URBAN FORM ATLAS

Announcing Volume 2

We are thrilled to announce the launch of Volume 2 of The Urban Form Atlas! Following the success of Volume 1, we’re expanding on Doug Allen’s legendary course, “The History of Urban Form.” Together, we’ll explore the lineage of American urbanism, from Ancient Greece to colonial America and beyond. As professional planners and designers, we saw a need for a collection of scaled maps and analyses, one that can be used as a reference for current and future projects. There are a number of books on good urban design practices, but none that focus on urban form in this way. This project fills that gap.

Similar to the first volume, each neighborhood will be featured on an 11″x15″ plate (10 in total) and will include detailed analyses of the neighborhood’s urban form (its streets, lots, and blocks), including block size and geometry, right-of-way widths, and alleys. A map of property lines (over a subtle aerial photograph) is shown at a scale of 1″=200′. Doug Allen asked at the start of his course, “How did we arrive here at the corner of 5th Street and West Peachtree Street [in Atlanta]?” This framing encapsulates our focus for Volume 2: we will track the lineage of American urbanism from Ancient Greece, through Italy and the rest of Europe, and finally into colonial America and the present day. Along the way, we’ll take “x-rays” of these great places, revealing the underlying urban forms that act as their foundations.

Some of the significant sites under consideration for this volume (subject to change) include:

• Miletus, Turkey

• Pompei, Italy

• Rome, Italy

• Richeliue, France

• Versailles, France

• London, England

• Savannah, Georgia

• Philadelphia, PA

• Paris, France

• Florence, Italy

• Riverside, IL

• Atlanta, Georgia