Hey everyone,
Does anyone know where I can find diagrams of city plans (of major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, etc.)? Simple diagrams that show layouts of specific cities?
I am looking for something not like a map, but something along the lines of a black and white or figure/ground diagram for several cities.
Maybe there is a web resource, or a publication? Any advice would be great, thanks!
Loot at "Great Streets" by Allan Jacobs. There are same-scale figure-ground plans of PORTIONS of many cities, to compare their physical fabrics. Unfortunately, the plans are partial and not full.
but really, if you can't find exactly what you're looking for, just use google earth + autocad, and boom, you've got your own figure/ground, nolli maps of whatever city you want.
you could always take a map from the library and hand trace out a figure ground and shade in all the buildings like I had to do for my media class last year... ugh.
gandelsonas and agrest's books might have some good material for you. especially the stuff i remember from the late 80s. they were doing some pretty fun city form analyses. a lot of it had to do with aligned axes, etc, but some on figure/ground as well.
citizen - very true. I was implicitly implying that with my Kevin Lynch reference. I would even argue there is a level of subjectiveness that is very significant in understanding a city on a diagrammatic level. For example, in Philadelphia, I see the Ben Franklin Parkway as a very strong "edge" or divider than as a "path." Others might not see it that way, and its important to be aware of that subjectiveness.
Yes, Phil. I haven't read Lynch for a while, but the subjectivity of interpretation was an important aspect of the study, I recall. The five elements emerged as common constructs, but in the end were always deployed subjectively by individuals.
Seeing the city as simply a figure ground would be too superficial in my opinion. Its the most basic and requires the least amount of interpretation/analysis/thought (often doesn't even require that you know the city at all).
For example, if an old building is renovated with an important program - the figure ground remains the same but it becomes a landmark. Another example would be when cities change transportation access - like excluding vehicular traffic at certain times (or permanently) - that changes paths, edges, and even create temporary nodes/landmarks. There may even be an invisible edge that is simply created by a perception of change in "district" - most easily seen when crossing a district in which there is a huge economic disparity (mostly impossible to see from a figure ground). These things can change over time without necessarily changing the figure ground. I would hate to have an old diagram of a city unless you wanted to see it at a certain time/date.
city plan diagrams
Hey everyone,
Does anyone know where I can find diagrams of city plans (of major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, etc.)? Simple diagrams that show layouts of specific cities?
I am looking for something not like a map, but something along the lines of a black and white or figure/ground diagram for several cities.
Maybe there is a web resource, or a publication? Any advice would be great, thanks!
Loot at "Great Streets" by Allan Jacobs. There are same-scale figure-ground plans of PORTIONS of many cities, to compare their physical fabrics. Unfortunately, the plans are partial and not full.
didn't collage city have a range of figure grounds?
technically these still are maps...but they are maps of the figure / ground
doesn't have much. sorry.
you could always -GASP- make your own!
Dread, you BASTARD!
Check out the City Plates by Not Neutral, the product development wing of Rios Clementi Hale Studios
ha ha ha, how dare i suggest that!?
but really, if you can't find exactly what you're looking for, just use google earth + autocad, and boom, you've got your own figure/ground, nolli maps of whatever city you want.
you could always take a map from the library and hand trace out a figure ground and shade in all the buildings like I had to do for my media class last year... ugh.
sounds like a great idea for a book
Look up Kevin Lynch to see how to do city plan diagrams.
We forget that we learn much more by actually documenting something ourselves than by reviewing documents by others.
gandelsonas and agrest's books might have some good material for you. especially the stuff i remember from the late 80s. they were doing some pretty fun city form analyses. a lot of it had to do with aligned axes, etc, but some on figure/ground as well.
citizen - very true. I was implicitly implying that with my Kevin Lynch reference. I would even argue there is a level of subjectiveness that is very significant in understanding a city on a diagrammatic level. For example, in Philadelphia, I see the Ben Franklin Parkway as a very strong "edge" or divider than as a "path." Others might not see it that way, and its important to be aware of that subjectiveness.
is a great resource.
Yes, Phil. I haven't read Lynch for a while, but the subjectivity of interpretation was an important aspect of the study, I recall. The five elements emerged as common constructs, but in the end were always deployed subjectively by individuals.
i.e., analysis/interpretation is an act of design.
Seeing the city as simply a figure ground would be too superficial in my opinion. Its the most basic and requires the least amount of interpretation/analysis/thought (often doesn't even require that you know the city at all).
For example, if an old building is renovated with an important program - the figure ground remains the same but it becomes a landmark. Another example would be when cities change transportation access - like excluding vehicular traffic at certain times (or permanently) - that changes paths, edges, and even create temporary nodes/landmarks. There may even be an invisible edge that is simply created by a perception of change in "district" - most easily seen when crossing a district in which there is a huge economic disparity (mostly impossible to see from a figure ground). These things can change over time without necessarily changing the figure ground. I would hate to have an old diagram of a city unless you wanted to see it at a certain time/date.
Benjamin Franklin Parkway after
Here you can download a free version of a NYC plan:
https://www.schwarzplan.eu/en/figure-ground-diagram-shop/free-figure-ground-plans/figure-ground-plan-new-york/
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