The development of the Modernist movement in the beginning of the 20th century replaced traditional local buildings with global ones, whose structure and shape were based on function and hygiene. They were universal, but had nothing specific from the place they were built. This architectural tendency found place also in urbanism - functionalism divided cities into zones of interest, of living, working, leisure and culture, and created large boulevards connecting them, enabling large numbers of people to travel between them. This intervention almost erased the scape of existing cities, having no respect of the existing scale and structure. Even more, it caused traffic problems, forcing people to travel great lengths with vehicles rather than walking in the same neigbourhood. It also encouraged alienation, minimizing the accidental meetings, occuring between passers-by on the same street. Functional urbanism was a manifest to the new and modern, but forgot design's main purpose: serving the humans.
Traditional urbanism appeared as a reaction to that trend. As with all movements trying to preserve a tradition, it appeared after the tradition was no longer strong enough to manifest itself. This movement tried to re-invent the medieval image of the cities, serving as meeting points and inviting pedestrians instead of cars to the city streets. Contrary to the tendency of alienation, of one person households, this kind of urbanism created spaces in the cities in which people could meet and enjoy together. It created mixed-use areas, active in different parts of the day and enabling people of different age and social status to meet. It tried to preserve the human scale, replacing big buildings with smaller ones, fitted inside the urban tissue and carefully woven with public spaces.
The inspiration for this kind of approach were the medieval towns, where the narrow streets were full of suspense, the squares served as meeting places, and the disposition of spaces in relation to each other created different enjoyable views. This organic, human-sized structure was preferred to the straight axes that appeared in cities after the Baroque age, and that were often applied with disregard to the existing structure and spirit of the city.
Traditional urbanism is sustainable in its way – at one hand, as sustainable architecture does, it tries to slow down, to reinvent forgotten, peaceful and clever ways used in the past, with which to oppose to emerging bad trends in society. On the other, it has the biggest asset in sustainability, it creates spaces that are loved and desired by people. Rob Krier calls this type of urbanism seductive – appealing cities make people want to settle in, make them want to protect, preserve and develop these cities.
The main concept of this approach to city design is putting the human in the center of the city. Pedestrians are encouraged to use these new streets, while cars are presented with some obstacles; public buildings are created within reachable distance by foot, big government buildings are separated and scaled down, so that they no longer oppress people with their volume. Smaller buildings have one more advantage – they are more flexible and more easily replaced when they no longer serve their purpose. The constant image of the city is thus determined not by the facades, but by the urban grid. And if the designer manages to create a working grid, usable and loved by people, it will continue to form the city's image for generations to come.
Designing such a grid is a difficult task – the designer should try not to manifest himself, but rather to create a grid that seamlessly fits with the existing urban fabric. He should be modest in his project, and not try to discover new truths. In the field of architecture and urban design exist a lot of principles which can be transferred over generations and the designer should try to develop them instead of questioning them. This urbanism is an evolutionary continuation of the tradition rather than an invention – and this requires the designer to give up serving his ego and to start serving the community's taste and interest.
The main reason people are attracted to these human-scaled cities is nostalgia. They want to experience something unspoiled by time and technology, something authentic. This causes the tourists to come to historic cities and natural reserves, and the flow of tourists is also often the reason for the decrease of quality of these places. Creation of traditionally shaped cities is an answer to people's crave for authenticity. And the high interest of buyers means investors are also interested . People might enjoy the new and the modern, but when it comes to their own home, they prefer something classical and relaxing, they prefer “Catherine Hepburn over Marilyn Monroe”.
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