Streets for urban living : an investigation of user and activity variations of selected urban streets at the metropolitan region of Colombo

Abstract

Urban development has evolved in a less than satisfactory manner since the beginning of the 20thcentury. More attention has been paid to urban design in terns of functional aspects neglecting the real requirement of the inhabitants. The application of such concepts has 'resulted in the disappearance of the street traditionally an essential element in the city. In the book `Architecture city sense’ the author states about the situation, “Cities with a variety of street scene, a road width of budding height, even when ugly are a source of joy and pride to their inhabitants, because they have identity. Cities which act in this way are almost airways old cities where idem if able buildings have accreted over the years. New towns, because of their newness and their separation of factions, lack identifiable elements. Old cities are all mined up; housing, shopping, of ices, workshops are all in the same street, often in the same building. This mates for the unity in diversitythe complexity; which is the essence of living in cities. Once functions are separated\ the city gees :c pieces. C.i might therefore produce an axiom that a city or a section of a city; does not depend on its sice, but on its arrangement. Given every possible function of the city; will create and sustain itself Given only one function, it will inevitably decays... ” The above quotation simply explains how much it’s worth :c veep and conserve the historic districts in cities. The mixed up functions unify the city with the original identity and may not let the city to be broken into separate places. It also shows the most vital qualities of streets, which should be retained in case of urbanisation. Therefore the streets and its intermediate spaces which play a \ital rcie in sustainable cities should be preserved in the process of urbanisation. The street is the matrix: urban chamber, fertile sek and breeding ground. Its viability depends as much on the right kind of architecture us on the right kind of humanity. The common character of building in such city estr.wishes an order among them and governs their relationships with the outside. The outside of the buildings, the streets and squares, thus lend to the shared commonality by being useful gathering spaces.Todays streets are left out from living arcus and only functions mere passageways from one point to another.