Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character (American release, February 22, 2021, UK and European release, Spring 2021) focuses on how to understand the innate identity of an urban place. The book provides a catalog of techniques that emphasize “bottom up,” resident-based input. Such input includes local history, building forms, natural and […]
How do we unearth and rediscover landscapes which we can no longer see? Personal and collective memories in defining a place’s culture and character have tremendous value. Notably, the built environment is not today’s focus. Instead, with Shannon Nichol, we discuss the landscape environment’s “buried” memories. Shannon is a founding […]
Today’s episode in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, recalls the look and feel of urban blends discussed in Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character. First, I return to a venue discussed in the Introduction (available in the link at the end of this entry). Second, I describe several […]
Is there a predicate to “placemaking” where a place is analyzed and mastered? Is that process of immersion, which I so love to emphasize, part of the placemaking process, or should it be called something else? To many, the question poses a distinction without a difference. Nonetheless, in talking about […]
Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character begins with the notion that communities reflect the fusion of everyday life with the various forces and environments common to urban settings. One example is the overlap of built and natural environments, and the inspiration inherent in their combined appearance. I focus on water-influenced environments […]
When Sustaining Place began late last Spring, I wrote several pieces about the emergence phases from the first English lockdown. There are parallels today, as the third lockdown begins to unwind. I wanted to revisit hints of resilience through a video essay on the changes to the commercial fabric of […]
Today, we pose questions based on Vodaphone’s world headquarters in Newbury (and the “Shaw Valley” housing development next door). Post-pandemic, will what is now empty–or under construction–remain? As Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character implies, these questions don’t have ready answers. They require careful assessment and review of corporate productivity […]
Today, in Episode 12, we say goodbye to a busy book launch week with a simple proposition. We may (as is the current case in the United Kingdom) speak regularly about the need for well-designed, quality housing, with a green component to provide for beauty and public health. But as […]
Today, we celebrate Book Launch Day for Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character. This book focuses on the culture and character of one city compared to another, how we distinguish and change urban places, and the actors involved. Please join collaborator Dr. Tigran Haas and me as we discuss the […]
