On-line course — Democratic Values in Planning Urban Design for the Public Good: Dutch Urbanism. Week 3.

Reading the Landscape, a method of “reading” the landscape as input for designers. Illustrating two basic principles in Dutch Urbanism: its contextual approach and the connection of regional and local scale. A landscape can be dissected into three layers: a natural layer, a cultural layer and an urban layer. Analysing a landscape in this way can help to find or pinpoint the spatial identity of a given place. Planners and designers can incorporate this information in new designs. Using the “identity” of a place in design is important in a fast urbanising world where local identities may be at stake.

The 3 maps that follow illustrate each: 1. The natural layer, showing Nanaimo's siting on the Strait of Georgia, the Millstream River, right in the picture. 2. The cultural layer. This map is from the 2008 Downtown Urban Design Plan and Guidelines showing the nature of each precinct in the city. 3. For The Urban Layer I've chosen, perhaps ironically, an 1891 map showing the distinctive street grid pattern that fans out from the central waterfront.

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