Seeing the Better City

How to Explore, Observe, and Improve Urban Space

Charles R. Wolfe

• Publisher: Island Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781610917766
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Finalist for a 2018 United Kingdom National Urban Design Award • A 2017 KUOW Public Radio 2017 End-of-Year Book ChoiceIn order to understand and improve cities today, personal observation remains as important as ever. While big data, digital mapping, and simulated cityscapes are valuable tools for understanding urban space, using them without on-the-ground, human impressions risks creating places that do not reflect authentic local context. Seeing the Better City brings our attention back to the real world right in front of us, focusing it once more on the sights, sounds, and experiences of place in order to craft policies, plans, and regulations to shape better urban environments.Through clear prose and vibrant photographs, Charles Wolfe shows those who experience cities how they might catalog the influences of urban form, neighborhood dynamics, public transportation, and myriad other basic city elements that impact their daily lives. He then shares insights into how they can use those observations to contribute to better planning and design decisions. Wolfe calls this the "urban diary" approach, and highlights how the perspective of the observer is key to understanding the dynamics of urban space. He concludes by offering contemporary examples and guidance on how to use carefully recorded and organized observations as a tool to create change in urban planning conversations and practice.From city-dwellers to elected officials involved in local planning and design issues, this book is an invaluable tool for constructive, creative discourse about improving urban space.

INDEX

Photos/figures are indicated by an

“f”. Photo plates are as p1, p2, p3.

“A Way of Looking at Things” (Zumthor), xi

Abbotsforward, 158–159

Abbott, Berenice

Changing New York by, 60–61

for mission-based, 67–68

on skyscrapers, 61, 123, 179

Aboriginal experience, 43

Adams, Ansel, 68–69

Adelaide, 159–160

Adjaye, David, 44

African architecture, 44

AirTick, 157

Albany 2030: The City of Albany Comprehensive Plan, 160

Alcaeus, of Mytilene, 36

app

for cities, 2–3, 51, 167

of Corner, 57

of Drift, 53

for exploration, 52–54

for observation, 13, 16

photography and, 53f

of Mappiness, 54

of QuizTrail, 51

for reporting issues, 151

of Walc, 51

for wayfinding, 51

Appleyard, Donald, 2

appropriating view, 11–12

Arendt, Randall, 6

Atget, Eugène, 40

augmented reality, 166–167

Austin, 151–152

authenticity, 140

Avenue de L’Opéra, 179

Bacon, Edmund

Design of Cities by, 47, 116

“linear pathway” by, 48

balance, 125

Ball, Timmah, 43

Bastia, 27f, 28

Baudelaire, Charles, xi–xii, 89

Beason, Tyrone, 35

Belfast, 156

Bellevue, 121, 121f

Benjamin, Walter, 22

Biederman, Dan, 155

“Big Idea” competition, 175–176

blight documentation, 12–13

Blinder, Justin, 141

blogs, 140

boats, 117, 118f

Bogaerts, Greg, 40

bottle display, 101f

Bottomless (Lee), 42

“bottom-up” advocacy, 2

Broome, 41–43, 42f

building facades

of America, 112, 113f

Einsweiler on, 1, 176

public/private interfaces and, 176

building materials, 21

built environment

of Côte d’Azur, 73, 73f

Design of Cities on, 47, 116

emotions influenced by, 23

Hiss on, 37–38

overlapping dimensions compared to, 117

urban diary for, 89

of urban spaces, 66, 90

California King Tides, 155

Cambodian émigrés fishing, 43–44

cameras, 6

Carmona, Matthew, 89–90

Carroll, Henry, 69–70

Cassis

automobile access of, 114, 115f

“finesse of the avenue” of, 112, 114, 115f

people-place interactions of, 115

Chan, Min Li, 44, 46

Changing New York (Abbott), 60–61

changing symbols, 80

charrette, 166, 170–171

Cinque Terre, 104

cities, 26. See also personal cities; pre-modern cities

app for, 2–3, 51, 167

best practices of, 181

color defining of, 67

digital storytelling for, 4–5

explanation of, 36

by Hester, 169

immersion of, 36

marketplace proposals aligned with, 139

memories of, 49–50

online platform for, 157–158, 165

pathway of, 107

photographs for, 143, 157

social media used by, 164–165

suburbs and, 121–122, 122f

sugarcoating of, 72

Citizen Journal, 160

city planning

community engagement of, 30, 149–150

Dietz on, 162

land-use regulation and, 25

long-term approach for,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Why Urban Observation Matters: Seeing the Better City
• 01 How to See City Basics and Universal Patterns
• 02 Observational Approaches
• 03 Seeing the City through Urban Diaries
• 04 Documenting Our Personal Cities
• 05 From Urban Diaries to Policies, Plans, and Politics
• Conclusion: What the Better City Can Be
• Notes
• Index