Melvin M. Webber
Encyclopedia
Melvin M. Webber was an urban design
er and theorist associated for most of his career with the University of California at Berkeley but whose work was internationally important.
His most important work was in the 1960s & 1970s when he pioneered thinking about cities of the future, adapted for the age of telecommunications and mass automotive mobility. These would not be concentric clusters as in the past but urban-associational areas. Webber's 1964 paper Urban Place and the Non-Place Urban Realm set the terms for much of his later work and introduced the idea of 'community without propinquity': cities that were clusters of settlements with the urban realm of its occupants being determined by social links and economic networks in a 'Non-Place Urban Realm'. His 1974 article Permissive Planning developed the idea that urbanists should be enablers not designers or controllers, using an engineering approach to solving urban planning issues. In that paper he criticised urban designers for internalising 'the concepts and methods of design from civil engineering and architecture'.
Webber was also well known for his collaboration with Berkeley colleague, Horst Rittel
in their seminal paper in 1973 on wicked problem
s, ones that defied ready solution by the straightforward application of scientific rationality.
He was later involved in the development of public transport, apparently regretting the car-focussed implications of his early work, though his theories are as applicable to transport planning as a car based approach to urbanism. One of the most developed examples of his ideas is the design for Milton Keynes
, a new city
in the United Kingdom
, built on a devolved and radical grid plan
from 1967, where the Chief Architect (Derek Walker) described Webber as "the father of the city".
Urban design
Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has...
er and theorist associated for most of his career with the University of California at Berkeley but whose work was internationally important.
His most important work was in the 1960s & 1970s when he pioneered thinking about cities of the future, adapted for the age of telecommunications and mass automotive mobility. These would not be concentric clusters as in the past but urban-associational areas. Webber's 1964 paper Urban Place and the Non-Place Urban Realm set the terms for much of his later work and introduced the idea of 'community without propinquity': cities that were clusters of settlements with the urban realm of its occupants being determined by social links and economic networks in a 'Non-Place Urban Realm'. His 1974 article Permissive Planning developed the idea that urbanists should be enablers not designers or controllers, using an engineering approach to solving urban planning issues. In that paper he criticised urban designers for internalising 'the concepts and methods of design from civil engineering and architecture'.
Webber was also well known for his collaboration with Berkeley colleague, Horst Rittel
Horst Rittel
Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel was a German-born design theorist and university professor. He is best-known Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel (* 14 July 1930 in Berlin, † 9 July 1990 in Heidelberg) was a German-born design theorist and university professor. He is best-known Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel (*...
in their seminal paper in 1973 on wicked problem
Wicked problem
"Wicked problem" is a phrase originally used in social planning to describe a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. Moreover, because of complex interdependencies, the effort to solve...
s, ones that defied ready solution by the straightforward application of scientific rationality.
He was later involved in the development of public transport, apparently regretting the car-focussed implications of his early work, though his theories are as applicable to transport planning as a car based approach to urbanism. One of the most developed examples of his ideas is the design for Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, a new city
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, built on a devolved and radical grid plan
Milton Keynes grid road system
The Milton Keynes grid road system is a network of national speed limit, fully landscaped routes that form the top layer of the street hierarchy for both for private and public transport in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire...
from 1967, where the Chief Architect (Derek Walker) described Webber as "the father of the city".
External links
- Obituary from The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...