Dot sub-downtown – a new pattern in urban areas of future

Abstract

The article reveals the concept of a “Dot Sub-Downtown” as a small form of secondary elements in a large polycentric urban area. The dot sub-downtown accommodates two or more functional groups in accordance with the 1933 Athenian Charter (housing, work, recreation, trade and life, transport). However, unlike the historically developed urban centers, or downtowns, dot sub-downtowns does not have a significant area dimensions, being a spatially compact objects. Three volumetric-and-spatial types of dot sub-downtowns are distinguished: “landmarks” (as high-rise buildings, ultra-compact, the most rare), “nodes” (the smaller version of “landmarks”, large mixed-use buildings of citywide significance, often without a high-rise volume), and “quarters” (having a dimension of an urban intersection or a simple quarter of a pedestrian dimension, the most common). Dot sub-downtowns are more often to be found in the middle areas of cities, near downtown or large sub-downtowns, and tend to merge with them in the future. The conscious development of dot sub-downtowns can become a means for the subsequent possible emergence of a larger sub-downtown (sub-center) within the given urban area or for city downtown expansion towards such an area.