Purposes_of_Architecture_and_Urban_Planning

We can say that urban design and architecture have a common origin: through them people in ancient communities find their way to establish an organized place to live. They also have a common goal, which is to create or generate spaces that can improve people’s life settings.

Many people say that architecture started as shelter and nothing else, but since it’s a science that responds to people’s needs, it has evolved along with the communities and society. Nowadays architecture is so much more than just shelter, it involves facts such as design, comfort and functionality without leaving aside ways of protection. All of these facts have provoked the creation of many different kinds of buildings that can be an indicator of status or just taste.

This being said, it is important to know that urban design came from the need of communities to establish an organization system so the people could develop their activities in an easier way. Still, urban design wasn’t considered a profession until just a few years ago. The design of cities was taken care by architects or other people who weren’t specialized in this trade.

We can now establish that the difference between these two professions is that even though both try to improve people’s lives, architecture is developed in a smaller scale than urban design, because it takes care of more individual issues like physiological needs of people and it should transmit the sensation of personal safety. But on the other hand, urban design is developed in a larger scale because it takes care of the needs of the community like viability, the disposition of public spaces in which people can interact with each other and the relationship between the city and how its activities have an impact on the ambient.

Considering these two disciplines in Caracas, I think that it is a city with a messed up urban design, I think that the first planners of the city didn´t take advantage of the variety of landscapes present in this territory. I also think that the architecture that we can find in the different areas of Caracas represent the cultural mix that is in our society, because there are a lot of traditional buildings with a colonial look but there are also a lot of modern buildings, so it´s a very nice contrast.

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