86
[Re] inserting RESULT: Incremental Network
Conclusion: Incremental Network – as the best practice towards a sustainable growth
“Learning from extreme conditions in the developing world is a powerful source of creativity” (71) - Marie Aquillo
As cities (in Latin America) continue to grow it’s becoming more necessary to revise the current models of growth and ultimately propose more holistic solutions that aim to accommodate present realities. As Luis Diego Quiros suggests “in current times where resources are limited and the role of architects is beign re-evaluated, it seems urgent to re-think the ways in which the profession can promote change.” (72) As previously mentioned, growing Latin American cities represent an incredible opportunity to re-think urban planning and city growth. An incremental network has the potential to mediate the formal and informal developments, as it has the capacity to create new corners of growth in these emerging cities; integrating the ecology to the urban by converging growing communities and underutilized landscapes. Arguably cities are continuing to be order by and built around networks of gray infrastructure (streets, roads, sewer and other infrastructure). But the speeded-up emerging territories – like the suburbs, rich or poor, of the first world – are territories without corners, without physical or social intersection; they are, however, the places with the greatest potential and future demand. (73) And in spite of the stiff nature of gray infrastructure, the intention is that the proposed “incremental network” strategy utilizes open and green spaces as flexible networks that can aid in providing a more adaptable network for cities, allowing them to be more
resilient to the effects of climate change, urban growth and other factors. A valuable contribution by Shlomo Angel and his team “Making Room for a Planet of Cities” supports speculations based on a wide research on urban expansion. One their most important conclusion is that urban population growth cannot be contained and we must make adequate room to accommodate it; they recommend drastic measures, like buying land and conditioning it to basic urban levels in order to let self/construction spark. So could an incremental network be a guideline to mitigate this pressing issue? Using a holistic approach that encompasses three scales (urban design, architecture and infrastructure) an incremental network manages to: (i) Develop a preemptive design in areas where the city is expanding; (ii) Revise the current relationship with urban growth and the preservation of the landscape; (iii) Provide guidelines that promote more sustainable and efficient growth of new communities; (iv) and demonstrate that ecological-urbanistic approach can be a critical framework for the of the city and its design. More importantly an incremental framework looks to: (i) Foster more compacted urban development with high density (ii) reinforce connections towards existing communities (and infrastructure). (iii) Integrate efficiently the use and conservation of resources within the framework, like: