This is a new book written by Dhiru Thadani and titled The Language of Towns & Cities. It is a comprehensive visual dictionary for urban planners and designers. With the help of more than fifty contributors, this volume is richly detailed and illustrated with over 2,500 photographs, drawings, and charts.
Every profession has its own lexicon, and urban planning and design is no exception. Unfortunately, when we present our work to public officials or private clients, they may not always get a clear understanding of what we say. Sometimes designers use words or terms that have different meanings in different areas of the country, too. Such terms as “park,” “district,” “boulevard,” and “avenue” can lead to misunderstanding and confusion. The Language of Towns & Cities sets out to rectify those problems, and succeeds beautifully. With clear language and abundant visuals, even laymen will be able to understand the meanings of these words.
The Language of Towns & Cities is beautifully printed, with vibrant illustrations on glossy paper. It’s a great choice for holiday gift giving.
Letters from Listeners
Thanks for sharing, Arina. It looks to be a great book. The Amazon reives are certainly positive. It looks to be a great “one-stop-shop” for allthings urban design. I’ve added it to my wish list.
What are your own thoughts on the book, Arina?
Posted by Edward J.
Excellent book. I use it weekly.
Posted by John
Beautiful extension to Urban dialogue. But creating a real CONTINUOUS urban texture is normally dwarfed by zoning or similar over arching land rule. Be it in Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai or even in Paris or London in new ares or larger developments or projects (and forget about US r Arabian peninsula) these days, the prevalent approach mimics the failed ‘car driven’ urbanity. In addition our current ‘brutalistic’ style where glass in acres and loss of real street level variety has replaced the 50′s and 60′s concrete. I do hope that each and every town planning entity would have this on their desks around the world. One should not have to travel thousands of miles to find urbanity in our short vacations.
Posted by Tapani
I love the way this book is printed 
Kari Sinkko
Beautiful extension to Urban dialogue. But creating a real CONTINUOUS urban texture is normally dwarfed by zoning or similar over arching land rule. Be it in Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai or even in Paris or London in new ares or larger developments or projects (and forget about US r Arabian peninsula) these days, the prevalent approach mimics the failed ‘car driven’ urbanity. In addition our current ‘brutalistic’ style where glass in acres and loss of real street level variety has replaced the 50′s and 60′s concrete. I do hope that each and every town planning entity would have this on their desks around the world. One should not have to travel thousands of miles to find urbanity in our short vacations.
Posted by Tapani Talo
Excellent book. I use it weekly.
Posted by John O’Donnell
Thanks for sharing, Arina. It looks to be a great book. The Amazon reives are certainly positive. It looks to be a great “one-stop-shop” for allthings urban design. I’ve added it to my wish list.
What are your own thoughts on the book, Arina?
Posted by Edward J. Shannon, NCARB/LEED GA
2 Comments on "198. The Language of Towns and Cities"
The Language of Towns & Cities: A Visual Dictionary was awarded the Gerd Albers 2011 Book Award by the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP).
A recent review by David Brussat in the Providence Journal:
http://blogs.providencejournal.com/ri-talks/architecture-here-there/2011/12/column-an-encyclopedia-of-cities-and-towns.html#.TuKD5N1q8zt