What Is “Urban”

The terms urban, urbanism, and other forms of “urban” get tossed around a lot these days. “Urban Pizza”, “Urban Eats”, “Urban Outfitters”, “Urbanista” … Restaurants, shops, blogs and people have latched onto the word and its implied hip-ness.  But what exactly does “urban” mean?

The dictionary defines urban as:  ur-ban: adj. …of pertaining to or designating a city or town.

Which city? When planners talk about the “urban form” are they talking about Houston or Chicago? They are very different in form. When one says that a building has an “urban sensibility” what does that mean?

In his Foreword for The Essential William H. Whyte, Paul Goldberger defines “urban” better than any other person I’ve read. When describing William “Holly” Whyte Goldberger writes,

“In the last generation we have seen what we might call the triumph of the private realm in this country, as malls, and atriums, and gated communities take over from the streets and parks and squares. Holly would have none of this. He was our prophet of the public realm. He believed in the urban values of engagement and serendipity, and not the suburban values of disengagement and separation and unchanging order.”

Suburban backyard provides privacy, calm, and a desired disengagement

Think of things typically associate with suburbs:  cars, back yards, single family homes, large lots, low density, strict separation of uses, “getting away” from the hustle & bustle. These are all forms of disengagement, isolation, and separation.

Walking, mass transit, the public realm, multi-family housing, small lots, high density, mixed-uses, and “being in the mix”, are things associated with urban places and elicit engagement, connection, community, and a bit of chaos

Cities are about connecting people and the serendipitous by-products that those connections create.  Urban design should embrace the same values.

The problem is that for the past 50 years we have tried to mix the two by suburbanizing our cities. Although that trend is changing, it still lingers, and serious damage has already been done to our urban neighborhoods.

In the heart of Hillcrest a suburban style box-in-a-parking-lot chain store takes up an entire block.

In San Diego, urban neighborhoods like Hillcrest, North Park, and Bankers Hill are dotted with car oriented parking lots, strip malls, drive through restaurants, and box-in-a-parking lot chain stores. Nearly all San Diego streets are designed for efficiency of traffic flow instead of quality of life for residents and shoppers.

Design in urban areas must promote connection, engagement, change and serendipitous interactions between people. Anything less is selling our urban neighborhoods short. 

Urban design connects people through design that is walkable and engaging.