Henry Shaftoe Earthscan, UK & USA, 2008, hardcover, 154pp., £39.95, ISBN: 978-1844073887

Genius of the European Square Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard and Henry L. Lennard Gondolier Press, International Making Cities Livable Council, Carmel, CA, USA, 2008, paperback, 233pp., $49.00, ISBN: 978-0935824117

Two welcome books address the perennial issue of how to create humane and habitable places in our western cities: two perspectives presented from the two sides of the Atlantic by dedicated and experienced authors: two entertaining but unashamedly didactic and fascinatingly diverse explorations of an essentially identical question. With our accumulated wisdom, wealth and knowledge, why have we not been able to provide the alluring spaces and places, which were a vital part of the life of innumerable European towns and villages, many founded as long as 1000 years ago? After a lifetime of extensive work and research, observations of his own adopted hometown of Bristol as well as both the delightful and the desolate aspects of many UK cities, Henry Shaftoe writes that his book is ‘…primarily British-focused, Eurocentric influenced…’. From West Coast USA, architect Suzanne Crowhurst Lennard and psychologist-social researcher the late Henry Lennard lived for a time in the early 1970 s in Venice and were inspired by the way European squares functioned as ‘…a powerful catalyst for community life.’ In the following decades, time and again they observed and documented life in these squares and believed that the creation of such places in North America would ‘…in some measure help to rebuild community and civic engagement, ease the pain of social isolation…’.

Their concern may not be novel – the authors refer variously to the extensive literature of the last half-century, from Sitte translations, Mumford, Kidder Smith and Jacobs, to contemporary researchers – but both books have a novel approach and offer fresh insights. Both are perceptively illustrated with photographs capturing the ambience of places and the antics of their inhabitants. Both books have broadly similar structures, beginning with analysis of the nature, form and ingredients, which make for successful places, moving to case studies of remarkable and enchanting places, and leading to pragmatic conclusions. Shaftoe talks of the ‘Constituents of Conviviality’ – the physical, geographical, managerial, psychological and sensual: no practical designer should shirk his two final pages of ‘Do's’ and ‘Don’t's’. In Part 3, the Lennards describe present threats to the European square and conclude in Chapter 28 with their ‘Principles for Designing a Multi-Functional European-Style Square’. They pose no less than 36 key questions for the would-be designer relating to community, planning, transportation, management, architecture and urban space.

Henry Sheptoe warns the reader that his book ‘…is not an exercise in cosy nostalgia’. His overview of some of the confronting issues facing designers and managers of public spaces in the United Kingdom makes for sobering reading. His views contrasting the spaces around a peripheral housing estate in Bristol and a square in Dijon emphasize the variations in demographical, social and economic context, but we know that he might just as well have chosen for the first a view of public housing in outer Paris. The following image of security guards in a shopping mall in South Gloucestershire, the practice of resorting to employment of street wardens and support ‘personnel’, the universal electronic surveillance device, legal controls and physical barriers to control behaviour are indicative of sadly common experiences in many western cities. Shaftoe advocates enlightened management techniques, cites successful integration and ‘engagement’ strategies, and valuable initiatives, which can animate spaces and accommodate the marginalized. His diligence and enthusiasm in recording positive social behaviour when opportunities are provided gives cause for optimism. The enjoyment of stunt bikers in Torquay, the revitalization of Dufferin Mall in Toronto, the inspiration of children's play-place integrated into the townscape in Krakow, in Amsterdam, in Copenhagen, in Berlin……, catering for the ‘frisson that young people need and enjoy’. He talks of the need for observation and communication, provocation of intrigue and curiosity, satisfaction of aesthetic senses, the need for comfort and reassurance. In Zaragoza, Lisbon, Rochefort and many more places, he captures images that underscore incisive observations about vital urban environments. In precise and unequivocal language he describes five more detailed case studies of places in Berlin, Barcelona, Bristol, Padua and York, which demonstrate the complexity and variety emerging from a range of attractive contemporary initiatives – each in a different cultural context – and critically sets out the lessons to be learned.

Many readers will know the names of Suzanne and Henry Lennard as the founders of the International Making Cities Livable organization and be aware that over two decades and more they have organized conferences in many European cities, where the qualities and characteristic of the squares have been debated. Their book published after the death of Henry represents the culmination of their joint research and their philosophical position. Suzanne records that he was ‘…as an incomparable field researcher…’ he would observe behaviour and talk with people whilst she ‘…would examine the built environment, the stage upon which this social life took place’. They believed that it is the social life of the square which is critical, and how it enhances ‘…well-being, democratic dialogue and civic engagement…’. Hence, it is the activity on the square that is the focus and the raison d’etre for their delightful, readable and memorable book. It begins with perceptive descriptions and images of people young and old captured socializing, discussing, engaging, debating, provoking, processing and playing. From the evening passeggiata in Ascoli Piceno, to festivities and dinners celebrating Siena's Palio, to people watching on Tubingen's Holzmarkt and a curious toddler gazing at a wheelchair-disabled man on Salamanca's Plaza Mayor nothing escapes their observation. They muse as to the ‘ethics’ of the European square, its equity of access, promotion of encounters, facilitator of discussion and the significance of the presence of the town hall on the square.

The critical physical qualities of the square are first analysed and documented by captivating photographs, illustrating size and plan-form, visual enclosure, façade detail, arcading and human scale, which in infinitely varied combinations have created the places that we enjoy. Some are drawn from our old favourites – Venice, Vigevano or Siena – but many others will be unfamiliar, perhaps the smaller towns in Silesia or Southern Bohemia. No less than 17 case studies then follow, with exquisite photographs and succinct text exploring new information and details of places many have known and enjoyed – Bruges, Freiburg, Salzburg and many more – as well as two less familiar squares in Olomouc and Jihlava in the Czech Republic, which have been compromised or are threatened by ‘big-box’ supermarket developments.

A common theme in both books is the critical role played by democratic governance in guiding the formation of the great medieval squares. The Lennards cite the case of Padova, which became ‘…an independent self-governing Comune…’ in the 13th century with large town hall, magnificent Palazzo della Ragione accommodating 100 small market vendors on the ground floor and the grand law court above. The independence of the city-states of medieval Italy stimulated civic creativity on an unprecedented scale, and variations on the same form of organization and similar outcomes appeared throughout much of contemporary Europe. Shaftoe writes of democratic societies and the ‘…public spaces where the citizenry can express their solidarity and also dissent.’ and contrasts them with the ‘huge and intimidating’ spaces created by autocratic regimes. He rightly applauds the virtues of cities that grew ‘organically’, ‘…with the exception of few planned defensive or military settlements…’, a qualification that ignores the innumerable delightful medieval ‘planned’ towns, which range from the many hundreds of bastides of southern France, to Bern and the other foundations of the Dukes of Zahringen, to the founded towns of the Saxon colonists evident on a long trail through Silesia, Slovakia, the present Czech Republic and more (Webber, 2008). Neither of the authors refer to the seminal research of the late Wofgang Braunfels on the extraordinary participative processes in medieval Siena, and neither cautions that, however, admirable might be the outcomes, participation was largely the right of the landed, the titled and the merchant classes and that the process was at best quasi-democratic as judged by our present-day expectations.

But these are mere petty quibbles about two books, which should become standard references for creative urban designers, Shaftoe perhaps a little pedantic but admirably direct and always constructive, the Lennards a liberal and joyful feast of images and ideas, which leaves the reader in no doubt that ‘Genius’ is a word aptly applied to the that elusive phenomenon, the European Square.