Venues Where Space Meets Time

How Values and Belief Systems Frame What We See

Westfield Sydney, Australia, once the Imperial Arcade. Charles R. Wolfe Photo

Unfiltering Our Reality of Place

These simple premises inform our points of view about city life. For every image, topic, or discipline, our values and belief systems frame what we see, especially when familiar guideposts get filtered away.

Remove color, crop, leave only hint and nuance, and the city can become an off-trail place where inquiry is a form of intellectual rescue and rediscovery.

In the ten examples above and below, five questions set the tone for this rediscovery process:

• Is it apparent when the photo occurred?
• Is the location clear? If so, is such clarity based on personal familiarity with the location?
• Is the context of the scene readily understandable? What more would be needed to offer a more complete answer to questions of when and where?
• Which element of urban life seems the most important to the composition (e.g. safety, environment, mode of transportation, role of public space, public/private interface)?
• What questions remain?