Visual order and the image of the city (part 6)

Trinity Church, Wall Street (cc) Ross CrawfordBecause commerce is so predominant in most city centers of activity, an effective landmark in such a place usually needs to be overtly uncommercial. “Visual order: its limitations and possibilities” The Death and Life of Great American Cities (p387)

There are plenty of reasons to mix uses. I’ve argued against Euclidean zoning that separates uses into their own districts on this site. Jane Jacobs has plenty more to say about mixed uses, especially as a generator of diversity.

Mixing uses also emphasizes landmarks. Jacobs holds up the case of Trinity Church in New York City, surrounded by commercial and financial institutions. The contrast makes the church appear more prominent as a landmark — something the City Beautiful movement of Daniel Burnham and the like never quite figured out. Jacobs accuses them of wasting civic structures by clustering them in a district together, calling them “islands of pomp.”