the economical production increasing. Beginning with this moment the wealth existed
in sufficient quantities not only for changes, but also for being accumulated. Some
people having as professions the production, administration and trade activity, and
some other holding the political and religious power, they could influence and control
the society. The social hierarchy was established in accordance with the power and
wealth.

Social forms and urban forms

The town is the physical frame where the social classes are fighting for getting
the economic excess. To enable the changes, the urban settings must be placed
near the transport ways or at the crossings.
The populations could give a shape of the built environment in accordance
with the religious, military, politic and economic preoccupations, that can explain the
urban forms. In their ways, the religious, politic, commercial and industrial towns
express the way of arrangement of spaces depending on the dominant social group.

The religious town

The religious town is typical for the antique world. For them the town
represents the centre that gathered the people in a single place and the priests could
communicate with the divine forces. Under the pretext of being divine, the priests
take the agricultural excess and accumulated and administrated the goods and the
wealth.
The antique urban life was lead by the high society. So, Athena was built
around an acropolis: a high fortress where were built the temples, divine monuments.
In a symbolic way, the rest of the town was lying downward from these sacred
places. The whole town become a real divine sanctuary. The royal power was
represented by the palace buildings near the sanctuary. In some case, like in
Babylon, different walls delimitated even the social classes. In the centre were the
buildings for the kings and the priests.
The Greek architect Hipodamus of Miletus planned important Greek
settlements such as Piraeus. Called the father of town planning, he emphasized a
geometric design for towns. The citadels were oriented so as to give a sense of
aesthetic balance; streets were arranged in a grid pattern and housing was
integrated with cultural, commercial and defence facilities.
The Romans continued these principles. Their designs for monumental
temples, arches, gymnasiums and forums are classic examples of town planning
based on strict regard for symmetry. Their colonial cities, planned as military camps
called castras, were laid out with a grid of streets surrounded by rectangular or
square defensive walls.
Very important were the theatres, the amphitheatres, the public squares, the
roman phorum and the temples. The libraries, the stores, the law courts proved the
variety of activities from that time.
The brightness of the roman towns was the result of a long evolution. Rome
called “the queen of the cities” was a model for all the towns built afterward.
The essential principle imposed in the town building was the harmony and the
discipline spirit. Platon said that only the law and discipline could have positive
effects on the community life. Aristotel in “politics” said that the hygiene, defence and
circulation requirements are the main priorities for the town buildings. Another
principle was that of the urban functions specialization. The main characteristic of the
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Greek spatial organisation is its functionality, connected to the manifestations of the
urban community life.
The famous architect Vitruviu said that the building requirements are: defence,
hygiene, beauty and utility.
The population in many towns was 10.000 inhabitants. The houses of the
majority, having 1-3 floors, were placed downward from the temples, without light and
sanitary conditions, in noisy and overpopulated districts.
The efforts of the antique urban authors wasn’t concentrated to the popular
dwellings but was especially oriented to the architectural composition of the royal and
religious buildings and public places. Their architecture shows the taste for symmetry,
volumes and big proportions. Neglecting some aspects concerning the protection
against the wind and sun, the main streets were oriented toward the four cardinal
points. There were long, straight, large and converging to the middle of the town as of
the universe centre.
The rectangular plan was used in the antique world, but also today in America.
The difference is that in the Antiquity, the reason was the religious beliefs and today
the reason is the commercial profit. In antiquity, these streets were used for religious
parades or as royal ways. In the outlying districts, the streets were narrow, without
green areas and pavement. But the conditions in these outlying districts were
favourable for the wind and sun protection, and their intimacy allowed a rich social
life.
Fig. p 16
The political town
This type of town is characteristic for Middle Age (476-1453).
With the time passing, the political and military dimensions are getting more
and more importance than the religious one.
The towns became more fortified and were surrounded by water ditches. The
fortress became the main structure of the town. It marked the limits between the high
society and the farmers. To survive in the case of some prolonged sieges, they
included the agricultural land inside the fortress.
The narrow and tortuous streets, like labyrinths, favoured the urban rebellions
and the conspiracy. This is the reason why, large and straight streets are cut in the
popular districts to enable the military parades. The view was open on big royal
palace on statues or military buildings. The Haussmann baron was famous for his
town-planning in Paris and his avenues.

The commercial town

The commercial town was characteristic for the first part of the modern age
(the XV-XIX centuries).
The commercial features were present even in Antiquity and Middle Ages. It
was born from the necessity to change goods; this is way it was placed at the
crossing ways. Even though the trade activity was the reason for the town existence,
it wasn’t a main activity like in Middle Ages.
The medieval city was placed near the navigable ways or roads to allow the
goods transport. The big square became a commercial one, with important stores.
The entire streets were dedicated to the trade activity. The dwellings were crowded,
overpopulated and without sanitary conditions. The free and green spaces
disappeared. The trade was the king.
The emulation of Graeco-Roman classicism during the Renaissance revived
town-planning efforts along classical lines. The Piazza of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome
and the Piazza of St. Mark’s in Venice exemplify an ideal of grandeur in civic
structures and public places. In sharp contrast to the narrow, irregular streets of
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medieval settlements, renaissance planning stressed wide, regular radial and
circumferential streets, that is, streets forming concentric circles around a central
point, with other streets radiating out from that point like spokes of a wheel.
Examples include the streets design in London by the English architect Sir
Christopher Wren.
The Renaissance architects considered that to build means to define an order
in space and time and the town, as whole, is an organism or a big house.
Leonardo da Vinci proposed new models that ignored the theoretical tradition.
He designed a double floor fortress. The upper streets “at the first level were limited
by porticoes. The traffic at the inferior level was facilitated by tunnels.
fig p19
The industrial town
The industry became an important sector.
Because of the lack of land, the life conditions, for the working class, were very
poor. The dwellings had only one room, with no ventilation, lights and sanitation.
Many people lived in the basement.
In 1845, in Manchester was only a toilette for 21 people.
The industrial town was crowded, overpopulated, built without any rules, where
the poverty, misery and illness were present.
From this moment, the town-planning replace the traditional practice of
organizing the space, that was considered to be exclusively aesthetical and
incapable to solve the social problems of the towns.
Planning the buildings placement and land utilization, it was hoped to improve
the public hygiene and to diminish the risk of some epidemics.
It was estimated that in a healthy built environment, the social order would be
guaranteed, and that would lead to the industrial production increase.
For the first time, the urban-planning concept was formulated by the Spanish
engineer, Idelfonso Cerda, in 1876. He proposed a urban plan for the extension of
the Barcelona town. For the first time, the town-planning was a concentrated action,
having in view the space arrangement.
From 1880, the town-planning term was known in the whole Europe.

The modern towns were organised in units separated by green spaces or

connection spaces. These units included the almost urban functions. One problem is
to use this urban space efficiently.
The XXth century brings a development programme that establishes the town-
planning trends concerning:
- the dwelling surfaces;
- the circulation and industry surfaces;
- the green areas.
Town planning broadened in the late 1960s beyond a purely physical
orientation. In its modern form, town planning is an ongoing process that concerns
not only physical design, but also social, economic and political policies issues. As a
fabric of human organization, a city is a complex weave. On one level it consists of
the arrangement of neighbourhoods, industry and commerce according to aesthetic
and functional standards and the provision of public services for them. On another,
perhaps more important, level it also comprises:
- the background, education, work and aspirations of its residents;
- the general functioning of the economic system to which they belong, as well
as their positions in and rewards from that system;
- their ability to make or influence the policy decisions that affect their daily
lives.
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 Viewed from this perspective, town planning requires more than a narrow
specialist who can develop and implement a physical plan. More general skills and
activities are also needed. They include:
- the collection and analysis of data about the city and its population;
- research into the need for and availability of social services;
-the development, evaluation, coordination, and administration of programmes
and timetables to supply these services;
- programmes for economic and housing development and redevelopment –
not only planning, but also packaging, financing and carrying out the development,
establishing public and private partnerships;
- effective use of political activity and citizen participation to influence the
character of and give support to development programmes.
The problem of the urban areas organization is a present one. It can be
discussed as the ideal town term.
The ideal town is an organised political and social structure considered to be
perfect; it has all the features that made it real.
Fig p23

4.Romanian legislation concerning town-planning

 The town-planning activity in Romania is based on the town-planning
general regulations introduces by HG 325/1996.
 The town-planning regulation represents an integrated system of technical
and juridical standards (norms) which settle the territory arrangements plans
elaborations, town-planning plans, and also the town-planning local rules.
 The town-planning regulations are applied within the built-up areas and
outside built areas (towns) and settle down the rules of territory occupation and
location of buildings and arrangements needed for them.
 The main rules concerning the way of territory occupation are:
a) rules concerning the keeping of environment integrity and conserving the
natural and built patrimony; it concerns to:
- agricultural lands from inside cities;
- agricultural lands from outside;
- forests areas;
- underground resources;
- water resources and meteorology platforms;
- areas with landscape value and protected natural areas;
- protected built areas;
b) rules concerning the building safety and the public interest defence, it
concerns to:
- exposition to natural risks;
- exposition to technology risks;
- buildings with functions of technological risks;
- assurance of functions compatibility;
- occupancy percentage of land;
- public utility works.
A location and conformation condition of buildings includes:
a) location rules and obligatory minim withdrawals; it refers to:
- orientation toward the cardinal points;

14
 - location toward the streets, roads;
- location toward the navigable ways;
- location toward air ports
- withdrawals toward the protection border line band and frontier;
- location toward the alignment line;
- location inside the parcel;
b) rules concerning the assurance of obligatory assess; it refers to:
- carriage road access;
- pedestrian access;
c) rules concerning the public utilities equipments; it concerns:
- joining to existent utility;
- achieving of new public utility network;
- public property on public utility network;
d) rules concerning the shape and sizes of terrain and building; it concerns to:
- parcelling of land;
- building heights;
- exterior appearance of buildings;
e) rules concerning the parking location, green spaces and painting; it refers
to:
- parking lots and ways;
- parks, gardens;
- fences, palings.
A master plan is a long-term plan for land use drawn in accordance with the
Land Use and Building Act. It aims at regulating the general land use and reconciling
the various functions. The master plan involves the desired development principles
and indicates areas for detailed town and other planning and construction. The
master plan is presented on a map with an accompanying account.
Master planning is a continuous process in which planning and keeping the
plans up-to-date lies within the responsibility of the municipality.

5.THE URBAN ANALYSYS

5.1. The urban evolution
Each town may be compared with a human organism in a continuous
evolution. If we examine its history we can notice that the urban agglomerations are
made of stable elements, that are developed in this space by amplification or by
subdivision, and by displacements to the urban centre.
5.2. The roots of urban agglomerations
The main reason for the town creation was a material one.
Initially, the families and tribes were nomads. But this kind of life was
abandoned for many reasons:
- they had to harvest the cereals;
- they to find a permanent water source;
- they created some spaces for trade activity;
- illness or tiredness;
- for the distribution of the hunting fields;
- for finding better possibilities for wintering.
The permanent choice was that place that fulfilled simultaneously all the
conditions: water, grazing, crossing ways, rivers.
After that, it appeared the main organisms of the urban life: the lieder, the
market and communications ways.
15
 The commander fixed the headquarters, in a higher area; this place was called
castrum, a defending area, near the market, water and circulation ways. Near the
castrum lived the fighters, near the market – the merchants and on the outskirts – the
farmers.
From now on, the religion, the mysticism and the philosophy became more
important. New buildings appeared in towns: churches, schools, dwellings that would
change the settlement physiognomy.
In many towns, there were 2-3 centres of influence: churches and castles.
Another separation was on the religious criterion: Jewish district, Christian
district. Each social class (the poor, clergy, aristocracy) crated its own area.
Ill the industrial period, the only way of the urban areas development was the
population increasing.
5.3. The interurban migration
During the time, inside the urban settlements there were some population
movement generated by different causes:
- disasters like: volcanoes, earthquakes, flooding; many towns
disappeared (Pompei, Herculaneum, Babylon, Nineveh).
- political causes:
- wars and invasions had a big impact on the town
physiognomy by destruction and rebuilding;
- moving the capital from one place to another together with
all the administration.
5.4. The urban migration
Usually the city population are moving from one district to another.
There are:
- slow migration – meaning the inhabitants moving;
- daily migration – connected to the daily activity;
- seasonal migration – tied to temporary staying (spas).
The causes are:
- administrative: moving some education institutions, markets,
hospitals, could result in population movement;
- economical: building a new industrial unit could displace the workers
from another district; today the central part of the city has only the
office, banks and stores buildings and the dwellings are outside from
this area, creating in this way the daily migration;
- technical: new districts are populated with people from old ones and
the old buildings become inhabited with poorer people;
- sanitation: the sick buildings determined people to move in other
without problems.

5.5. Concentration and dispersion of population

The centre of the urban settlement was established around the local
administrative headquarters. During the peace period, the population was settled
along the main communication ways, that are converging toward the locality centre;
in this way was created the outlying districts.
The sense of the population movement was initially from the exterior to interior,
then being an ebbing. This kind of movement are permanent, even today.
Today there are some alternatives of urban-planning based on the
concentration and dispersion of population: the development of the rural
neighbouring areas and the creation of satellites localities.

16
 6.THE URBAN FORMS
It can be distinguished two main forms of the town appearance:
- natural – when the town was born at the crossing ways near waters
and having defending possibilities;
- conventional – when the town was born at a man initiative, without
taking into account all the natural necessities.
6.1. The natural form
This kind of birth was chosen when that place was very easy to defend (a hill,
the middle of a plain). In the case of a hill, the line of defending and the
communication ways were along the minimum slope line. Perpendicular on those
roads were the access roads. The Romans used this rectangular system and
improved this technique.
6.2. The conventional form
This type of form is characteristic for the colony town roots. In this case, it can
be notice the desire to give each family a land lot in accordance with its financial
means or rights and also the tendency for the assurance of the main elements of the
urban form ( the commander house, the main roads, squares).
The main characteristic of this urban form is the necessity of discipline and
order setting up in the conquered territory. This is the reason why the organisation
was a military one, and the form was a geometric one:
- The circular form had in centre on a higher area the commander area
and the other buildings surrounded it. The main roads were in the form
of beams of concentric circles.
- The rectangular form had two main axis and all the roads are parallel
to them. This form was frequently used in the Near East before the
Roman occupation.
Fig p36-37

7.The choice (solution) of a town placement

The placement location for a town is a big problem. A wrong placement could
have negative consequences on the development and working of town and also on
the life style of the inhabitants.
The territory selection is done simultaneously following all the necessary
conditions:
- the existence of sources of row materials and energy;
- the existence of working sources;
- the existence of building materials;
- the possibility of cooperation with other objectives using in common
of some existent works and installations;
- leisure and treatment possibilities.
For an existent town, the development directions depend on:
- natural or built obstacles;
- organic framing in the old shape and structure.

New or old, we have to take into account:

1) the terrain conditions;
2) accessibility;
3) possibility for public services;
4) climatic and sanitation conditions;
5) distance from some existent elements.

17
 7.1. Terrain conditions
a) The necessary land depends on the inhabitants’ number and the town
structure. (In general, it is considered 60-100 m2/inhabitant without the industrial
area).
The population density for big cities 150-180 loc/ha
medium 130-140 loc/ha
small 100-120 loc/ha
b) The land shape. It is better to avoid the steep incline, natural obstacles,
difficult to traverse, platforms with big differences between levels.
It is better to chose quite lands, with a minim slope of 1% to allow the rain
water to flow and a better working of sewage system. The maximum slopes is 8-10%
(without important works).
c) Surface waters have both positive and negative aspects in the placement
selection.
Waters could be cheap transport ways, source of water alimentation, enable
the discharge of used waters, improve the microclimate conditions, could be
aesthetic element included in the urban composition.
d) It is better to avoid the easy flooded land.
e) The underground features influence the type and cost of buildings. It is
better to avoid the wastes deposits and the filling land.
f) The seismicity of the region is an important factor, if directly influences the
constructive system and foundation solution.
g) The permitted underground waters depend on the land destination
NH – 1…1.5m for planted areas
3.5…4 m for buildings with basement
0.5 m under the foundations of buildings without basement.

7.2. Accessibility.
The chose of placement is connected with the communication networks, or the
joining must be cheap.

7.3. Possibility for public services

It is necessary to ensure (provide) water alimentation of required quality and
quantity and at low cost of investment and operation. It’s necessary an economic and
rapid way to discharge the domestic and rain waters.
It must be ensured an easy and economical connection with the regional
distribution network of different forms of energy: electric, natural gases, thermal
energy.

7.4. Climate and sanitation conditions

When we chose an urban placement, we must take into account the
consequences deriving from the local features of the climatic factors: sun lighting,
precipitations, air movement
There are selected the arias that permit a better ventilation and that are not
affected by the noxes transport from different sources:
- wastes deposits;
- crematory;
- filtration stations of domestic waters.

7.5. Critical study of the placement

18
 The result of researches concerning all the conditions mentioned above are
plotted on group of problems and situation plans at the same scale.
It results the following draw-mapping:
- the water basins;
- the certain slopes;
- the depth of underground water;
- the ground characteristics;
- the land degradation degree;
- the sun lighting periods.
Analysing these draw-mappings, it results the conditions of possibilities for
building on that terrain.
There are three categories:
- terrain good for buildings, that does not require important measures;
- terrain with limited possibilities of using for buildings, that requires
some strengthening works;
- unsuitable terrain for building.
All the conditions cumulated in a synthesis draw-mapping allow the
assessment of the using way of terrain and the way in which it influences the shape
and structure of the future urban area.
The placement selection is made after a comparison study of a number of
alternatives, taking into account the town-planning solutions given by the terrain. The
analyses of different alternatives is based on some cost indexes:
- the cost of the vertical systematization;
- the cost of the possible strengthening works;
- the cost of public utilities works;
- the cost of buildings, foundations;
- the cost of public transportation.
From the comparative analysis are selected the most economical placements,
but not neglecting the comfort conditions, the hygiene and sanitation.
Building a new town near an existent one is easier at the first step, but after a
while it is difficult to integrate the old centre.
The development of an existent town rises some special problems, being in
many cases limited because of the existent industrial areas, railways, natural
elements or underground exploitation.
The development by extension of an existent town is made only after the using
of all internal possibilities (the using of all terrains). The territorial extension is made
by:
- coterminous extension of the terrain - it is favourable from the point
of view of the connections with the town centre and public utilities;
- creating colonies (satellites) – it involves important investments and
special endowments.

8.Urban functions
All the urban settings, natural or conventional formed, must answer to some
necessities.
Ex.: - Romans built towns because of strategic reason wishing to introduce their
civilisation or to create local administrative premises.
- Opening a mine urban setting.

1) Administrative function

19
 Includes different services, regional or town administration the necessity of
public buildings destinated to offices, personal.
2) Social function
The social aspects consist of guidance the population interest for hygiene and
sanitation problems. For these reasons there were created public bathrooms,
libraries, health units.
3) Economic function
Agriculture, as the alimentation source of the urban setting, it is developed
outside the locality.
The industrial areas must be placed outside the towns in the dominant wind
directions. This is convenient because the discharge of residual waters coming from
the industries must be done downstream from the localities.
These industrial areas must be placed near the transport ways. There must be
connected to railways or navigable ways.
The production function can give a specific feature to a locality: mining town,
metallurgic town, chemical.
The wholesale trade needs storehouses near the transport ways, markets,
favourable connections to the central part of the town.
The retail trade must be placed near the big cross sections in the district
centres, their function being adapted to the inhabitants needs.
For the trade function are necessary: halls, markets, stores, commercial
market placed near the main commercial groups.
4) Education function
In the urban settings there are universities, high-schools, primary schools.
They need lecture rooms, laboratories, administrative spaces, green spaces, sports
yards and must be distributed uniformly on the area.
5) Dwelling function
The dwelling is the essential condition for every urban setting.
6) The rest function gives a touristic feature.
7) Circulation gives a specific feature to a town. The harbour towns have a
specific solving. Brăila has streets in a fan shape with radial streets going to the
harbour.
The main character is given by the most important function.

9.THE URBAN FRAME

The urban frame is the complex physic environment where evolve and
develop the urban functions.
The urban frame consists of built spaces and the arranged spaces.
The built spaces are the ensemble of the buildings whatever the destination,
form and size, isolated, grouped or compact.
The arranged spaces are those spaces remaining free between buildings.
They consist of circulation ways, planted surfaces, water surfaces, parkings, playing
yards.
The urban frame is different from the rural frame, because of the arrangement
quality, of the way of the land occupancy, way of placement and its diversity. The
urban frame is the fix, static element of the urban organism, unlike the dynamic,
evolutionary element consisting of the urban functions.
The contradiction between the built environment and urban functions are
solved by the periodic bringing up-to date of the urban frame.
20
 The categories of relations between the urban frame elements are divided in
two:
A. utilisation relations;
B. composition relations.

A. The utilisation relations are:

▪ cooperation relations important buildings which are mutually
completed (offices, production hall);
▪ servicing relations buildings with different importance
(dwellings and endowments);
▪ indifference relations buildings without connections;
▪ embarrassment relations theatres – production buildings,
hospitals – sport field.
B. The composition relations are classified:
a) after their nature (appearance, volumetry); there are
concerning to the shape, dimensions, colour;

b) after the effect on the ensemble; there are connected to

the composition relations and may be relations of
domination
subordination
To achieve the necessary unity of the ensemble, it is possible only by
emphasizing a dominant element which sets on the other subordinated elements.
The relations between the component elements of the urban frame have a
complex feature, they are not delimitated, but they exist and influence in a dialectic
way.

10.THE MAIN NATURAL FACTORS

The lack of sanitation of the urban settlements is caused by wastes as a result
of human activities. These wastes pollute the atmosphere, the land and water. This is
the reason why it is absolutely to take measures.
10.1.The land
The land influence is difficult to evaluate. But the permeable ones are
favourable, like sand, gritstone, limestone, and the waterproof ground, like clay, marl,
are unfavourable.
The level of the underground water must be higher than 2,5m.
10.2. The water
The influence of water on public health is evident. The quantity and quality of
the drinking water on the people health is very important.
10.3. The atmosphere
Another causes of urban pollution are: the gases, dust, suspended particulates
matter in air.
The atmosphere acts like a purifying agent by ventilation, temperature,
moisturizing, and drying.
The atmospheric air quality is influenced by the wind direction and intensity. If
the wind is cold, it must be avoided the streets along the dominant wind direction. In
warm areas this is favourable. The dwellings must be placed in a way that winds do
not brink smokes, gases from industrial area. The dominant wind direction could be
influenced by hills, rivers, air temperature and other atmospheric conditions.

21
 11.CLIMATE, SANITATION, URBAN HYGIENE

11.1. The climate influences in large measure the town structures, the sizes
and direction of streets, the size of green spaces, the placement and density of
buildings.
The microclimate is different because of differential uses of land according to
the number of buildings and streets is higher, the air temperature is growing, the
moisture is decreasing, and the air speed is changed.
The factors that influence the climate are: - the sun lighting;
- the temperature;
- the rainfall;
- the air movement.
1) The sun lighting inside building influences the people health. So that the
building orientation could enable the sun lighting depending on the season and
latitude.
The sun lighting may be of:
a) isolated buildings;
b) streets;
c) urban ensemble.
a) The buildings must be faced toward East, West, South.
b) In general, streets are delimitated by façades of buildings. Because the sun
rarely gets the vertical of the site, one of the façade becomes an obstacle for the
other.
For the sun lighting of façades it must be taken into account:
- the height of façades;
- the period of time when it is necessary;
- the geographic coordinates of the placement;
- the solar coordinates of different seasons.
The size of streets must be gradually increased depending on the latitude.
It is admitted that 1 hour is the minim necessary for the town streets in the most
unfavourable period of year.
c) The urban ensemble sun lighting
In the case of field towns the streets position is not so essential. In the case of
hills, the latitude and position could add a shadow more than that resulted from the
near buildings.
To assess a sun lighting plan means:
- the assessment of height and azimuth of the sun;
- the study of site plan with the relief lines;
- the study of sun lighting at 9, 12, 15 o’clock and the shadow area.
The light getting by building could be direct, reflected and diffuse. The two last
ones are not taken into account in the estimation.
A building is getting more light when the distance to the near one is d = (1…3)
h depending on the: - shape of the land;
- building orientation;
- latitude;
- mutual position.
Fig p60
2. The temperature. In Romania there are big temperature differences
between winter and summer.

22
 The most unfavourable amplitude is in Bucharest, 70ºC (+50ºC during
summer, -20ºC during winter). The presence of green areas have as a result the
decreasing of the temperature amplitude. In valleys, the temperature during the night
is lower, and higher during the days. In towns, the temperature conditions are
unfavourable during summer, because of the radiant energy coming from buildings
and streets pavement. In towns, during summer, because of built areas, the air
temperature is higher with 2°C than the outside areas. So, it is very important that the
green areas to be very large, because, as we know, the leaves temperature is with
3…5ºC than the air temperature, and with 12…14ºC than the walls temperature.
Fig. p63 ambele

3. The rainfall and air moisture

For the town placement is better to avoid the areas with excessive moisture or
dryness.
Normal relative moisture is 50-60%.
Rain waters in excess could have negative influence on built areas and their
absence couldn’t enable the atmosphere clearing.

4. The air movement

The wind action influences the - land erosion;
- air temperature;
- towns ventilation.
The wind transports the impurities and on buildings has a mechanical action
proportional with its speed.
The wind features are: - direction;
- intensity;
- frequency.
The wind may be
- week with the speed 0.5 – 5 m/s;
- mean 8 – 10 m/s;
- strong 10 - 18 m/s;
- tornado hurricane > 18 m/s.

The position of buildings against winds is very important from the ventilation
and protection against winds effects point of view.
Fig.p65
It is better to avoid some unfavourable configuration:
- to avoid the industry placement in the wind direction toward the
dwellings areas;
- to avoid the dwellings placement on the hills.
For a better protection of dwellings, buildings must be placed with the small
size in the wind direction or oblique.
Green areas are an efficient protection against winds.

11.2. Town sanitation

Adequate sanitation is critical in controlling diseases and improving the quality
of life in communities. However, it is very difficult to define and quantify what
constitutes adequate sanitation. Like the basic water requirement, adequacy
depends on socio-cultural factors, traditions, and practices, and needs to be judged
with respect to people’s priorities.
Poor sanitation leads to diseases and often death, especially in the low-
income high-density settlements.
23
 Life in town must have hygiene and sanitation conditions.
There are many causes – natural or artificial – which influence the life
conditions in a negative way:
- land erosion, as a permanent source of dust;
- unstable lands, with a higher elevation of underground wastes;
- difficult lightening;
- noise source;
- wrong placement of industry;
- overpopulation.
The amount of water required is an important factor. It depends on local
factors, like, habits, social status, customs and climatic conditions. Taking personal
hygiene into account, the minimum required is 50 litres per person each day.
Greater attention, better planning, better operation, maintenance and
management for sanitation are desperately needed to improve the livability of the
settlements. Planning for sanitation ought to be an integral part of the socio-
economic development process.
To make water supply and sanitation sustainable, a better appreciation of the
complex interrelationships between environmental, social and economic issues is
vital.
11.2.1. Wastes
The manner of collecting of solid wastes at the producing places influences
the architectural solutions of the buildings, and the manner of transport and treatment
of them influence the town-planning solutions.
Depending on the way of production, these solid wastes could be:
- domestic;
- industrial;
- from streets;
- agricultural;
- medicinal.
It is estimated as a mean volume: 1 kg/day wastes / inhabitant.
Generally speaking, this values shows the life level and civilisation of the
population but also the consciousness. A high level means waste or not well being.
The wastes sorting on categories must be done even at pre-collecting. After
that the wastes are transported to the treatment, destroying or using places.
In general, wastes have 75% organic compounds and a high degree of
moisture. This is the reason why the wastes rapidly are decaying. It is necessary that
the wastes have to be deposited in special arranged places, with special measures of
tightness to prevent the infiltration coming from wastes in the underground water.
Garbage can become a serious problem. Burning garbage causes air
pollution. Burying it can allow dangerous and unhealthy materials to seep into the
water layer located beneath the ground. A solution is to pack garbage into special
containers and to send to some special facility, where it is transformed into electricity
and other useful by-products. For that it is needed that the garbage be selected into
glass, plastics, paper, cans, bottles and other recyclable materials.
11.2.2. Air purification
Air contains big quantities of dust and toxic gases. All these impurities are
coming from incomplete burning of fuels, from vehicle exhaust, industry,
decomposition of animal and vegetal wastes, inadequate deposited and insufficient
maintenance of pavements and sewage.
The main role of purifying has the vegetation, which is important for the leaves
holding effect and the nature of them.
24
 As measures: filters, and wet processes in industries and other and removing
gases and impurities measures.
11.2.3. Noise control measures
Noise can be defined as “unwanted sound”, and an audible acoustic energy
that adversely affects the physiological and/or psychological well-being of people, or
which disturbs or impairs the convenience or peace of any person. It can be
generalized by saying that the sound becomes unwanted when it:
- hinders speech communication;
- impedes the thinking process;
- interferes with concentration;
- obstructs activities (work or leisure);
- presents a health risk due to hearing damage.
Definitions of disturbing noise and a noise nuisance
Disturbing Noise Noise Nuisance
Means a noise level that exceeds the Means ant sound, which disturbs or
ambient sound level measured impairs or may disturb or impair the
continuously at the same measuring convenience or peace of any person.
point by 7dBA or more.
Ambient sound level means the reading Ambient noise means the totally
on an integrating impulse sound level encompassing sound in a given time, and
meter taken in the absence of any usually is composed of sound from many
alleged disturbing noise sources, both near and far.
Noise level means the reading at a Residual noise is the ambient noise that
measuring point in the presence of any remains at a given situation when one or
alleged disturbing noise at the end of a more specific noises are suppressed.
total period of at least ten minutes after Specific noise is a component of the
such meter was put into operation, and , ambient noise which can be specifically
if the alleged disturbing noise has a identified by acoustical means and which
discernable pitch, for example, a whistle, may be associated with a specific source.
buzz, drone or music, to which 5 dBA is
added.
Physical properties of sound
Sound is the result of pressure changes in the air, caused by vibration or
turbulence. The “loudness” of these pressure changes is stated in terms of sound
level, and the rapidity with which these changes occur is the sounds frequency.
Sound level is expressed in decibels(dB). To hear sounds, air pressure
changes must be very rapid. Changes must complete a cycle at least 20 times per
second and not more than 20 000times a second. The rate at which these cycles
repeat is called the frequency of the sound and is measured in Hertz. One Hertz is
equal to one cycle per second.
Different types of sound
 Continuous sounds – are sounds that have little or no variation over
duration of time.
 Varying sounds – are sounds that have differing maximum levels over
duration of time.
 Intermittent sounds – are sounds that are interspersed with quiet
periods.
 Impulsive sounds – are sounds that are characterized by relatively high
sound levels over a very short duration of time.

25
 Mainly the duration and level of the noise determine the effects of noise. Long
lasting, high level sounds are the most disturbing and damaging to hearing and
generally the most annoying. Duration of sounds is also important; in that intermittent
sounds appear to be less damaging to hearing than continuous sounds because of
the ear’s ability to regenerate during the quiet periods. However, intermittent and
impulsive sounds tend to be more annoying because of their unpredictability.
The cost of noise
Economic interest has always dominated noise control, but we now have to
weigh this against other likely costs such as:
 loss of earnings;
 loss of productivity;
 burden on the health services and the criminal justice system;
 increasing violence;
 human misery;
 social anger;
 loss of quality of life that noise causes.
Typical everyday noise levels
Decibels (dB) Common sounds Perception
10 dB -30 dB Whisper, quiet Barely audible
conversation
30 dB – 50 dB Rainfall, quiet office, Heard faintly
refrigerator, computer
50 dB – 60dB Dishwasher, normal Moderate level
conversation radio
60 dB – 70 dB Hairdryer, heavy traffic, Moderate to loud
ringing phone
70 dB – 80dB Noise office, alarm clock Loud
80 dB – 90 dB Electric razor, vacuum Loud to very loud
cleaner
90 dB -100dB Chain saw, air Very loud
compressor, jackhammer
100 dB -110 dB Rock concert, power saw, Extremely loud
hifi on full
110 dB -120 dB Jet take off, nightclub, Extremely loud to painful
thunder
120 dB – 130 dB Shotgun Painful

Industrial and means of transportation development have as a result the

increasing of noise level with negative influence on human health.
Some effects of continuous noise:
- hearing annoying;
- nervous system shaking;
- irascibility increasing;
- working power decreasing.
The sonorous intensity level on a quite street is 30 – 40 dB, and with high
traffic 79 – 90 dB.
The bearable threshold for a human organism is 70 dB if the noise is
continuous.
In industry the noise level 70 – 110 dB
air craft 110 – 120 dB

26
 The noise level is influenced by climate, relief, water, vegetation and town
organization.
The wind speed influences the propagation distance a high level of moisture
reduces the propagation distances and lessen the noise intensity because of
reflexion and absorption phenomenon the importance of water surfaces.
Measures to have in view:
▪ the town zoning ensures the correct sitting of factories, industries and
residential areas to reduce noise pollution to the minimum
▪ the industries placement must be chosen so that the dominant wind will blow
toward town;
▪ the green spaces must be placed between the streets and buildings;
▪ buildings must be arranged with the long side perpendicular on the street
direction with green areas between them;
▪ when the streets have on both sides continuous buildings, or when buildings
form open spaces noises are reflected in many directions and are also amplified;
▪ it is better to place toward the streets some screen buildings playing other
roles than dwelling. It is recommended to plant trees with dense wreath – linden tree,
aspen tree, chestnut tree.
▪ noise buffers in the form of sand, covered with grass, may be considered as
a means of protecting communities from unacceptable noise levels. These barriers
need to be large enough to make them effective;
▪ noise pollution from aircraft is controlled through the zoning of airfields away
from residential areas;
▪ road noise can be controlled by setting maximum noise levels for each class
of motor vehicle and through information such as traffic flow, speed, light/heavy
traffic.

Fig p72, 73

The street noise depends on: - traffic intensity;

- circulation features;
- the kind of vehicles are in traffic;
- circulation speed.

11.3. The urban hygiene

It is a branch of the medical sciences which studies the effects and causes of
illness assessed by urban agglomeration.
It has like goals: - the avoiding of the illness risks;
- the conditions creation so that people has the maximum
efficiency.
It is recognized that hygiene is the social progress expression (manifestation).
The degree of civilisation is measured by the hygiene degree.
The main facing problems:
- water alimentation (quantity, quality);
- removing used water;
- removing wastes;
- the grave yards placement
- slaughter house placement areas
- unwholesome morbidity – mortality.

27
 12. Town zoning
12.1. Industrial area
The shape and structure of towns, hygienic and comfort conditions, the
transport network characteristics and of public utilities, as well, are influenced by the
position, size and way of organisation of the industrial area.
12.1.1. General conditions for the placement of the industrial area:
- the position from the ways of communication and row materials and
energy sources;
- the land features;
- the water supply;
- the connections with other centres;
- the position from the dwelling area;
- defending reasons.

Peculiar conditions:
- nature, kind and importance of industry: extractive,
processing,
intermediate.
The presence of the raw material plays an important role. From it depends the
placement and structure of urban areas.
Depending on the caused noxiousness degree:
industry wholesome, healthy
unwholesome
industry disturbing
undisturbing
intermediate
Depending on the noxiousness and insurance degree of the industrial area,
we can estimate the size of the safety (security) area.
Fig p77
- Faraway from towns are placed the unwholesome industries. The sanitary
protection area is 500 – 1000 m.
These industries require big land surfaces, or implies big quantities to be
transported or degrade the ground.
- At the town limit are placed the industries that require smaller quantities of
row materials or processed materials. The sanitary protection area is 100 – 300 m.
- In towns are placed industries which don’t require railways and are
wholesome. SPA = 50 m.

12.1.2. The placement industry

The tight connection between industry and row materials sources, consuming
centres, imply easy, direct and cheap transport connections.
The transport can be achieved by water, railways, roads or by pipes (for some
products).
The transport by water
- is economic;
- can be transported big quantities;
- is the most rigid;
- speed transport is reduced;
- it requires: harbours, platforms for loading and unloading
The rail roads

28
 - are connected to relief;
- are less rigid;
- require special relief conditions (curve radius);
- the connection (joining) between the industrial railways and the
main railways is not a direct one, but through an intermediate
station.
The position of the industrial railways is placed toward the station and industry.

The transport on roads

- are the least rigid (we can reach any point);
- we can traverse any relief.
The transport by pipes is used for some liquids or gaseous substances
which can be transported by gravitation or by pumping station.
It is better to choose an above ground system to avoid canals and special
protection measures.
The land chosen for the industrial area must not have important level
differences, because these buildings have big sizes, which would result in important
differences at the socle even for small slopes.
Because some industries transmit to the ground important stresses, the
strength of the ground must be grater enough and the underground water level must
be minim 0.5 m under foundations.
Some industries require big quantities of water for the technological
processes. If the rivers from the neighbourhood don’t have enough flow, it is
necessary to build artificial accumulation lakes or additional underground water –
catchments.
The discharge of used water is made downstream. In the case of toxic water,
before being discharged in the town collector waters must be cleaned.
Protection measures:
- the industrial area must not be placed along the dominant wind;
- between the two areas must be a sanitary protection zone, planted
area;
- filtration and collecting smokes devices must be used;
- are placed downstream and at an inferior level than that of the
dwelling areas.
The position of the industrial area facing the dwelling area:
a- in prolongation (Curtea de Argeş, Tg. Jiu);
b- in parallel (Făgăraş);
c- in balance (Bacău, Galaţi, Oradea);
d- in alternation (Reşiţa, Bocşa).
Fig p87
There are 5 classes of industry depending on noxiousness degree and 5
corresponding sanitary area protections: 1000, 500, 300, 100, 50 m.
The size of the SAP depends on:
- temperature and moisture of air;
- relief conditions;
- town structure.

12.1.3. Industry cooperation

In big cities, where exists a great number of industries, they are grouped in
industrial districts which presents some advantages: - functional;
- economical;

29
 - constructive.
The group of industries may be served by a mutual transport network a
rational using of land:
The land surface for the sanitary protection area is decreasing.
The auxiliary buildings (store houses, garages) administrative buildings,
services and transport networks are used in common.
The site works are organized more rational. When we establish the criteria
organisation of industrial district, we have to take into account that some industries
uses the wastes of others;
It is better to avoid to groups food industry with mechanic industry because the
last one is in general a dust producer;
The size of the industrial district depends on the insurance criteria and a
rational repartition of the transport means.

12.1.4. The industrial area reorganisation requires:

- the study of the industrial development by a fully documentation on the
existent situation otherwise it results economic, functional, sanitary, constructive
deficiencies;
- depending on the existent repartition and their features, it is necessary to
regrouping the small enterprises;
- analysing the repartition, the buildings state, the way of using of services
networks, we can decide if some of industries could be moved in other places. When
we chose another place, we have to take into account the same rules concerning the
position toward the transport network, energy sources, dwelling areas;
- the development on the existent place is possible when:
- that industry is not an obstacle for the city development;
- if we have protection measures for the unwholesome industries.
It is better to move those industries that are unwholesome, don’t permit the
development of the city and are not economical justified.

12.2. THE DWELLING AREA

12.2.1. The dwelling area placement

The relief conditions influence the building placement, the streets route, the
general composition of the dwellings ensembles.
The building placement terrain slope depends on:
- if the slope is 1-2%, buildings could have any direction;
- for 2-5%, the length of buildings parallel with the line of the bigger slope, it
must be limited because of big difference of the scale which raises the
prise of the building. If these situations can’t be avoided, the building
sections must be unwedded in vertical direction, or it must be realised an
horizontal platform, which leads to a big volume of excavations;
- for 5-8% the only solution is to place buildings perpendicular to the parallel
with line of the bigger slope;
- for >8%  small buildings.
The access ways serving the dwelling area are directly influenced by the
terrain relief. The longitudinal slope of the streets must not be grater than 4-6%. The
most economic is p = 1%. In the case of big slopes, streets must be drown diagonally
or in winding.

30
 Like the town, the dwelling area may be developed in an intensive way
(exploiting the internal resources increasing the number of floors, or building in area
with a few building) or by an external development, beyond its limits.

12.2.2. Structure and organisation of the dwelling area

For a better organisation, for the circulation insurance and to avoid long
distances till the different endowments, the dwelling area is organised in complex
town-planning units:
- dwelling group;
- quarter;
- district;
- sector.
Each of them has some interdependence.
The difference between these units results from the:
- size of surface;
- number of inhabitants;
- endowment degree (social + cultural);
- importance of streets which serve that unit.
Between them exists a tight interdependence concerning:
- shape;
- position;
- size;
- circulation connection.
In new towns may appear all the units, while in the existent one because of
ancient streets, some unit as group, district have their own organisation. These units
are surrounded by collecting streets, and have an independent organisation to avoid
crossing the circulation way for different necessities.
In small towns, it could exist an unique organisation.
In big towns, it could exist sectors made of a number of districts.
The district is made of 3-7 districts connected with the district centre including
all or a part of endowments (administrative institutions, cultural, commercial, sanitary,
medical). The endowment degree is a function of number of inhabitants including:
administrative building (post office, police office), cultural institutions (clubs, cinema),
sportive centre, commercial centre, polyclinic (medical centre). The placement is
made as possible in the geometric centre.
Depending on the: - relief
- adopted service system the districts could be with a
- organisation way
- mononuclear structure
- polinuclear structure
with or without dwelling group.
The district is limited by the big streets or natural obstacles, or planted zones.
The district is crossed over by secondary streets which separate the quarter
and ensure the access to the dwellings.
The district surface depends on the number of quarter, on the circulation
specific features and relief conditions.
The district is the organizatoric unit of the town including a number of quarters
and a core (district centre) in which there are these endowments necessary for the
population and which are rarely used.
These endowments which are not parts of the district centre must be uniformly
distributed on the surface.

31
 The quarter is made or not of many more groups of dwellings surface 15-45
ha, number of inhabitants 3000-12000 includes endowments for frequent uses or
daily using:
- education institutions;
- commercial complex;
- units for services;
- medical centre;
- playing places for children;
- sport field;
- parking, garages;
- cultural buildings.
The placement for these buildings is made as uniform as possible so that the
longer distances to the building don’t be greater than 400 m.
The quarter is limited by collecting streets, natural elements or the terrain limit
of some institutions. The circulation inside the quarter must be reduced as much as
possible to the access to the dwellings.
The dwellings group, if it exists, is a part of the quarter. The surface area is
2-8 ha, the number of inhabitants is 400-2500, depending on the size, mean number
of buildings storeys, relief conditions.
The connections between dwellings and the endowments must be direct, easy
and short. Very important is the maxim insurance of the pedestrian and vehicles
circulation.
The territory must be rational used by grouping the dwellings and
endowments, avoiding the terrain waste, but ensuring the needed free space.
The dwelling disposition must ensure a good sun lighting of buildings, terrain,
and a better protection against dominant winds.
Depending on local situation and circulation network we have several
schemes for quarter.
Fig p103

(a) it is not recommended because the groups of dwellings are isolated,

without connections and the access from the main street is made at small and
numerous intervals;
(b) it’s a single connection with the collecting street, the access to the
dwellings is made through the endowments area, the dwellings placement allow a
better using of the territory and the local network ensures a convenient circulation;
(c) the buildings are grouped around a green space, that can receive the
endowments. There are connections between the dwelling groups and there is a
single access from de main street. The drawback of the solution is that the
peripherical distribution ring is used uneconomic, on a single side.
(h)(i) the drawback is the general circulation
(h) an access of carriage connections
(g) (f) has a great number of streets and blind alleys
(d) (e) convenient access
(d) the connection between the dwelling group is made by pedestrian walks
(e) has a quarter monocore, without dwellings groups.

12.2.3. The plan shape of the quarter

a) rectangular – favourable for a horizontal terrain – it is easy to be built and
the most economic;
b) anyhow (any rout); it could have diverse forms.
32
 The green spaces and the endowments can be placed in two ways:
- centralized – advantageous for grouping the green spaces.
- decentralized – has a better distribution of endowments and a more direct
connection between green spaces and dwellings.
The internal streets network ensures the connection between buildings and
guide the inside circulation to the exterior; it is made of:
- local streets (internal) - closed (blind);
- open at both sides.
- carriage alleys (access or service)
- pedestrian alleys has a breadth multiple of 0.75 m for a single flux of
pedestrian.
Fig p106
The distance between buildings and carriage alley will be minim 4 m and
maxim 60 m till the most far-off building entrance.
The places for carriage streets is chosen so that:
- they ensure the rapid movement of rain waters;
- to lessen the negative consequences of circulation (accidents, dust,
noxes, noise);
- to ensure easier connections between different elements of the town.
When the vehicles circulation is very important, and also the pedestrian
circulation, we can build pedestrian passages superior (gang ways) or inferior ones.

12.2.4. Types of dwellings and their grouping

To ensure better comfort conditions, hygiene and sanitation means to require
a better organisation of the dwelling area, a better choice and grouping of buildings.
The choice of the building type is a function of:
- land and underground conditions;
- a best using degree;
- climatic conditions;
- type of wishes apartments;
- buildings distribution in the build environment.
In the urbanistic units of the dwelling area are used 2 categories of buildings:
a) buildings with individual dwellings with 1-2 floors and 1-2 apartments on a
floor. The inhabitants have a lot of land;
b) blocks of flats with many storeys and the surrounding land being used in
common.
The buildings grouping is made:
1. after a peripheral distribution along the street;
2. around a planted core (where can it be placed the daily endowments;
3. after a disposition in depth; it has some advantages:
- it ensures an entire organisation of the units from the area;
- it has a higher variety;
- it has a rich expressivity.
The peripheral distribution is adopted when the existent town placement is
imposed by the relief conditions and the existent streets.
Depending on the direction of the streets, the buildings could be placed in
many ways:
- parallel with the longitudinal axes of the street, making a linear front;
- perpendicular or oblique to the street;
- could form open or closed precincts.
Fig p112
33
 The buildings distribution may be realized after a geometric or a free
composition.
After a geometric composition, the buildings are placed in a strict order,
continuous, following the street line.
In the case of free composition, the buildings have a discontinuous
distribution, more different, quite independent from the street.
The building placement could be made after:
- the street line;
- or retired, with gardens in front of terrain with 6-8 m breadth for protection.
For a better sun lighting of the dwellings, between buildings it must be a
distance of 1-3 heights of the building, depending on the mutual position of buildings,
of altitude and land orientation.
In the case of buildings with a few floors, to ensure the necessary space for
circulation or the insulation from the street, the distance could be 6 heights.
From an economic point of view, the most favourable, is a building with a great
number of floors, reducing in this way the foundation and roof cost related to the
habitable surface and the utilities cost.
Depending on the floors number we have:
- buildings with 1-2 floors used for individual dwellings or cultural;
- buildings with 2-5 floors blocks of flats without or with a brick work structure,
without elevator;
- buildings with many floors, with elevator, having a frame structure and
diaphragms.
The individual dwellings have a lot of land with carriage access. They may be
placed isolated, grouped, or in a sequence distribution. The last one is the most
economic from the point of view of land using, it may have an integrated and well
balanced architecture.
The usual surfaces of the land lots:
120 – 180 m2 for isolated buildings;
300 – 180 m2 for grouped buildings;
400 – 600 m2 for the sequence distributed buildings.
The blocks of flats are made by the assembling of some standardized
sections.
The land surface depends on the length and breadth.
The utilities works costs are decreasing with 15-25% when the number of
floors are increasing from 2 to 3, and with 11-18% for 3 to 4.
The distribution of the blocks of flats could be made after the continuous or
discontinuous line, with or without precincts and around a blind street.

12.2.5. Reference elements for the systematization of the quarter

- The total surface or the gross surface “Sb” is the surface between its
external limits;
- The dwelling area or the net surface “Sn” represents all the different
terrains of dwelling and their annexes (garages, store houses) and also the
spaces for pedestrian alleys, paying yards for children, laundry spaces.
- The endowments area “Sd”;
- The circulation area “Sc”, including also the carriage and the parkings
surfaces;
- The green area “Sg”;
- The habitable area “Su” represents all the habitable area of all the
apartments;

34
 - The service radius “R” is the distance in straight line from the medical,
commercial, cultural endowment to the far off dwelling.

12.2.6. Technical and economic indexes

The quantitative and qualitative relations between different works which made
the town units are influenced by:
- the inhabitants number;
- the town surface;
- the population density.
Depending on these values, there are established some town-planning
indexes that allow to estimate the works from an economic, hygienic and comfort
point of view.
The population density represents the number of inhabitants over the territory
surface. It is distinguished:
- the gross density ; it concerns the whole surface of the town unit;
- the net density; it concerns the net surface of the town.
The density increases depending on the floors number while the occupation
index decreases.
The percentage of the land occupancy with dwellings ”p” represents the
occupied aria at ground level of the dwellings over the surface of the territory.
The optimum percentage is p=0,10…0,22%. It is better to avoid greater values
because of the improper comfort and hygienic conditions.
When the building height is important, the percentage “p” is decreasing
because the sun lighting conditions lead to greater distances between buildings.
The standardised habitable area for an inhabitant, depending on the comfort
degree, is greater than 10…15m2.
The using coefficient of the territory “k” represents the unfolded surface of all
floors over the total area of the dwellings.
k = 0,1…0,15 for rural areas;
k = 0,2…0,30 for individual buildings;
k = 0,4…0,60 for intensive built territory with blocks of flats.
The mean height of the buildings is given by the formula:
100
N=
Pa Pb Pc P
+ + + ... + n
a b c n
N= the mean number of floors;
Pn =the percentage of the unfold built surface for a building with a certain
elevation;
a,b,c,..n = the number of floors.

12.2.7. The principles for the public spaces placement

The activities that meet the population needs are: education, cultural,
administrative, commercial, medical, entertainment, services.
Depending on the town importance, some social and cultural units could be
unique, covering the total necessities, and others have a repetition character, being
uniformly distributed on the town area.
The endowment placement is a function of:
- the importance;
- the character;
- the land conditions;
- the time of achievement;

35
- the specific feature of the town.
There are:
• daily use endowments, placed near the dwellings, like:
- education buildings ( kindergartens, general schools);
- commercial buildings ( food shops);
- health units;
- services units (barber’s shops, hairdresser shops).
• periodical use endowments, placed in the district centre, like:
- cultural buildings (cinemas, libraries);
- polyclinics;
- commercial units (restaurants, shopping centres);
- public services (post offices, police units, banks)
• circumstantial use endowments, placed in the town centre, like:
- theatres, museums;
- hospitals;
- universities;
- administrative buildings.
• exceptional use endowments, placed outside the town, like:
- motels;
- sports grounds;
- camping grounds.

The education buildings

• The kindergarten is an education institution for children of 3 till 6 years
old. It is considered that half of the kindergartens have a time table of 6
hours a day, and the other half have a longer time table or a weekly
one. The kindergartens must have playing yards. The needed area for
one child is 16m2.
• The schools must be placed far away from the circulation areas, from
the noisy and overpopulated districts. It is recommended a distance of
minimum 100m from the storehouse, slaughter-houses, hospitals, rail
stations. It must take into account the orientation of these spaces, in
order to protect them against the dominant wind and to ensure the sun
lightening. The needed area for a pupil is 12…16m2. The general
schools and the high schools are uniformly distributed on the surface of
the district or of the town. The vocational schools are placed near the
industrial area. The universities could be created in towns with more
than 100 000 inhabitants. It is better to choose quite places with green
areas and connected to the transportation ways. The needed area for a
student is 50m2.

The political and administrative buildings

These buildings are placed in the centre, serving the whole town. Examples:
- the town council, the county council;
- the low court, the prosecutor’s office;
- the banks;
- the post office.

The cultural buildings

The cultural buildings include:

36
 - the cinemas, placed in the district centre and also in the town centre; the
required capacity is 24 places/1000 inhabitants;
- the theatres, placed in a specific area, with many transports possibilities;
the capacity is 10 places/1000 inhabitants;
- the museums and exhibitions halls; the recommended area is 10m2/1000
inhabitants;
- the libraries, placed in quite areas, near parks or education institutions;
- the clubs, placed in the dwelling area, requiring green surfaces, sport
fields; the required area is 0,25m2/inhabitant.

The building for sports

Depending on the town size, these buildings could be:
- swimming pools;
- skating rinks;
- race courses;
- skiing tracks;
- stadiums.
The required capacity is 20% of the town population.

The commercial buildings

The commercial buildings could be grouped in special buildings or as isolated
elements, in individual buildings, or at the ground floor of some buildings. The
last alternative has some operation difficulties, because this kind of activity
disturbs the neighbours by the noise made there. This solution is accepted on
the main streets, because leads to the street animation.
The markets are placed in direct connection with the access roads in the town.

The medical institutions

The health units are uniformly distributed on the town surface.
The hospitals, whatever the profile or the importance, are placed in protected
areas, with green surfaces, and also are easy to get by any kind of
transportation. The required capacity is 10 places/1000inhabitants.

The touristic buildings

The hotels are placed in the centre area, near the rail station, harbours,
airports; the capacity is 5 places/1000 inhabitants.
The motels are placed near the touristic roads.

The special endowments

The grave yards are placed at minimum 50m from the dwelling area. In
general, the grave yards are placed on hills, oriented toward North, on the
dominant wind direction, far away from the locality. The recommended area is
1m2/inhabitant.
Outside the town are placed the crematory and the wastes deposits.

12.2.8. The dwelling area reorganisation

To reorganise the dwelling area is necessary to make a documentation, having
in view the terrain configuration and the situation of the public utilities networks. The
documentation includes the buildings height, the nature of the materials used, the
indoor comfort and the number of families living in those buildings.
A building is considered to be middling, if the repairing values exceed the 50%
of the replacing value. Otherwise, the state of the building is poor. When it is
37
necessary, the building without value, are demolished; the others are kept eventually
supporting strengthening works.

12.3. The green areas

The aim and the role of the green areas are the following:
- social, cultural, educational;
- hygienic, physiologic;
- utilitarian.
They ensure possibilities of recreation, improve the microclimate, and they
protect the built areas against noise and light. The green areas fix the slopes and
limits the fires.
Very important is also the aesthetic role; they emphasize the architectural
works, the view effects and could hide some anaesthetic aspects.

12.3.1. The classification of green areas

 from the using point of view:
- green areas for general using – parks, gardens;
- green areas for limited using – gardens around dwellings and institutions.
 from the destination point of view:
- green areas for recreation;
- green areas with cultural, decoration features;
- green areas with utilitarian character – protected areas.
 from the position from the town:
- internal spaces (urban);
- external spaces (parks, protected areas).

12.3.2. Repartition and dimensioning (sizing, proportioning) the planting

area
The repartition could be made in different systems:
- in spots;
- in bands (strips) rectangular
ring-shaped
radial
trefoiled
- mix.
The distribution must be as uniform as can be, depending on the population
distribution.
The dimensioning of the planting spaces depends on the:
- size of town (surface and number of habitants);
- type of building;
- industry nature;
- climatic and relief conditions.

The planting spaces represent 8-15% from the entire surface or 10-
2
15m /inhab.
Parks must have minim 20 - 30 ha.
Gardens 5 - 20 ha.
Squares 0.3 - 2 ha.

12.3.3. Placement and organisation of planting areas

38
 It is better to avoid the easily flooded areas or with important noxes favourable
are the placements near the water basins.
Are chosen the unsuitable terrain for buildings:
- with important slopes;
- with underground water at small depth
- filling terrain.
The land must be: - well sun lighted;
- well protected against cold winds;
- have water alimentation sewerage.

There are three styles to create the green spaces:

a) the composition method with regular route, geometric, classic,
architectural. where the space is organised with straight alleys and tidy
vegetation, with symmetrical shapes, giving a monumental features; this
method emphasizes the value of a building and has a wide decorative
utilization;
b) the composition method with free tracts and landscape (paysagist)
characterised by free tracts, giving to the ensemble a picturesque aspects;
c) the mix method or composite which is a between method; it creates quite
zones, making an easier traffic.

12.4. The internal transportation areas

Types of transportation
Urban transportation is organized in three broad categories of collective,
individual and freight transportation. In several instances, they are complementary to
one another, but sometimes they may be competing for the usage of available land
and/or transport infrastructures:
 Collective transportation (public transit). The purpose of collective
transportation is to provide publicly accessible mobility over specific
parts of a city. Its efficiency is based upon transporting large numbers
of people and achieving economies of scale. It includes modes such
as tramways, buses, trains, subways and ferryboats.
 Individual transportation. Includes any mode where mobility is the
outcome of a personal choice and means such as the automobile,
walking, cycling and the motorcycle. The majority of people walk to
39
 satisfy their basic mobility, but this number varies according to the city
considered. For instance, walking account for 88% of all movements
inside Tokyo, while this figure is only 3% for Los Angeles.
 Freight transportation. As cities are dominant centres of production and
consumption, urban activities are accompanied by large movements of
freight. These movements are mostly characterized by delivery trucks
moving between industries, distribution centres, warehouses and retail
activities as well as from major terminals such as ports, railyards,
distribution centres and airports.
Evolution of the spatial structure of a city
Core activities are those of the highest order in the urban spatial structure,
namely tertiary and quaternary activities involved in management (finance and
insurance) and consumption (retailing).
Central activities are concerned by production and distribution with
activities such as warehousing, manufacturing, wholesaling and transportation.
Planning and transport
There is a direct, well-researched connection between the density of an
urban environment, and the amount of transport into that environment. Good quality
transport is often followed by development. Development beyond a certain density
can quickly overcrowed transport.
Good planning attempts to place higher densities of jobs or residents near
high-volume transport. For examples, some cities permit commerce and multi-storey
apartment buildings only within one block of train stations and four-lane boulevards,
and accept single-family dwellings and parks further away.
Densities are usually measured as the floor area of buildings divided by
the land area. Plot rations below 1.5 are low densities, and above five are very high.
Most city centres are well above five. Skyscrapers easily achieve densities of thirty or
more. Increasing development density has the advantage of making mass transport
systems, district heating and other community facilities (schools, health centres, etc.)
more viable. However critics of this approach dub the densification of development
as “town cramming” and claim that it lowers quality of life and precludes from
realising their (sub)urban desire for a house with a garden and off-road parking
space.
Automobiles are well suited to serve densities as high as 1.5 with basic
limited-access highways. Innovations such as car-pool lane and rush hour-use taxes
may get automobiles to neighbourhoods with plot ratios as high as 2.5. Densities
above 5 are well served by trains. A widespread problem is that there is a range of
residential densities between about two and five that causes severe traffic jams of
automobiles, yet are too low to be commercially served by trains or light rail. The
conventional solution is to use buses.
Fig. Relationship between transport and land use
12.4.1. Types of streets
There is a direct, well-researched connection between the density of an urban
environment and the amount of transport into that environment. Good quality
transport is often followed by development. Development beyond a certain density
can quickly overcrowd transport.
Good planning attempts to place higher densities of jobs or residents near
high volume transport. For example, some cities permit commerce and multi-storey
apartment buildings only within one block of train stations and four-lane boulevards,
and accept single-family dwellings and parks further away.
The internal transportations ensure the connection between different
elements of the town, having a double function: to guide the persons and goods
40
transport and to divide the territory to obtain the shape and size of the complex urban
units.
In the existent towns, the streets network is in general inadequate and can
not cope with the growing number of the means of transportation. Often the transit
traffic is included in the local traffic. Because the number of the vehicles is
continuously growing, it is necessary to protect the central part from an excessive
traffic and also the dwelling districts from the heavy and speedy traffic.
The streets classification depends on:
- the size and nature of traffic;
- the connections importance;
- the way of solving the transversal profile.
The categories of streets are:
- streets of first degree – thoroughfare;
- streets of second degree – collecting main streets;
- secondary streets;
- special streets – quays, esplanades, cornice streets.
The basic streets network is made of thoroughfares and collecting main
streets.
The thoroughfares have 4 traffic lane/way and are:
- main transit streets;
- radial streets;
- transversal streets;
- ring streets, rounding the central part;
- deviation streets.
The collecting main streets have 2-3 traffic lane/way and are:
- secondary penetration streets;
- connection additional streets.
The main streets have a collecting function of the traffic from different areas of
the town and to distribute it to other areas by means of basic network.
The secondary streets ensure the penetration to different objectives inside the
urban areas. On these streets, it is not allowed the public transport.
The local streets make the connection between buildings and the secondary
streets.
The streets schemes are of two kinds:
- of natural or spontaneous formation;
- of conventional or preconceived creation.
The schemes are of different forms:
- geometric:
- orthogonal;
- linear;
- cruciform;
- parallel;
- rectangular.
- radial;
- ring shaped;
- of free rout.
The orthogonal scheme is easy to be drown, the land division is clear and
simple and it allows an easy organisation of the land.
The disadvantages are: the monotony given by the uniform aspect of the
streets and their length.
The radial and ring shaped could be of natural or voluntary formation. This
solution has a concentration of main streets in the central part, called civic centre.
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The connection between the centre and the outlying districts is made in a direct way.
The distances to the outlying districts are long. The ring shaped scheme hasn’t some
of these disadvantages.
The free rout scheme has a sinuous form and is used mainly at the small
towns, placed on a roughly terrain.
At the same time with the streets scheme drawing, there are established the
positions of the interest centres at the main streets crossings or in connection with
some thoroughfares.
The street elements are:
- the route;
- the longitudinal profile;
- the transversal profile.
A normal traffic depends on a correct solving of these elements.
In big cities, it is better to separate the pedestrian and the vehicles traffic. This
can be done in horizontal or vertical plan.
The separation in the horizontal plan is achieved by creation of parallel routes;
the pedestrian traffic passes through the dwelling area. To cut the distance for
pedestrians, between two parallel streets can be placed some passages.
In the case of the separation in vertical direction, the ground level is dedicated
to the pedestrians and the vehicles traffic is at the upper level, or vice versa: the
vehicles at ground level and the pedestrian on the upper level, on special pavement.
The first alternative has the advantage that it ensures a better security, people
can enjoy of the planting spaces, but it requires expansive and difficult works for the
vehicles.
The second alternative is more economical and has a better organisation of
the parking places.
In big cities, with a heavy traffic, the main streets are placed on a higher level,
with crossings at different levels. More often are used suspended roads solutions,
independent from the traffic at the ground level.
Depending on their importance and function, the streets can be:
- straight;
- curved;
- with a broken line.
The straight route is the most convenient for traffic. It is used for main streets
or when are emphasized some important buildings. But the straight route become
tiring and monotone when it is too long.
The curved route is used for secondary streets; it depends on the relief and it
is also necessary to respect the visibility conditions at minimum 200m.
The broken line route is used only when is made of portions of line sufficiently
long.
12.4.2. The streets elements
The longitudinal profile is influenced by the specific features of the terrain. It
could be concave, convex, or inclined in a single direction.
For a traffic in good conditions are admitted maximum and minimum values for
slopes, depending on the speed vehicles and pavement nature. The more convenient
is 1-2,5%. For the traffic security, the concave longitudinal profiles must have
minimum radius of 600 – 1000m and for convex profiles 1000 -2500m. The concave
profile is better than the convex one because it ensures a good visibility and a large
view in that area.
The transversal profile depends on the traffic and hygiene requirements.
Depending on the traffic requirements, the span of the traffic lane could be:
- for one flux for pedestrians: 0,75m;
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 - for bicycles: (0,8 – 1m) + (0,2 – 0,5m, for security);
- for vehicles with low speed: 2,75m
mean speed: 3m
high speed: 3,5m.
fig p142
Usually the local streets have a carriage lane of 6,0m and 1 – 2 side walks of
1,5m. The collecting streets have the carriage part of 11,5m (2x3 + 2x2,75) or 12m =
4x3 and the side walks of 3 – 6m.
Depending on the importance and function of traffic, the traffic could be
divided in automobiles, bicycles, public transport and heavy traffic.
Depending on the speed, the traffic could be: rapid, reduced and local service.

12.4.3.Crossings and squares

The squares appears at the streets crossings to allow the stationary of a great
number of people. During the time, the squares functions became more numerous
and specialized: commercial, for gathering people, for shows, for walking, decorative,
for military parades, or to emphasize the value of a monument.

12.4.4. Traffic organization

At the streets crossings, to allow a normal traffic, it is necessary a good
visibility to avoid the conflict points.
To ensure the visibility, the building corners are cut or are withdrawn. Another
possibility is to overlarge the alignment in a parallel direction.
In the case of heavy traffic, it is necessary to create a square, having different
solutions.
Fig p143
In the case of an important number of traffic lanes, the traffic is merry-go round
organised.

12.4.5. The public transportation

To join the dwelling area and the work place, it is necessary to use
transportation means,
For a distance of 2..8m, depending on the people number, it can be used
trams, buses, trolley-buses.
For longer distances are used high speed trains, subways, local trains.
The tram can ensure a capacity of 10.000 passengers/hour, with a low energy
consumption. But it requires a fixed way, makes noise and can not pass narrow and
sinuous streets.
The bus can pass any route, narrow streets, big slopes, but it is expansive and
it pollutes.
The trolley-bus does not make so much noise, does not pollute, but it requires
good pavements.
The subways, in big cities, requires important investments, uses an
independent route, so the accidents are avoided.
The public transportation alternative is chosen, depending on:
- the city size;
- the distances;
- the traffic size;
- the investment and operating cost;
- the specific features of the town (streets network, pavement state,
population distribution).

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 13. The town surrounding area
13.1. Definition
Depending on its size, each town has a surrounding area. The surface and the
size are functions of the city importance, land using, natural features.
Inside this territory are included public utilities, transport installations,
storehouses, places for recreation and farms that provide the town with perishable
produces.
In the case of big cities, this area is divided into three concentric areas, where
predominates a certain utilization:
1. the first area includes the green area with a protection function; here
are placed the recreation areas;
2. in the second area are placed the buildings and installations
dependent to town;
3. the third area is dedicated to agricultural production.
In the town surrounding area is included the land designated to the town
extension and here are placed the polluting industries, that use wastes as row
materials.
This area is also dedicated to the satellite towns or colonies developing.
The transport can be made on short or long distances by prolonging the urban
transportation network.

13.2. The external transport area

The connection between the town and the external area is made on land (by
railways, roads), by air or by water.
The road transport
It is the least rigid alternative, easy to adjust to the relief conditions.
 Depending on the traffic type, there are:
- roads for all types of vehicles;
- highroads for only mechanical derive; could be of national or international
importance.
 Depending on the importance of the connected centres, there are:
- international;
- national;
- regional;
- communal.
For a normal traffic, it must be obeyed some rules:
- a certain speed;
- conditions for breadth of traffic lanes;
- admissible maximum declivities;
- joining minimum radius.

The elements of the roads are:

- the route;
- the longitudinal profile;
- the transversal profile.
1. The route depends on the nature and intensity of traffic, geological,
geotechnics and economical conditions and also on the surrounding
landscape. It is better to avoid the long straight routes, because there are
monotone. The routes with many curves are tiring and difficult to run.
2. The longitudinal profile may be horizontal or inclined. Depending on the
speed traffic, there are some slopes limits:
Table
44
 The maximum slopes
v(Km/h) 100 80 60 40…25
p(%) 4 5 6 7…8

3. The longitudinal profile may be concave or convex to ensure a better

visibility. Depending on the speed traffic, the following curvature radius are
recommended:
Table
The maximum curvature radius
v(Km/h) 120…100 80 60
r(m) for concave profile 2500…2000 1000 600
r(m) for convex profile 10.000… 2500 1000
5000

When there are necessary earth works, it is better that the volumes of
excavations to be equal to that of the fillings.
The breadth of transversal profile depends on the traffic, size of vehicles,
maximum speed. Depending on the traffic volume, the roads can have 2-4 traffic
lanes.
Hen the road crosses a town, there are added the spaces for bicycles and the
pedestrian walks (1…1,5m). The plantations are at least 0,5 from the traffic lane.
In the case of highways, the two circulation direction are divided by green
space of 5m.
The total breadth could be:
- for international and national roads - 26m;
- for regional roads - 16-20m;
- for communal roads 10m;
- for high ways 40m.
The transversal profile could be made in different ways:
- mound (embakment);
- cutting (excavation);
- mix.
Fig p155

The crossings at the same or at different levels

The crossing with the railway is accepted when the traffic is about
500vehicles/day and the railway traffic is 10 trains/day. If the traffic is more than that,
it is necessary to make crossings at different levels. Depending on the terrain
characteristics, visibility, economic and aesthetic conditions, the passage could be on
an upper level, over the railway, or at an inferior level. The inferior passage for roads
is more favourable ( the required free height is smaller and the area is reduced), but
the bridges for railways are more expansive.
For the crossing roads there are some solutions. Those systems that cover a
small area, with big curvature and a small number of art works are favourable.
There are used the following systems:
- The trefoiled or with a distribution ring; this system is adopted when the
circulation on the four directions has the same intensity. The terfoiled
system requires a single art work, and the ring distribution requires five.
The disadvantage for the first is that the curvature radius is smaller.
- The triangle system is adopted when there are three traffic lanes. This
solution requires three art works and a terrain area quite big.
45
 - The trumpet system is adopted when there are three traffic ways, but one
is more important. It requires one art work and a reduced surface.
- The prolonged loop system is used when two of the four traffic lanes are
more important. It requires two art works and allows a good visibility.
Fig pag 157

The railways
It is the most economic mean of transportation, having a high speed and low
energy consumption.
The disadvantages are: the direct connection to the relief, the limitation of the
inclination because of the reduced friction between rails and wheels and the limitation
of the curvature. Usually the slope is 18% and the curvature is 600m.
The high cost for building a railway is compensated by the energy savings.
The railway complex placement
The railway is made of rails, stations for travellers, for goods, industrial,
marshalling yard, deposits. Depending on the town and traffic importance, it could be
one or more stations, with a certain or more functions. For small towns, a single
station answers to all the necessities.
It is better that the railways route to avoid the dwelling districts.
There are some solutions:
- The tangent solution allows a good exploitation of the railway and also the
town development; it is favourable for small towns.
- The ring shaped solution has 1-2 stations; it allows a good railway
operation, but the town development has some problems.
- The diametrically solution is the most favourable from all the points of view.
- The radial solution allows the free development of the town but has some
problems concerning the operating and the direct connections.
- The ring-shaped solution has the advantage of the radial solution, but it
eliminates the difficulties concerning the transit travelling.
Fig p 160

The transport by water

It is favourable for heavy and big transportations. This way is very economic,
but has an imposed route and requires harbours and special works.

The transport by air

Compared with other solutions, it is the least rigid and has a high speed.
The choice of airports is a big problem, because they must be placed faraway
from the towns at minimum 30 minutes distances with the public transport and 1…
8Km from the main road or railway. Related to the position of the town and the wind
direction there are some possible alternatives shown in the figure….

Fig p163
The first solution is favourable for landing, but is not favourable for the take-off
because it is made in the town direction, the air plane must win height on short
distances. Another disadvantage is the noise propagation toward the town because
of the wind direction.
The third solution is favourable only for landing.
The second is the most favourable, because the airplanes are not obliged to
fly over the town.
Fig p164

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 14. The long-term development of towns
The most important factor for the towns development is the social-economic
factor, that depends on the importance of the economic activity and also on the
political, administrative, cultural, scientific and education activities. The town-planning
designs must be easy to adjust to each step of development. Very important is the
population (the demographic structure, the population movement, the sanitation
conditions). Depending on the population repartition and on the industrial areas
position, there are some different ways of the urban area development:
- the centralized town presents the population grouped in a single core,
around it being one or more industrial areas;
- the decentralized type has two variants:
- in chain – where the population is grouped in more
cores, linear distributed along the industrial areas;
- spread – where it is only one industrial area, surrounded
by more populated cores.
- the mix type, with satellite towns, having or not their own industry; the daily
or occasional connections with the basic town implies a rapid transport
network.

Fig p 167

The population density

The population density is the number of people related to the surface unit. The
terrain occupancy degree depends on the surface area (for circulation, endowments,
plantations), buildings height, occupancy percentage of the land with buildings and
the dwelling area for each inhabitant.
A high degree of land occupancy means an intensive development, while a
low degree means an extensive one.
It can be distinguish two kind of densities:
- the gross density is the ratio between the population number and the whole
surface of the town (without industrial area); the mean values are 100 –
180 inhab/ha;
- the net density is the ratio between the population number and the whole
surface of the dwelling area (without streets, endowments, plantations); the
mean values are 200 – 350 inhab/ha.

The demographic structure

From a social-economic point of view, there are three functional groups of
population:
- group A is the basic active population; it includes the working people in the
industry and construction sector, in education and research institutions and
represents 30-40%;
- group B is the active population in the service sector (administration,
transport) and represents 15-25%;
- group C is the unproductive population (old and young people) and
represents 35-55%.

The demographic movement

The population of a town s continuously moving and changing. The roots are
different. One cause is the lack of work places.
The natural growing is connected to life level, economical, cultural, political
and administration potential.
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 The future number of the population is estimated using some statistical
coefficients that reflects the previous growing during a long period of time. The
method , called “the balance of activities “ is based on the estimation of the basic
active population, in connection with the three groups.
The number of the future population is estimated with the formula:
A ⋅100
N= where P = 100 –(B+C) [%]
p
P = the basic active population;
N = the future population;
A = the basic group;
B,C = the groups B and C of population

The future of cities and town planning

Town planning at the beginning of the 21st century is increasingly involved in
setting or executing policy about public services and with delivering these services.
Since it is apparent that resources are limited and that global events affect the future
of each community, town planning must be done within a framework of national and
international planning for mutually sustainable development.
The capital infrastructures of many older cities need replacement. Public
schools and city hospitals are a shadow of formerly dominant city institutions. Cities
are responding by directing public services and capital improvements towards
upgrading the quality of life in those areas that have unique attractions for the
population.
In this setting, different groups of city residents have become more
sophisticated in pursuing their special interests. They are better informed, understand
laws and procedures, have greater political skills and are more militant and
persistent. They have learned that planning brings order to change and, thus, they
want to influence the planning. In turn, town planners are attempting to balance the
demands of competing interests into a dynamic community consensus sufficient to
allow decisions to be made. Also, reaction against central planning and in favour of
private development has led to ambitious experiments in the planning controls.
In the future, town planning will continue to work under conditions of scarce
urban economic resources and will constantly be faced with competing priorities – of
neighbourhoods, interest group, businesses and residents. The targeting and
delivery of adequate public services will pose serious problems. As cities search for a
revision of their role, they will undergo recurring adjustments. It is the task of town
planning to minimize the impact that changing cycles have on the city’s residents and
businesses.

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