Landforms
Why Old City Streets Bend with the Ground
Learn how to read old city streets against slopes, ridges and watercourses, and distinguish terrain-shaped bends from…
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Read the city by its contours, routes, buildings, public spaces and names. Browse Southern City Journal's articles by subject or follow a detail that has caught your eye.
Street Patterns
Grid or Radial Streets: Two Ways to Organise a City
Grid or radial streets shape how routes connect across a city. Learn to read each pattern and choose a route that…
Buildings
The Changing Job of the City Arcade
Learn how a city arcade’s roof, openings and shopfronts shape its role as a sheltered passage, a retail interior or a…
Public Places
The Public Square Is Not Just an Empty Centre
Read a public square through its edges, entrances and uses to see which activities fit, where visitors can pause and…
Place Names
Reading the Layers in a Southern City Place Name
Reading the layers in a Southern city place name helps you spot language clues, separate later changes from older…