Physical Organization in Urban Design

The formal composition of urban elements or the urban physical organization followed the need for vehicular access under the principles of Modern Architecture. Urban design in a postmodern age however, emphasizes the role of physical organization in creating a sense of place. In a purely functional view, the positioning of urban solids facilitates the flow of vehicular traffic through urban voids, i.e. urban spaces. The organization of openness and enclosure thus becomes a function of urban mobility. On the contrary, the postmodernist approach to the organization of urban physical elements prioritizes pedestrian traffic to foster human encounters, enrich cognitive experience of an urban environment, and thus create a sense of place. This approach thus affects the organization of such urban elements as buildings and parcels; streets and squares; urban blocks and urban patterns, both at macro and micro-scales.