Views

We know there are protected views in urban zoning: from St. Pauls in London to various natural vistas in other cities. There are also characteristic views, even if not protected, in many cities, the ordinary things that you can look out, see, and know you are there: the skyscrapers of New York (and many other international cities, but New York in an American context); the rowhouses of Baltimore; the Vegas Strip.

I want today to talk about what makes a view worth noticing as a view, and why these are urban amenities we should cultivate (much of which comes back to placemaking, as in my last post this week). 

1. The Sense of Setting

Many good views are, I would argue, good because they provide a sense of setting: a sense of where you are, where the city around you is, and how they interact.

This can be narrow, as in this London laneway. Now, obviously I am not advocating for this as a protected view! What I am suggesting is that this kind of view, this sort of narrow, twisting street with a midlevel rise, is valuable in terms of letting you know the sort of place you are in and how it operates. It's a much narrower version of the sprawling views that do the same thing:

This is a more classic view, and it certainly contains more things we might consider as views: green space, height differentials, potentially iconic buildings. But I suggest that a good urban design needs both: both characteristic looks at street level as you turn a corner and distinctive large-scale sweeping views like the above. 

Both are, in my view (pun only noticed in retrospect but retained), doing similar work. They are giving you that sense of setting: what kind of place am I in, and how does my current situation fit into it?

2. A Sense of Nature

Part of setting can be but need not be nature, as in the above photo, or the below:

The Thames here certainly gives us a sense of natural setting, even if it's a bit damp and grey.

To be fair, that's been a lot of my experience with the Thames.

But more broadly, I mean that a good view allows you to see how the city interacts with its natural elements: is it constructed around them (as with London and the Thames), or does it perhaps revel in its contrast with them, as in this view of Vancouver:

Beaches and mountains: a classic combination. 

Natural elements in a view alongside manmade ones are the key here, for me. I'm not talking about a view like this:

Lovely mountains, New Mexico, but really just natural. Which is fine! I love nature too! But I see something special in the combination; the tall Vancouverist high-rises just on the edge, or the sprawl of London along the river.

3. What's In A Landmark Anwyay?

Look, I do love an iconic landmark, and I'm not pretending they don't matter here.

St. Pauls views are protected for a reason.

Notre-Dame de Paris was reconstructed for a reason too.

But in a sense, to me, those aren't really views as much as they are landmarks alone: our eye is drawn to the landmark itself, but not to the view as a whole. Mount Rainier can dominate the Seattle skyline (in ways that are totally hard to capture on film, so pardon the lack of picture) but it's so dominant that it doesn't really let the city part breathe. The cathedrals above dominate the picture likewise (though that's somewhat a function of angle in the second, I admit). 

What I think of as a view involves the larger sweep of the thing. The St. Pauls picture is edging towards it (the Millennium Bridge also draws focus, for instance) but I'm really thinking of something like this:

I love Chicago, so I recognize literally everything in here. But no one building or sight stands out to the point of exclusion or focus. Rather, the impression as a whole of the view of Grant Park looking north takes precedence. This is a view that screams Chicago without slamming over it "The Bean" or "Wrigley Field" or any such individual icon.

And that, to me, is the best part of an urban view: it makes it crystal clear where you are and which city it is and where you are in that city--but it doesn't do it by giving you an easy out of a landmark. Or if it's a city like Paris or London that has a long history and a famed skyline, maybe it does--but it has so many that again, they fade against each other.

Also, it's at human level, not an aerial shot.

I think the more cities can cultivate this kind of view, the more I get that sense of place--and the more I want to look at the view all the time.