TEAM LinG

Urban Design Reader

TEAM LinG
Urban Design Reader

Edited by
Matthew Carmona and Steve Tiesdell

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD

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Architectural
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Architectural Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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First edition 2007

Copyright © 2007, Matthew Carmona and Steve Tiesdell.

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British Library Cataloging in Publication Data

Urban design reader
1. City planning
I. Carmona, Matthew II. Tiesdell, Steven
711.4

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ISBN-13: 978-0-7506-6531-5
ISBN-10: 0-7506-6531-9

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 Contents

Introduction 1

Section One Understanding urban design 5

1 ‘Places’ matter most 9
F. Tibbalds
2 Ambiguities of urban design 12
A. Madanipour
3 Urban environments as visual art or as social settings? A review 24
R. K. Jarvis
4 An integrative theory of urban design 33
E. Sternberg
5 Postmodern urban form 43
A. Loukaitou-Sideris and T. Banerjee
6 A procedural explanation for contemporary urban design 52
R. Varkki George

Section Two The morphological dimension 59

7 What is lost space? 63
R. Trancik
8 The grid as generator 70
L. Martin
9 Typology: an architecture of limits 83
D. Kelbaugh

Section Three The perceptual dimension 99

10 On the identity of places 103
E. Relph
11 Reconsidering the image of the city 108
K. Lynch
12 The social production of the built environment: architects,
architecture and the post-Modern city 114
P. L. Knox
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vi Contents

13 Invented places 126

J. Sircus
14 Learning from Disney World 130
S. Zukin

Section Four The social dimension 139

15 Three types of outdoor activities; Outdoor activities
and quality of outdoor space 143
J. Gehl
16 The uses of sidewalks: safety 147
J. Jacobs
17 The future of public space: beyond invented streets and reinvented places 153
T. Banerjee
18 The character of third places 163
R. Oldenburg
19 The rise of the private city 170
P. Goldberger

Section Five The visual dimension 177

20 Townscape: introduction 181
G. Cullen
21 Path-portal-place 185
E. White
22 What makes a good building? 199
S. Cantacuzino/The Royal Fine Art Commission
23 A report from the front 204
P. Buchanan

Section Six The functional dimension 209

24 Functionalism 213
J. Lang
25 The life of plazas 226
W. H. Whyte
26 Needs in public space 230
S. Carr, M. Francis, L. G. Rivlin and A. M. Stone
27 Understanding transactions 241
R. MacCormac
28 Cities as movement economies 245
B. Hillier

Section Seven The temporal dimension 263

29 Images in motion 267
P. Bosselmann
30 The presence of the past 293
K. Lynch
31 Shearing layers 302
S. Brand
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 Contents vii

Section Eight Implementing urban design 307

32 The built environment 313
P. Knox and P. Ozolins
33 The politics of urban design 319
S. McGlynn and P. Murrain
34 Heroes and servants, markets and battlefields 323
I. Bentley
35 Private-property decision makers and the quality of urban design 332
A. Rowley
36 The debate on design review 344
B. Case Scheer
37 The inner city 352
A. Duany, E. Plater-Zyberk and J. Speck

Bibliography 361
Index 363

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 Introduction

An activity with ancient roots, but also one that has between what urban design seeks to do and what it
been rediscovered and reinvigorated in recent years, actually does do.
urban design has become a serious and significant Urban design also refers to products or out-
area of academic endeavour, of public policy and of comes and to various processes. It is, for example,
professional practice. This is reflected by the increas- variously a product (the design of the created envi-
ingly widespread recognition of its value across pub- ronment), interventions into a process (e.g. a land
lic and private sectors around the world. This change and property – or real estate – development process)
has been matched by increasing demand for urban and a process itself (i.e. the design process).
design practitioners and, more generally, for urban The notion of urban design as a process is a reoc-
design skills throughout the built environment and curring theme in this book. Design is a creative,
land and property professions, and by an increasing analytical and problem-solving activity through which
demand for urban design education at universities objectives and constraints are weighed and balanced,
and in the workplace. the problem and possible solutions explored and
The new interest in urban design is as a form of – optimal resolutions derived. The process of design
and contribution to – place-making. Carmona et al. should also add value to the individual component
(2003), for example, defined urban design as the parts, so that the resulting whole is greater than the
making of places for people. More precisely and real- sum of the parts. In the final analysis the quality of
istically, they saw it as the process of making better the whole is what matters because it is this that we
places for people than would otherwise be produced. experience.
A definition that asserted the importance of four There are (very) few ‘hard-and-fast’ rules or
themes – that urban design is for and about people; absolutes in urban design – substantially because the
the significance of ‘place’; that the field of opportu- process of design involves relating general (and gen-
nity for urban designers is typically constrained and erally desirable) principles to site and programme
bounded by economic (market) and political (regu- requirements, where the context and creative vision
latory) forces; and the importance of design as a will always vary. Indeed there is a danger of gener-
process. ally desirable design principles being treated as
It is useful to acknowledge the difference between inflexible dogma or of design being reduced to the
an understanding of urban design for analytical pur- simplistic application of a formula – practices that
poses (i.e. what is urban design?), by which all urban negate the active process of design. Design prin-
development may be considered to contribute to ciples must always be used with the flexibility derived
urban design, and a more normative understanding from a deeper understanding and appreciation of
of urban design (i.e. what is ‘good’ urban design?), their basis, justifications and interrelations and the
by which only some urban development might be context to which they are to be applied. In any design
considered to be urban design. Seen analytically, process there are no perfect ‘right’ answers – there
urban design is the process by which the urban envi- are only better and worse answers, the quality of
ronment comes about; seen normatively, it is – or which may, in turn, only be known over time.
should be – the process by which better urban envi- Who then are the urban designers? A good
ronments come about. We must also be aware of the answer is that urban designers are those who make
possibility and existence of implementation gaps decisions that affect the quality of the urban
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2 Urban Design Reader

environment – only a (small) proportion of whom Heath and Taner Oc (Carmona et al., 2003). This
might actively claim to be urban designers. There is book provided an exposition of the different, but inti-
a continuum from ‘knowing’ to ‘unknowing’ urban mately related, dimensions of urban design thought
designers (see Carmona et al., 2003: 15–16). and practice. Synthesising and integrating ideas and
‘Knowing’ urban designers are typically the profes- theories from a wide range of sources, it derived from
sionals employed or retained on account of their a comprehensive reading of existing literature and
urban design expertise (i.e. urban design practition- research. Taking a holistic approach, it neither focused
ers). At the other end of the continuum are the on a limited checklist of urban design qualities nor –
‘unknowing’ urban designers: those who make urban it was hoped – excluded important areas.
design decisions without appreciating that this is Drawing on the material that inspired the writ-
what they are doing. This is not a distinction that ing of Public Places Urban Spaces, the current book
necessarily reflects on the quality of outcomes (i.e. presents a selection of key texts in (substantially)
the product) – the outcome of each can be ‘good’ their original form. While including a good range of
or ‘bad’. As Jonathan Barnett (1982: 9) has argued: contemporary texts/authors/figures in urban design,
together with papers that are simply useful as distil-
Today’s city is not an accident. Its form is usually
lations of key areas of urban design knowledge, the
unintentional, but it is not accidental. It is the
intention has been to produce a ‘useful’ reader that
product of decisions made for single, separate
includes a good range of ‘classic’ or ‘staple’ texts –
purposes, whose interrelationships and side
that is, those that are referred to again and again. In
effects have not been fully considered. The
this respect, this reader presents papers from the clas-
design of cities has been determined by engi-
sic urban design canon – for example, Kevin Lynch on
neers, surveyors, lawyers, and investors, each
legibility, Jane Jacobs on vitality, Gordon Cullen on
making individual, rational decisions for rational
townscape, and Edward Relph on meaning and
reasons.
sense-of-place. The reader does not seek to replace
But, without conscious recognition of the qualities the ‘classic’ texts. Instead, it seeks to provide an intro-
and additional value of good urban design, the cre- duction and a taste of them, while placing them in
ation and production of urban environments often relation to each other. To see them in their ‘whole’
occurs by omission rather than explicit commission. and in context, readers need to go to the original
Urban design’s current status is based on a large sources, something that is essential for an in-depth
and growing body of theoretical writings that have understanding. It is also noticeable how many of the
their roots in critiques of post-1945 modernism and later selections – Jarvis (1980) and Sternberg (2000),
in the urban development of the past fifty years, and, for example – refer back directly to these works.
in particular, in a set of classic texts dating from the By this means, we bring together key texts that
very early 1960s from writers such as Kevin Lynch provide foundations for the place-making view of
(1960), Jane Jacobs (1961) and Gordon Cullen (1961), urban design. This urban design canon has been fol-
and in another larger set dating from the late 1960s lowed by others who, for example, have argued that
and 1970s including Ed Bacon (1967), Ian McHarg urban design is an important and necessary consider-
(1969), Christian Norberg-Schulz (1971), Robert ation in the land and property development process,
Venturi et al. (1972), Jan Gehl (1971), Colin Rowe either directly or indirectly – Tibbalds (1992), Rowley
and Fred Koetter (1978), Christopher Alexander (1998) and Duany et al. (2000) – and those who have
(Alexander et al., 1977; Alexander, 1979) and William advocated urban design as a response to what are
Whyte (1980). The ideas and observations of these seen as the failings of contemporary development
writers and others have been debated, criticized, practice (e.g. Trancik, 1986; Loukaitou-Sideris, 1998).
tested, developed and extended by a wide range of A selection of these texts has also been included.
theorists, practitioners and policy makers in the period Public Places Urban Spaces utilised a simple three-
up to the current day. The resulting urban design part structure:
literature is extensive and growing, and constitutes
the foundation for contemporary urban design pol- • The Context for Urban Design consisting of three
icy and practice. chapters – urban design today, urban change, the
An attempt to structure the urban design litera- contexts for urban design.
ture into a number of interrelated dimensions was • The Dimensions of Urban Design consisting of six
made in our book Public Places Urban Spaces: The chapters, each focusing on a particular dimen-
dimensions of urban design, co-authored with Tim sion of urban design.
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 Introduction 3

• Implementing Urban Design consisting of four brief introduction to the dimension and the contri-
chapters – the development process, the control butions that the constituent papers make to it. The
process, the communication process and holistic introduction contextualises the material and estab-
urban design. lishes links between constituent papers in each selec-
tion and between selections.
To allow easy cross-referencing between the two The papers are necessarily abridged. Shortening
volumes, a simplified version of the same structure a paper or book chapter conceived as a whole
has been adopted here. This allows those readers of inevitably involves tough choices. The approach taken
Public Places Urban Spaces seeking additional in- has been to preserve the essence of the articles –
depth source material on a particular writer to find that is, the substantive contribution they make to the
that material here. Similarly, readers of the present field of knowledge. Inevitably the papers chosen
volume wishing to examine the broader context attempt to contextualise their argument against other
within which the ideas of a particular writer fit can work in the same publication or elsewhere, or alter-
turn to Public Places Urban Spaces. natively elucidate the argument through illustration
This reader might also be viewed as a compan- and/or the use of case studies and examples. Where
ion volume to Alexander Cuthbert’s Designing Cities, this is not key to the understanding of the central
Critical Reading in Urban Design (2003, Blackwell arguments in the papers, it has been omitted.
Publishing, Oxford). One of the first urban design The individual papers must also be seen as contri-
readers, the selection of papers contained in butions to a new whole – that is, to produce a coher-
Designing Cities was chosen to emphasise a particular ent and reasonably comprehensive coverage of the
paradigm – namely that urban design is best viewed field of urban design. It is, nonetheless, inevitable
as a branch of spatial political economy – and pur- that when removed from their context the papers
posefully omitted many of the ‘classic’ urban design lose some of their meaning. It has also been neces-
contributions that many scholars might expect to sary to select a balanced range of papers. Given the
see. Designing Cities instead chose papers that are breadth of the urban design field, however, there are
largely from outside the traditional urban design inevitably omissions and areas that we can only
canon – Cuthbert’s intention being to select articles cover in passing. These include such areas as sus-
that would help create a ‘theory-of’ urban design. By tainability, telecommunications and other techno-
contrast, the present volume focuses on ‘theory-in’ logical developments, the cultural dimensions of
urban design and, although emanating from the urbanism, gender dimensions of urban design, spa-
‘Making Places’ tradition, is largely ‘paradigm neutral’. tial and social segregation, and many others.
As well as being a companion volume to Public Indeed, these areas could be the focus of readers in
Places Urban Spaces, Urban Design Reader is a self- their own right. Equally others may select an entirely
contained text in its own right, with its own internal different group of papers to represent the place-
logic and coherence. The main part of the book making canon in urban design. In the final analysis,
comprises original papers organised into eight sec- this is a personal selection and we make no claims
tions. Each of the six ‘dimensions’ chapters from for it beyond the fact that these are the papers
Urban Spaces Public Places is the subject of a section. which we have found most useful and stimulating in
These follow an initial group of papers dealing with our own work. We can only hope that others will
definitions and understandings of urban design, and agree.
are followed by a final section dealing with imple-
menting urban design. Each section begins with a Matthew Carmona and Steve Tiesdell

Note:
References and Notes at chapter ends have been reproduced from the original sources. Some reference lists therefore
include publications not cited in the present text and some reproduce discrepancies in publication dates that were evi-
dent in the original sources.
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 30
The presence of the past
Kevin Lynch
[1972]

Throughout the world, but particularly in the eco- esoteric attraction to relict buildings, even to the
nomically advanced countries, fragments of an obso- point of the construction of sham ruins. By the eight-
lete physical environment are lovingly preserved, or eenth century an affection for the structures of the
restored so that they may be preserved, as relics of past was a widespread upper-class fashion, and by
time gone by. Such preservation is costly not only the nineteenth century it became part of the intel-
because it involves direct outlays of money and lectual baggage of all middle-class travelers. In the
time but also because piecemeal retention causes same century, first in the United States and slightly
endless difficulties for new development. In building later in Europe, organized movements sprang up to
a new library, for example, the Harvard Graduate preserve historic landmarks for the public.
School of Education recently paid $500,000 to move In the United States the first efforts were directed
two rather small, old houses a few hundred feet. at saving particular buildings, especially the houses
Fierce political battles are fought over whether a associated with patriotic figures.1 Reinforcing national
building or set of buildings should be saved, since solidarity and pride was the chief reason for preserva-
different groups place widely varying values on the tion. Specific motives ranged from attempts to pre-
remains. Because of the fixed and bulky nature of the vent disunity before the Civil War and to reestablish
objects and the strong personal attachments they it afterward, through the concern for “Americanizing”
arouse, their preservation is a far more strident affair the immigrant, to the moves to magnify patriotic
than the preservation of movable objects, records, feelings during the twentieth-century wars. Relying
or customs. Nevertheless the resistance to the loss of on history to maintain coherence and common pur-
historical environment is today becoming more deter- pose in moments of stress and disunity is a familiar
mined as affluence increases and physical change human tendency. The militant interest in black his-
itself is more rapid. And no wonder, since the past is tory is its most recent manifestation in America.
known, familiar, a possession in which we may feel Later this patriotic emphasis merged with the
secure. enthusiasm for ruins of the romantic tradition, and
architectural restoration became a basic principle of
the movement. Connection with an established his-
Preservation’s past toric event and the quality of a building remain even
today the chief criteria for preservation. The scientific
Environmental preservation, at least as a widespread motives of archaeology and the economic ones of
and coherent doctrine, is fairly new. Medieval masons tourist promotion appeared somewhat later. Perhaps
razed an old building without a qualm, even though most recently of all, in the United States at least, large
old, “historic” structures were then much rarer than segments of the population have come to feel that
now. In Tudor inventories, chattels called “old” were preservation is moral in itself and that environments
put at the foot of the list, implying they had little rich in such features are more pleasant places in which
value. In Western Europe, at least, the idea of preser- to live. Patriotism and literary glamour have defined
vation first appeared about 1500, in the form of an certain classic periods whose traces are most worth
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294 Urban Design Reader

preserving: the late colonial and Revolutionary years be done with original material, judiciously pieced out
in New England, the brief episode of pioneering in the and refinished, or with covert new material, or even
forested interior, the antebellum days in the South, with obviously new material. Put another way, the
the period of exploration and cattle raising on the patina of time may be retained, imitated, or removed.
Great Plains (which passed so quickly), the mining era When there is a frank and complete reconstruction,
in the Western mountains, the years of the Spanish using new material, on a new site, the aim may be
colonies in the Southwest, and, of course, the unde- an appearance of having just been built, an aim that
fined background of the scattered and “timeless” may be carried out even to the details of equipment
Indian. Preservation has usually been the work of and perhaps the use of costumed actors. Such a
established middle- and upper-class citizens. The reconstruction will often shock contemporary taste
history enshrined in museums is chosen and inter- (Greek temples were gaudily painted in their day),
preted by those who give the dollars. and sometimes it will be made ridiculous by subse-
Environments rich in historic remains often fol- quent scholarship. But it can be a strong evocation
low a particular pattern: once markedly prosperous, of the past for a general audience.
they then suffered a rapid economic decline and The official priority rankings of historical societies
remained stagnant for long periods, though continu- usually range from the least to the most disturbance,
ing to be occupied and at least partially maintained. that is, from preservation through restoration, recon-
Many now charming New England towns and farm- stitution, and relocation to complete reconstruction.
ing areas were well-to-do in the early 1800s but in the But this simple formula cloaks many subtleties and
later years of the century sank into the trough of the invites controversies. What, for example, happens to
westward wave of national expansion. This stagnation later historical additions to the original structure?
must then be followed by a second period of wealth Since historic structures are thought of as having
(whether belonging to the region itself or brought in been built all at one time and then potentially eter-
by visitors) that can bear the costs of preservation. nal, but have actually undergone a continuous
The pattern can be seen not only in those small process of physical change and human occupation,
towns and rural regions that have decayed and then and since our view of history itself changes con-
revived but also in the inner parts of large cities that stantly, the controversies may be heated and scholas-
have stagnated while the total urban region contin- tic. Robert Scott’s Antarctic hut, unused since his fatal
ued to prosper. Boston’s Back Bay is one example of expedition sixty years ago, survives intact in the polar
many. Natural decay is destructive of unoccupied old cold: papers, food, and equipment are just as they
environment, but active development by subsequent were. The effect is powerful—it corresponds to our
generations is a far more rapid agent of disposal. wish to arrest the past—but we cannot easily repro-
And since if anything is preserved it tends to be the duce the circumstances that created it.
most expensive or most imposing or most symbolic Sometimes the historical object is reconstructed at
of some classic period, the preserved environments regular intervals, preserving not the old materials but
tend to be very limited in extent. They represent the rather the ancient form. The 2000-year outline of the
continuum of time in a spasmodic way and give a White Horse of Uffington is still visible on the downs
distorted view of the past since they are composed because it is renewed by its annual “scouring.” The
of the buildings of prosperous classes in prosperous temple at Ise, completely rebuilt with new material
times—times, furthermore, that quickly passed away. on a new site every twenty years, conserves the most
Such remains only reinforce that misguided view of primitive form of any building in Japan. Such periodic
history which sees it as consisting of sharp peaks of reconstructions, because they do not depend on a
achievement separated by long, empty durations. single effort, evade some of the issues posed here.
According to another doctrine, only the external
historical shell need be preserved or reconstructed.
Preservation battle lines It can then shelter current, active uses, and internal
physical modifications suitable to those new uses are
There are several ways of dealing with a valued piece allowable. “Outsides” are public, historic, and regu-
of an old environment.2 What remains can simply be lated, while “insides” are private, fluid, and free. An
saved from destruction, perhaps by moving it away aversion to an unused or “museum” environment is
from danger. It can be restored by minor repairs and connected with this doctrine. Even then, there are
refurbishings. Or it can be rebuilt in as careful a copy difficult decisions to be made: the interior-exterior
of its “original” state as is currently known. This may dichotomy is a convenient distinction to make, but
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 The presence of the past 295

what kinds of specific modifications are, in fact, allow- disagreements about the purpose of preservation.
able? In restoring the Nash terraces around Regent’s Memory cannot retain everything; if it could, we
Park in London for modern offices, the facades were would be overwhelmed with data. Memory is the
rebuilt according to the original designs, but enough result of a process of selection and of organizing what
of the former internal arrangement was also imposed is selected so that it is within reach in expectable situa-
so that the view from the street would have the right tions. There must also be some random accumulations
sense of depth. How far can we go in subsidizing to enable us to discover unexpected relationships. But
activities that are likely to survive in preserved sur- serendipity is possible only when recollection is essen-
roundings? To what degree does contemporary util- tially a holding fast to what is meaningful and a
ity, however discreetly provided, rupture the sense of release of what is not.
historical integrity? The ceramic bathrooms of colo- Every thing, every event, every person is “historic.”
nial Williamsburg come as a shock. And what is to be To attempt to preserve all of the past would be life-
done where inside and outside are hard to separate, denying. We dispose of physical evidences of the past
as in a large public building or in a landscape? for the same reason that we forget. To someone inter-
Strict preservation is the more pessimistic view. It ested in action or understanding in the present, the
considers any reconstruction as fraudulent and thinks past is irrelevant if a description of the present fur-
of time as a process of regrettable but inevitable dis- nishes him with a better or more concise analysis on
solution. We can protect only what still remains by which he can base his action. Past events are indeed
a variety of means, principally passive but including often relevant to present possibilities. They may
removal to a protected place (then the loss of the explain causes or point to likely outcomes. Or they
museum itself can erase the concentrated harvest of may give us a sense of proportion to help us bear
generations!). The object to be preserved can be our present difficulties. But these causes and proba-
presented for better public view, but the process of bilities must be created and disentangled from the
decay is only slowed down—not stopped. heap of history. Indeed, there may be old wrongs
One may also take a purely intellectual view, aim- and hatreds that are quite relevant to actions today,
ing to learn as much and as accurately about the past but from which the present must be severed.
as possible and only secondarily to preserve, use, or “Man,” Nietzsche said, “must have the strength to
exhibit it. One is then justified in destroying remains by break up the past.”3 “History is a nightmare from
dissection or excavation or in reburying them then which I am trying to awake,” cried Stephen Dedalus
after inspection so that they are kept intact for later in Ulysses.4 New environments are often sought as
generations of scientists, even though they may not escapes from servitude to the past, even if the free-
then be seen or used by the general public. dom found thereby is sometimes less complete than it
As vexing as the doctrine of preservation is the def- promised to be, and even if many valuable memories
inition of its purpose. What pieces of the environment are lost in the severing. We prefer to select and create
should we attempt to reconstruct or preserve, and our past and to make it part of the living present.
what are the warrants for historical treatment? Are we
looking for evidence of the climactic moments or for
any manifestation of tradition we can find, or are we The degree of restriction
judging and evaluating the past, choosing the more
significant over the less, retaining what we think of as Designers are aware that it is easier to plan when
best? Should things be saved because they were asso- there are some commitments than it is when the sit-
ciated with important persons or events? Because they uation is completely open. The building in the hills,
are unique or nearly so or, quite the contrary, because the house in a dense city, and the interior in an old
they were most typical of their time? Because of their building are easier to create, and often more inter-
importance as a group symbol? Because of their intrin- esting and apt in their solution, than are their coun-
sic qualities in the present? Because of their special terparts on flat plains, in open land, and in a new
usefulness as sources of intellectual information about structure. The fixed characteristics restrict the range
the past? Or should we simply (as we most often do) of possible solutions and therefore ease the agony
let chance select for us and preserve for a second cen- of the design search. In addition, the accidental back-
tury everything that has happened to survive the first? ground permits solutions that are rich in form and full
Such issues spring from confusions about how the of contrast. Clearly, this is true only where the fixed
past is perceived and what the nature of the endless elements are somehow valuable and do not com-
process of environmental change is, as well as from pletely inhibit desirable alteration. It is interesting to
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296 Urban Design Reader

redesign the interior of an old warehouse for apart- scene. He sees the artifacts of home—the mailboxes,
ments, but not if the massive walls have no windows, railings, details—that the British planners had in their
or the ceiling heights are extremely low, or the rooms time transplanted to ease their own nostalgia.)6
are perpetually damp. Nonphysical restraints may There seems to be some optimum degree of pre-
have similar effects. The unique institutions, values, vious development in a changing environment, a
or behavior of a group of users can be used as a degree most satisfactory owing to the low-cost and
principal source of strong character in a solution. already depreciated resources that the environment
In an analogous way, older communities that have provides, or to the rich variety of facilities and serv-
grown slowly have certain advantages for the inhabi- ices catering to many preferences that it offers, or to
tant over new settlements. The older towns tend to the feeling of being at home that it fosters, or para-
be richer and more complex, with choices, services, doxically, to the way in which it limits and simplifies
and attachments better fitted to the plurality of needs choice. Yet while too little restraint confuses and
and values of a diverse population. People will resist impoverishes, too much is costly and frustrating. An
forcible removal from these older settlements, and environment that cannot be changed invites its
signs of social stress often appear in the early days of own destruction. We prefer a world that can be
the new towns to which they have moved. New modified progressively, against a background of val-
housing can often be inserted more happily into ued remains, a world in which one can leave a per-
existing communities than it can be erected on open sonal mark alongside the marks of history.
ground since the former action can be taken without
destroying the social fabric or losing access to the
web of facilities. Roots in time
Designers themselves are often found living in old
houses in old districts, unless they have chosen to Like law and custom, environment tells us how to act
inflict their own personal designs on themselves. without requiring of us a conscious choice. In a church
When they occupy old houses, however, they do not we are reverent and on a beach relaxed. Much of the
simply preserve them; they modify them by suppres- time, we are reenacting patterns of behavior associ-
sion and addition to enliven the surviving elements. ated with particular recognizable settings. A setting
Longevity and evanescence gain savor in each other’s may encourage a behavior by its form—a staircase has
presence: “In a gourd that had been handed down a shape that is made for going up or down—but also
for three centuries, a flower that would fade in a by the expectations associated with it—until recently
morning.”5 The old environment is seen as an oppor- it was not seemly for adults to sit on stairs. When place
tunity for dramatic enhancement and becomes changes rapidly, as in a migratory move, people no
richer than it was. This is not preservation, or even longer “know how to behave.” They must expend
simple addition, but a particular use of old and new. effort to test and choose a new form of behavior and
It is the familiar connections, not all the old phys- to build group agreement. Thus, when change is
ical things themselves, that people want to retain, wanted, a new setting supports the discontinuity.
except where those things have a personal connec- For social continuity it is useful to reenact behavior
tion: their own furniture, the family mementos. One together in a setting of the past. Claude Lévi-Strauss
of the problems of the large new suburban communi- tells how missionaries were able to disorient the cul-
ties is how to maintain some continuity of image and ture of the Bororos by forcing them to abandon the
association despite the physical and social upheaval traditional circular layout of their settlements.
to which their inhabitants have been exposed. Since Many symbolic and historic locations in a city are
images and associations must be useful for both rarely visited by its inhabitants, however they may
original and new inhabitants, the histories of the be sought out by tourists. But a threat to destroy
immigrants should be interwoven with the history these places will evoke a strong reaction, even from
of the new setting. When American families move to those who have never seen, and perhaps never will
a new city, many go out of their way to find houses see, them. The survival of these unvisited, hearsay
that in some manner remind them of their childhood settings conveys a sense of security and continuity.
homes, even as the Swedish immigrants to the United A portion of the past has been saved as being good,
States looked for “Swedish” landscapes to settle in, and this promises that the future will so save the
and British colonists built British towns. (And thus a present. We have the sense that we and our works will
native of Calcutta, far from home but new to London, also reach uninterrupted old age. After a catastrophe,
is struck by the nostalgic familiarity of the London the restoration of the symbolic center of community
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 The presence of the past 297

life is a matter of urgency: St. Paul’s in burned London, Ruined structures, in the process of going back
or the “old city” in devastated Warsaw. Symbolic to the earth, are enjoyed everywhere for the emotional
environment is used to create a sense of stability: sensations they convey.7 This pleasurable melancholy
threatened institutions celebrate their antiquity; kings may be coupled with the observer’s satisfaction at
proclaim their legitimate roots as well as their power. having survived or be tinged with righteous triumph,
The English gypsies are avid collectors of china and esthetic delight, or intellectual enjoyment. One may
family photographs. loot the ruin or live in it or put one’s name on it.
There are striking differences in mood between Accumulated literary associations add depth to the
groups with a valued past, in which they feel rooted, experience; place names become pegs for layers of
and groups that are living in an isolated present. commentaries, as in the Chinese culture. But at base
Might it also be possible to use environment to the emotional pleasure is a heightened sense of the
teach change instead of permanence—how the flow of time.
world constantly shifts in the context of the imme- Clever restoration obscures the essential quality of
diate past; which changes have been valuable, impermanent remains. A pleasantly ruinous environ-
which not; how change can be externally effected; ment demands some inefficiency, a relaxed accept-
how change ought to occur in the future? Past flux ance of time, the esthetic ability to take dramatic
might be communicated by marking out the suc- advantage of destruction. A landscape acquires emo-
cessive locations of activities or populations or by tional depth as it accumulates these scars. Certain
representing the changing aspect of a single place. materials and forms age well. They develop an inter-
The lesson could be disturbing. esting patina, a rich texture, an attractive outline.
Saving the past can be a way of learning for the Others are at their best only when clean and new;
future, just as people change themselves by learn- as they grow old, they turn spotted and imperfect.
ing something now that they may employ later. If
advanced education and upward mobility are to be
important characteristics of the coming generations, Communicating the past
then we might preserve for them a record of the
changing educational environment and evidence of Historical knowledge must be communicated to the
the social gaps that had been jumped before. If com- public for its enjoyment and education. Words and
mon ownership of property or an increased sense of pictures convey much, but real things make the deep-
public responsibility were desired for the future, then est impression. It is a sign of the verbal dominance
we might save the evidence of past commons. In of our civilization that we call any period without writ-
other situations, we might preserve the corpus of ten documents “prehistoric.” To be surrounded by
herbal medicine or of technologies suited to more the buildings and equipment of the past, or best of
primitive resources or of ways of survival in a hostile all to act as if we were in the past, is an excellent
environment. Just as we save plant varieties as the way to learn about it. The creation of skillful illusion
raw material of genetic innovation and to avert the requires one to move and concentrate structures
disaster of a universal crop failure, so we may wish and equipment or to counterfeit them. This ambi-
to save the skills and cultural solutions of the past in ence can then be peopled with live actors.
order to meet the demands of an uncertain future. There are more than 125 museum villages and
extensive city walking tours in the United States today,
in forty-two of the fifty states. They re-create some
Ruins particular period with the buildings and equipment of
the time, often with simulated inhabitants who dress
There is a poignancy in evanescence, in something and act—even think—their parts. These reconstruc-
old about to disappear. Old toys, made for brief use, tions are tremendously popular. But they suffer some
seemingly so fragile, associated with a passing and necessary limitations beyond cost, or information, or
vulnerable phase of life, are much more emotive the availability of old artifacts, or accuracy in the light
symbols than are permanent, serious memorials. In of changing scholarship. There can be problems of
Japan there is an esthetic preference for that which comfort (heavy wool clothes in the summer, for
decays and passes. Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect, example, or the stink of indigo curing), or of social
projected himself so far forward into the future as to sanction (low-cut dresses, or the growing of hemp),
design his grandiose structures with the hope that or health and safety (dangerous tools and unsanitary
they would make noble ruins. conditions), or of isolation from what had been a total
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298 Urban Design Reader

social and geographic system, or of the unwillingness of the Civil War, for example, or the Yankee and Irish
or inability of present-day actors to take historic roles. views of what it was like in Boston in the 1850s.
There are modern myths to avoid, or temptations to They would look at the conquest of the West
sugarcoat the past, to forget the caste rigidity and through Indian eyes as well as those of the white pio-
social isolation of a military post, for example. How neer. If so, it should be possible for a student to go
can children be induced to play the way they used to? from one presentation to the other, in the same way
Who wants to demonstrate a shameful or unwanted that he can compare different verbal interpretations.
past, particularly if the show is for some presumably Environmental preservation has always had political
“superior” group of spectators? The villagers of as well as esthetic and educational motives. Groups
delightfully retarded Stensjö, put on the national pay- in power save prominent symbols of their prestige,
roll when it became a Swedish historic area, soon while others must be more discreet. But plural
wanted to enjoy modern facilities, and, when meanings could be made explicit in reconstruction.
rebuffed, they simply moved away. Reconstructed The city itself can be a historical teaching device,
environments exist today and not in the past time an aim now served by the occasional guided tour or
they mimic, and they are filled with modern tourists. plaque. That “William Blake lived here” is trivial, unless
Passive demonstrations are the rule: the visitors the visible structure influenced what Blake did, or
gape and move on. Such enterprises would be even expressed his personality, or unless its location had
more effective if the observers were instructed to some bearing on his personal history. The city can
become the actors. The ordinary equipment of the be enormously informative, since the pattern of
time should be available for use. However clumsily, remains is a vast if jumbled historical index. Signs,
visitors might smooth with an adz, wear old clothes, tours, guides, and other communications devices can
cook and eat according to old recipes, dance the bring out the latent history of a complex site, with
quadrille, plow with oxen, or warp a yardarm around. little of the interference with present function that
In that way they might begin to penetrate into some may be caused by massive physical reconstructions.
sense of the life of an earlier time. Were the visitors The kingly bypass of a rebellious City of London by
given the opportunity to live for a week as the people the water route from Westminster to the Tower can
of that time lived and to suffer, at least temporarily, be demonstrated, or the successive flights of middle-
some of the real pleasures and penalties of adequate class residents before the oncoming workingmen.
performance, the penetration would be deeper. A Illustrated walks can be laid out, and crucial remains
small group of high school students recently spent made visible—incorporated in other structures or
five days in a one-room cottage in the reconstructed underground or even underwater. The past can be
Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts.8 They wore shown in immediate relevance to the present: old-
heavy Pilgrim clothes, ate the coarse Pilgrim food, fashioned clothes in a clothing store, former work
cooked it over an open fire, hauled wood and water, methods in a factory, previous illustrations of a site
scoured pots with sand, read and sewed by firelight. on the site itself. Indeed, the resources going into
It was a difficult but instructive week. Even then, they communication should be as large as, or larger than,
knew they were not threatened by starvation, disease, those devoted to preservation.
or Indian attack. The image of the physical environment has been
The settings should illustrate not simply the used for centuries as a mental peg on which to hang
“great” moments of the period but the full spectrum material to be remembered, from the memory system
of its culture. Re-created pasts ought to be based on of Simonides of Ceos in 500 B.C. to the imaginary
the knowledge and values of the present. We want walks of S. V. Shereshevskii in this century.9 In the
them to change as present knowledge and values sixteenth century, Camillo actually built a memory
change, just as history is rewritten. One danger in the theater in Venice, a wooden structure whose seats,
preservation of environment lies in its very power to gangways, and images had the sole purpose of sym-
encapsulate some image of the past, an image that bolizing man’s knowledge of the universe. Martin
may in time prove to be mythical or irrelevant. For Pawley has recently suggested a “time house”—a
preservation is not simply the saving of old things but family dwelling unit that automatically records and on
the maintaining of a response to those things. This request replays the sights and sounds of the life of the
response can be transmitted, lost, or modified. It may house. The thought that family life would be continu-
survive beyond the real thing itself. We should expect ously watched and recorded is a little chilling, but it is
to see conflicting views of the past, based on the con- quite reasonable to think that the real remains of a
flicting values of the present. Diverse environmental city, in conjunction with print, film, and recording,
museums might present divergent interpretations
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might consciously be used to retain and teach what
 The presence of the past 299

we think to be instructive for the future. Could mute or may be part of a whole network of facilities and
statues, for example, be associated with explanatory social connections that we cannot easily reconstruct.
recordings or photographs that were available on Taking rational account of existing values should not
request? Tommaso Campanella proposed that the be clouded by dogma about the intrinsic goodness
walls of his utopia would illustrate the knowledge of of old things. The most famous artists of the day
history and the natural world. In a similar way the protested vehemently against the erection of the
cathedrals vividly presented the Christian dogmas Eiffel Tower. Cultures that produced fine environment
to the faithful. were confident of their ability to create afresh, and
Even now, environment interacts with other we may notice in this connection the disdain for
memory systems—with books and tales and film. preservation, even of their own works, that is found
Thus for an American in London for the first time but among many creative artists.
brought up on English children’s stories, the names If old environments are superior to new ones
of streets and places are unsettlingly familiar. In (sometimes they are, sometimes not), then we must
the opposite case, a man-made environment may study them to see what these superior qualities are,
become completely detached from its previous so that we can achieve them in a new way. Old build-
meanings. For the medieval village that reoccupied ings, even quite unremarkable ones, often have cer-
it, the abandoned Diocletian palace at Spalato (the tain advantages over new structures, along with their
modern Split) must have simply been a natural typical disadvantages of poor utilities, an unsafe frame-
landscape to be overcome. And furthermore quite work, a cramped floor plan, or expensive mainte-
false meanings may be attached to a place. So nance. They are likely to have a richer form, with
tourists enjoy the absurd but colorful tales that their the impress of many occupants, a well-adjusted fit
guides fasten to the passing scene. The children of between activity and form, a luxurious “wastefulness”
Manhattan, Kansas, now tell their own stories about of odd pieces of space, a more intimate scale, mel-
the statue of Johnny Kaw, a “folk hero” hurriedly lowed surfaces, and detail. Many of these qualities are
invented by the city fathers for a centennial celebra- reproducible in new construction, although at a cost
tion and as quickly forgotten by the elders. False of money and design attention. In regulating the
history, which leads blacks to wear dashikis or for- replacement of older areas, the focus should be on
mer forest Indians to live in tipis—is also a means of identifying the present values in existing buildings
mobilizing people to meet problems of today. and on insisting that new development equal or
better those qualities before it is permitted to occur.
Present value will be particular to a certain group
Present value of people. Such a group is the necessary politi-
cal base for restoration work. Areas that do not
Thus there is something to say about archives, about have a resident constituency—a partly abandoned
the creation of special teaching areas, and about the nineteenth-century commercial district, for example—
uses of communication to teach environmental his- will be the most difficult to save. Then it is necessary
tory. What can be said about preservation in extensive to organize a nonresident base that is touristic or
inhabited regions? Here the aim should be the con- region-wide. Or the planner must be able to teach
servation of present value as well as the maintenance others to see the present values of an area, or, even
of a sense of near continuity. Things are useful to us harder, to persuade them that in another generation
for their actual current qualities and not for some they will be valued.
mystic essence of time gone by. We should save old When present value is not obvious, a careful analy-
houses if we cannot replace the equivalent space at sis may be required to disentangle the valued quali-
a lower cost (recognizing that a possible increased ties. For example, what and for whom are the present
consumption of natural resources in new building as values of an existing slum environment, whose
compared with rehabilitation is a real, though often arrangements may support, but also enforce, a certain
hidden, cost) or if we simply cannot reproduce valu- way of life? In Bath, as a contrasting example, a land-
able features of form or equipment. Often enough, scape analysis would reveal those qualities of space,
old environment is worth conserving because it is scale, and facade texture that, if also achieved in new
completely amortized, or was built by cheap skilled structures, would allow the replacement of many
labor or with materials now unobtainable, or was areas of the town which serve as a visual background
constructed to high standards for the affluent but for the more noteworthy structures and would do so
was abandoned by them. Moreover, it may be a without imitation and without loss. Historical areas
specially valuable artistic creation difficult to imitate
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are not so much irreplaceable as rarely replaced.
300 Urban Design Reader

Fragmentary reminders environment, embedded in the new context for

another generation.
Where old structures cannot support present func- Saved elements could be of many kinds, though
tions without impairing those functions, and unless they should not be random or trivial. Haphazard
they are of exceptional didactic or esthetic value, they exhibits will create a sense of the past as chaos. Where
can be cleared away, although their fragments may possible, it is best to save something indicative of the
be used to enhance new buildings. We need not be old ambience: its scale, its spaces or pathways, its
so concerned about perfect conformity to past form plantings. Where this is not possible, it is desirable to
but ought rather to seek to use remains to enhance seek to keep things of high symbolic meaning or
the complexity and significance of the present scene. things that were directly connected with the actions
The contrast of old and new, the accumulated con- of remembered people: crosses, seats, steps. But what
centration of the most significant elements of the is saved must be based on what users wish to remem-
various periods gone by, even if they are only frag- ber or can connect with themselves. The implication
mentary reminders of them, will in time produce a is that the planner will seek to learn what inhabitants
landscape whose depth no one period can equal, remember and wish to remember. Furthermore, since
although such time-deep areas may be achieved new urban development is almost always somehow
only in some parts of the city. The esthetic aim is to constrained by previous patterns, we ought to make
heighten contrast and complexity, to make visible clear this influence of the past, marking the history of
the process of change. The achievement of the aim an environment on itself. Such patterns can be woven
requires creative and skillful demolition, just as much into a new design with little of the difficulty ordinarily
as skillful new design. associated with area-wide preservation. They could be
We look for a setting that, rather than simply part of our habitual concern for the character of a site.
being a facsimile of the past, seems to open out-
ward in time. To quote Vladimir Nabokov,10 in his
description of his years in Cambridge, England: Personal connection

Nothing one looked at was shut off in terms of If we examine the feelings that accompany daily life,
time, everything was a natural opening into it, so we find that historic monuments occupy a small place.
that one’s mind grew accustomed to work in a Our strongest emotions concern our own lives and the
particularly pure and ample environment, and lives of our family or friends because we have known
because, in terms of space, the narrow lane, the them personally. The crucial reminders of the past are
cloistered lawn, the dark archway hampered one therefore those connected with our own childhood, or
physically, that yielding diaphanous texture of with our parents’ or perhaps our grandparents’ lives.
time was, by contrast, especially welcome to the Remarkable things are directly associated with mem-
mind, just as a sea view from a window exhila- orable events in those lives: births, deaths, marriages,
rates one hugely, even though one does not care partings, graduations. To live in the same surroundings
for sailing. that one recalls from earliest memories is a satisfaction
denied to most Americans today. The continuity of
Our new suburbs and new towns, on the other kin lacks a corresponding continuity of place. We
hand, seem all begun yesterday and completely fin- are interested in a street on which our father may
ished then. There is no crevice through which one have lived as a boy; it helps to explain him to us and
can venture back or forward. strengthens our own sense of identity. But our grand-
We could enjoy these qualities even in the most father or great-grandfather, whom we never knew, is
ordinary areas, where there may be little of real dis- already in the remote past; his house is “historical.”
tinction to be saved. Everywhere, even in regions to Most historical preservation, focused as it is on
be swept clean for rebuilding, we can retain some the classic past, moves people only momentarily, at
environmental memories that go back at least to a point remote from their vital concerns. It is imper-
the first reminiscences of the living generation, say sonal as well as ancient. Near continuity is emotion-
for sixty years. But since the generations overlap ally more important than remote time, although
endlessly, and since current needs may require more the distant past may seem nobler, more mysterious
or less demolition in any small region, it will be impos- or intriguing to us. There is a spatial simile: feeling
sible to preserve a whole context. We then resort to locally connected where we customarily range is
saving symbols and fragments of a demolished more important than our position at a national scale,
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 The presence of the past 301

although occasional realization of the latter can if the event remains memorable. Our cities are mute
impart a brief thrill. In this sense, we should seek to about the persons for whom we care but littered with
preserve the near and middle past, the past with statues to generals and statesmen now in limbo.
which we have real ties. The family photograph or Though the landscape should have the imprint
the heap of flowers in Dallas is a strong thing. of human events and seem connected with living per-
A humane environment commemorates recent sons, the imprints and connections must eventually
events quickly and allows people to mark out their fade away and be forgotten, just as human memories
own growth. It is more human not only for the inhab- and generations fade.
itant but for the observer as well. He will sense its Thus I propose a plural attitude toward environ-
warmth and find in it a symbolic way of meeting its mental remains, depending on the particular motive.
inhabitants. But there must also be some means of Where it is scientific study, there would be dissection,
removing these marks as they recede in time or lose recording, and scholarly storage; where it is educa-
connections with present persons. This is forgetting tion, I propose unabashed playacting and commu-
again. There is a pleasure in seeing receding, half- nication; where it is the enhancement of present value
veiled space or in detecting the various layers of suc- and a sense of the flow of time, I should encourage
cessive occupation as they fade into the past—and temporal collage, creative demolition and addition;
then in finding a few fragments whose origins are where it is personal connection, I suggest making and
remote and inscrutable, whose meanings lurk beneath retaining imprints as selective and impermanent as
their shapes, like dim fish in deep water. We do not memory itself. To preserve effectively, we must know
wish to preserve our childhood intact, with all its per- for what the past is being retained and for whom. The
sonalities, circumstances, and emotions. We want to management of change and the active use of remains
simplify and to pattern it, to make vivid its important for present and future purpose are preferable to an
moments, to skip over its empty stretches, sense its inflexible reverence for a sacrosanct past. The past
mysterious beginnings, soften its painful feelings— must be chosen and changed, made in the present.
that is, to change it into a dramatic recital. Choosing a past helps us to construct a future.
Personal connection is most effectively made by
personal imprints on the environment. New customs
might connect environment symbolically to personal Notes
experience. The stages of physical growth can be
1. Hosmer, Charles B., Jr. The Presence of the Past: A
imprinted on our surroundings by height marks, foot History of the Preservation Movement in the United
or hand prints. Portraits and photographs may be States before Williamsburg. New York: Putnam, 1965.
mounted to give a place a visible genealogy. We are 2. Brandi, Cesare. Teoria del Restauro. Rome: Ediz. di sto-
accustomed to marking death with a stone; can we ria e letteratura, 1963.
3. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Use and Abuse of History,
also so signify birth? We could plant a tree in a com-
trans. Adrian Collins. New York: Liberal Arts Press,
munity grove, a tree that gradually merges into the 1957 (orig. ed. 1873).
forest. Memorials may refer to a family or an individ- 4. Joyce, James. Ulysses. New York: Vintage, 1961.
ual or an age group: a gang or a school grade. Stones 5. Kawabata, Yasunari. A Thousand Cranes, trans.
and trees may be carried with us when we move, to Edward G. Seidensticker. New York: Knopf, 1959.
6. Banerjee, Tridib. Personal correspondence.
make a personal link to a new landscape, just as we 7. Macaulay, Rose. The Pleasure of Ruins. New York:
bring familiar furniture with us to personalize our new Walker, 1953.
interiors. Old inhabitants should be encouraged to 8. Rosenbloom, Joseph. “Student Pilgrims Work at
record their memories of a place. The recording Survival in Plimoth.” Boston Globe, January 27, 1972.
9. Yates, Frances P. “Architecture and the Art of Memory.”
could then be made available nearby, in a branch
Architectural Design 38 (December 1968), 573–578.
library or a street information center. As in some 10. Nabokov, Vladimir. Speak, Memory. Baltimore: Penguin,
primitive societies, burial might at first be in some 1969.
nearby and conspicuous location, later removed to
a marked place in a community site and, much later,
when living kin are gone, to a common unmarked Source and copyright
grave. Our distant and crowded cemeteries are
This chapter was published in its original form as:
devices for sealing away the dead from the living
under the fiction of eternal remembrance. Lynch, K. (1972), “The Presence of the Past”, What Time is
There can be temporary memorials for recent This Place?, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, 29–64.
events, to be replaced later by permanent markings, Reprinted with kind permission of The MIT Press.
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