Reading Socio-Spatial Interplay - Arkitektur- og designhøgskolen i ...

R E A D I N G S O C I O - S P A T I A L I N T E R P L A Y P A R T 1Aldo Rossi describes types as both means of classification in concrete urbanstudies, and as ideal Platonic types – as represented by theoretical‘architectural models’. 223 Theoretically, an architectural type relates to amorphological system – a spatial logic – that can be studied as a set ofdialectic relations between built form and open spaces at different structurallevels: building/plot, block/street system, study area/primary elements, andcity/region.To discover the embedded functional intentionality of the environmentaltypes as architectural systems, we have to study how the architecturalmanifestation of the local urban development relates to recognizable‘architectural models’ or socio-spatial prototypes: The architecturalcharacteristics of the environmental type – at the time it was designed andbuilt – is empirically accessible through studies of historical maps,architectural drawings and photographs/pictures, but also by way of surveysand registrations related to the existing architectural structure. To recognizearchitectural models implies to relate the successive architectural patterns wecan observe to architectural and urbanist discourses on ideals and ideas forhow these architectural systems were designed to work.Within the French tradition of urban morphological research one can findexamples of systematical studies of the historical development of ideasrelated to development of European environmental types. For myinvestigation of environmental types in Oslo, the French studies have been animportant inspiration. Some of the elements I will make use of in my ownapproach are lent from the French tradition, and some of their findings willbe used as a basis for comparison of, and reflection over, what we canobserve in Oslo.Panerai et al.’s study of the development of European urban blocktypologies 224 illustrates how the discourse on spatio-functional issues relatedto the development of the urban society refers to a set of abstract ideals forspatial organization. Such ideals are reflected in the development ofsuccessive spatial prototypes. Before this first study by Panerai et al. (1974),another major systematic typological study addressed the genealogy ofEuropean urban planning ideas. In Pierre Lavedan’s general history ofurbanism the genealogy of urban planning ideas were represented by types ofspatial strategies, as I’ve elaborated upon in chapter 1. 225 The study byPanerai et al. was based on, or inspired by, Aldo Rossi’s discussion ofarchitectural models. Lavedan addresses mainly symbolism (power, politics)and aesthetic ideas related to monumental spatial ensembles, while Panerai etal.’s main interest are issues of urban everyday life and socio-spatial practices223 Rossi 1984: pp 34-45 & pp 72-82.224 Panerai et al.: 1974, 1997, 2004225 Lavedan: 1926b, 1941116