Application of Micro- and Macro- structure: The Case of Glasgow
5.1 City Region
5
Application of Micro- and Macro-
city model may suit best for a more sustainable form and structure for the entire region.
5–01. Figure-ground of the city region of Glasgow (based on OS Pathfinder maps)
5–02. Development structure of the city region of Glasgow
Development Structure of the City Region
When one analyses the city region more closely, a reasonably clear structure emerges (Fig. 5.02).
The River Clyde divides the city region into a northern and southern area.
North of the river, and following it roughly in east/west direction, there is a fairly continuous development belt; only its eastern end is somewhat fragmented. South of the river there is a second linear east/west development belt, but it is more fragmented than that to the north. These two belts constitute the central linear development area of the city region which is clearly influenced in its direction and development by the river.
The central east/west development belt is flanked to the north and south by highly fragmented development which is more attached to the central area to the north and more detached from it to the south. The development clusters of the city region also form major and minor development strips in north/south direction and one more diagonal development towards the north-east.
The principal pattern of the city region is accordingly a somewhat irregular grid of more continuous urban fabric in the linear east/west centre and more fragmented urban fabric towards the edges of the region.
Major Transport Routes in the City Region
The east/west and north/south development strips or belts of the city region follow major transport routes which also form a fairly irregular grid which deforms somewhat at the city region’s eastern edge. There is also a diagonal route from the south-west to the north-east (Fig. 5.03).
With this gridded primary transport structure all areas of the region are more or less equally accessible, and this may prove rather useful when reviewing the transport strategy for the conurbation of Glasgow.
At the intersections of the transport routes major development nodes, including the city centre of Glasgow, do already exist or could be formed, and this structure may again prove of considerable advantage when studying the micro-structure of the conurbation of Glasgow.
Structure of Linear Open Spaces
Another important feature of the city region of Glasgow is that a number of linear open spaces stretch right through the region and right into the central development zones (Fig. 5.04). There is first of all the linear Clyde valley dividing the central linear development area of the region. There are less continuous linear green spaces in east/west direction between the central linear area and the outer northern and southern development clusters. Then there are several green wedges in north/south direction bringing open country right to the
edges of the central linear development area.
The city region’s development zones—which form a somewhat irregular and (to the north, east and south) fragmented grid—are accordingly well intersected by linear open spaces, themselves forming a somewhat incomplete and fairly irregular semi-grid, separated from centre-east to north-west by the inner linear development area. The relationship of urban fabric and open country is accordingly very good: access from urban areas to open green space is easy and distance is reasonably short. Furthermore, as all major green spaces and wedges are directly linked to the country, a symbiotic relationship of the city region with nature can easily be established.
5–03. Major transport routes in the city region of Glasgow
Conclusions
With such characteristics, the conurbation of Glasgow exemplifies a typical regional agglomeration of smaller and larger development units, partially continuous, partially fragmented. It does not seem conceivable that such a configuration could ever be restructured into a series of isolated ‘compact cities’
in the sense of autonomous ‘core cities’ without suburbs. Even the structures of the star and satellite city models have little in common with that of Glasgow’s city region. With a primary transport grid and a secondary transport network (still to be investigated) as well as, potentially, primary and secondary centres at the intersections of transport routes and development strips, the city region of Glasgow possesses all major structural characteristics of Lynch’s polycentric net
5–04. Structure of linear open spaces in the city region of Glasgow
as illustrated by Fig. 3.30. As the potential functional, environmental and ecological advantages of this model have already been established in principle, there does not seem to be any reason why the existing network of routes and development clusters or zones should be changed—if such a change would be economically and socially viable at all. It also seems that the existing network of linkages may be of considerable advantage for the establishment of an efficient public and private transport structure which provides reasonably equal access to all conurbation areas. The grid is also the kind of structure that would allow a city region to grow and shrink, in adaptation to changing socio-economic conditions, without major upheaval. However, understanding of how the existing regional structure of urban fabric and open land can be rein-forced and improved requires a more detailed investigation of the pattern, which may well lead to a suggestion of more compact development zones and clusters within the regional structure.
Having established the existing macro-structure of the city region of Glasgow, a polycentric net, we must now ascertain the detailed configuration of this structure and study the existing and the potential micro-structure of the conurbation.