Jencks: Urbane Urbanism

The theory that resonated most with me in the Charles Jencks reading was the idea of Urbane Urbanism, which Jencks identifies as the "most commonly-held aim of postmodern architects" (285). This is the idea that new buildings "should both fit into and extend the urban context, reuse such constraints as the street, arcade and plaza, yet acknowledge too the new technologies and means of transport" (285). Urbane Urbanism is about more than the aesthetics of just one building; it's about many buildings that work collectively as a whole. Buildings are built closely together in similar styles, so that they look like they belong together. In class, we talked about how Baldwin Park is an example of this: the houses and apartments and other buildings use the same structure and have symmetry to make them look like they belong with one another.

During intersession 2 years ago, I took Disney and the City with Professor Foglesong, where we studied the urban politics and urban planning of Disney and Celebrations, a master-planned community developed by Disney. I learned about how urban planning is essential in order to make a community like Celebrations (or Baldwin Park), so that the buildings look as though they have come together to form their own the community. By living in Celebrations, residents must comply to strict rules set in place to keep all the residences looking uniform. For example, the lawn must be kept, with no lawn furniture or distinguishing features like sculptures, or university flags on display, and residents are not allowed to add on to or repaint their homes without getting it approved. Professor Foglesong stressed that this type of community cannot exist in a democratic environment; only a dictatorship, like Disney, can create this type of forced utopia.