PLANNING WITH TRANSECT

PLANNING WITH TRANSECT

Transect is an analytical tool invented by geographers in the early 20th Century for the purposes of classifying, studying, and describing differences between various segments of the natural environment, from the coastal regions to the mountain tops. Each of the zones within the Transect exhibits identifiable components and physical characteristics determined primarily by their location within the natural continuum. Applying these same principles, New Urbanism expanded the Transect to include human settlements. The New Urbanism’s Transect represents a qualitative physical framework that identifies a continuous range of habitats from the most rural to the most urban (see the Transect diagram). The continuum of the Transect, when subdivided, lends itself to the creation of zoning categories. These zoning categories include standards that encourage diversity similar to that of organically evolved settlements. In the Transect covering human habitats, there are six zones. However, although these zones are distinctly different, the standards specified by the zoning categories overlap, reflecting the succession and gradual transition of eco-zones of naturally developed human communities. The Transect also integrates environmental and zoning methodologies, enabling environmentalists to assess the design of the social aspects of urban habitats and urban designers to support the viability of natural zones.