What Makes A Good Town Square?

Author Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard offers an online excerpt and summary of her book, "Genius of the European Town Square."

1 minute read

March 4, 2005, 9:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"There is no simple formula for a successful square, and every square is unique. The greatest squares are fan shaped (Siena), trapezoidal (Venice's Piazza San Marco), rectangular (Ascoli Piceno), triangular (Tübingen), funnel shaped (Telc), elliptical (Vigevano), oval (Verona), square (Salamanca), square-doughnut shaped (Krakow), or triangular-doughnut shaped (Olomouc), or they are broadened streets visually closed at each end (Landshut)...

The placement of buildings around the perimeter transforms the square into a three dimensional composition; more imposing buildings, spires and campanile articulate the vertical axis, increasing dramatic effects..."

Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism listserv

FULL STORY: Genius of the European Town Square

Thursday, March 3, 2005 in International Journal Of Sustainability In Higher

Architecture United States

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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