Viewed from above, organic forms of settlement often echo the topography of place, display spontaneous patterns and converse with the sky.
Author: Chuck Wolfe
Charles R. (Chuck) Wolfe, M.R.P., J.D. provides a unique perspective about cities as both a long time writer about urbanism worldwide and an attorney in Seattle, where he focuses on land use and environmental law and permitting. In particular, his work involves the use of sustainable development techniques and innovative land use regulatory tools on behalf of both the private and public sectors. He is also an Affiliate Associate Professor in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington, where he teaches land use law at the graduate level. He contributes regularly to several publications including Planetizen, CityLab/The Atlantic Cities, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Grist, seattlepi.com, and Crosscut.com. He blogs at myurbanist.com.
the inadvertent wonder of a strategic urban view
If a hill town can be an icon of placemaking (as posited here), then the associated strategic view, often guarding a valley, can be an unintentional aesthetic wonder.
Here, the Roya Valley shines in the splendor of an autumn sunset from the terrace-like and historic Saorge, France.
The reinvented color of London urbanism
In a walk across a world city, a city that works, experience is framed by very simple things–color and light and the ambient sounds of people and place–and a feeling that somehow public and private spaces are interacting seamlessly, safely and with mutual respect.
Despite the flat overcast light, London this week showed brightness beyond memories of the industrial age. Amid cars and buses and bluster and irregular wear on ornamental facades from long ago, there was vibrancy and clues of reinvention–exemplified by brighter colors, bike sharing, classic urban green and safe spaces, and resplendent sidewalk banter and life.
Perhaps it was imagination, or application of some sort of urbanist filter not present in youth, but storefronts seemed less like gateways and doors less like barriers, sidewalks more like living rooms and neighborhoods more surrounding of public squares, transit stops and car-dodging splendor.
Even if only a hopeful snippet of impressions ripe for realpolitik exception and detraction–for a few hours in late September, from Covent Garden to Neal’s Yard to Piccadilly to Regent Street, from Hyde Park to Knightsbridge and Chelsea and back–it was a movie-like stroll–all about the most famous of urban places becoming new again.
For a full screen slideshow of the merger of history and future, and/or to see more detailed images, click below.
multimodal blending on the Cote d’Azur
In Nice, France, pedestrians, bicycles, buses and the light rail/tram blend in Place Garibaldi and along the Promenade d’Anglais.
hill towns as icons of placemaking
Human settlement is often driven by topography, viewpoints and strategic advantage.
Independent towns and urban neighborhoods alike share an historic affinity for hills. Terrain-intensive cities like San Francisco and Seattle are no exception, and city planning considerations converge around “urban villages” such as Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Capitol Hill and Queen Anne Hill.
Places in their own right, these hilltop centers can serve as the partially self-contained models for the compact and dense urban neighborhoods which are increasingly the vanguard of new century urbanism.
But what about the the hill town of old? Is it an an artifact of the bygone invaders and armies beyond the walls? Touring the dramatic perche´s (“perched”, or hill towns) in the South of France, it is hard to simply dismiss them as an anachronism–especially in light of today’s stated urban ideals.
After all, several common hill town characteristics are consistent with new urbanist principles.
These features include: a blending with with natural topography; a pedestrian identity, with limited vehicular access; an emphasis on aesthetic principles (views to and from); communal groupings of institutions around public open space; careful blending of public pathways and private dwellings; efficient living spaces and allowance for density; as well as innovative bases for water collection and storage and management of sewage and stormwater discharge.
Of course, we can only carry such inspiration so far. Do we see light rail stops at the towns’ base? Energy efficiency and LEED certified construction? These elements are clearly outside the context of the historic examples pictured here.
Nonetheless, we need to take regular walks among human precedent, where under duress, people showed innovation and dynamic placemaking in order to survive.
This article also appeared in Planetizen on September 27 and was adapted for Crosscut, where it appeared on October 14.