Street-Level Architecture: The Past, Present and Future of Interactive Frontages

This book provides strategies to maximize street-level interaction and trust between street-level architecture, its inhabitants, and the city, using concrete locational, programming, design, and management strategies. It emphasizes the importance of creating the right preconditions for inhabitants and passersby to bring frontages to life, connecting architecture to its urban, social, economic, and technological context.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 212 pages
Publication date: 04 August 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book offers invaluable insights and practical strategies for preserving and revitalizing the vital connection between architecture and public spaces. Despite the best intentions of designers and planners, the interactive frontages of buildings have witnessed a significant decline in Europe and North America over the past century. This book explores the underlying factors that hinder our ability to create engaging and interactive frontages in the face of economic and technological evolution, land consolidation, introversion, stratification, and the spread of contagious decline. By drawing upon these lessons, the book presents concrete locational, programming, design, and management strategies aimed at maximizing street-level interaction and fostering trust between street-level architecture, its inhabitants, and the city.

The key message of this book is that designers, developers, planners, and managers must create the right preconditions for inhabitants and passersby to animate frontages. These preconditions establish a strong connection between architecture and its urban, social, economic, and technological context. Only when the right frontage is designed in the right context, inhabited by the right people, and approached with the right attitude toward the city can it become an integral part of the ecosystem of trust and interaction that supports public life.

This book empowers a wide range of stakeholders involved in the creation, inhabitation, and enjoyment of urban architecture. It provides them with the knowledge and tools necessary to build, inhabit, and appreciate truly urbane spaces that enhance the quality of life for all. By embracing the principles outlined in this book, we can strive to create cities that are vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable, where architecture and public spaces work in harmony to enrich the lives of individuals and communities.

Dimension: 254 x 178 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367486105