Theories and Models of Functional Zoning in Urban Space

The city is an "organism" that converts raw materials, energy and information, reacts and changes through self-organization and especially through anthropic-conscious organization. The "urban" character of the space therefore implies clear attributes, with obvious effects on its organization: low density, adequate technical and construction equipment, differentiation of functional areas corresponding to the multitude of functions accumulated over time, etc. The characteristics of the urban space itself change: the density of population and constructions increases, the density of investments per unit area increases considerably, a true "market" of labor is formed, in which demand and supply determine a certain professional, but also social mobility; over time, there is even a certain segregation of habitat (by social class or ethnic origin), activities and jobs. The urban zoning with a functional character is an action destined for the urban remodeling, by delimiting the functional areas within the urban space and constitutes a major requirement of the contemporary urbanism. The objective of this article is to present the recent theories and models of delimitation of functional areas in the urban space that allow the identification of functional mechanisms for establishing the functional areas, taking into account, as far as possible, the dominant activity of the territory.