Structured accidentalness: An argument in favour of liveable urban congestion

Abstract

Structured accidentalness is proposed here as an urban design approach intended to generate congested, livable urban developments. The proposed approach is based on a compact superposition of a number of information layers structured according to human and territorial design criteria. The assumption is that such a congested environment becomes urban if it generates physical and community living conditions which encourage accidental encounters. The paper describes and discusses the application of structured accidentalness to the design of a new mixed‐income residential scheme in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.