03 Cities from the Bottom Up

Within Speranza’s piece “Cities from the Bottom Up” one very important quote he highlights about the function of the city is “The objective of bottom up planning as a theory and in the 22@ district is that it not only calibrates to a single, static existing condition but that it adapts to each new local conditions that emerges over time. “ I think this understanding of how the system is working in Barcelona is an important factor which is often lost in American design of cities. For obvious reasons including differences in scale of sprawl within the U.S., as well as cultural differences based around community, Barcelona’s ability to get creative with space allotted is inspirational. Additionally, the traditional grid design to begin with a framework and find uniqueness within a given framework builds cultural character, but also resiliency through consistency within street edges. Speranza highlights these successes well within this piece, and looking ahead can be significant for planning for U.S. climate resiliency.