Overview

Cities expand, upwards and outwards, and their physical structure can last a very long time, not just tens but hundreds of years. Nevertheless, they are rarely designed for expansion. Their layout does not allow for extension or for the retrofitting of infrastructure and can constrain, and often prevent, the growth and change of activities within them - cities are not 'robust' in their design. In other words, change is not planned for but involves costly reconstruction. The Robust City argues that a robust, expandable and sustainable urban form can be deduced from planning goals. Development should not just follow public transport corridors but should not be allowed beyond walking distance from them. This would create 'green enclaves' that would permit not only recreational access but also the retrofitting of infrastructure and the efficient circulation of motor vehicles. The same principles could also be applied within neighbourhoods and to facilitate the rational handling of urban intensification.

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9781138631403

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Reviews

This is an important, challenging and fascinat­ing book. In nine chapters spread over 165 pages Tony Hall provides a template for how growing cities could be planned and re-designed in a more effective way than at present. [T]he author devel­ops a sophisticated argument with impeccable logic in making a persuasive case for change in the philosophical basis of dealing with expanding cities and improving our capacity to deal with such expansion. Michael Barke, Department of Geography, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Urban Moprhology, 2017

This is an important, challenging and fascinat ing book. In nine chapters spread over 165 pages Tony Hall provides a template for how growing cities could be planned and re-designed in a more effective way than at present. [T]he author devel ops a sophisticated argument with impeccable logic in making a persuasive case for change in the philosophical basis of dealing with expanding cities and improving our capacity to deal with such expansion. Michael Barke, Department of Geography, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Urban Moprhology, 2017

Author Information

Tony Hall is an Adjunct Professor within the Urban Research Program at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. Since his move to Australia in 2004, he has published a number of significant works on sustainable urban form, including his 2010 book on the demise of the Australian backyard which won the PIA national award for cutting-edge research in 2012. He was previously Professor of Town Planning at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK where he is now Emeritus Professor. A specialist originally in transport planning and later in urban design, his 30-year academic career in Britain produced notable publications in the field of design guidance. Rather unusually, he also served as a local councillor and led the City of Chelmsford’s planning policy for seven years. He was instrumental in raising the general standards of design resulting in a government award to the City for the quality of the built environment in 2003.

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