Physics-based precision: This enables accurate modelling of sightlines, lighting and weather conditions, vehicle and pedestrian flow, vegetation, and surrounding infrastructure. Getting the balance of enclosure, mystery, concealment, and openness right is difficult – hence why digital simulations that combine all these different factors are so valuable. odd reason fails to fall into perspec­tive. The laws of perspective may beimmutable and it may be that thefurther away an object is the furtheraway it seems to be. And yet unlesswe understand the art of recession itwould not be wise to take this for Townscape identifies many features like those in the view of Oxford (below) that make city scenery distinctive. Here are a few of the most important.

Townscape - [PDF Document] The Concise Townscape - [PDF Document]

The sequence in New Delhi (readthe photographs from left to right) em­phasizes the role of levels and screen­ing in serial vision, for here whatcould simply have been one picturereproduced four times, each viewenlarging the centre of the previousview and bringing US near to theterminal building, turns out to befour separate and unique views (seedescription in the Introduction). Again there are lines of advantagewhich can be colonized; the linealong the parapet of a bridge whichpeople seem to prefer for the sake ofthe immediacy of its view and posi­tion is one such (see also line of lifep. III). Like many generations before them the architects of the modern movement had clear ideas of their perfect city. For most it was a city built from scratch, full of modernist towers and planned in zones—an area for work, another for play, another for housing. For most, it was also an ideal in which traffic was separated from pedestrians, a place of urban freeways and soaring overpasses. Reconstructionthe average: of averages of human behaviour, averages of weather,factors of safety an": so on. And these averages do not give an inevitableresult for any particular problem. They are, so to speak, wandering factswhich may synchronize or, just as likely, may conflict with each other.The upshot is that a town could take one of several patterns and stilloperate with success, equal success. Here then we discover a pliabilityin the scientific solution and it is precisely in the manipulation of thispliability that the art of relationship is made possible. As will be seen, theaim is not to dictate the shape of the town or environment, but is amodest one: simply to manipulate within the tolerances. The faster a person moves the smaller the area on which they are able to focus their attention. At 25 mph, a driver can see a view approximately 100° wide; at 45 mph, the view drops to 65°; and at 65 mph, it drops to a narrow 40°, substantially reducing what is seen. – Guidelines for the Visual Impact Assessment of Highway Projects, US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (2015) [viii] The Concise Townscape author draws three conclusions at the end of the book: Urban environments can be categorized in two ways. The first is the city as an object made up of subjects that are outside planners. Second, the city is built, and then it is populated with activities. Both provide a sustaining complement. Townscape serves as a city in this scenario, providing the framework and fostering action. The inhabitants of the urban setting should be able to live comfortably. The urban environment impacted the physical and psychological evolution of civilization . Therefore, it is essential to emphasize the art of the surroundings in urban planning.

Gordon Cullen: Serial Vision in Urban Design Gordon Cullen: Serial Vision in Urban Design

Now and Then: Cullen understood that cities are dynamic and change over time, but also need a degree of consistency to provide a sense of coherence. This is the Environment Game and it is going on all round us. Youwill see that I am not discussing absolute values such as beauty, perfec­tion, art with a big A, or morals. I am trying to describe an environmentthat chats away happily, plain folk talking together. Apart from a handfulof noble exceptions our world is being filled with system-built dumbblondes and a scatter ofIrish confetti. Only when the dialogue commenceswill people stop to listen.British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Book Review: The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen Book Review: The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen

Urban CGI simulations let you ‘walk’ through an urban environment under a wide range of conditions, experiencing unlimited serial views as you navigate access routes. Our simulations are particularly useful for evaluating and refining wayfinding design and navigability, such as in the railway station example illustrated above. Digital simulations allow you to explore every little corner of your project – conducting a thorough serial vision analysis of each integrated space. This is particularly important for establishing safety and sightlines in areas that might otherwise be forgotten, such as ancillary stairwells and minor access routes. These Urban CGI examples depict lift and stairwell access within Hallam railway station, Melbourne, Australia, with the fritted glass partially screening views and reducing sunlight and glare. As you exit the stairwell at Hallam railway station, the sequence of views gradually unfolds, revealing the expansive outdoors. Our CGI simulation lets you visualise the transition from confined space towards the open landscape. A special use case: dynamic viewsheds – serial vision in motion First among these cases is anticipa­tion. These two pictures clearly arouseone's curiosity as to what scene willmeet our eyes upon reaching the endof the street.There IS a difference between sky andinfinity. Sky is the stuff we see overthe roof tops, as in the picture inPimlico, below; infinity is a quite dif­ferent thing. There are, I think, twoways in which the solitude and vast­ness of the sky can be made personalto us. Firstly, by the technique whichserved for truncation; by cutting outthe middle distance and juxtaposingthe immediate here with the sky, itsmore conventional overtones aresomehow discarded and [he deeperqualities aroused, as these two pic­tures, left, serve to remind us. possession and possession in move­ment we find what may be termedviscosity, the formation of groupschatting, of slow window-shoppers,people selling newspapers, flowersand so on. The overhanging blinds,the space enclosed by the portico andthe meandering character of the streetprovide the proper setting which maybe compared to the picture below.Windswept and inhospitable, itemphasizes the segregation ofoutside and inside.