City Centers as Urban Growth Cores

Abstract

The urban growth is a continuous challenge for any city. It requires continuous development strategies to meet the new economic and social requirements. Historical evidences show that architecture and urban design can be important tools to stimulate the urban growth by establishing urban cores to contain, facilitate and stimulate economic and social activities. The city’s history shows that the city center is an important area in any city for its dominating role in creating the city’s architectural characteristics and supporting its economic and social functions. The cities have developed different patterns of city centers in order to achieve the urban growth. This study shows how can architecture and urban design be used as a strategy to create livable city centers and how can this livability be an important source for urban growth? The paper is using three models of city centers Brasilia, Oslo and Dubai where all have attempted using the city center to generate urban growth but by applying different strategies. Brasilia has applied functionalism to build one city center which cannot be changed, Oslo has applied new multi city centers in its central area, Dubai has developed multi city centers spread in the whole city.

Keywords: City Center, urban core, Urban Design, Architecture, urban growth, economic growth, Street, Livability, Sustainability, Dubai, Oslo, Brasilia.