Pedestrains in Kumasi City Center
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Date
1967-09-15
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Abstract
"In the past human settlements were inhabited only by man and thus they were built only on human scale. New human settlements have also to accommodate the cars, the trains and all types of machines which are serving ant will serve man. Without letting the machines become masters of settlements, the latter should accommodate them as factors which are indispensable for human life."2
Men have since time immemorial grouped themselves together for safety, economic, political purposes and for social intercourse. To promote these activities, the town offered protection within its walls ant its centre was the focal point for these inter-related activities. While the town remained small, its internal movement to any function was limited ant was conveniently done on feet. In contrast to the internal movement, the external journeys for the purpose of selecting foot and other necessities in life was dangerous and difficult. To eliminate these problems man discovered various forms of transportation from the sleage to the horse drawn carriages. But because their speed was governed by the speed of the horse, the age-old human scale was hardly affected until the advent of the motor car which brought drastic changes. To begin with it occupied the same routes used by man and his horse, ant without adequate provision to segregate these modes of transport, the problem of conflict areas, resulting in accidents. Centrally to man's expectations, the motor car which was to serve him began to claim his life.3 However, with the advent of the motor car, his
1. Human scale, as described by Dr. Dexiadis, implies that the settlements were built on human dimensions, namely, such that every function was within 20 to 25 minutes walking distance and had an average population of between 10,000 and 20,000(see the Acient Greek and the City of the Present. Ekistics Vol. 18, No. 108, Nov. 1964 p. 349)
2. Ekistics Vol. 16 No. 92 p. 61
3. It claims 100 lives per day in the United States and since 1945, it has cost more British lives than did the World war II. A.M. Armstrong Synepsis of Notes from Professor Pedoski’s lecture on City Planning, p.12
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A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Planning in the Faculty of Architecture, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, 1967