The Urban Masterplanning Handbook

A highly illustrated reference tool, this handbook provides comparative visual analysis of major urban extensions and masterplans around the world. It places an important new emphasis on the processes and structures that influence urban form, highlighting the significant impact that public or private landownership, management and funding might have on shaping a particular project. Each of the book’s 20 subjects is rigorously analysed through original diagrams, scale drawings and descriptive texts, which are complemented by key statistics and colour photography. The case studies are presented in order of size rather than date or geographical location. This offers design professionals, developers and city planners, as well as students of architecture and urban design informed organisational and formal comparisons, leading to intriguing insights. A wide geographical range of contemporary and historic masterplans are featured. These encompass European projects from the 19th century to the present day: Belgravia in London, Sarphatipark in Amsterdam, Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, La Défense Seine Arche in Paris and Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm. In North America, the postwar development of Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan is also the subject of a case study. More recent and ongoing international urban schemes are included, such as Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, Downtown Dubai and the New Central Business District in Beijing.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction CASE STUDIES Broadgate, London 24 Masséna Nord, Paris 36 stuyvesant Town, New York 50 Battery Park City, New York 62 Avenue de l’Opéra, Paris 76 Vauban, Freiburg 88 Antigone, Montpellier 100 Potsdamer Platz, Berlin 114 Kirchsteigfeld, Potsdam 126 Spangen, Rotterdam 138 Belgravia, London 150 False Creek North, Vancouver 164 Sarphatipark, Amsterdam 178 Marunouchi, Tokyo 190 Euralille, Lille 200 Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires 212 Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm 224 Downtown Dubai 236 Beijing Central Business District 248 La Défense Seine Arche, Greater Paris 260 APPENDICES Timeline 274 Density Table 275 Figure-ground Diagrams 276 Scale Comparison of all Projects 280 Bibliography 282 Index 284 Image Credits 288

About the Author :
Eric Firley is the author of this book’s companion volumes The Urban Housing Handbook (2009) and The Urban Towers Handbook (2011). Assistant Professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture since January 2011, he is a trained architect and urban designer with work experience in property development and several design practices in Paris and London. Regularly invited to speak at architectural institutions around the world, he has a specific interest in interdisciplinary research and in the relationship between architecture and the urban fabric. Katharina Grön is a German planner who graduated in 2008 from the Hamburg University of Technology. Already involved in the production of The Urban Housing Handbook, she has developed the graphic concept of the book, including diagrams and custom-made urban plans. She lives and works as a planner and urban designer in Hamburg.

Review :
"This well-researched handbook provides readers with a comprehensive, in-depth and historic evaluation of some of the most recognisable international urban landscapes created over the last 200 years." (Building Engineer,??August 2013) "... this substantial book is less an instruction manual for urban development and more a deep resource for architects, urban designers, planners and other development professionals." (Building Design, June 2013)