The rediscovery of traditional urbanism at Melrose Arch

Contemporary urban form, particularly in the cities of South Africa, lacks distinction and quality. The majority of developments are conceived as private and dislocated initiatives, surveiled enclaves with gated access being the only conduit to the outside world. Any concern for a positive contribution to the matrix of public activity is seldom a consideration. The urban form responds to the perception that traffic systems are paramount to the successful flux of the city in satisfying the escalating demands of vehicular movement. In contrast many of the urban centres around the world, the great historical centres of Europe, Americas and the Sub-Continent are admired and considered the ultimate models in urban experience. The colonnades, bazaars and boulevards hosting an abundance of street activity are the characteristics of such centres and are symptomatic of a city growth based on pedestrian movement patterns, an urbanism supportative of human interaction and exchange, a form which has nurtured the existence of a public realm. Through the understanding of the principles of traditional urbanism we may learn that the modernist paradigm of a contemporary suburbia has resulted in disconnected and separate land uses with isolated districts where a reliance on the car is essential rather than optional.