What makes a city alive? What did 20th-century design dreams leave behind?
Along with a series of critical commentaries, this book unveils for the first time Townscape in USA, a previously unpublished manuscript written by Gordon Cullen in the early 1960s.
Best known for Townscape (1961), Cullen brings his incisive, visually attuned, and often wry perspective to six American cities – New York, Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. – providing splendid, semi-prophetic visions of the cities’ destinies, and foreshadowing the inevitable consequences of uncontrolled building development. Cullen constantly reminds us of how urban designers should focus on people and creating a sense of place, and critiquing the rigid visual codes of Beaux-Arts planning and offering a counter-vision rooted in texture, contrast and surprise. Through expressive sketches and spatial observations, he reveals how cities could, and should, offer not only efficiency but delight, not only order but encounter. These visions are supported by a series of drawings, notes and photos taken from Cullen’s archives.
This book is an essential read for architects, planners, and dreamers alike. Addressing today’s debates about human-centred design, the – until now – forgotten manuscript Townscape in USA is a passionate plea to rethink what a city is, and whom it is for.
Table of Contents:
Part One. The Urgent West. Townscape in USA 1. Precis and Nota Bene 2. New York 3. Philadelphia: The Expanding City 4. Pittsburgh: Involvement 5. Chicago: The Visual Structure 6. Washington 7. Boston: The Freedom Trail Part Two: Essays 8. Cullen’s America. Fragments of a Journey 9. Text and Texture in The Urgent West. Assembling the Grammar of Cullen’s Urban Drama 10. The Gordon Cullen Archive 11. Townscape at the Global Scale. Assessing the International Fame of the Townscape Editorial Campaign and Gordon Cullen’s Book
About the Author :
Thomas Gordon Cullen (1914–1994) was an architect, illustrator, urban designer, and editor of The Architectural Review. One of the most significant figures in the urban design panorama of the 20th century, Cullen developed numerous urban regeneration projects during his long career and was a key thinker of the Townscape movement.
Carla Molinari is Senior Lecturer in Architecture and BArch Programme Director at Anglia Ruskin University.
Marco Spada is Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Suffolk.
Review :
"Gordon Cullen, as an urbanist, was for me an influential figure – even before I was a student of architecture. Here, in this book of his memoirs, he crosses the Atlantic in a 1961 time warp to combine acerbic observations with his mastery trade mark sketches. We are reminded of the importance of a civic conscience and the power of the pencil."
Norman Foster, founder and chairman of Foster + Partners
"Through meticulous archival research, this book reveals not only that scholarly engagement with Cullen remains far from complete, but also the potential—perhaps the urgent need—to revisit his thinking today. In an age increasingly shaped by digital tools that make our connection to physical reality every day more fragile, Cullen’s masterly use of the hand-drawn sketch and his focus on the sensory and spatial perception of urban environments feel more relevant than ever."
Dr. Marco Iuliano, Reader in Architecture, University of Liverpool
"This unearthed manuscript from the archive – unpublished until now – offers a visceral glimpse into Cullen's analysis of the American city through the application of his celebrated Townscape methodology. Providing a critical, human-centred perspective that laments the gridiron's 'placelessness' and monumental planning, it advocates for people-focused cities and a sense of place. Richly illustrated with Cullen's distinctive sketches and photographs, this engaging work of 'urban psychiatry,' which the four accompanying essays expertly contextualise, is essential reading for understanding Cullen's legacy and offers new insights into the critical urban discourse of the postwar era."
Dr. Stephen Parnell, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Newcastle University
