Framed Space vs. Free Space

Abstract

The graduation project ‘Framed space vs. Free space’ is about the differences between space free to plan by the user and controlled space by authorities in urban and landscape design. These are degrees of control on different scales. Scales in urbanism are assigned to get a grip on the complexity of the city, to understand the processes and interactions between different scales of the urban fabric. Seldom however, these scales are translated back to the whole they originate from: the unified city. Furthermore, in this thesis the influencers or control agents of the hierarchy of scales are combined with the transition between scales, leading towards insights on the development of an integral design method with the notions Control and Complexity. A final design study for the urban fragment of Hirzbrunnen South is done using the developed design method. The aim of the literature research and design study is to answer the main research question: How can the coherence between the scale of the local urban fabric and the scale of the city be improved, using an integral design method based on the notions of control and complexity, for the case of the urban fragment, Hirzbrunnen South, Basel?