The City at Eye Level: Lessons for Street Plinths: Extended Version

The way in which most city inhabitants and visitors interact with an urban landscape on a day-to-day basis is on the street level. Storefronts, first floor apartments, and sidewalks are the most immediate and common experience of a city. These plinths are the ground floors that negotiate between inside and outside, the public and private spheres. Featuring more than one hundred pages of new analysis and a new foreword from Joan Clos, under-secretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of UN-Habitat, this thoroughly revised and expanded edition of The City at Eye Level qualitatively evaluates plinths by exploring specific examples from all over the world. Over twenty-five experts investigate the design, land use, and road and foot traffic in rigorously researched essays, case studies, and interviews. These pieces are supplemented by more than two hundred beautiful color images--sixty new to this edition--that engage not only with issues in design, but also the concerns of urban communities. The editors have put together a comprehensive guide for anyone concerned with improving or building plinths, including planners, building owners, property and shop managers, designers, and architects.

Hans Karssenberg advises cities, housing providers, developers, and NGOs in the Netherlands and internationally. Jeroen Laven is an urban planner based in Rotterdam. Meredith Glaser is an Amsterdam-based urban and mobility strategist who works on projects with Copenhagenize Design Co. Mattijs van ’t Hoff is a visiting lecturer in urbanism at Delft University of Technology.