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Chair of Architecture and Urban Design
Asst. Prof. Dr. Alex Lehnerer
Grand Urban Rules

Design Rules and Design With Rules!

Cities as cultural products are neither ‘built’ nor ‘planned,’ at best they are guided and steered in a certain direction. Therefore, rules and regulations are one of the few tools that are actually suitable to guide future development within such collective and complex urban settings.

We strongly believe that the field of (urban) design should not simply adhere to these standards as some neutrally existing context but should actively engage in discussing them in order to make them subject to design as well. read more

Office for urban regulation

Special Districts

New York

Within geographically defined areas, the city has the discretion to give special consideration to local particularities through special regulations, and otherwise to suspend or modify citywide regulations. This rule will be supplemented and supported by the corresponding planning materials.

  • New York's Special Lincoln Square District and Theater District.
  • Theater District in detail with all of its existing and planned theaters in 1969.
  • Islands within the island of unified control: Manhattan’s Special Districts.

Rule category

Motivation
Contextual Regimes: issues depending on the immediate context and its preservation, economic and social regimes, traditions, etc.
The Kind of Rule
Rule that stipulates a fixed limit.
Rule that is tied to a certain zone.
Domain
Rule that has a strong influence on urban density and its distribution.
Rule that influences programmatic and functional issues.
Rule with direct impact on architectural or urban form.
Rule that regulates building heights.
Scale
General Land Use: Rule that specifies land use in general.
District Related Rule: Rule that relates to a whole city district and its identity.