purposes

Architecture and urban planning are two careers that are taking a lot of popularity nowadays but a lot of people think that they are two different careers with nothing in common. These two careers are more similar than people think especially in terms of purposes, needs and the processes of designing, but of course the differences are significant, too. The most important difference is the scale. The architect works in a micro scale, but the urban planner works on a macro scale; this has consequences on the needs to take into consideration.

However, there are some similarities like the purposes of these two careers, specially the ones related with people, buildings and cities needs and the responsibilities that they have on the society. Architects have to satisfy the needs of their clients and urban planners have to satisfy the needs of a city. But at the end, the needs of a client are a part of the city needs so it’s a very alike process and not an easy work. And the construction part requires balance, comfort, distribution and flow no matter if it’s just a small building or a big city. Another aspect is the responsibility of both careers about the construction of a city. This means that they are going to construct the private and public spaces for people, for example architects design hospitals, school, hotels, houses, and urban planners design were those buildings should be located, in consequence these two careers practically determinate the life that the city is going to have.

The similarities enunciated before are the essentials things that a lot of architects and urban planners forget, especially here in Caracas where the city is conformed of extremely different constructions. It looks like architects were more concerned about making a great design than trying to be related with the context, and urban planners weren’t there to plan the city better. Nowadays, there are some people that are trying to recuperate this city and I hope that they can develop their projects and transform Caracas on a better city.

media type="file" key="purposes.wma"