Human scale and alternative urban: development trends: A change of paradigm in the context of critiques to disperse and diffuse cities

Abstract

Given the manifest unsustainability of horizontal suburban sprawling, it is appropriate to address the emergence of urban design trends that -facing increasing citizen demands related to the retrieval of the qualitative dimension of the public space- have managed to position themselves in the disciplinary discussion as an effective alternative to the mainstream sprawling prevailing in the peripheries of current cities. Regardless of the varying approaches and roots known to some of such influential alternative trends, their underlying principles point to a progressive convergence to human scales as an essential premise to the way they conceive public space, particularly in the past decades, as a result of the excessive reliance on cars and the negative impact of the current development model. These alternative trends have been able to progressively bring together more stakeholders, gradually positioning themselves in decision-making arenas.