Designing ecological urban shapes. Water as conductive wire

Résumé En

This paper presents an outline of these research methods implemented to understand the ways in which it is possible to desi gn ecological spaces. It is built on previous works which draw kinds of identity cards on the possibilities to consider ecology in giving shapes and measurements of future space. These works decorticate pioneer texts of Sitte, Cerdà and Unwin and show that , even before an awareness of issues related to environmental protection and sustainability, theories of urban design took into account this dimension. They also explain how Hammarby Sjöstad, GWL terrein, the neighborhood of Vauban and Bedzed were eco-designed. The study analyzed here is the current typically French case of Sénart, a New Town close to Paris, within which diverse eco-neighborhoods are in design. Methods of collecting and analyzing data are explained and the first results are presented. It shows how the requirements and perspectives of regional policies are involved in the design, what are the mechanisms for judging architecture developed in these cases and what are the preferred cognitive operations of designing ecological urban spaces. It also identifies the mechanisms of cooperative and collaborative design involved in these cases and approaches the analysis to the Pattern language of Alexander and his team.