In December 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph I decided to abandon the ditches, the wall, and the fortification of the inner … More

You may have seen some of your friends and/or family pass an evening knitting, or you know someone who doodles … More

In 1981 I presented my graduate thesis titled “Manhattan a Measure.” To write this thesis I searched for various historic city maps. … More

When the term “Canal City” is mentioned the first city that comes to mind is Venice, Italy.  Canal cities exist though … More

During the 13th century, hundreds of years before the industrial revolution, and the successive construction of today’s skyscrapers, stone towers … More

I’ve always been intrigued by the possible visual growth rings apparent in various cities. In certain historic cities these can … More

This paper will demonstrate a number of drawing styles that fall outside the normal concept of illustrations typically used in … More

A number of years ago I discovered a book on medieval new towns titled, “Florentine New Towns: Urban Design in … More

“What … is type? It can most simply be defined as a concept which describes a group of objects characterized … More

In this entry I plan to deviate from my normal writings on urban settings and will be covering my small … More

The following is a paper presented at a conference titled, “Urban Design and the Legacy of Colin Rowe,” and appears … More

In the latter part of the 1700’s engravings of important cities became fashionable.  Probably the most well-known engraver of this … More

Circulation  Highways, streets, roads, boulevards, avenues, alleys, the names and function may vary but their primary concern is to allow … More

• Fields  In 1979 Steven K. Peterson published the seminal article titled “URBAN DESIGN TACTICS.”  In this article Peterson describes … More

• City Gates or Points of Entrance  City gates, in one form or another, can be found across the world … More

In the previous posting, The Urban Genome: The Rural Zone, I began a new series discussing what I call The Urban … More

“Urban design is a synthetic, inventive mapping of physical conditions which establishes whole areas of the city.  In other words, … More