The street: Its meaning, functions, origins, death and rebirth

It is imperative for the urban planner to know about the basic relationships between man and the built environment, for his/her task is to create or recreate them on the drawing board. This thesis provides an array of such relationships which can be used in designing one important component of the urban fabric, the street. My findings suggest that there are five universal and permanent attributes which appertain to the street: beginning, end, linearity, nodality, and mediation between private and public realms. Man\u27 s relationship to the street can be explained in terms of his/her relationship to these attributes. I suggest that this relationship is based psychologically and common to all peoples of the world. The problems inherent to the modern street, on the other hand, come from the atrophy of these attributes which results in the disruption of the meaningful link between man and the built environment, or parts of it. The street is meaningful as long as it allows him/her to see themselves both as an individual and as a member of society. The modern street cannot provide this function. Nevertheless, it is possible to generate alternatives to the modern street without hindering its more tangible, non-symbolic functions