Arnold Henderson
Shade Tree Advisory Committee
Highland Park, NJ

Editor: Yes, we will look to do more in this area. In this issue, you?EUR??,,????'???ll find a cost benefit analysis of implementing a sustainable native landscape.

Loved Oregon

Loved Oregon landscape. Would love to see some Arizona gardens! Keep up the great job.

John Hewitt
Fountain Hills, AZ

Kudos

This is a great magazine, packed with useful info. It has been of more value to me than Landscape Architecture.

Paul Bednar
Burnidge Cassell & Assoc.
Elgin, IL

Thanks for your terrific publication and the promotion of what is true and just.

Richard Owens
Richard E. Owens Associates
Alpharetta, GA>/p>

Book Review

Ivor Samuels, one of the authors, notes that it took more than 25 years to publish an English version of Formes urbaines, de I?EUR??,,????'???Ilot a la barre. The 1977 original French edition examined the Paris, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt urbanscapes and is still considered an influential work. It outlined a century of change that altered the towns and cities and transformed a way of life. Samuels believes Formes urbaines is still relevant for a number of reasons:

It acknowledges the importance of the detailed physical design of our environment.

It is a true work of urban design, in that it focuses on the connection between form of cities and their architecture.

It brings a European vision to the topic.

The final reason for translating this work is the revival of the street and block by designers in the U.K. and the U.S.

The basis of the book is that ?EUR??,,????'??modern urbanism has upset the morphology of cities, abolished their streets and isolated their buildings.?EUR??,,????'?? The authors view that only by investigating the ?EUR??,,????'??urban tissue?EUR??,,????'?? (the scale between the architecture of buildings and the layouts of towns) can we understand the ?EUR??,,????'??complex relationships between plot and built form, between streets and buildings and between these forms and design practices.?EUR??,,????'??

The new English translation includes a look at urban design in the U.K. and the U.S. Urban design in the two countries is seen as having many similarities, particularly with respect to the evolution of suburbs. However, the U.K. and U.S. are seen as differing in the ?EUR??,,????'??spatial field?EUR??,,????'?? (i.e., sizes of houses and road space). The precise local ordinances in the U.S. are seen as ?EUR??,,????'??controlling the layout and design of urban areas to a considerable degree,?EUR??,,????'?? while the Brits are ?EUR??,,????'??usually much less specific about detail than either the U.S. plans or the plans produced in continental Europe.?EUR??,,????'??

Quote of the Month

?EUR??,,????'??What artist so noble…as he who, with far-reaching conception of beauty, in designing power, sketches the outlines, writes the colors, and directs the shadows of a picture so great that Nature shall be employed upon it for generations, before the work he arranged for her shall realize his intentions.?EUR??,,????'??