Place Parts, Episode 17: Understanding the Blends

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 often-hidden facets of a city.

The video amplifies basic concepts that the book illustrates in the Richmond town center through a single photograph. The photograph and related sections illustrate how sustaining an urban place-at many scales-requires blended, interdisciplinary attention to many place-specific junctions.

As the Introduction notes:

These include natural systems and public works that lie beneath, building and structure for living and working, Wi-Fi kiosks for data access, interventions of nature and “soft” features, to the more abstract interplay between the built environment, clouds, and sky. The photograph leaves out-because it cannot do otherwise-the sociocultural intangibles and only implies place-inspired collective memories.

Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character, p.5

Review the special “landing page” for Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character here.

Originally published at https://sustainingplace.com on March 24, 2021.