1. Urban Design in Housing Policies: applied to Caracas, Venezuela.
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
Urban Design in Housing Policies:
A Guideline to create better and more sustainable neighborhoods
applied to Caracas, Venezuela.

2. URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
INDEX
Objectives of the investigation
Importance of Urban Design and Housing Policies into Urban Planning
New Urbanism and Smart Growth: Urban Design with sustainable guidelines
Housing Policies and its relation to urban design
Conclusions: Which guidelines can we apply into the Caracas Study Case?
Sources
OBJECTIVES OF THE INVESTIGATION:
State the relevance of Urban Design into a well-planned housing policy
Relate and organize the guidelines of urban design and sustainability for a better use into housing policies, applied into the Caracas Study case.

3. URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Importance of Urban Design and Housing Policies into Urban Planning
URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
Housing is one of the principal problems within the city; and the housing policies are always at the top of the urban agenda. On the other hand, Urban Design is a tool which tries to direct the growth of the city with an organized spatial pattern.
Which are the consequences of non-planned or non-designed housing policies? We see it every day in our city: Caracas. Transportation problems, social problems (violence and intolerance), recreation problems and high life costs are all related with badly designed neighborhoods, taking us back to our principal problem: housing polices and urban design.

4. URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
New Urbanism and Smart Growth: Urban Design with sustainable guidelines
URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
For the two main groups that have been establishing the guidelines for a sustainable city, neighborhood intervention (housing policies) is the principal key.
These guidelines are closely related to Urban Design, understanding that spatial intervention has a direct consequence in the way people feel about its own neighborhood.
Principle 2: Connectivity (Facilitate the communication through the main centers of the city reduces the travelling time, having a direct consequence in the environment)

5. URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
New Urbanism and Smart Growth: Urban Design with sustainable guidelines
URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
Principle 3: Walkability (Recover the city and its neighborhoods from the hands of the car strength the community sense and help with the health of people)
Principle 4: Mixed Uses (Neighborhoods with different land uses are always active and varied, reduce the walking distances and creates differentiated zones)
Principle 7: Community-Oriented Design (Urban design must take into account that the city is for the people and the communities that develops inside it)

6. URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
Housing Policies and its relation to urban design
How urban design and housing policies are related?
The first seeks the integration and development of a delimited zone with high quality of life standards and the latter seeks the creation of new urban houses, but this one should not be made isolated from the context were it will be applied needing , therefore, a good urban design.
Why Urban Design is important in Housing Policies?
Following, some pictures and an explanation of what NOT TO DO when housing plans are designed:

7. URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Housing Policies and its relation to urban design
URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
1. Forget the urban connections: A new neighborhood must be connected with the rest of the city.
2. Modify and not to take advantage of the landscape or environmental value: a good designed neighborhood take cares of the environment and can use it as a touristic attractor.
3. Create a uniform and boring spatial pattern: social diversity reflects in neighborhoods with spatial diversity, architectural style and differentiated zones.
4. Produce isolated ghettos with no economical base, recreational places or basic urban equipments: A new neighborhood must have its own life, with schools, church, shops, parks…

8. Community oriented design
Conclusions: Which guidelines can we apply into the Caracas Study Case?
URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
In first instance we need to understand that a housing policy that does not take into account a good urban design would not be efficient or successful, in political and economical matters.
Second, we have to envisage the city as a dynamic being which needs continuous interventions and plans that must evolve separate from the governors’ periods; this can be achieved if the policy is community-oriented and is sensed by the citizens as their own. With these two principles we can create a housing policy with urban design guidelines. In the Caracas study case, the guidelines can be organized as follows:
Community oriented design
Connectivity
Mixed land-use
Walkability

9. URBAN DESIGN IN HOUSING POLICIES
Ene –Mar Muriel Ramírez
Sources:
City of Ottawa (2005). “Urban Design Guidelines for Low-Medium Density, Infill Housing” [file in PDF format]. Ottawa, USA
Ministry of Environment (2007) “Urban Design Case study: Addison Housing Development” [file in PDF format]. New Zealand
Pegasus Urban Design (2007) “Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing implications in urban design” [file in PDF format]. Private Partnership, UK
Abu Hoke (2001). “Urban Design intervention for intensive housing” [file in PDF format]. New Zealand
Huntighdonshire District Council (2008). “Urban Design Framework: Land around Buttsgrove Way, the Whaddons and Suffolk House, Huntingdon”. [File in PDF format]. Private Partnership, UK.
Smart Growth Toolkit (2008). “Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND)” [File in .ppt format]. Smart Growth, USA.