Why We Need Urban Perspective

Where is your focus?

I keep writing about cities and towns and the need to fully understand urban perspective, and tell a tale below to explain why. I use a photograph and musical “assists” to show what might be already obvious to some: We interpret the city depending upon our experience and orientation.

This photograph could be attached to social media, declaring cycling as the answer to post-pandemic travel. A companion tweet could read “a bicycle infrastructure means no cars on the river, as it should be.” While there’s nothing wrong with that tweet, it’s not the whole story.

The sharpest rendering in this photograph is tree leaves, rather than watercraft, signage, the River Thames, or Richmond Bridge. But the focus is on a couple, their activity, and their bicycles. They might not be the crispest part of the image, but this is intentional because their circumstance is likely the underlying story.

The anthropologist would log their activity with diligence, probably noting the importance of the riverside setting. The fiction writer might explore how they met and for whom the pose awaits. The artist might sketch, or paint some or all of what is pictured here, and emphasize the color green.

The landscape architect might take due note of that color, and the assemblage of water, vegetation, and stone, and build them into a future design…