"The essence of urbanism"

My friend and fellow blogger/lawyer/urbanist/photographer Chuck Wolfe has another provocative new post on his myurbanist site: using the fabulously scenic Italian villages of Cinque Terre to illustrate the principles of walkability, connectedness, and grounding that make a community's built environment especially hospitable to the human spirit.  As ever, Chuck asks his viewer/reader to think about what she sees and examine the implications:

"What if there were five neighborhoods connected by a trail? Or better yet, as illustrated from the  Cinque Terre in northwest Italy, five towns, all self-contained, but symbiotic, micro-economies also connected by footpath, rail and water? What if they all had the magical amenities of street, square and housing within, terraced agriculture and spiritual retreats in the near-hinterlands? . . . 

"Such regional “artifacts” raise the real question–need such places be facade-based shells, largely touristic?"

It gets better.  See Chuck's full post, "gift-wrapping the essence of urbanism" on myurbanist.

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