| Abstract |
The alienating and uninhabitable suburbia of European and American cities is the manifest utter flop of modernistic architecture and urbanism, who lead to a mortification of principles and a huge waste of resources. This paper aims to show the more actual concept of urban design, based on the traditional urban design. The standards and principles of the new traditional urbanism, called "Urban Renaissance" in Europe and "New Urbanism" in USA, are designed to make areas more livable and people-oriented. These "eco-compact cities" are built and developed in balance with the natural environment and with an optimum ratio between social mingling and sustainable use of buildings, soil and other resources, assuring safety and accessibility to pedestrians, bicycles, cars and public transport. This model is based on the concept of organization in polycentric towns, where population density is such as to guarantee a good life standard, the presence of retail business activities, the creation of an efficient public transit system, the optimization of the use of natural resources, reducing pollution, and the reduction of government and social costs. At the same time, this logic can reinforce the sense of place, of community, of belonging, restoring civic pride. |