OpenGeofiction
I was thinking of how i could better my structural interpretation on how cities, suburbs, towns, and villages are made. I’ve been looking at the structure of cities like Chennai in India and London in Great Britain, and the structure of villages in parts of Africa, America, China, etc. And i’ve been looking at the road structure of that of small towns, and suburbs. How does a village develop into a town, and from a town into a city with time? Do they tear down roads and rebuild them to better suit their needs? (That’s just how i think they do it) I need tips (or help) to understand HOW they do it.
Discussion
Comment from clik on 28 March 2016 at 19:11
I think it depends on the country, and it’s often different in each city. For example, here in France, most of the actual main roads have always been used before cars existed (except highways). The tracks where just upgraded and widened to become roads. So in the towns and villages, roads where built over the old tracks and the courses have not been changed much. New houses and shops are created around the existant roads Because most of the time the course of that road can’t be changed. In some other cases : old rails, ruins or free spaces have been replaced by new roads and the former main routes became normal streets. Sometimes they buy the private terrains to build a new road. Nowadays, every road is planed many years before to suit the actual and future needs, but changes inside the cities are still done.
Most of the time, former villages around a town or city grew part of the urban area to become suburbs.
Comment from Yuanls on 28 March 2016 at 21:38
Like Clik said, it depends on the country, and it has much to do with the country’s history and economical circumstances.
I can talk a lot about the roads of Britain, and if you know what you’re looking for, you can trace the geographical history of the area just by looking at a map.
Most large settlements in Britain started as small-ish villages (compared to modern day, as they were relatively large at the time), with roads connecting them to other major settlements. These roads often follow the landscape, avoiding formations like hills or lakes. This can still be seen today, like in Birmingham (Look at the green or red roads).
As settlements grow, the old roads are often paved and widened into dual carriageways, and are occasionally diverted to meet with newer roads that have been built later. Check out [Warwick Road and the M42] (http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=52.4070&lon=-1.7571&layers=12)
As of today, most of the oldest roads are still significant transport corridors (check first link), as the suburbs have grown around them. This is because it would cost less to upgrade them, as opposed to building new ones. Any new roads are usually built around the town, as a bypass, rather than going through it.
Concerning the structure of a town, most British towns have grown concentrically, with the oldest portions being at the centre, with younger estates towards the edge. Each period of time has a different and rather distinct street pattern, with residential streets growing denser and more curved as time passes. There will be urban redevelopment at the centre of the town, with old industrial land being turned into new housing or parks. Larger cities also tend to swallow up smaller towns and villages, turning them into suburbs with small commercial centres. Generally, older towns are not ‘planned out’, and will spread organically across the land. However some ‘New Towns’, like Milton Keynes, have broken this trend, and follow some regular pattern.
That’s all about the structure of roads in Britain summed up there, as far as I know. I can ramble on far longer, but that is all you really need to work with.
I can also tell you a bit about China as well. In China, almost all buildings are new (Post 1970s) and are flats. In China they tend to organise housing in planned grids, as [Dalian] (osm.org/#map=14/38.9151/121.6166) is. I can’t tell you to how large an extent the old roads and structures have been wiped away, as old maps in China are rare. Currently the massive surge of urbanisation means older housing is just removed and new flats built in its place, unless the house is of historical or cultural significance, which in that case it is moved or just left standing. Roads are either upgraded and straightened or wiped away and new ones built in their place.
Comment from histor on 28 March 2016 at 22:22
In Germany towns often had a centre, in formerly times with walls and ditches around. Often this fortifications since 1800 is changed to a park with “boulevards” for the people or to representative ring-roads. Nearest hamlets and villages around most are 3 to 5 km away. With the railway (1840 - 1850) often the first new suburb was build - most with brodaer streets or an “Avenue” to the station. In this timer often new quarters are planed with a rectangulair grid of streets and partly new broad roads to link important places - often with demolish older houses.
In 1880 - 1900 normally the inner structure of the streets of a town is established, because to change it, you had to demolish houses. If this is really necessary, people do this - but it is expensiv. Only dirty old quarters around 1900 are layed down to build modern houses in the heart of the city.
1870 -1890 the urbanisation reaches the first villages around the town - but there often the old village-center stay as it was (church, market and so on). Til 1870 houses with 2 floors ara usual, since 1880 with 4 floors. Some of the 2-floor houses survive til today among the other.
1870 started horse tramways and now the city can go 7 or 8 km around the center - 1895 electric tramways allow 8 or 10 km around the center. 1905 can be the time to build a metro / subway.
Next change of the street-structure can be destoyings in a war (p.e. World War II). But too here the net of the streets most is the same afterwards, because the houses may be burnt down, but not the infrastructure under the street and not the streetcar-rails.
Comment from isleño on 30 March 2016 at 01:31
For me, the best way to understand it is visually: