In Gordon Cullen’s epic early-1960s work, The Concise Townscape, he described the visual experience of townscape views through an emphasis on “serial vision,” and on present and emerging views that become revelation while moving from place to place. More than Edmund Bacon, who focused his Design of Cities on similar […]
As a so-called expatriate, I’ve been enmeshed in the task of learning to relate to new surroundings. I have two recent guideposts, Plamen and Pope. On Saturday, Plamen, born in Bulgaria, came to paint a ceiling in our Flat in Twickenham. “Where are you from,” he asked. “The United States,” […]
The past several months have been full of appearances, articles and podcasts in multiple venues, ranging from Seattle, Washington D.C. and Cleveland, to Stockholm, nine Australian cities, four Portuguese cities, London (where I am now based), and more. Most of these items are chronicled at companion sites and featured publications. […]
A view of Mount Rainier looking across Lake Washington (Photo by Chuck Wolfe, all rights reserved). Driving to Lisbon, Miguel, a Portuguese consultant, was talking about what it really means to be a “smart city” when he took a minute to start explaining his music collection. After Miguel plugged his […]
Thanks to the Australian-American Fulbright Commission and UN-Habitat’s World Urban Campaign, fundamental relationships at the heart of urban public health and livability are under scrutiny in tropical Australia. Cairns, Queensland, Australia — avoiding humidity using active transport. Photo by Chuck Wolfe This article was co-authored with Silvia Tavares and David Sellars of James […]
Experiencing London at Canary Wharf. Credit: Charles R. Wolfe The city is an undeniably human creation, full of our emotions, impressions, and experiences. Yet the policy and regulatory processes that govern the city are often evidence-based. Unless a viewpoint or submittal is validated by experts, these processes may preclude the […]
How do we fuse the old and the new in a rapidly changing world? In Lisbon, where the vernacular meets the new. Credit: Charles R. Wolfe Since September, I have worked in, or visited, 18 cities in Europe, Australia, and the United States, listening throughout for common messages of harmony or discord. […]
In areas along — or somewhat proximate to — the path of the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, the day essentially presented us with two mornings. First came the original sunrise, and then, some hours later, the obscured sun emerged again. Rather than look skyward, I trained two cameras on Bellevue, Washington […]
Today, in a Planetizen exclusive, I propose a “vocabulary of looking” as the foundation for urban policy, plans and regulations. Read the full narrative here. A snapshot follows. Originally published at myurbanist.