Gordon Cullen (1914-1994) was an English architect, an urban designer who carried

on the Townscape movement theme. Later on he wrote and published the “Townscape”
book in 1961. He was a key motivator and activist in the development of British theories
of urban design in the post-war period. Townscape is made up from articles published in
post wars years in the architectural review. The author’s definition of townscape is that
one building is architecture but two buildings is townscape. The relationship between
buildings and the space between buildings assume importance. Apart from the scientific
research and solutions arrived through planning, we need to ‘manipulate within the
tolerances’ to make the city interesting and soulful. For this the author says, we must
turn to the faculty of sight, for it is almost entirely through vision that the environment is
apprehended. The environment produces an emotional reaction in three deferent ways.

1. Concerning OPTICS: The pedestrian walks through the town at a uniform speed.
The scenery is often revealed in a series of jerks and revelations. This is termed
as SERIAL VISION. The elements of the town are manipulated to achieve an
impact on emotions. The town comes alive through the drama of juxtaposition
which otherwise would slip past featureless and inert.
2. Concerning PLACE: It is concerned with ours reactions to the position of our
body in its environment. It deals with the experience stemming from major
impacts of exposure and enclosure. Utilize this sense of identity with the
environment, the feeling of a person in a street or square that he is in it or
entering it or leaving it. Eg. Rashtrapati Bhavan
3. Concerning CONTENT: It is an examination of the fabric of towns – Colour,
texture, scale, style, character, personality and uniqueness. Most town fabric will
show evidence of differing periods in its architectural styles. Towns do display a
mixture of styles, materials and scales.

Townscape identifies 3 gateways to translate an environment into a home for

human beings, that of motion, that of position and that of content. By the exercise
of vision, it became apparent that motion was not one simple, measurable
progression but it is two things, the existing and the revealed view. Also, human
 being is constantly aware of his position in the environment, he feels the need for
a sense of place. Conformity killed and the agreement to differ gave life to cities.

Here and There

The practical result of so articulating the town into identifiable parts is that no sooner do
we create a HERE than we have to admit a THERE, and it is precisely in the
manipulation of these two spatial concepts that a large part of urban drama arises.
Man-made enclosure, if only of the simplest kind, divides the environment into HERE
and THERE. On this side of the arch, in Ludlow, we are in the present, uncomplicated
and direct world, our world. The other side is different, having in some small way a life
of its own (a with-holding).