COMMON SET OF PRINCIPLES: INTELLIGENT URBANISM
1.2 COMMON SET OF PRINCIPLES: INTELLIGENT URBANISM
What is essential to allay this disaster is a common set of principles, which all agree upon and all act by. Such an urban code of principles is the essence of human ascendance and of the civil society. It is what civilization is all about. When people come and live by a common set of civil principles, a civil society is born. The word civil, in fact, is derived from the ancient word for CITY! The concept of civilization emerged from cities. Civilization matures and grows where diverse, varied and multi-interested people all join together under a banner of common rules tempering mutually beneficial behavior. One cannot copy any other culture, or other practices. One can learn from the successes and mistakes of others, and from their laws and plans. But in the end each city must debate and finally “own” its civil principles, and follow them!
Emerging societies like Bhutan need a relevant set of principles, born out of their unique environments and special cultures, and their own concept of development. These principles, in fact, may guide other cities in their search for environmental stability and cultural richness through urban planning and growth. This is an area where Bhutan may take the lead and others will follow.
During public consultations, meetings with the Deputy Minister, the Director General, the Thrompon of Thimphu, the Senior Planner, and Urban Designer of the department of Urban Development and Housing a number of directions emerged. Some were as clear as mathematical axioms, while others were more like general guidelines. We realized that it was worth noting these down and getting a picture for ourselves about where we should be going. When we started to do this we referred back to people who had influenced us, and who would have agreed with our new set of principles. These included Lewis Mumford, Jose Luis Sert, Constantine Doxiadis, Team Ten, and more recently expansions of these old concepts by the New Urbanist and Smart Growth groups in America. While the latter have some laudable ideas, their origins in Seaside and Celebration… heavens for the rich in seasonal Florida… made us look afresh. We went back to our own research in Thimphu, and reviewed our own Twentieth Century roots in urban theory. We needed to find our own feet, so to speak, and to write our own charter.
This Structure Plan of Thimphu proposes that a unique set of civil principles, which guide urban growth, planning and urban management over the coming century be based on approaches we may call Intelligent Urbanism.
What would a set of Intelligent Urbanism
principles include? Let us put down in writing a few of those principles.