We usually look at familiar urban places as our habits dictate, rarely changing from our default viewpoint. This narrowed perspective limits our effectiveness as designers and planners, writes Bruce F. Donnelly.
"There are, of course, many different experiential layers to urban experience. However, three essential layers, in an effective order, are:
* Beauty
* Stories
* Representation.
Once we learn to pay attention, we can combine the layers with the circumstances of a particular situation to decide, say, whether the beauty of a place and the stories of its lives mesh. Through reverse-engineering successes and failures, then, we can better understand success and failure, and therefore move more knowledgably and elegantly through the city.
...
Part of reverse-engineering success and failure is to find information that's not apparent on the groundâ€"demographics, business ownership, unit costs, and so on. In this case, the planner’s blindnessâ€"not to such circumstances, but to the North End’s beauties, stories, and the way it represented itselfâ€"made him blind to the place’s worth.
If we are to avoid being quite so insensitive to cities, we must attend not just to statistics, and not just to our personal preferences, but also to the levels of experience that help make them good or bad. It means that we must open ourselves to places’ beauties, and take note of their absences, too. It means that we must pay attention to the ways that people use spaceâ€"to their everyday stories."
FULL STORY: Experiential Layers Of The City

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

Washington Legislature Passes Rent Increase Cap
A bill that caps rent increases at 7 percent plus inflation is headed to the governor’s desk.

From Planning to Action: How LA County Is Rethinking Climate Resilience
Chief Sustainability Officer Rita Kampalath outlines the County’s shift from planning to implementation in its climate resilience efforts, emphasizing cross-departmental coordination, updated recovery strategies, and the need for flexible funding.

New Mexico Aging Department Commits to Helping Seniors Age ‘In Place’ and ‘Autonomously’ in New Draft Plan
As New Mexico’s population of seniors continues to grow, the state’s aging department is proposing expanded initiatives to help seniors maintain their autonomy while also supporting family caregivers.
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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