URBAN FORM AS A PASSIVE DEFENSE VARIABLE.
Abstract
This report summarizes three studies conducted for the Office of Civil Defense. The first study was concerned with the comparative vulnerability to nuclear attack of current and possible future configurations with special emphasis on the probable directions in which city forms may tend to evolve over the next generation or two. Stress was placed on identification and appraisal of currently observable and probable future economic and social forces influencing urban development. On the combined basis of vulnerability reduction and consonance with foreseeable trends, an urban form, termed 'ordered sprawl,' was judged to be most advantageous. The second phase of research was an attempt to test the ordered sprawl model in terms of functional efficiency. A conceptual framework for the selection and interpretation of evidence generated by existing regions was employed, which amounted essentially to the measurement of travel distances in the study configuration in comparison with conventional metropolitan regions. The conclusion was that a regional city organized on the ordered sprawl principle could operate at little or no economic disadvantage relative to 'connected' urban areas. The third study phase dealt with methods and policies of implementation and with various fiscal, political, and planning problems that might be encountered in progressing toward the ordered sprawl pattern. It was felt that a foundation for control should be based as much as possible on the existing principles for governing land use that were studied intensively, although it was realized that the nature and magnitude of the task would require some new measures designed specifically for such large-scale control and coordination.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 16, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0649706
Entities
Organizations
- SRI International