Heritage And Urban DESIGN (The Future of The Past) Page 4

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Larger cities have also been making great efforts to accommodate major international events, such as the Olympic Games and international exhibitions. These kinds of events are Considered Catalysts for major urban makeover exercises. For example, the Olympics at Barcelona in 1992 served to accelerate the city's physical, economic and social restructuring during the period 1986-92.

Smaller Cities flourished in the late 197O’s and 80’s - a period which was marked by counter-urbanisation. Smaller cities were the major beneficiaries of this phenomenon and exhibited rapid growth due to a series of factors. The diseconomies associated with larger cities, such as congestion, lack of space, high costs and expensive overheads for services prompted decentralisation of certain economic sectors (e.g. manufacturing industries) from metropolitan regions towards smaller cities.

However, the majority of smaller cities usually suffer from major structural weaknesses: inadequate infrastructure, limited inward investment and technological underdevelopment. Some of the cities lack indigenous resources, i.e. archaeological and cultural heritage or a particularly attractive natural environment. In such cases, urban design may become a determinant factor for their future. The production of a new urban image - whether Contradicting local heritage or not - can, if successful, counteract the sense of alienation and shape a new form of localism.

Much of the recent interest in urban design repeats the familiar deficiencies of the past: a focus of the Superficial aesthetics and the picturesque aspects of cities (instead of the role that aesthetics play, say, in Community development), an understanding of urban design primarily as a finished product; instead of an ongoing long-term process linked with social and political mechanisms. Conservation: The most common reason for preserving old buildings, leaving aside historic interest, is that they are Useful resources. This might seem rather obvious, but is often forgotten.

A building usually reaches the end of its 'natural life' as a result of external economic forces and operational obsolescence rather than because it has ceased to be capable of repair. An example may be taken of the sturdily engineered warehouse buildings in various docks around Britain in the 1970s, which rapidly decayed and were demolished by the hundreds. These had not become unmaintainable, they had simply become redundant.
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