Sampling the Richmond Park Experience


Richmond Park is to many the most significant urban natural space in the United Kingdom. Yet, London visitors from overseas (when visits are possible) make it only to nearby Kew Gardens–leaving their London park experiences to Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and other “close-in” experiences. As Sir David Attenborough (a 60-year […]

Revisiting the Lenses and Landscapes of Place


We all feel the remarkable lack of control over the day-to-day, many of us for the first time. Today effortlessly merges with yesterday; washing hands, masking up and measuring two-metre spaces are the new human agenda. My self-therapy is to continually revisit the lenses and landscapes and place, including the […]

A Pandemic Escape to a West Berkshire Field


After months inside, the outside certainly beckons, an invitation to explore from an old and treasured friend. Where better than where the Romans walked, across a West Berkshire field? In Speen, the “mother of Newbury,” post-Roman history was lost and re-emerged in Saxon times, and, later, in the Domesday Book. […]

Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character–A Visual Sampler


The essays and photographs exhibited on this website are a serialized prequel to Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character: Principles and Best Practices (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020/21). You may recall the excerpt from the book’s Introduction, featured on July 8, as well as references to the book’s general approach in […]

Life on the Lambourn


If You are Still Staying Home, I Understand


I suppose that walking to church in 1285, the village resident had risks to consider when going outside versus staying home. After yesterday, I have empathy for the traveler of the Dark Ages. Today, during our lives in emergence, there are scientific calculations that many ignore, including the most fundamental […]

Man and Shadow on the Kennet and Avon Canal


In Search of Context in ‘Alfresco Twickenham’


During the relative calm of July in the United Kingdom, when the COVID curve is flattened (for now), it is time to explore. I discussed Church Street in Twickenham last month as a stage for the mythical “Equity Street in Pandemica.” Today I returned to examine how the street has […]

A Deeper Dive on Structuring Post-COVID Cities


There is no shortage of punditry about the pandemic and its impact on cities, their density, form, and structure. The last several months have demonstrated both the value of empirical research, personal stories, and the need to balance them carefully. While we completed our pending book, Sustaining a City’s Culture […]